The Art of Unopulence

28 | merde

"This is odd." Nathaniel surmises aloud, "No one has ever used me as a human sized pillow. But I suppose it's rather common within tight knit friend groups. Are you comfortable?"

"Hmm." I smile at how sweet he can be, "Maybe you can run your fingers through my hair? That would be amazing."

Immediately, his shoulder becomes stiff under my head and he shifts slightly so as not to throw my head off because of his movement.

"I umm–"

Giggling, I lift my head and shake my head and rub the sleep out of my tired eyes.

"Chill sweetheart, I was kidding." I laugh, as a deep flush settles on his tan face.

Pinching his cheeks lightly, I get to my feet quickly and sling my book bag onto my left shoulder with ease and say, "Besides, I definitely don't have the luxury of time to take a nap just because I pulled off one all-nighter."

Fluffing my hair a bit, I inspect my reflection for a moment in the glass window a few feet away before pulling Nathaniel behind me as I make my way to the exit.

He gently shrugs off my hand, "I can walk quite all right by myself Ariya, thank you."

Scoffing playfully, I stride towards the cafeteria in long steps.The quicker I can get some caffeine and food in my system, the better it is for both of us. My body protests- my stomach and head hurt because of those blasted cherry vodka shots I had at Jordan's birthday party and my limbs feel heavy because of the lack of rest afterwards. But I have no choice but to drag myself on until he end of the day.

A pair of girls walking past us, wink at me and mouth get that D girl!

Jeez! Is that all that comes to peoples' minds if they come across a tired looking girl walking a little funny if she has a broody, handsome boy with her?

But I decide to play along, pretending to act shy and smiling coyly as we cross them for the sake of our cover. Maybe I'd stop getting at least half a dozen phone numbers a week and borderline creepy pickup lines on my mostly inactive Instagram account, if people believed I was hooking up with someone else already. And maybe also garner Nathaniel some street cred along the way.

As we turn left to enter the large hallway leading up to the cafeteria at Wolfrock Secondary, a large man in matching nylon tracks with a matching headband and a writing pad in hand stands talking to the school counsellor animatedly.

I stop abruptly, squinting at him suspiciously. Firstly, bright tracksuits were so outdated. Secondly, our P.E. teacher was a wiry young woman with a penchant for neon sports shoes and matching whistles. Thirdly, no high school student would be caught dead with their parent arriving at school to flirt with the fifty year old counsellor lady during the lunch break because that was just plain scandalous.

The mop of dark blond curls falling outside the constraints of the head band looks familiar.

"Is that Mr. Merde?" Nathaniel asks simply, "He looks peculiar out of his usual monochrome attire, doesn't he?"

My thoughts exactly.

"Oh god, I really hope this isn't the surprise Gamal was talking about yesterday." I mutter under my breath, frowning.

Huffing, I grab the sleeve of Nathaniel's turtleneck and turn backwards to move out of sight before Merde notices us.

"Why are you acting odd, Ariya?" Nathaniel quizzes me in whispers, heavily setting his foot down which makes it hard to pull him behind me, "Is there anything I must know? Does having Mr. Merde here make you feel uncomfortable?"