Chapter 3 - Leave me alone

After that terrible, well, incident, I had a Computers class – the last of the day. I just wanted to go home and rest, but I still had to go pick up my sister. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays she stayed at her school until the time I left mine – she was in the Drama club, and they practiced all year for the School Year Ending Super Party (yes, that’s what it was called). When she didn’t have practice and left school early our aunt would pick her up and spend some time with her, bringing her home when I arrived.

Cecilia was seven years old – she was in second grade. Everyone said she looked exactly like me when I was her age, but I didn’t think so. She was actually much taller than I was, she took after our dad. She was bound to surpass me one day – I’d give her 4 more years.

I said goodbye to the girls and Johnny in front of the school. Nora’s mom always came to pick her up by car, because she lived a little further than we did. Sophia sometimes walked home with me (her house is on the way to mine) when I didn’t need to go pick up Cecilia, but that day she wanted to stay a little bit more with Johnny.

As I walked through the bright streets, surrounded by many students who rushed to catch a bus or just walked slowly, still feeling the excitement of the end of classes, I thought about my unusually eventful day. Would that stupid idea come to bite us in the ass? I don’t know what Sophia told him – well, she had obviously asked him his name, but how? Just like that, Hi, what’s your name, or had she invented some fabulous tale to trick him into it? He’d probably think she was crazy. Or what if he had thought Sophia was interested in him, or some kind of stalker?

I slapped my forehead in the middle of the street, earning several looks of weirdness from the people surrounding me, which I ignored. Johnny was pretty popular – what if he knew the guy, Rick (the name sounded so wrong in my mind) and somehow found out? Actually, he didn’t even need to personally know him to find out. Sophia would have to tell him, and I would never be able to look at Johnny’s face again because she and Nora would obviously pin it on me.

Another possibility struck me – what if he – Rick – thought we were making fun of him? He could even be a psychopath searching eagerly for revenge right at that moment, for all we knew. Or worse, he could be, like, super sensitive and had gone home crying or something...

I most definitely over-think things. The finally blatant throbs in my temples swept me out of my reverie, I realized I had passed my sister’s school two minutes ago. I turned back and was just starting to run when I bumped into someone whose head only reached my chest.

“Cee! You weren’t gonna say anything the whole way, were you?”

She grinned playfully. “Not really. You should pay more attention, or one day you might be attacked!”

“I can defend myself, Monkey.”

“I’m not a monkey!”

“Riiiight,” I said, dismissivly. “So, did you have a good practice?”

“Yeah! Mrs. Werther told us we were having a musical number too!” She sounded tremendously excited. “She told us the song, and it was something about a merry-go-round, and I told her my sister was called Mary too.”

I laughed. “She knows, Cee. Mrs. Werther was my teacher as well, you know?”

“So what Petey Kincaid said was true?”

“What did Petey Kincaid say?”

“He told us once that Mrs. Werther is like, two hundred years old!” I smiled at her now overwhelmed expression.

“She’s a bit old, yeah, but not two hundred years old! She wouldn’t be alive if she was,” I answered. Then I changed my tone to a somewhat curious one. “Hey, wasn’t Petey Kincaid your boyfriend?”

“That was last week, we broke up,” she stated very matter-of-factly. My mouth opened and I nodded understandingly. I had long since accepted my 7-year-old sister had a much busier social life than I did. But then again, I had my first boyfriend at the age of 6, so it was basically the same thing. At that point my mind reminded me that that had also been my only boyfriend.

I decided to change the subject. “Well, aren’t you gonna teach me the song you learned today?”

She sighed, impatiently. “I haven’t memorized it yet!” I could practically hear the duh! she added only in her mind.

“Ok, ok!” As we arrived at our porch I reached for my keys in my bag. They were, as usually, at the very bottom. Our parents weren’t home yet but mum would arrive soon and start making dinner; Dad would be home half an hour or so later. It happened as I had predicted – soon the four of us were sitting at the table. Mum and dad usually asked how our day had been – I had nothing against telling them about classes, but I kept most of the events that occured during breaks to myself and today wasn’t gonna be an exception. Cecilia always had a lot to tell, but I noticed her love adventures never seemed to come up either.

