Page 17 of Role Model
“You are allowed to say no to things,” he says, in his intense and quite voice.
I stare at him. “I don’t–”
“Aeriel.”
“I have to go,” I say hurriedly. “I’ll see you after school.”
I rush inside. I can feel people staring and whispering, but I’m getting a little more used to it. The school receptionist puts the phone down as I enter the building. She beams and waves at me, something she never used to do.
“Saw you in the paper, Aeriel!” she calls to me.
I smile tightly and head for my form room. Upon arrival, I see Sable, Jaya and Ana all huddled together by the window. They instantly stop talking when I enter the classroom and it makes me feel sick.
“Hey,” Jaya says, while Ana smiles.
Sable just watches me.64
“Hey,” I say, heading to my locker and ignoring how my hands shake as I try to manage the combination.
“So it’s going to be on the last Friday of the month,” Sable says, loudly and pointedly, as if trying to make sure that I hear her while simultaneously excluding me from the conversation.
“No adults?” Jaya asks, disbelievingly.
“None,” Sable confirms, proudly.
“I don’t know,” Ana says. “My mum is on this group chat with a bunch of other mothers and they’re determined that no one gets to have a party since Liam’s birthday.”
Liam’s party had been the talk of the school. I hadn’t been invited, of course. It was back in October. Too many kids showed up, he had lied to his parents about the number and they played their music way too loud and broke one of Liam’s mother’s sculptures. Parents had shown up en masse, furious and ready to dish out punishments. Sable and Ana had breathlessly bragged over lunch about how fun it had been.
“Your mum spoils everything fun,” Sable says to Ana. “She’s the reason we couldn’t have RENT as the school musical.”
“Stuck with Guys and Dolls,” grumbles Jaya.
“Yeah, I know,” Ana agrees, a little self-consciously.65“She’s a lot.”
“Right, so make sure you tell her it’s a study session.”
“A study session that will go until 11pm?” Jaya says. She sounds doubtful about the plan.
“Everyone has to tell their parents that it’s a study group, and some people are staying to sleep over.”
“It’ll never work, they’ll ask each other,” says Ana, meaning the parents.
“No, only your mum because she’s obsessed,” Sable says, and even I’m alarmed by how rude she sounds. I suppose, after me, Ana is the one she picks on the most. Jaya is too strong-willed, even though she’s the quietest.
“Fine,” Ana says, her voice quivering a little. “I’ll tell my mum it’s just a study sleepover, and you tell yours the same, Jaya. My mum doesn’t like your mum, Sable, so hopefully they won’t–”
“Is she coming?” I hear Jaya interject.
I close my eyes as a horrible silence follows her question. She meant me.
“Don’t worry,” I say stiffly, not turning to look at them. “If you think Ana’s mum is hard to get around, imagine mine.”
I was trying to make a light-hearted comment about having the Prime Minister for a mother, but it falls66flat and none of them say anything. I watch them exchange glances, basking in the weirdness of me. The unspoken looks between them make me feel like even more of an alien.
I slam my locker closed.
*
