Chapter 3

(Anj’s POV)

“You should have taken medicine, Angela,” Sister Grace said, her index finger holding my chin as if balancing my face. As of my count, she sighed three times already just from studying my face.

Dylan and I had to hurry to take the blankets from the clothesline outside because the cluster of clouds covered the perfect blue sky, hiding the sun and promising a thunderstorm. We reached the porch just in time for clouds to shower their tears on the ground, but before I could hide from Sister Grace, she had already opened the door and seen us.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, glancing at Dylan, suppressing a smile on his pressed lips. My eyes narrowed as I watched him continue our work. “Does my hideous face bother you, Sister?” I asked, showing a playful smile at her.

She scoffed at me, placing her hand on my hair, brushing off the strands on my puffy face to the side, and putting on my blue peacock hair clip.

“Yes and no. Yes, I am bothered, but you’re not hideous,” she said as she placed her hands on my shoulders. The door opened, and Mrs. Antonetta, the culprit, gasped as she saw me.

“Who is this ugly girl, Sister Grace?” The eighty-year-old nursing home resident asked, tilting her head from side to side as she tried to recognize me.

Dylan could not help himself roaring with laughter upon hearing Mrs. Antonetta. He shook his head, glancing at me again, winking, and mouthing, ‘Don’t believe her. You’re still beautiful.” I felt the heat on my cheeks, blushing as he gazed at me.

“Good morning, Mrs. Antonetta!” I greeted her as I helped her step onto the porch, and it was also my opportunity to pretend not to mind Dylan.

“Oh… but you sounded like Angela,” she said, still looking at my face as she sat on the wooden bench.

“Because I am Angela,” I answered, walking toward Dylan and punching him in his arm. “I hate you,” I said, frowning at him before taking the book in my bag, but he only laughed at me.

“What happened to you? You can’t go to a party like that,” she said, adjusting her eyeglasses as I handed her the book she reads daily.

Sister Grace only looked at me, not saying anything.  I know that face, a look that she is still undecided whether to allow me to go or not. With my face now, I would rather not go and sulk in my room later.

“Then, I won’t go,” I twitched my lips as I went back to Dylan’s side, helping him fold the other blankets.  “I can’t go looking like this, right, Mrs. Antonetta?”

“It’ll wear off later,” Sister Grace said and heaved a sigh. “You know that this is not a children’s party, right? People coming to this place are the same age as Anya or older than her. You’re only sixteen,” she reminded me.

“Seventeen,” I corrected, hoping I was also right.

“She’s a forty-year-old woman in a seventeen-year-old body, Sister Grace,” exclaimed Mrs. Antonetta as she chuckled. “Let this poor girl go to the party.” She turned to Dylan. “How about you, young man? Will you be going to the party?”

He shook his head. “I have to work at the convenience store later tonight,” he answered, glancing at me with a worried look in his eyes.

“You’re all wasting your youth. When I was your age, I would go to every party and enjoy my life,” she smiled at me, leaning her head toward me to whisper. “And make out to interesting guys. Do you have a boyfriend, Angela?”

When I shook my head, she gasped and chuckled softly.

“Why? Don’t they find you interesting?” she asked curiously. “What are you doing at that university? Just study? Are there no gorgeous guys in that place?” Although we knew she wasn't, her eyes were round, pretending to be horrified.

“Mrs. Antonetta, when Miss Genius here set her foot in the university with Anya and me, she’s only twelve,” Dylan chuckled, tousling my hair. I hissed at him, hating him whenever he did it to me. “Not only she’s young, but every guy is intimidated by her intelligence,” he explained as he leaned on the railing of the porch, crossing his arms to his chest as he fixed his eyes on me.

She nodded. “I’m getting older. I keep forgetting that your brain is bigger than your head,” she grinned at Dylan, her eyes flickered toward me. “You have to hurry to guard this young lady here. She might be taken away by her alien family. They might realize they’re losing one of their species and take her from us.”

I pursed my lips but curved a smile when I saw Sister Grace rolling her eyes at her.

“She can’t have a boyfriend until she reaches the age of eighteen,” My legal guardian cut in, but Mrs. Antonietta only laughed at her.

