30 Days Together

Chapter 1

Akina Matthews sat unnoticed from everyone’s prying and judging eyes. Hair was pulled into a curly, messy bun atop her head. She had a book in hand and her glasses were perched on her slender nose.

She looked up from her book and for a split second, made eye contact with a boy whose hair was as black as coal. Akina was intrigued by how dark his hair was but she quickly looked away when he turned in her direction. 

Kyle Thornton, the school’s golden boy walked into the school library with such confidence that you would think he was a runaway model and not a student at Springfield High. He had his hands in his school pants’ pockets and his school bag casually slung over one shoulder. Yeah, he was cool all right and that’s all Akina knew.

Akina watched from behind her book as Kyle made his way to the reception desk where the librarian, Ms. Spencer was sat reading an Encyclopaedia.

“Excuse me Ms.?” Kyle said to the librarian impatiently. Akina could see the agitation on his face and how he so desperately wanted to be out of the library as soon as he could get his hands on what he needed.

“How can I help young man?” the librarian asked as she looked up from her book. 

Kyle shifted his bag to his other shoulder and looked at the door. “I want to check out a Music book. Where can I find them?” he asked hurriedly.

Ms. Spencer pointed him in the direction and he quickly made his way in said direction.

Akina watched as he approached her and she went still. She didn’t want anyone seeing her but it was too late. Kyle was en route in her direction and there was nothing that she could do.

“Hey!” Kyle said.

“Can I help you?” Akina asked a tad bit rude.

That threw Kyle off. It wasn’t the initial response he expected to get from anyone. Heck he had no idea why he even decided to talk to her in the first place, but something just pulled him to her. It was like he’s legs had grown a mind of their own. 

“Why’d you have to be so rude?” the words slipped out of Kyle’s mouth before he could even process it all. It wasn’t like he was interested in her, he just wanted to find that damn book and get the hell out of the library before his reputation was tarnished.

Akina froze with her book partially hiding her face. All that Kyle could see was her huge black rimmed glasses. “I… I’m not rude,” she croaked and her cheeks burned with anger.

Kyle rolled his eyes, “whatever you say girl,” he replied with a smug smile. He didn’t know how he found her un-comfort so humorous, but he did. “It’s not like your even my type,” he continued. “Anyway, I need your help.” He continued as if he hadn’t just called her rude.

Still frozen from Kyle’s words, Akina didn’t notice him staring at her expectantly until he snapped his fingers. “Umm,” she said and closed her book.

Kyle could now see the girl’s full face and she was pretty sure, but she wasn’t his type. She had blue-green eyes that were hidden behind her huge ridiculous glasses and she had pink pouty kissable lips. Her brunette hair was pulled into a messy bun. Yeah, totally not the type of girls he went for. 

“I said,” he began but his words fell on an empty seat as the girl was no longer there. It seemed she had made her escape while he was still checking her out. f**k, he cursed under his breath.

 Forgetting all about the main reason he had gone to the library, Kyle hoisted his bag on both his shoulders and dashed outside to look for the girl. He looked both sides but she was nowhere to be seen. f**k, f**k, f**k, he cursed. He wasn’t always such a jerk but he just couldn’t help but wanting to tease her. There was something about her that drew him to her and he didn’t know what it was but what he did know was that he had been a jerk to her and he had to fix that immediately. 

Akina couldn’t believe the words that had come out of Kyle’s mouth. Sure she wasn’t pretty and her school uniform was two sizes too big, but he didn’t have the right to be that mean. He had no right to say any of the things he had said and she couldn’t stay any longer and hear him insult her even more. So she had left and locked herself in a stall in the girls’ bathroom.

She slid down and sat on the floor, replaying his words in her mind over and over again like a broken record. She sat there until the bell sounded overhead announcing the end of the school day. Akina had missed most of her classes and she knew if it got back to her mum that she had missed her classes, then she would be in bigger trouble than arriving late from school.

Akina quickly stood up, splashed water on her face and ran out of the school. She couldn’t risk arriving after her mum had already arrived. She ran all the way until she could see her house looming right in front of her.

When she got home, the house was quiet and a small smile broke out on her face. She was not late thankfully. Akina lay on her bed facing the ceiling. Her thoughts were everywhere and her mum was due to be returning from her work any moment from then.

Her parents had separated when she was only twelve and sometimes she wondered why she never went with her dad. Her mum was ever strict and always monitored her every movement like a hawk. It was kind of unbearable most times but she knew she meant well, or at least that's what she told herself.

“Akina get down here at once,” her mum shouted from downstairs.

The voice of her mum pulled Akina from her near slumber. She sucked in a deep breath, she knew she was in trouble and her hands became clammy and sweaty. Her throat instantly tightened as the anticipation of what awaited her loomed. She made her way downstairs and stared at the woman she called her mother.

“Yes ma'am?” she replied submissively.

