THE CRYSTAL CUP - chapter seven

THE CRYSTAL CUP

chapter seven

 Estela is seventeen years old. And, being the youngest in a family of three sisters, she thinks she has the right to be “the princess of the house”. After all, her smallest whims are taken care of by her parents. Her sisters are the ones who don't like the story very much, but… so what? Helena, eight years older, is very boring. She keeps wanting to give her orders... it even seems like she would obey her sister, really. The last of the two was a fight over one of Helena's blouses that she used to go out with Jairo, her boyfriend. What a carnival Helena did when she saw her come home wearing that little blue blouse with ruffles on the sleeves, the cutest little thing, my God... It was perfect, thought Estela, when she put it on...it looked better on me than it does on her, she thought. And, without thinking too much, she put on Helena's favorite shirt and went out with her boyfriend to go to the movies. And then when they arrived...

When Helena saw her sister arrive, wearing her clothes without permission, she practically flew over her.

When her mother noticed the heated discussion going on, she ran outside to see what was going on. And she saw Helena attacking Estela. And that was wrong, after all Helena was much older than her sister, thought the mother...

The bus pointed at the corner, and Estela wakes up from her thoughts. She's already late for the remedial class she's taking… she's kind of bad at math, she's terrible at physics… the only subject she's good at is physical education. It is a pity that in Brazil doing well in sports has no influence when it comes to enrolling in college... At least in the films shown in the United States, if the student does poorly in the curriculum subjects, but is a good sportsman, has great chances of attending a university...

It was after seven in the evening when the girl arrived home. Her mother was already worried. After all, she left early in the morning, said she was going to study for the test at a colleague's house, and disappeared all day. To make sure everything was perfect, she left her cell phone off. “Where have you been, girl?” asks the mother, distressed… “Don't you know we get worried? How could you disappear like that all this time?” Estela pretends she didn't hear. Her mom puts her hand on her shoulder and stops her…

- Didn't you hear what I said?

-Huh? What's up, Mom?

- I asked where you were until now. It wasn't at a friend's house… I called them all when you didn't show up for lunch, and nobody saw you today…

- What a bag, mom! I needed some time to think...

-Think? In what? Do you think of anything at all?

- Mom, give it a break! I'm full of problems....

- What problems? Your life is just eating and sleeping...

- Mother!!!

- But it's the purest truth. Her sisters, when they were her age, already worked...

- All right, it's started...

- Daughter, what I'm saying is that, for you, we can give you a better life... you have chances that your sisters never had...

- And by any chance it's my fault?

- That's not what I said… why did you disappear all day?

- I told you… I had to think about some problems…

- But what are these problems?

- It's a private thing, mom... I'll talk later...

- Okay… and school?

- I missed today… I went shopping, then watched a movie…

- And he still says he has problems... I wanted to have a life like yours, when I was your age...

- I know... you always say that...

- And it's not? Go to bed whenever you want, get up when you want, go to school only when you feel like it... you'll do it again if you don't take care of yourself. If you show your report card to a bull in an arena, you don't even need a red flag...

- Mom, stop being exaggerated!

- Exaggerated? Who's bad at Portuguese, math, history, bio...

- Mom, enough!

- History! How can anyone fail in History, my God? It's such a nice thing to see...

- For God's sake... if you don't stop, I'm going out again!

- Ah, but you really won't, young lady… do you think you're already the owner of your own nose?

- Mother…

- Your father and I do everything for you… the only thing we ask is that you take your studies seriously… I don't think it's too much to ask…

Estela was livid. She ground her teeth together. She looked at her mother with a furious expression, turned her back on her and went upstairs towards the bedrooms…

- Young lady, come back here! I'm not done talking to you yet...

Estela continued to climb, and answered, without turning around…

- It's over, yes. Goodnight!

- But… you're not going to eat? Dinner is ready!

- I'm not hungry. I ate lunch at the mall…

She just went up the stairs and locked herself in her room. Her mother stood there, not knowing what to do. Then she felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder. It was Mario, her husband and the parents of the three girls.

- Tough day, huh?

- You have no idea… I swear I don't know what's going on in that girl's head!

- Calm down Janete… leave her alone! There are times when all we need is to be alone! Remember when you were her age, anything that happened felt like the world was going to end?

- It was different, Mario...

- Of course it was different. After all, things were happening to you, weren't they?

- Mario, you know how things are...

- No, honey… I don't know. Why don't you tell me?

- …

- That's how we do it... let's have dinner, so you fill me in on everything that's going on...

- I…

- I don't know about you, but I'm starving... and your food smells so good...

- Mario...

- Estela's bad luck, not being hungry... there will be more for me...

Janet smiled. And, embracing, the two went to the kitchen. Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Estela paced back and forth, as if she were trapped in a cage. Her face was still tense. She really was worried. After some time, she sat up in bed, put her hands on her face and stayed like that. She took out her cell phone, looked at something on it and put it away again. She stood still, looking at nothing in infinity… it was as if her physical body was there, but not her spirit. She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, as if she wanted to see through it and see what lay beyond. And so she stayed, until she ended up falling asleep, shoes and all, because she hadn't bothered to take them off...