Chapter 6: Study Date
Thalia:
My life has switched in a matter of weeks, and it felt like it was just flashing by like a time lapse, a race and I have no time to breathe. Everything blurs and passes by me, and I can barely register. I sneaked in my friend's email addresses into my cell without my dad's knowledge.
I remember that I woke up to my waking nightmare. The sky still navy-blue, cold and alone. I woke up the same time covered in sweat and shivering and every time it gets worse and scarier than the last.
This one, I was stumbling in a thin layer of ice that stenches to the horizon. The white moon an orb in the sky. The ice blew sideways as I was showered in flakes of small. My arms and feet were bare as I prowled on the ice. Someone screamed, it was loud and incomprehenable at my left but it was carried by the cold air as it turned my blood solid into my bones as my teeth chattered. I staggered into the snow, drowning my feet as I trudged further into it then like lightening something pierced into my back. I twisted as a shrill, high scream escaped my lips as I collapsed into the ground not minding the biting snow. I could feel it as the ice ran true my veins freezing my blood as I was sprawled on the ground. My chest rose and fell as flaky ice froze me from the inside as heat killed my fingertips and my breathes become uneven. The ice squeezed the air out of my lungs as it grew on me as my screams rebounded. A blurred figure of a boy and his muffled screams as my eyes froze open. It killed me slowly.
***
When I walked down the hallway, I was shaking all over but that didn't help because I slipped on a sweater. My sweater clunged to my back and sweat formed rivulets down my back and beads formed on my forehead. My hands trembled, my teeth rattled and I shivered.
It must be the aftershock.
My morning was sour and the house was oddly quiet and the air was peaceful apart from the cars that honked and the voices of people that carried into the air. My parents slept in their room together. I quietly did everything and took a snack and slipped off.
I wasn't hungry.
But then again, I never was.
After shoving my books into my bag, I went to class as Hayley, bright-eyed and happy, pushed her desk beside mine and waved me over as everyone snapped their heads and murmured, pointed or glared at me as Diana's lips curled and her silver eyes glittered mischievously. Nate mimicking dirty looks at Diana as he made a little origami frog and flung a paper ninja star at Diana. I laughed as Hayley cramped her mouth shut. Nate grinned, all teeth.
The nightmare hovered like a thick fog but seemed to fade at this moment.
At lunch, Hayley and I sat at our usual spot on long rectangular tables with air conditioned, ultra-modern and squeaky clean cafeteria but despite the chill .I was freezing and sweating. Everyone about was white like a hospital with occasionally bulletin boards with menus and clubs and etc. There were healthy posters everywhere in this gigantic cafeteria. The dream rattled me and I was in a bundle of nerves. We were at the back as students zipped back and forth after the collected their lunch and sat with their peers. Two tables beside us was Nate and Sasha who lost in a deep conversation as Nate gave me and unusually Hayley daggers at us..
Everyone seems to have bad blood with one another today.
"I thought you guys are friends? "Hayley asked, her eyebrows raised.
I shrugged and grabbed a knot from my skirt." I don't think we will be ever friends," I paused and stared at her as her eyes flickered to passer-by's as her expression sours.
Was she expecting someone?
I shrugged as she looked dejected but she brightened and she grinned at me." So why does Nate hate you?" I asked, and brought a finger up.
"Well, Nate has a problem with me because I have a boyfriend." She muttered, eyes narrowed in glee. I gasped surprised.
"You have a boyfriend? "I asked, shocked as she nodded curtly. I looked around the cafeteria entrance and my eyes landed on her again. I gaped but I couldn't help it as she giggled nervously, finger combed her silky hair that ended in two braids down her neck." Are you expecting him? "I asked as her cheeks reddened. I grinned. I knew Hayley was older than me just like everyone in my class and her fifteenth birthday was approaching.
She leaned forward on her seat, unzipped her lunch box and ate her home cooked food of Lo Mein noodles that smelled strong and garlicy and was still warm as she used her chopsticks.
"Want some? "She asked, wiggling her brows.
"Nah, but it smells great. "I answered.
"I'm Thai." She replied then grinned," Well half anyway."
"So he hates your boyfriend so he puts it on you? "I was so lost as she twirled her hands animatedly and narrowed her eyes.
"Yes. "She said.