“Angela, don’t be like Sister Grace. All she did was pray, serve, and work here,” she sneered.

“She’s a nun,” I reminded her, picking up the blankets Dylan had already folded and handing them to Sister Grace, just smiling at her.

Mrs. Antonetta chuckled, flickering her eyes on her. “I always forget that. Come on, Sister Grace, give this poor girl a break. Let her brain stop working for a while. Allow her to go.”

“Fine,” she said, kissing the top of my head. “You can go, but you must bring Mrs. Wilbur the flowers for the offering for the service tomorrow morning. Make sure to bring it later before you and Anya go to the party.”

My heart leaps, jumping with joy as I hear the answer to the prayer I have been asking for days. My eyes went round, looking quickly at Dylan to make sure I heard her right. When he nodded, I pressed my lips, suppressing showing an excited and cheerful smile. She seldom allows me to go anywhere with Anya except the university, library, or the supermarket, and today was like an upgrade to my boring life.

She was about to enter the door when I called Sister Grace. “Why?” I asked her, suddenly suspicious and curious about her allowing me to go.

“Consider it my birthday gift to you, Angela,” she answered. “But as I told you, this kind of party is not for you, and there will be drinking and who knows what else. Don’t make me worry.”

“Pfft! You have nothing to worry about with our little Angel here,” interrupted Mrs. Antonetta. “With that face, she’ll probably be the number one wallflower tonight, Sister Grace.”

“Ouch!” I laughed, but Dylan only shook his head. “Thanks for the kind words, Mrs. Antonetta,” I said, hiding the sarcasm in my words. “But I was hoping to find my prince charming tonight,” I joked, causing Dylan to raise his eyebrows.

She giggled, gesturing her hand and telling me to come closer. I walked to her side, sat on the couch, and then waggled my eyebrows at Dylan, which he only smiled as we both waited for whatever crazy advice Mrs. Antonetta would give.

“Take your medicine, Angela. Don’t look like an ugly monkey at the party tonight. Make sure that tomorrow when you come here, I will only hear good news and that you found a boyfriend and had your first kiss,” she giggled as if she were a teenager.

“Mrs. Antonetta, didn’t you hear what Sister Grace said? She can’t have a boyfriend until she reaches the age of eighteen,” Dylan reminded her, but she only scoffed at him, gesturing her hand, waving in the air to tell me to ignore him.

I smiled at her, wanting to escape from a topic I dislike hearing from her with Dylan around. “I can’t be reckless.”

Whoever my parents are, I can’t be careless like them. Anya and Dylan knew that I had planned my life already, and the only stumbling block I had in my life was the lack of resources and time. I didn’t tell them I had received scholarships abroad, but I couldn’t leave Sister Grace yet. She is the only mother I know, and I can’t be selfish leaving her when I know she needs me right now. She and Aunt Rose are trying to keep it from us, but we know that Sister Grace is sick.

At eighteen…

Although she has given me the freedom to decide for myself and my future, still, I want to keep my promise that I will stay with her until I reach the age of eighteen. I heaved a deep sigh, unsure of the age because I would not leave her as long as she needed me by her side.

When I tilted my head, looking at Mrs. Antonetta, she was smiling at me.

“Sometimes it is nice to have a devil-may-care attitude toward life, Angela,” she said, carefully touching my face. “It’s the excitement of doing something without thinking that is fun. Allow your heart to decide for you once in a while. You will realize that your heart is much wiser than your brain.”

I held her hands. “I will not let my heart decide for me, Mrs. Antonetta.” Not for now.

She poked my forehead. “I’m not asking you to get married, Angela. Just do something crazy once in a while.”

I rose to my feet, squinting my eyes at her. “Define something crazy, Mrs. Antonetta.”

She chuckled, placing her palm in her heart. “Allow your heart to think, Angela.”

“The bad news is the heart has no brain on its own,” I argued with her, glancing at Dylan, hoping he would stop me, but he seemed to be enjoying listening to us.

She took a deep breath, raising her hands in the air, showing her surrender. “If that’s what you think, Miss Genius, but FYI, our brain is more stupid than our heart.”

I chuckled, looking up at the sky as I wondered what would make my heart do to make my brain stop from doing right.