Broken Half

VII. Best Dad Ever

I check my mouth in the locker mirror. I grab a thread of floss and clean my teeth again.

"Some of us are trying to keep our breakfast in," Brian says.

I move the string back and forth, "My dentist says I need to floss more."

While I continued to floss, they talked about what happened. It's been nearly two months into school, and Halloween events are coming up.

Bluecester is big on Halloween for some unknown reason.

"So, are we going to do it?" Brian asks.

"Do what?"

"TP Mrs.Rodriguez's house."

I stop flossing, "Your mom dropped you when you were younger, didn't she?"

"What? It's tradition to TP the principal's house."

"Yeah," I said. "The last principal." Our last principal was an old bald man who spent most of his time in the office. Mrs.Rodriguez likes to walk around and glare at students. Her hobby is to lower students' self-esteem.

"She got a point," Brenda says. "The last principal...is okay. This one?"

"Why are you two so afraid of her?"

"She gave detention to one of the werewolves. When he growled at her, she snapped and told him two weeks. Clearly, the woman isn't afraid of death."

"Chickens." Brian turns towards Eric, "You in?"

Eric scratches his head, "I don't know. Mrs.Rodriguez kind of...scares me."

"I don't remember my friends being such sissies. I'm going to find my actual friends," Brian says. He spots a group of guys and rushes towards them.

"That i***t will get himself into so much trouble," Brenda says.

"Agree," Eric responds.

All of the guys face pales. They all shake their heads. Brian walks back to us, "Everyone is a wuss."

"No," Brenda rebuttals, "Everyone has a thing called survival instinct except you."

We continue to talk about Brian's lack of survival skills. Well, not we. The other two would continue to throw salt in his wound while I fought to floss the back of my teeth.

"Look," Brenda nudged my shoulder.

I lower the floss and look forward to seeing Lana and Nolan together. This time, she doesn't look miserable like usual. She actually looks kind of happy.

"Seems like the best thing that ever happens to Lana is for werewolves to attend our school," Brenda says.

It's not a lie. It's the truth. Ever since the day where Dylan outrightly threatened Rosario to stop messing with Lana, she stopped.

Brenda nudges me again, "Seems like our school bad boy is having another bad day."

And ever since werewolves attended our school, Lucio had been more miserable - dethrone, one may say.

Hunters who attend high school with ordinary people tend not to want to stand out. So, we wouldn't join any sports extracurricular activities. That's the whole reason why we drop out of hunter school. We want to be normal. Sports tend to bring out our competitive side. Plus, it gathers attention.

Then, the hunting organization would wonder why we aren't in Hunter school when we have such exceptional talent.

But, werewolves are different. They don't have to hide.

And in a few short weeks, they've been crowned the new kings.

Crowning them is overdramatic, but they are pretty popular. And similar to all popular kids, some hate them while others like them.

When Lucio finally notices Lana with Nolan, he slams the locker shut and walks away.

"Damn. I was hoping they would fight," Brian says.

The days pass by a bit too peacefully. There's this sensation in my stomach that I can't seem to shake off - this overly uncomfortable feeling.

After school, it was time for work. I'm a big girl.

"Dishes. Good!" Mr.Liu praises me. Mr.Liu is my boss.

"Raise?!"

"Julia! You joke!" He pats my back roughly and laughs loudly before he walks away.

I look at Xiao, the waitress who is on a break. She shakes her head, "Don't bother. He knows what you're saying, but he's going to pretend he doesn't know until the law tells him to give you a raise."

I turned off the water and wiped my hands before sitting down beside her. Mr.Jang, the chef, hands me a freshly made steak plate.

"Thank you," I said.

Mr.Jang smiled, but he didn't verbally respond. He never does. It's not like Mr.Jang wouldn't talk. He can't. His tongue got cut off by a werewolf when he was a hunter.

Now, he works as a cook in the back of a small Chinese restaurant.

"Xiao-" Mr.Liu calls for her.

She didn't respond.

"Xiao!" His voice escalates.

Xiao rolls her eyes, "Coming, baba!" She hands me her half-eaten plate before she walks out front. I could hear some bickering in Mandarin before Xiao returned to finish her meal.

"What did your dad say?"

"Same old thing. When are you going off to college? Why are you here?" She shakes her head, "Crazy old man."

"Your dad will understand one day."

"You're not very exposed to Asian culture, are you?"

"My best friend is Asian."

Xiao raises a brow.

"Her last name is Tran! She's Vietnamese!"

She raises her other brow.

"She has a twin brother. My group is like 50% Asian!"

She tilts her head.

"We also have a black person!" The more I defended myself, the worse I seemed to come off.

"Last name?"

"Holmes."

"Half?"

"Quarter."

"You should've just agreed with me."

"Yeah. I should've." I lower my head and eat a warm meal. After a few minutes, Mr.Jang washed his hand and went back for a smoke.

"Hey," I said. "About Mr.Jang. Did he quit being a hunter because he got his tongue cut off?"