After dinner we had our usual routine – me and mum clearing the table, me and mum putting the dishes in the dishwasher, me and mum putting everything back in place... Somehow dad and the household Monkey always found something else to busy themselves with. Something that most of the times involve comfortably watching us work like slaves from the couch. We had once tried not doing the dishes and leaving everything as it was, but mum couldn’t bear it and went to clean up in the middle of the night.

We watched some TV together until it was time for Cecilia to go to bed. It was also the time in which I lazily let myself fall into my bed, lay on my stomach watching my favourite shows and thrill on the fact that it was Thursday, the day before Friday, which is the last day of the week (at least of school, but it’s basically the same thing.) I actually enjoyed some of my classes, but everyone needs to rest. Besides, Friday was one of the only days we didn’t have PE really early in the morning. So, hurray for Fridays.

The next morning I woke up still laying on my stomach and with my feet lying comfortably in my fluffy pillow, where my head should have been. This meant I had fallen asleep watching a movie, and mum had come to turn the TV off. Usually she’d put a blanket over me too, but it was so hot that must have thought my summer nightgown would be enough. She had begged me to get a new one, since this one, that had little pink flowers, sheep and moons all over it was getting ridiculously short, but it was so comfy that I refused to get rid of it.

I looked at the digital watch in the shelf above my bead – it read 9:14 am. I decided to get dressed and do some homework. When I was halfway through my Biology assignment, my cell phone rang. I opened it without even looking at the caller ID.

“Hello,” I said, not taking my eyes off the textbook.

“Is the Math report due today?”

“No. It’s next Thursday for me, so it should be due Tuesday for you.”

“Phew. Because I was so not gonna do it if it was today.” Nora never bothered to keep track of her Math assignments, because we had the same teacher and she kept all of her classes in sync in that area.

“So, Mares,” she continued, “change of plans. My slumber party?”

“Yeah.”

“Less slumbering and more swimming.”

“What?” I hated it when she talked in codes.

“It’s gonna be a pool party!” It was incredible how she managed to sound annoyed and super excited at the same time.

“A pool party?” I gave her my trademark frown and pressed my lips together, even though she couldn’t really see me. “Are you gonna invite more people?”

“Well, yeah. By the way, it’ll be a great opportunity for you to meet more people.”

“I know enough people...”

“You’re 15, live a little! And don’t forget – you’ll be 16 in, like, 4 months!”

“I know my own birthdate.”

“You know tons of stuff, I know. Let’s get back to my birthday.”

I smiled to myself. “I know when your birthday is.”

“Ah, and you also know where my house is, so be sure not to miss the party!”

“Let’s talk about this at school, ok?”

“Actually, there’s something else I wanted to talk about.”

“Hum.”

“We should go look for that guy.”

“Are you nuts?!”

“A little bit. But why not? We already know his name...”

“Yeah, and that’s already more than I wanted to know about him.”

“But what if he’s related to LG?”

“Who?”

“Lewis Gavin, woman. What’s wrong with you today?”

“Not today. I’m just not really ok with what we did.”

“You make it sound so dirty...”

“Goodbye Nora.” I hang up on her. It was interesting how most of our phone calls ended that way.

When I finished all the homework I had to do, I packed the books I was gonna need for the day. I had my lunch at home, alone, like every Friday. It was the sophomores’ free morning.

I walked to school thinking about my conversation with Nora. I had been to her house hundreds of times. In the Summer, we went to the pool everytime. But this would be different – an actual pool party. What do you wear to a pool party? A bikini, obviously. Dumbass. I was much more comfortable with the idea of the slumber party, with Nora and Sophia and a bunch of girls from our classes. Then another frightening thought crossed my mind. There would obviously be boys at the party. The only friend I had that was a boy was Johnny – and that was because he was Sophia’s boyfriend! My relationship with boys could be discribed as non-existent. I mean, I talked to boys in my classes in group works and stuff, and there’s Johnny – but that’s basically it. Sometimes I imagined myself getting older and turning into Miss Marple – old, sweet, intelligent as hell and very convinced that men – gentlemen – belong to a different species.

I sighed mentally as I rung the bell to Sophia’s house. I heard a hurried I’ll be right there! coming from the intercom. Half a minute later Sophia came out the door, as simple as always, with blue jeans and a plain black tank top.

“Hey Mary!”

