Spark

Part 2.9

I froze. Sheri panicked.

"Who's that?" She asked. She wiggled her arms comically and then looked at me, exasperated.

I shrugged and then asked the obvious. "You can't put it out can you?"

"No," she growled "it only got this bad recently. This isn't like putting off a flashlight!"

The arm-wiggling was only becoming more comical, but she looked like she was tearing up. Instead of saying something to disappoint her, I told her to stay put. Whoever it was, it couldn't have been my mum. I don't think she even knew what her own hall looked like in daylight.

Whoever it was knocked again. Sheri's arms didn't look like they were getting any less flamey.

She shooed me out of the kitchen before I could suggest running tap water over her hands. Trust me, if you think being shooed away sucks, you should imagine how it looks when the person's arms are on fire!

I took my time getting to the door. Long enough for the person to shout out, "Agooo!"

It was a guy. Nat. I'd know that voice in the middle of a snowstorm whilst I was sleeping.

I opened the door to find him standing there in his school uniform, shirt untucked and eyes sparkling.

"My guyyyy, wossop? How the holiday dey go?"

(Yes. Only Nat would think suspension was a holiday.)

"Then the chemistry teacher dey search you," he continued, without waiting for an answer, "check like old boy miss you already."

I shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. I don't know about you, but it isn't cool to enjoy school or chemistry in my parts. I did miss the chemicals and the occasional explosion in the lab though.

I stepped back as he strode in. He had been my friend long enough to know that there was no way mum was home.

"You get cho for there? I dey hung pass. Chale!" Nat was always hungry. It wasn't surprising that I barely came up to his chin. Boy ate like a horse.

He started to lay out some school gossip, but wound down before the first word. He was a kite which suddenly lost all its wind.

"Hello." He said, words as stiff as slate.

"Hi." Sheri replied, as she walked to stand up beside me. Her arms were no longer aflame, but she definitely hadn't lost any of her fire.

That was the first time the three of us were in the same room. It wasn't fun. To be honest, I had no idea what caused the tension. Weren't they both my friends?

Nat cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets. Awkward doesn't even begin to cover it.

Without looking at her, Nat commented lazily "So you came eh?"

"Yup. Just a little tutoring. Dave is a really good teacher."

(That had to be a solid lie.)

"Hmmm." He mused, before finally making eye contact with her again. "Good for you. I didn't even know. He's never offered to tutor me before?"

(Why on earth did he drag me into it? I was just standing there while they talked around me)

Sheri shrugged and folded her arms. "It's probably because you've never asked."

"Hmmm." Nat murmured again. "Maybe I should get going, leave you guys to..."

"Oh relax," Sheri scoffed, "I'll leave you to catch up with your friend."

Without breaking eye contact with him, she touched my arm and said, "I'll take the lead. You two should catch up."

She was barely out of speaking distance before dragged me to the living area. "You dey mad?" he hissed, under his breath. "I thought you said there was nothing between the two of you?"

"I didn't say that, did I?" I pulled my t-shirt out of his grip and scratched an itch on the side of his chin. Seriously, the guy needed to chill.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. You did. But that doesn't even matter." He growled.

"It doesn't?" he had me confused for a minute.

"It does! Idiot. The girl dey scramble your brain already. You no dey see?"

I didn't need an MRI to know that my brain wasn't scramble. I told him so, and then tried to make him see reason. Somehow, all he got out of that was the MRI thing?

"Oh, so now e be MRI you go tell me? See your big head! Why do you always turn these things into jokes? The girl is a witch, wey thing again you want hear?"

He might have been right about the witch part. Not in the traditional way, but in the 'light my arms on fire without getting burnt' sort of way. I wasn't even sure if it was magic per se.

I didn't him tell him that, of course. Instead I said, "She needed help, what I supposed to do?"

That stumped him for a second. After a moment of thought, he continued, in a more sedate manner, "You didn't discourage her did you? I'm looking out for you. What would other people think?"

"That's really something, coming from you. What would people think about you?"

It came out without being screened. The words had sounded tamer in my mind than they did put loud. As soon as I heard myself, I wished I could take it back.

Nat froze. Upon all his bluster, his secret was a soft spot. I was a total d_ck for abusing it.

He said one last thing before he turned on his heels and walked out: "I told you so is always at last."

Sheri asked me what happened. I said, "Nothing". I mean, what was I going to say, "My childhood friend thinks you're dangerous based on unsubstantiated rumors of your witchiness"?

As I dove into the murky abyss of advanced math, she did something unexpected. She reached across the table and gave my hand a quick squeeze. Her unusual warmth lingered on the back of my hand for more than a minute.

"What was that for?" I asked.

She shrugged, non-chalant, "Just because."

A mischievous smirk crept onto her face, "If we're able to go through all of this stuff in time, how about we try burning more stuff?"

"Are you serious?" I replied. Her grin was more infectious than I had given it credit for before. I found myself doing the same.

"Maybe." She replied, as she wiggled her brows, "but first, reveal to me the hidden secrets of the trigonometry!"