"This is your house?!" said Linda in disbelief.
I replied that remark with an awkward smile. "Come on in", I said.
The two girls gingerly took off their shoes and sat on the sofa while turning their heads around now and then—probably in awe of the ancient paintings or the fragile-looking urns or just the sheer size of the living room. I've never invited any of my friends to my house before. Mainly because I was not the type of girl who easily befriend other people; and that was understandable: I was ugly. Well, no one ever said that to my face but at least I perceived myself to be. It was not that type of non-prettiness that made no one notice you, but it was the type that made everybody noticed you. I was short, I spoke funny, and hairs grew in parts where they should not (shaving them had been useless).
But fortunately, after passing my first three horrible months of Senior High School, these two girls "adopted" me. The same level of unpopularity, I presumed, was what made us stick together.
"Forget homework, you owe us an explanation. What are you? A minister's daughter or something?" teased Irva.
"What? No, of course not."
"So, what is your father's job?"
That had always been a hard question for me. "Umm, actually I don't know. Since I was little, he was no longer with us."
"Oh, sorry, Wenny," said both of them after a brief awkward silence ensued.
"He was not dead or anything. We just didn't know where he is. Haha," I added.
"So, there is only you and your mother in this—," Linda gestured to her surroundings "—castle?"
"There is Bibi who helps us, though."
"Your mother? Is she in the house right now?" A follow up question by Irva.