Excerpt: December Parasite

December Parasite

By: Riona Dawn
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Chapter 1

As I looked up, and the first drop of water fell on my head, I wondered why it always had to rain right after I got my hair cut.

“Oh, you’re kidding me,” I whined, looking around for any possible shelter.

I quickened my pace, thankful that I didn’t live very far. Regardless, when I got home, my hair was soaked, and I knew that when it dried, it would be just as frizzy as ever.

My dad was home early, and greeted me, “Nadare, sweetheart, did you walk home in the rain?”

I shrugged, “It’s not like we live far from school, dad. Besides, I had a hair appointment, remember? I stopped by the salon…”

He rubbed my wet hair, “Well, I’m sure that’ll look good once it’s dry.”

Hardly, I thought bitterly, before saying, “You’re home early. You’re not usually here until 7.”

“I start my vacation today, remember? You’re mum and I are leaving for Indonesia tomorrow.”

“Oh, right,” I muttered, then sighed. My mother was a travel agent, so they went on trips at least twice a year. Which meant that my grandmother would be coming to look after me, since I wasn’t allowed to miss school to go on trips with them.

It’s not that I didn’t love my grandmother, but her English wasn’t very good, and my Japanese was even worst. So most of the time the two weeks were filled of her complaining about how my mother should have been more strict about my learning Japanese, and how disappointed she was in my mum for choosing a British man. Then the subject would turn to me, and how his British blood tainted what could have been flawless and beautiful Asian features.

Ha, as if I needed a reminder. My dad’s curly hair was the reason for all of the frizz I had to deal with, and my bigger bone structure really didn’t compliment my height. Probably my only good feature was my skin, which had always been really soft compared to other kids my age.

“Well, I hope you two have fun,” I said and forced a smile. There was no reason for him to know how miserable I was when Grandma Yagami was visiting.

“Actually, Nadare… You’re mother and I have been talking, and we thought that you’d might want to come with us this time.”

My eyes widened in shock, “Wha… Really? But, I thought you didn’t want me travelling during the school year.”

He nodded, “Normally, yes, but we’ve spoken with your teachers, and they’ve agreed on the condition that you keep your studies up while you’re gone. And you’ll be back just in time for your exam review. Honestly, your marks have been good lately, so we didn’t see any reason to leave you home this time.”

I jumped up and hugged him tightly, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

He laughed, “Besides, your birthday’s in a month, think of it as an early birthday present.”

It was then that my mum came in through the front door, “Richard, did you tell – Nadare, you’re soaked, didn’t you have your umbrella with you?”

I shrugged, “I left it here, the clouds didn’t look that bad.”

She shook her head, and I could tell that she was ready to lecture me, so I tried to change the subject, “So, dad says that I can go with you guys to Indonesia?”

“Ah,” She nodded, “Yes, that’s what I was going to ask about. Now, it’s up to you, if you don’t want to miss two weeks of school, we’ll understand, but…”

“Are you kidding? I’d love to go! I’m going to go start packing!” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then stood on my tiptoes to do the same to my dad.

I ran quickly to my room, stopping only to grab my suitcases from the storage closet. Unlike my parents, I didn’t get to travel that often. I’d gone to Florida with them on Christmas break the year before, and another trip to the east coast for the summer a couple of years before that, so my suitcases were buried deep in the closet, and smelled like mothballs, but I didn’t care right then. For once, I was actually going on a trip worth going on.