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Milly stalked Zahra’s MeeHive profile. Zahra had 1,037 followers. How could someone know 1000 people? Milly had 26 followers - and she was sure a few of them were her duplicate accounts that she used to secretly look at pictures of teen heartthrobs. Yeah… she was trying to quit that habit.
But… Zahra and Milly followed each other. She looked through Zahra’s photos. There was one of Zahra singing on stage at a wedding dinner - there was a spotlight on her and she wore a sparkly dress. Another photo was of Zahra in New Lanbina - at an ancient Kintan temple. The temple was pyramidal shaped and made of mossy stone - the Kintan’s were known for blood sacrifices - Milly had seen a documentary with Mama. With Mama it was always educational content and raisins, and with Mom you could pig out with burgers and watch pro wrestling.
Milly tapped on the next photo - Zahra was at the beach and she was wearing a bathing suit. This was bad. This was wrong. So weird and wrong. Milly accidentally tapped the heart button on the photo. She died inside. She quickly tapped again to un-heart.
She clicked her phone off and put her head under her pillow. She pressed her face into her bedsheets and groaned. Zahra confessed her feelings to Milly, but they hadn’t talked since. Milly hadn’t reciprocated - she was so dumb. She should just message her, but Stevie had seeded doubt into her. Besides, she was scared - what if Zahra didn’t really like her?
Zahra bullied her for years after all. They had hated each other. But then they both changed. Zahra’s grandmother had passed away and Zahra wanted to make her proud - not be the bully that she was. Milly didn’t want to be angry at the world anymore. She had made friends - even though they had stopped being friends with each other.
Buzz! Milly looked at her phone. It was a message from Zahra.
Zahra: “Hey! I hope I didn’t scare you off.”
Oh no! Milly opened the chat and began typing - she went back and forth and eventually said: “No you didn’t. I think you are great.”
I think you are great. Why did Milly type that…There was a pause where Zahra was typing.
Buzz! Zahra: “That’s a relief. I was going to take back what I said at the diner because you didn’t say anything.”
Milly: “What do you mean take it back?”
Zahra paused for a moment: “Nevermind. Don’t worry.”
MIlly paused - this conversation was strange - not like they had talked that day. Something was off.
Milly: “We fought so much - with all the bullying… How are we like this now?”
There was a pause - Zahra was typing - then not typing.
Zahra: “It wasn’t really bullying…”
It wasn’t really bullying? Zahra had convinced the whole school that Milly smelt like sardines. No one wanted to be in a two metre radius of Milly. And it was not just Zahra - it was Rosa and the rest of the villain squad. Everyone was against her.
Milly: “It was bullying.”
Zahra typed almost instantly: “What? Don’t be so serious… It’s in the past.”
Milly was furious. The nerve of Zahra. How could she just ignore years of bullying? Was Milly to forget all this and move on with her life? This was gaslighting!
Milly messaged back: “BULLY!”
Zahra saw the message and began to type but didn’t reply. Milly looked at the words and then deleted the message. Not that it made any difference. It had already been seen.
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“Milly! Wake up!” Mom called from the staircase. Milly hid under the covers and didn’t answer.
Fifteen minutes later Mom came upstairs with a cup of Zilo - a popular malt chocolate drink with added zinc. She wasn’t working until the afternoon and was still in her sunflower pyjamas.
“Baby you have to wake up,” Mom said, placing the Zilo on the dresser.
“I’m sick…” Milly grumbled.
”You're sick? Come over here baby,” Mom said.
Milly didn’t look sick. Mom felt her forehead and it was cool. However Milly’s expression was dead. She looked like she hadn’t slept all night - her eyes were red and watery.
“Do you feel like you are having the flu?” Mom asked.
“Yeah… I mean…” Milly said.
”What’s wrong baby?” Mom said.
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Mom might have let her stay at home, but Mama was a different story… Mama came into the room wearing her Insignia sports wear - black and tight with white ‘I’ logos in the corners. She was hot and slightly puffed - a bit pink too - after going on a 10 km run. Her ice blue eyes could see through any bluff. She was a scientist after all and she wouldn’t entertain any poppycock.
”Milly you are fine. Off to school,” Mama said.
“Please Mama - I’m not feeling well,” Milly begged.
“It’s only one day. I might take the day off as well,” Mom said.
Mama was irritated by Mom - she always undermined her decisions.
”No, that is nonsense. Utter nonsense. You have to go to school. Why don’t you want to go to school Milly? What’s the real reason?” Mama asked.
Milly wanted to tell them. But, she was hesitant.
“Go on. Spit it out,” Mama sat coldly.
“I had a fight with… the girl I like… we hate each other now… I don’t want to go to school and see her…” Milly said.
Mom seemed to melt a bit by Milly’s confession. She leaned in to hug Milly.
Mama relaxed a bit too, “You can’t miss something important like school - how are you going to go to university if you don’t get good grades. Girls come and go - but you have to carry on,” Mama said.
Mom gave Mama a desperate look. Mama scratched her head.
”If you aren’t going to do any learning at school, then you are coming with me to the lab,” Mama gave in, “no lounging around at home feeling sorry for yourself!”