 Akina's mum, Iris, was a fair lady with a model's body and big hazel eyes that were quite captivating to on-lookers. Her black silky hair was pulled into a right bun atop her head. She was nothing like Akina and sometimes Akina wondered if she really was related to her or if life was just playing a sick twisted game with her.

“You little brat, what did I tell you to do?” her mum asked coldly.

Akina looked around the kitchen but saw nothing. She didn’t know what her mum meant but she knew better than to talk back to her.

Iris put her hands on her hips as she scowled at her daughter, “you will answer when I am speaking to you, do you understand me?” she bellowed. 

Akina nodded but her mum threw another dirty look. “Yes ma’am,” she squeaked and swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall. She had promised herself to never cry in front of her mum and she wasn’t about to start now.

“I want this place cleaned and the laundry done. And make sure the supper is ready on time. Do I make myself clear?” her mum spoke with venom and contempt laced in her words.

Iris didn’t wait for a response and span on her heels, leaving Akina all alone with so much work to do and barely enough time to do it. Tears freely fell from her eyes as she started doing her chores. 

She cleaned, cooked and washed and by the time she was done, it was past 10pm and she still had homework that was due the next day. Akina wiped her eyes and made her way up to her room where she slid down by the door and cried her eyes.

Why? She wanted to scream but it was as if someone was choking her, preventing any sound

from coming out of her.

The room began to spin and her heart now beat four times slower than usual. She cried harder until the darkness decided to claim her as his own. 

You're a disgrace and soon you'll be with us where you belong.

You can't escape us anymore Akina.

And we all know you're too weak and pathetic to do anything about this.

That’s why your parents don’t like you and why you have no friends.

Akina awoke with a racing heart. She’d had the same nightmare she usually had every other night and she couldn't quite fathom what it meant. Maybe she needed psychological help, yeah definitely not. 

How long had she been out? Did her mum ask for her? How long had she been out? The questions swarmed in her head and she slowly stood up from the floor with shaky legs and walked to her desk.

‘Why me?’ she asked no one in particular.

She checked the time on her alarm clock and it read 2:15am and she knew she hadn't done her homework yet. If her mum found out, she’d do more than just ground her for life. She would also take away her computer time just like everything else had been taken away from her. Akina couldn’t live without talking to her dad and she knew the only way that would not happen was if she obeyed her mum.

Akina first grabbed her journal from her little hiding place and began writing. Whenever she wrote down everything that happened that day, she felt less sad, less depressed and less lonely and that was how she wanted to feel before she began her massive school work that sat in her bag just waiting to be touched.

After she placed the last period, she gently closed it and tucked it under her bed where she always kept it. She then grabbed her school books and began her homework and massive assignments that her school deemed appropriate to give them on their first day back to school.

While she was doing her Physics assignment, her mind wandered to the events of the day and how that boy had called her rude and insulted her. Was she really that rude? Is that why she had no friends? Pushing away those thoughts, Akina concentrated on the work at hand but her mind wouldn’t let it go.

Why did he approach her? She asked to no one in particular as she was all alone in her room with a lot of school work to do and not enough time to sleep.

                                                                              ********** 

The sun was already up when Akina finished her many assignments. She hadn't gotten any sleep apart from when she had her little incident. 

She only had 30 minutes to prepare and make it to school before she got late and risked not only ruining her perfect attendance, but also receiving an earful from her mum. Her mum was not always like that to her, in fact, she once loved and adored her. But like they say, all good things never last. She reminisced of a past that once but no longer could be.

“Akina!” her mum shouted from outside her bedroom door, “if you're not up and moving in the next ten seconds then you'll wish you were never born.”

Akina's blood went cold and she immediately sprang into action. Tossing her books into her rucksack, she rushed into the bathroom adjacent her room and quickly brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face before her mum was yelling at her again.

The school hallways were abuzz when Akina finally made it with only a couple of minutes to spare. She rushed to her locker and dumped some of her books before heading straight to her first class of the day; Human Biology.

Akina's Human biology class rolled up and soon she was making her way to AP physics. It was one of the few classes she actually liked and was not forced to attend by the school or her

mum. She took a seat and watched as the other ten students filed in and took their seats. It was one of the few classes that didn’t have a lot of students. Soon after, her physics teacher, Mr. Smyth, was explaining about Quantum Mechanics.

Her AP physics teacher went on and on about quantum mechanics and how it was important for everyone to understand it. “All right class, we shall be having a quiz next week. I won’t tell you when it will be, but I urge you all to be well prepared and study hard for it. It will not be an easy quiz like what you did in your junior year,” Mr. Smyth said as he pushed his oval-shaped glasses further up his nose.

Just then, the bell rang signalling the end of class. “But before you go, please hand in your assignments.”

Everyone handed in their papers and filed out of class leaving Akina still seated, waiting for them all to leave before she too stood up, handed in her paper and left one of the few sanctuaries that she had.

All she wanted to do was just sleep and probably never have to wake up again, but she knew that was too much to ask for.