roses don't stay red

Xavier's pov Running into the kitchen late for school "Xavier can't you be early for once Kudu?" I couldn't help but grin at her... she was making my favorite croissants I hurriedly grabbed one and gave it a full bite...hmmmm that's enough to melt my worries away.. " good morning Nana... hope you slept Soo well" I hugged her and kissed her forehead. she just looked and me and laughed slightly " come on have a sit and eat properly like a gentleman" she said pushing me towards the chair at the sink "granny... I'm late already haha.. eating like a gentleman? right now?...damn! I'll hurriedly eat for now okay?...hmm how about a dinner date this Sunday? I'll show how much of a gentleman I am when we eat" I said to her grinning and touching her cheek that made her smile and slap my hand " don't you try to fool me" she tried being serious but we all know she's the number one joker... " Xavier honey, you work too hard" she held my hand " I wish I could provide you with everything so that you will concentrate more on studies... yh yh I Know you're a smart kid but this is not what a kid your age is supposed to be doing..." I had to cut her off before she bursts into tears again that will just ruin my day " Nana look.. I'm perfectly fine okay, I'm still strong I can do ten more jobs if necessary" I said flexing my arms and legs which made her laugh " see... and like u said I'm coping just fine with school so no need to worry yourself" " damn!" I looked at my watch " gotta go Nana! I'll see you later okay". I kissed her on the cheek and left after grabbing a lunch pack she made for me. I ran out the door in a flash not even paying attention to the fallen flower pot by the door... normally I would have stopped to pick it up but I fell a magnetic force pull me far out. okay I'll do that later when I return I said waving the thought out of my mind. Going to be late for school again.That has been my routine for like since I got into secondary school till high school right now. having to do other part time work after school like being paid to clean the neighbor's gardens and bushy surroundings, working in a coffee shop on Sundays. Yeah...I feel like I'm really aged though 17 I do a lot of stuff people my age don't normally do. ever since I turned 10 it's been my hobby to be independent. I save up daily so as to meet up with my needs without bothering Nana about it...but she always insists on shouldering my tuition from the little pension she gets being a retired teacher. I've lived with my grandma Olivia Cruz since my first breath. my mum as I was told died shortly after my birth...she was just 18 when she got pregnant and my dad?... grandma told me he was in the army and was one of the victims in an ambush that was before mum gave birth to me. my mum happened to be grandma Olive's only child. so technically we have just each other. So literally I have just me grandma Olivia and her dog Bullet. we live in a two bedroom, well furnished apartment. Haha... well furnished to my taste, I'm not the kinda guy who loves extravagance but setting things straight and neat is my style, our living room is about twenty five square meters, a set of brown leather chairs resting at it's center, a dinning table for six a small tv, flowers on the walls, flower pots with fresh flowers and also grandma Olivia's small piano at a corner. our meals mostly consist of grandma and I, but once in a while the table gets full on special occasions like Christmas, new years, Easter when we have some neighbors and friends to dine with. we had very few friends we could call our own, Nana says it's better not to get too associated with a lot of people to stay out of trouble.. personally I had no issues with that. not strange for introverts like me. while on the bus to school I just did a quick review of my lesson for that morning, physics class at 8:30am, glancing down at my watch I had five minutes left wish I could step on those wheels myself. actually that was my plan before this year ends to get a small truck I could use to school and also help Nana with transportation at her flower shop. I was spending way too much on bus fare already. it was 8: 35 am when I reached the classroom...phew, I heaved a sigh of relief to see that Mr Martin wasn't there yet... he came in seconds later.. that's good luck for me.