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March Pharmaceuticals was a multi-billion dollar incorporation with thousands of employees. Mama was one of the head clinical pharmacologists in the Savannah labs - here she wasn’t Mama but Dr. Clarice Clarke. She made sure that all her colleagues would address her properly - all those years of education weren’t for nothing.
“Dr. Clarke, I got the results back on that MCAD-21 analysis,” Robert said. He was a thin bean shaped man with light patchy stubble and a pasty white skin.
Milly sat down next to Mama on the stool bored out of her mind. The lab was immaculate with long white benches with various tubes and machines. Mama made Milly wear a lab coat, gloves, and goggles which were tight behind the ears. She was sure there was an indent in her skin. She pulled on it to relieve the pressure, but she kept doing it and it didn’t help.
Mama was pipetting drops of a new drug onto cell lines and recording the voltage. She was so focused but occasionally asked Milly super hard questions that she had no clue what the answer was. Robert was droning on about the test results and Milly found herself nodding off. If she had gone to work with Mom she would be planting or watering flowers. She hadn’t actually been to work with Mom before, but she imagined it would be relaxing - fun in the sun - lemonade... The lab smelt like sanitiser and when she coughed there was an echo in the room.
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“Dr. Clarke,” a man called out from the door - Milly looked over and recognised him immediately. It was that boy’s dad! The boy who tripped her up at the diner. He was smiling with his wide blue eyes and grey-brown goatee.
“Dr. Minerty,” Mama said with a smile, “Don’t come in here and ruin my test results.”
”Hey wouldn’t try,” he laughed, he said coming in and taking off his coat and hat, “I have great news!”
”No?” Mama said, “We didn’t.”
”We officially have the ethical approval for the OBG-2 project,” Dr Minerty said.
“Excellent!” Mama said, “We finally stuck it to those assholes.”
Dr Minerty came closer and gave Milly a smile, “Nice to finally meet you Milly! I sense you will be a great scientist like your mother.”
”If she manages to go to school then she will be,” Mama said.
”I wonder if you know my nephew - he goes to Savannah Highschool - Joseph?” Dr Minerty asked.
Joseph? Who the heck was Joseph? Milly shook her head.
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”Shall we all go to lunch to celebrate?” Dr Minerty said.
“Work never ends… I’ll have to take a rain check,” Mama said going back to her cell lines.
“I can never get you to relax Clarice,” he laughed.
”Hey! It’s Dr. Clarke. We’re professionals,” Mama said with annoyance.
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The real reason why Mama didn’t want to go for lunch was that it was unnecessary caloric junk and they had already packed some lunch. Milly nibbled on her tuna fish and cucumber sandwich in the staff room with Mama. Phones weren’t allowed in the lab - they were a distraction from scientific discovery - but Mama had let her use it at lunch. Milly kept looking at Zahra and her chat log. BULLY! All in capitals. That’s what she had written, but had since deleted.
“Can I get a chocolate bar from the machine?” Milly asked.
Mama sighed, “High in sugar Milly… Wait…”
Mama dug into her drawer and pulled out a half opened packet of Ginger biscuits, “Here take one - it’s better for you.”
When Mama offered you something - you had to take it. Milly took one of the ginger biscuits - it was hard and round with cracks in it like the desert. She nibbled on it. It was hard, but not terrible.
“Entrance exams are only around the corner,” Mama said, “I want you to take science and mathematics more seriously. They are fundamental subjects. The basis for any good tertiary education.”
Milly nodded. Milly didn’t mind science or maths. Maths was kind of relaxing when listening to music - not that Mr Loons would let you have earbuds in. Milly thought about singing. She now knew she had a decent voice. Angela and Mr Zimmerman thought so - and she might be in the school play. She imagined singing atop a stage like a Mountain Queen, as Fred had called her. Maybe that was her true calling?
“What… What if I want to sing?” Milly said cautiously - she almost knew the response straight away.
”It would be a great extracurricular for sure… But seriously as a job? Not exactly the most stable, am I right?” Mama laughed.
Milly nodded and didn’t say anything. Mama’s phone started to ring. It scared Milly and she nearly jumped.
“Dr. Clarke,” Mama said. There was a pause.
”What?!” Mama hissed.
Mama’s face scrunched up like paper trash. Milly never saw Mama panic - she was always in control.
“Come on,” Mama pulled Milly up.
”What happened?” Milly said in distress.
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Milly and Mama stood in the hospital corridor impatiently. Mama was furious - bright red in the face. She looked like she could kill someone.
“Bloody incompetent doctors… I could do their job with my eyes closed…” she muttered.
Milly was mortified. She had retracted into herself. She sat and looked at the door hoping that Mom would come out fine. Mom collapsed at work and had a painful headache. That’s what the other gardeners had said. The doctors were busy trying to save Mom’s life.
A dark skinned bald doctor came out of the ward, “Clarissa Clarke?”
”Clarice,” Mom said sternly, “What the heck is going on?!”
“I have something to discuss with you regarding her condition - can you come with me to a private room?” He said.
“Milly wait here,” Mama said.
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Now Milly was alone. Was Mom going to die? This couldn’t be happening? Why would the doctor ask to see Mama in private if he wasn’t going to tell her that Mom died? Milly pulled her knees up to her chest - she was hyperventilating. The world was enclosing around her, shaking, breaking, and everything went black…
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