"You would think that's the reason," Xiao responds. "But, Mr.Jang is alot stronger than that. He's no wussy."

"Then, why?"

"His son."

"He has a son?"

"Yeah. I think his son is in elementary school." Xiao's eyes went towards the back door before she leaned in closer. "Mr.Jang used to have a wife. Beautiful woman. Hunter too. A strong one at that."

"What happened?"

"What else would happen when you're a hunter?"

"Cancer?"

Xiao glances at me, "Wolves. Tore her limb from limb. He barely recognized her body. After that, he quit being a hunter to be with his son."

"And his son?"

"Hasn't shown signs of mutation. Fingers cross. He doesn't become one."

Not everyone wants to become or their family members to become a hunter.

"I feel for hunters, you know? They're practically soldiers sent off to death with every mission. And when they die? No one feels bad. It's an honor. They are supposed to risk their lives for humanity."

"You don't feel that way?"

"Of course not. People say those who refuse to accept their hunter status are cowards, but I don't blame them. I wouldn't risk my life for all those selfish people either. For the greater good? All brainwash bullshit. I mean, who gets to take the blame if something goes wrong? Certainly not the ones who are holding the picket sign."

"Xiao!"

Xiao groans, "Coming!" She places her dirty plate in the sink. "Take your time. We barely have customers this time. Old man just likes to scream for you."

I nod, "Thanks."

I move the rice back and forth on my plate. The back door opens, and Mr.Jang walks in. I could pick up a light scent of cigarette from his body. He washes his hands then wipes them dry. As he passes me to go to the front, he pats my head as an act of comfort.

Mr.Jang is the only person who knows I am a hunter. I can hide my identity from ordinary people and hunters who are weaker than me but not those who are stronger.

After I finish work, dad picks me up.

"Hello, Mr.Liu," he says.

Mr.Liu smiles as he carries the two containers full of food towards my dad's side. "Your daughter is a very hard worker. Here. Have dinner." Mr.Liu shoves the food into the car.

"Mr.Liu. You don't have to."

"No. No." He pushes it further into the car until dad can't reject it.

I got into the car.

"Thank you," dad says.

Mr.Liu smiles before he walks back inside the restaurant.

Dad puts the food in the back of the car, "Didn't I tell you to tell him-"

"I did," I said. "He said: Okay. Okay. Okay. Then, he went to the kitchen to cook." That man is more hard-headed than my dad.

Dad exhales before he gives me the food. I laid it at the bottom between my shoes. "Tell mom not to make dinner."

"On it." I message mom.

Dad starts the car and drives away. The street was still the same as ever - filled with spray paints, broken items, and questionable items on the ground.

Mr.Liu's restaurant is on the East side of town.

At first, my parents weren't sure of me working at Mr.Liu's restaurant since it's shady-looking, but they warmed up to him once they met him. I met Mr.Liu at the mall when he was out purchasing a gift for Xiao.

It was supposed to be a gift for her acceptance into college—a place far away from here. But, Xiao decides to reject it and stay with Mr.Liu for another year. The reason why Xiao chooses to stay is obvious.

Mom is dead.

Dad is old.

Dad's only employee is a man who couldn't talk.

The restaurant is in an unfavorable part of town.

When I first met Mr.Liu, I thought he was a homeless man at the mall. He dressed like one. So, I gave him my leftover fries. Others were at the arcade. And like every other meeting with strangers, we spill stories about our lives.

Mine is how I got grounded for not hearing the bell ring.

His was about his daughter. He worries about how his daughter will never leave this ratty old town, how she's wasting her youth and potential.

After his story, I didn't dare to talk about mine anymore.

"How long are you going to mope?"

"When can I drive myself?" I whined. "I'm almost eighteen." At the end of the day, I'm still a teenager - seventeen has the word teen. So do eighteen and nineteen.

I'll start my adult run when I'm twenty.

"Almost."

"Brenda, Brian, and Eric can all drive."

"If they jum-"

"Dad, I swear I won't jump off a bridge, but I will jump out of this car if I hear that phrase one more time." My dad is the type who likes recycling old phrases.

Dad gave me a lopsided grin, "You know, growing up is not all it's cracked up to be."

"Whoever decides that driving a car means you're a grown-up is out of their mind."

"Driving a car is a huge responsibility."

"I know." But, I don't like being the friend who always has to ask their friends for a drive.

"You have to make sure not to hit other cars."

"Of course."

"Don't hit pedestrians."

"I would never." Unless it's someone I hate.

"Fill up your own gas."

"How else would I drive?"

"Car maintenance."

"When the lights blink on."

He glances at me, "You want to check it regularly, not only when the lights blink on. See? This is why you're not ready to drive."

"Mom does it."

"Your mom has bad driving habits. Don't pick up anything from her."

"Noted."

I'll use this information as a distraction whenever I'm in trouble. That will cause a huge fight between them for at least a few hours, so I can have time to make up an excuse for whatever it is that I did.

"So does that mean-" I wiggle my eyebrows.

"I'll think about it."

I scoot closer to him and embrace him, "Best dad ever!"