Smile (Complete)

The sky isn't frowning at you

The vibration of the alarm clock makes the phone ride on the bedside table. Tharn opens his eyes and gropes with his hand for the annoying three-eyed gadget. For a moment, he remembers how two days ago, after returning from the beach, he suddenly pulled out wet wipes and furiously and disgustedly began to wipe his iPhone with one of them, as if it had just been not in the hand of that silly, as Tharn mentally called him— but in a pit with shit. Then he abruptly stopped these manipulations, crumpled the wipe in his hand and closed his eyes: fool, fool, fool, why did I drag myself there today at all ...

Breakfast carefully prepared by his smiling mother. Morning, espresso-smelling dad.

"How are things going at school?"

"Have you made friends yet?"

"And the girlfriend?" the last one comes from Dad in a joking tone.

"Fine."

"No."

"No."

Parents don't even sigh or roll their eyes. They are used to having their routine questions answered in the usual routine way.

School. Classes. Naya.

"Was it so difficult to answer for two days, how are you doing? You blew off the beach like the wind, I thought maybe you were shy to say that you got sick... I was worried."

Tharn calmly takes out a thick notebook on rings, puts the airpods in the case and looks questioningly at the girl:

"Eh? Did you say something?"

Naya, swallowing resentment at Kirigun's next indifference, mutters:

"Nothing."

"Okay," Tharn shrugs and sinks into the notes from the previous class.

A minute before its start, a smiling guy, with slightly protruding big ears, literally bursts into the classroom.

Having exchanged greetings with everyone,of course, except for Tharn, the merry fellow is heading to him:

"Sooo, it's you, then, my new partner? I'm Techno, you can call me No, and you? Where are you from? Sorry, I was sick, I couldn't get to know you earlier! So, how are you getting used to it here? You, if anything, apply to me, I'm…"

"I hear this much," Tharn spreads his arms wide, "and I want to hear so much—" he almost joins his thumb and index finger. "Is that clear?"

Techno, blinking, nods:

"Okay, got it, not a fool. Well, what should I call you, huh? Can I find out?"

"Tharn," Kirigun, with the usual cold restraint, makes wai and, without waiting for a response, again plunges headlong into repetition.

"And yet we are partners, yes," Techno—No repeats for some reason.

I've been dreaming of it all my life.

Three classes before lunch break and two after. Extracurricular activities and, finally, Tharn can move home. A group of his classmates has already gathered on the school porch, where the voice of Sun, that guy who took Type to "have some fun", is heard loudest of all.

"Today there was such a show during the break, you should have seen this fall with a skirt flying up. Mm... still feel a boner. Now I would like to have our little fool here to relieve the tension.

And Tharn would have passed by, but then the bastard's voice flies to him:

"Why left us so quickly on Friday? Our baby Type was upset. Shall I lend him to you for an evening of intimate acquaintance?"

The guys are laughing. Standing nearby with her friends, Naya looms to him: don't pay attention. But Tharn is used to solving such issues on his own:

"I don't understand one thing," he calmly answers, looking at Sun point-blank, "are you so unsure of yourself that you assert your ambitions at the expense of a sick guy who doesn't even understand what you're doing with him there?"

"And who the fuck are you? Holy righteous man? Or a fighter for the rights of all the humiliated and insulted?"

"No. But what's wrong with you? Mom didn't praise your child drawings? Dad didn't take you to football matches on weekends? Or do you have so little in your pants that you only dare to stick it out in front of the naive fool?"

"Huh. Do you want me to stick it out in front of you? You'll see how much I have there."

"Try it. You will learn a lot about yourself."

Sun defiantly spits right on the porch. Tharn silently turns around and walks to the bus stop.

There are two surprises waiting for him at once: clouds gathering in the sky and... Type.

The bus stop is empty. Most likely, many left on the previous bus.

Tharn pretends not to notice this "silly". There is no desire to get into the rain, but there is also no desire to sit next to him. Therefore, Tharn lands so that two more would fit between him and Type.

"Hi!"

It starts... like this. Here there is one panacea, proven and the most successful: ignore.

"The sky is not frowning at you, yes-yes," with no reason, a joyful smile is heard from the side.

Tharn looks indifferently at the road. Forgetting to control his own reaction, he asks:

"What?"

Type swings his legs, but his voice takes on a conspiratorial intonation:

"You can smile. I won't tell anyone."

When will this bus arrive?..

"Do you get scolded at home for smiling too, right?"

Tharn is still staring in front of him, starting to get annoyed. He is so uncomfortable with this stupid childish babble.

"I honestly won't tell anyone," Type pretends to fasten the zipper on his lips, "so you can safely smile. You know when my mom…"

"Could you be quiet? If it's not difficult," Tharn squints at Type, who has gone wild in his naive chatter.

Type shivers, as if from the cold, and then quickly nods, as if instead of a neck he has a spring like a jack from a surprise box. In his eyes - no resentment for being so coldly besieged, no embarrassment, but only a very childish submission: it's as if an adult said that this is bad, and you have to believe him and listen to him, because you're still a child and you don't understand anything in this life. With what relief Tharn sighs when the right bus arrives.

Once inside, Tharn leans his head against the window, watching the drops slowly trickle down it. Type is staying at that rainy stop. And for some reason, Tharn has such a lousy sediment in his soul.

Because of this naive babble.

And because of that smile. Stupid and inappropriate.

And yet...

No. It didn't.