“Hey.” We started walking together. I had promised myself I wouldn’t start talking about it right away, but I couldn’t help it. “Did Nora tell you about the party?”

Sophie kept her eyes on the sidewalk, but I could see her smirk to herself. “Yeah, she did. I knew you were going to mention that.”

I frowned and pouted a little, which made her giggle. “Don’t be so shy, Mary! It’s about time you started socializing.” She didn’t let me answer. “Nora and I thought it’d be better-”

“So you’ve been talking about this behind my back!”

“Well, we’re telling you now, aren’t we? One way or another, we have to boost your confidence levels.” She barely stopped to breathe not to let me interrupt. “Because that’s what this is about isn’t it? You need to start getting along with peolple...”

“Ok, alright! I’ll go to the party, I guess.” I put on my most annoyed face. “But I don’t even have anything to wear.”

She started laughing rather loudly.

“We can fix that.”

-

When we finally arrived at school, Nora was at the front gate in an obviously deep philosophical discussion with this guy I vaguely recalled as having seen in a class. Or maybe leaving one of her classes.

“Dude, it so totally rocks!” she was saying. “And the blood’s like spraying everywhere!” She demonstrated the afore mentioned scene by waving her arms like crazy around her head and missing my head by an inch. That’s when she noticed we were there – possibly because of my quick yelp.

“Oh, hey guys,” she greeted. “You’ve met Nico, right?”

We both said hi to Nico and left to class with Nora. This time we were all going to the same building – Nora and Sophia were having English Lit and I was having English.

Of course they brought up the subject of Nora’s party and how I needed to become more social. Like I haven’t heard that speech before.

“It’s going to be loads of fun and you’re going to meet tons of people!” Nora very excitedly stated.

“No need to be so hyperbolic,” I said, with a grunt.

“Hyper... you do realize I’m not a walking thesaurus, right?”

“Exaggerated,” I clarified.

“I’m not exa- Am I exaggerating, Sophy?”

“Always. But that’s not the point.” She flicked a curtain of blond hair behind her back. “The point is it IS going to be fun. What is it exactly that makes this pool party so dreadful?”

Me walking around in a bikini and boys everywhere.

“I just...” How could I possibly put that in other words? “I’m not used to go to parties like that, that’s all.”

“That’s the whole point!” Nora said, a bit exasperated. She turned to us, walking backwards. Her purple t-shirt had the picture of a cute kitten with bloody nails sticking out of its cute fury paws and the words “Fcuk Lassie” underneath. “Besides, it’s my birthday!” She pouted.

I frowned and pressed my lips together.

“I never said I wouldn’t go...”

Sophia clapped and Nora let out a big “yay!”.

“... but I don’t really have a bikini to wear.” I concluded.

“Worry not, my friend!” Nora assured, waving her finger in front of me. “I have TONS of bikinis. I would not let you show up at my pool party covered from head to toe with your black bathing suit.”

My bathing suit doesn’t even cover that much... I thought, pouting myself, as we reached the beige building where our classes would be.

English was rather uneventful. It was a grammar class so I was fairly bored – I finished the exercises before everyone else. I sat near the window, in the front row, and glanced up at the sky from time to time. It wasn’t as hot as the day before. Summer was most definitely welcoming Autumn.

The girls were right. I should definitely go. It was about time I started to grow out of my shyness. I would be a 16 year old in a few months. A 16 year old that’s never been kissed.

Sigh. See, I blame those kinds of thoughts on the infamous teenage hormones. It was all nice and dandy to fantasise about a romantic escapade with Lewis Gavin, but talking to a boy, and (God forbid!) flirting, were out of boundaries. Entering high school the past year had not been easy for me – but is there such a thing as an easy freshman year? But I mean, to stop being shy was easier said than done. And then, out of nowhere (gulp), I had to start thinking about that boy who looked like Lewis.

Oh, that’s right, now – thanks to my two crazy friends – he has a name. Rick.

“Bleh!” I said it out loud and got a weird look from the teacher, who asked me if I was alright.

For once I actually got out of class before those two did. I waited for them in front of their classroom. There was another girl there too, presumably also waiting for her friends.

Turned out the girl she was looking for was the first to come out of the classroom, laughing her lungs out. Nora followed closely and emulating her quite fiercely. Sophia closed the group shaking her head and letting out a tired sigh.

