First of all, apologies for taking so long to get back into this story. I was busy posting some old writing I had completed, but am anxious to continue with the perils of Mokie.
Thank you for all the comments, suggestions and emails. Please know that, while revenge is on the agenda further on up the road, things will get worse before they get better.
If you have not read the first seven installments of this story, you might want to before jumping in here. As always, comments are greatly appreciated, especially if you do not comment anonymously...I like to be able to reply directly to the commenter, good or bad.
Thank you,
Abob1
.....
Mokie broke the embrace to stick out her tongue and show Panda her piercing.
"My mom is coming up, and she is pissed because of this. Try to have my back, please?"
Panda gasped. "You slut!" she mocked, jokingly.
Mokie smiled and playfully pushed her, masking the pain these words caused her internally with an outward lighthearted gesture.
"Shut up!" she said with a giggle. She hated herself.
Mrs. Lau burst through the door, her fury over the tongue ring having been fanned with every minute she was kept waiting downstairs.
"Mom!" Mokie started, trying to quell the flames by moving in for a hug. "What a great sur-"
Her mom caught her mouth in her hand and pinched her cheeks together. Mokie's tongue stud glinted in the kitchen light. Mrs. Lau's rage was replaced by utter disappointment, as if, despite Mokie's own admission, she only now believed that this piercing was legitimate. Mokie would have preferred anger to disappointment, and her heart fell to her stomach.
"Honey..." her mother began, then trailed off. She just shook her head.
"Mom, please. Let's go to the cafe and we can talk about this. Look," she continued, gesturing towards Panda. "Panda is here. Let's not fight in front of her."
Mrs. Lau consented with a nod of her head, and Mokie returned to her room to get dressed.
.....
Around the table at the cafe, the three of them tried to make small talk, but it was clear that Mrs. Lau would not be able to converse in a casual fashion until she unloaded her tirade on Mokie. She was visibly frustrated with Panda's presence, as her sense of decorum and decency was preventing her from lambasting her daughter in front of her niece, especially in public.
Mokie exchanged knowing glances with Panda, hoping to come up with something to say, to break the awkward silences that hung like an anvil over her head. She was just waiting for the weight to drop.
"Mrs. Lau," Panda began. "I don't mean to intrude on your family business, but what Mokie did is not really a big deal."
Both Mokie and her mother turned to her in astonishment.
"I mean it!" she continued. "These days, piercings are pretty common. Most girls have at least one somewhere other than their ears." The plea seemed to be falling on deaf ears, but Panda was persistent.
"Look. I know it is a bit of a shock. But at the end of the day, you have a daughter who is scheduled to graduate at the end of the month with honors. If the worst thing that happened to her in college is a tongue piercing, that is a pretty good trade. It's not like she got a tattoo, or something else irreversible!"
Mokie did her best to display a stoic face, despite her desire to cringe at this line. She knew if she made any gesture, she would give herself away, and her other piercings and tattoos might be discovered.
"Panda, some day you will understand what it feels like to have a child disappoint you. I admit that I had not felt that in my entire life until this week, but now that disappointment is deep within me, and it will not be assuaged by the logic of a teenager."
Panda gulped and immediately relented her argument. Mokie fought back tears. Only now did she understand just how badly she had let her mother down.
Her mind was racing in every direction. She wanted to ask Panda to leave them alone, and unveil everything she had been through. To come clean, to prove to her mom that it was not her fault. That Jason had masterminded her demise, and it was only out of fear of letting down her mom and dad that she endured such punishment.
But the other half of the equation loomed large. What if her mother just blamed her for allowing it to happen? Why would she ever think that her parents would rather she become a slut instead of having to stay an extra semester in college? What had she been thinking?
Her train of thought was interrupted when the cafe door swung open and Jason walked in. She knew immediately that he had followed them here. Why else would he be awake and at this exact spot at 7am in the morning?
Mrs. Lau followed her daughter's eyes to Jason, and then returned her gaze to Mokie.
"This is the problem, Monique. I know you have had a thing for Jason since you were in high school. He is a very handsome guy, but he is not the kind of guy to be attracted to a tongue stud. He is a TA, for Christ's sake! He is looking for brains, which you have in abundance. But when you do this to yourself, you take on the persona of a....of a...."
Her mouth was forming the words but she could not bring herself to say it.
"A what, mom? A slut? A whore?" Mokie hissed. "That might have been true in your generation. But that is not the case anymore. This doesn't mean anything. It is no big deal!"
Mrs. Lau huffed through her nose, irate, and she turned to grab Jason's attention. Mokie's heart started racing, her anxiety escalating at the uncertainty of what her mom had planned. Jason was picking up a coffee from the counter when Mrs. Lau called to him.
"Mrs. Lau!" he said with mock surprise. "What a great surprise! What brings you here?" He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, staring lasciviously at Mokie as he did so.
"An intervention, I'm afraid. Would you please join us for a minute?"
"Of course," Jason answered, pulling out the remaining chair and setting down his cup. "How can I help?"
"I want you to tell Mokie what you told me yesterday, about how her tongue piercing attracts a certain kind of guy."
Mokie had her head in her hands, wanting to run away from it all. She, of course, knew what Jason had said, having been in the passenger seat of the car when he said it. Nonetheless, she sat and waited as Jason recited it for her.
"Mokie, I am not saying anything bad about you, but when you get a piercing there, it sends a certain image to guys that you might not want to send."
"Exactly!" her mother said. "Thank you, Jason. I couldn't have said it better myself."
She turned to Mokie and continued. "You know, I always knew you liked Jason, and yesterday, he called just to tell me that he was TAing in a class that you were taking. So I asked him if he would be interested in you, and he said no, because that piercing leads him to believe that you get around."
"What! Mom! Jason!" she shouted, louder than she should have given the environment. "How could you, Jason! That is so far from the truth!"
She caught her volume and lowered it a few notches, so that only the people at this table could hear her.
"Mom, I have not been with any guys, at all! Not that it is any of your business. Or yours, Jason!"