A textbook was opened on the table and in the quiet silence I noticed that her head was on her phone and she giggled or shook on the desk or tried to contain her laughter. I was confused till I heard a cell vibrated as I stifled a gasp. On her lap was a cell with her cheeks reddened as he texted someone.
Boyfriend? I assumed not shock as she frowned and I snapped my head away, embarrassed." Aren't phones not allowed?" She nodded and rolled her eyes.
"Duh, but who really listens to them."She shot back. He's probably in another grade or class so their texting. Cute. She poked her head off and scoffed." Like who studies on lunch break?" Worst case scenario: A teacher seizes it or students look, silently judge or whisper at you as if you've gone mad which people were doing now. My shoulders tensed. As everyone dispersed and the whispers died down .Our food was cleared and she showed me her heart emoji's, texts about boring class, weird looking teachers and jokes they shared. I was strange I supported my friends with crushes and joked with them but I found it weird. I wanted to puke or mock but others say it's not my time yet. They weren't wrong. I hated romance.
She nodded in understanding, though her eyes were twinkling with confusion. We packed our stuff as we were the only people left in the empty and messy cafeteria with the janitors sweeping. We reached the entrance and walked down the hallway. The yells and the commotion that happened outside it was empty. Hayley glanced over her shoulder, pushed me close and sighed with relief. She pushed her phone open and showed me a picture. It was a guy and girl. They were dressed in winter clothes the guy in worn grey beanie over his ruffled dirty blonde hair with a red cheeks and a big grin. He looked about sixteen and a girl younger than him with long black hair with ear muffs and mittens but she kissed him in the cheek. It was obviously Hayley and some guy. They were in a background with brass trees.
It was fall.2010.
"Is that your cousin? "I asked.
She shook her head.
I tried again. "You're ...friend? "I added, not even sure as my answer my clear as day.
"Boyfriend."
Honestly, he looked old. No, he was old. "Cute." I replied, blinked multiple times before I walked way.
After lunch, we learned World History as Nate thought it was funny to look at the window with a bored expression.
Before I knew it, school was over. The bell rang as students filed out. I sighed as I shoved my materials into my bag, left the class and looked for the library. The school was hug and the library was not what I expected. It was polished wood, the wall and the floor and lined head-to-toe with books with paperbacks and textbooks with bean bags placed in random intervals. Computers were students (the older ones) were studying or flipping through textbooks. It was quiet, peaceful and cold. Sprawled on a bean bag was Nate reading a comic book with his legs in the air like he was dead.
I crouched ad whispered," Its time." He groaned inaudibly as I suppressed a giggle. He wore his shoes, fixed his hair and walked with a hunch to a wooden table with no one else. I pulled out a heavy maths textbook and propped it on the table as Nate's eyes widened and a heavy, sad sigh escaped his lips. He leaned back and groaned emitting a long, ear splitting screech and it earned as a few glares. He placed his backon his lap and tossed a pen.
Every time I thought him the basics he complained. We went further as his eyes widened. He complained it was too hard, too much words or his brain hurt. He struggled with answers and it most of them wrong or easily distracted. Staring at the window or doodling in the book. I gave an assignment alter he read and showed him examples but no avail. He failed everything and filled with anger and boredom.
"I'm so bored. See I absolutely suck."
"This is the easiest and the most basic of them!" I gasped as he groaned.
He relaxed on the chair and sighed." I'm so distracted. Every info you give goes out the other ear." He replied placed a finger on my lip and thought heard as his eyes darted to anything else but me. I grabbed small cards and write them.
"I'm not in kindergarten?" He snapped, his ears red with embarrassment as a few students stop to glare at us and a few shushed him.
"Are you a visual learner?" I asked and he nodded as it got even redder and his cheeks." Well, here is extremely quiet and you still managed to get distracted?" He tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest.
He raised a brow," So,"
"Maybe next week." I muttered hopeless. He was distracted so easily and bored.
He brightened," What if we meet someone else. Not school? Like the park or a shop?"
I thought hard," Out of school? But those place are quite distracting."
He shrugged," Maybe I need it. "I raised a brow and shrugged too. We tried a bit me as I flashed more cards at him and he leaned closer and I recoiled." Are we going to kiss?" He asked, embarrassed as I gaped. He blushed and recoiled and called me ugly and gross and other mean things. I tossed my flashcards at him as the librarian, an old white lady wrinkled and stern looking glared at us.
"In your dreams!" He snapped, grabbed his things, and shoved them into his opened bag with pink ears.
Ass.