Sally
After composing myself and rinsing my mouth with water, I quietly and quickly got to my feet, but Colby grabbed my wrist. I turned to him, wondering what was wrong.
“Are you crazy?” he whispered angrily. “Are you trying to get us caught or what?”
I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand away before signing, “You idiot, I’m trying to go to the bathroom so I can act like I’m just coming from there. She won’t have any idea what happened.”
Colby blinked and muttered, “Oh,” before releasing my arm. I walked slowly to the door, and I heard him whisper behind me, “Hey, be careful.”
I simply nodded without looking back and carefully opened the door to avoid making any sound. Once outside, I noticed that my door was slightly ajar.
My legs moved swiftly, but then I felt the door opening. I turned like I was walking back to my room and saw my mom standing by the door, holding the knob.
Mom turned to me, looking surprised. “I came to check on you, but I didn’t see you in your room. Where are you coming from?” she asked.
I pointed behind me, and she seemed to understand, since the bathroom was in that direction. As I walked up to her, I signed, “Why would you check up on me? Am I a child?”
“You are, alright,” she laughed, brushing away the stray hairs stuck to my sweaty forehead.
I sighed deeply and pushed her hand aside. “You should leave, and please stop coming into my room like I’m a little kid or something.”
Mom’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and my eyes widened. I already felt bad. Was what I said that hurtful?
“Are you going to cry?” I signed, then shook my head. “I didn’t mean to respond so harshly.”
“It’s fine,” she sighed, nodding her head. “It’s just that I still can’t believe you’re here with me… that you chose me over a family who cared and loved you. That’s why I came to see you, Sally. I still find it hard to believe. I had a nightmare where you said you would never choose me after how I treated you during your childhood. It felt so real that I had to check, to see if you were really here.”
She paused, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I felt devastated and distressed when I saw that you weren’t in your room. Maybe it was real after all. Maybe you never chose me. Despite seeing your bed and bags, I still thought you didn’t choose me. But how glad and relieved I felt when I saw you walking toward me.”
I just stared without saying anything, but I could feel tears stinging the corners of my eyes. She came closer and wrapped her arms around me, but I didn’t reciprocate. It felt like I had become numb, except for my eyes, which were brimming with hot tears.
“Thank you, sweetie,” she whispered, sniffling. “Thank you so much for accepting your bad mother.”
After what felt like an eternity, she finally released me and signed slowly, watching her hands as they moved. “Goodnight, my daughter.”
The tears I had tried so hard to hold back streamed down my face. I wondered when she had learned sign language. Even when she gave birth to me, she never wanted to learn it, saying it was too difficult and a waste of time.
“I’ve been learning sign language for a few months now,” Mom continued, her hand movements slow and delicate. “How am I doing?”
I gave her a simple thumbs up, which seemed to be enough for her to sigh in relief and give me her warmest, most sincere smile. She waved at me and left, and I watched her until she was out of sight.
When she was gone, I entered my room, closed the door, wiped the tears from my face, and lay on the bed. I covered my entire body with the sheets, but I couldn’t hold back my tears and ended up crying myself to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up to my phone ringing. I checked the time and saw it was 10 am. I couldn’t believe I had slept so long. My eyes shifted to my ringing and vibrating phone on the bedside table.
I reached for it tiredly and grabbed it. When I saw the caller ID was my cheer coach, my heart sank. Oh goodness! She rarely calls me-it’s usually texts or nothing-so what’s happening now?
I accepted the call, and her angry, booming voice came through the speaker. “Sally! What’s your problem? Aren’t you coming to practice?”
Practice? What practice? Were we supposed to have practice today? I was never told. Well, it’s not like I could talk, so I just listened carefully.
“Your sister has been here since 8 am, and she said she told you about it yesterday, but you rudely told her to leave you alone and that it wasn’t compulsory? Oh really? Is that it, Sally?”
Wait, what?
“Are you even still interested in cheerleading, Sally? If you’re not, let me know now.”
Then she ended the call. My heart skipped a beat. How could Yvonne do this? She never told me about the practice yesterday.
I didn’t need to think twice before I jumped out of bed, grabbed my towel, and hurried to the bathroom to get ready.
Maybe I should stop worrying about Yvonne. She doesn’t care about me and still treats me like an enemy. It’s over.
I rushed through my shower, my mind swirling with a mix of anger and disbelief. How could Yvonne sabotage me like this? I quickly dried off, threw on my cheerleading uniform, and tied my hair back into a ponytail. I grabbed my bag, shoved my phone inside, and made my way downstairs.
When I reached the kitchen, I found Mom sipping coffee at the table. She looked up at me with a smile. “Good morning, sweetie. Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t express my frustration without taking too much time. Instead, I just signed, “Cheerleading practice. I’m late.”
Mom nodded, her brow furrowed with concern. “Okay, but don’t forget to have breakfast when you get back.”
I forced a smile and gave her a thumbs up before heading out the door. As I walked towards the cheerleading practice, my anger only grew. I couldn’t believe Yvonne would do something like this to me. It was like she was actively trying to ruin my life.
When I finally reached the field, I saw my teammates huddled together, stretching and warming up. I scanned the group for Yvonne, and when our eyes met, she gave me a smug, triumphant smile. That was the final straw. I marched up to her, my hands already signing furiously.
“How could you lie to the coach like that?” I showed her text on my phone, “You never told me about the practice!”
Yvonne rolled her eyes, a cruel smirk playing on her lips. “Oh, I’m sorry. I must have forgotten. You know how forgetful I can be.”
I wanted to scream. It was obvious that she was enjoying this-enjoying my anger and frustration. I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. I couldn’t let Yvonne get the best of me, and I couldn’t let her ruin cheerleading for me. I was better than that.
Ignoring her, I turned away and joined the rest of my teammates in their warm-up. It was time to focus on practice and prove that Yvonne’s petty actions wouldn’t hold me back.