“So see you in a bit, Keish. You too, Danny!” Nora waved goodbye at both as they left. “They’re both in my Computers class. Keishia’s such a laugh.”

“Yeah, tell that to my ears.” Sophia illustrated her pain covering her earlobes with her hands.

“Let’s go, I’m sick of being in this stuffy building,” Nora simply stated, ignoring her complaint.

We weren’t even two steps out of the door when my loudest friend let out a shriek to match her reputation.

“We should totally go look for Mary’s crush!”

I knew exactly what she was talking about, but for my own sake decided to play dumb.

“It’s a bit of a walk from here to the stadium, we wouldn’t be back on time for class even if we caught the bus.”

“Ha ha, very funny, Miss Mary Agatha.”

“I’m actually with Mare on this one,” Sophia said, crunching her nose. “Let’s leave the poor soul alone!”

Well, thank you!, I silently acknowledged.

Nora smirked, narrowing her eyes until she looked much like the cat in her shirt. Only scarier. “I don’t seem to remind you being so reluctant last year when the stalking involved a certain winger from the school soccer team.”

“We never stalked Johnny!” she almost yelled, in fake shock.

“We kind of stalked Johnny,” I had to agree, even though I felt bad for not being able to back her up.

“We just, I... we just kind of followed him to class, like, sometimes! You know...”

“Right, right. And now look at you all gooey and cheerio!” Nora always put the best adjectives to good use. “Don’t you want the same for our little Mary-kins?”

That’s were I draw the line. “I don’t even know the guy and you’re already trying to set me up with him?”

“That’s exactly what we’re trying to change! The not knowing him part, I mean,” Nora said, too merrily for her own good.

We chatted, walking around the school until the time came that we had to go to our next class. Nora never stopped looking around for Rick (still haven’t got used to saying, well, thinking, his name like that), and I prayed that he was wearing a less, hum, conspicuous shirt that day. Thankfully, we didn’t find him, because Nora might have dragged me by the hair and dumped me on top of him if the opportunity presented itself. When the break ended, she was looking rather disappointed, I had a big expression of relief on my face, and Sophia seemed to be finding it all too funny, in my opinion.

But of course, I’m a little biased.

Nora’s next class was on mine and Sophia’s way to our own, Biology. So we left her there and walked a few more meters to the science building. As always, Mrs. Ollinder was late. Probably trying to find a student, aka her slave, to help her bring along all the junk she carries every day. A boy in our class, Sean, asked me something about the homework (by now everyone has gotten used to ask me things). I took my notebook out of my backpack and tried to help him with his difficulties. Sophia stood by humming a familiar tune.

Much to everyone’s surprise, about 15 minutes after regular class time the door of our classroom opened to reveal a very hasty and very cheerful Biology teacher.

“Come in, chop-chop!” She encouraged us to approach with a hand motion. “I have the coolest lesson set for you today! We just had to make some last minute arrangements!”

I was wondering who “we” might be as she got back into the room. As the pack of students rushed to get in and see what the heck she had done this time, Sean and I got a little behind, closing our backpacks. Sophia, who was a little bit ahead of me, looked back to see what was taking me so long, but when she saw me and the other boy moving she just went ahead into the classroom.

I never saw it coming. There was something already written on the blackboard, a sort of scheme of what I realized to be a vegetal cell. I was examining it when I heard Sophia’s nervous voice:

“Oh, hi.”

I casually turned to see who she was talking to – and there he was.

And he looked at me next.

I felt my heart sinking deep into my stomach and I found myself wishing a whole would open in the ground and let me fall into oblivion. Wow, I never knew I could be that lyrical at a time like this.

But the worst thing was the smirk on his face!

A/N: Hello readers! I have a suspicion that there are not many of you, but oh well. It's been (gasp!) over a year since I last updated this story, hasn't it? Yesterday, somehow I missed it and decided to continue. I had half chapter done, and I finished the other half.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and keep reading. As always, I appreciate constructive criticism. And thanks to everyone who reviewed to give me advice - you rock!

I've been searching for the pictures, so soon you'll be able to see the characters on my profile.

Hopefully, the next chapter will be posted soon!

Thanks for reading! ;)

Bárbara