Chapter 3 – Mornings …sweet affairs
I woke up and you were there
My Outlawed heart thought it would tear
"Robin Hood, nerd in tights" … It said so right on his locker. All over it in fact … In big, black sprayed uneven letters … He had been branded. "Robin Hood, nerd in tights … Robin Hood, nerd in tights" … the more he said it the more it made no sense to him whatsoever … He had never in his life worn tights!
Ok … so he had worn them when he was seven and his mother forced him to take ballet lessons but no one knew about that … Or did they? He wondered … Things were so strange at this hell hole they called a school that he wouldn't be surprised if the Knights had done a background check on him the likes of which could only be achieved by the CIA.
He sighed as he approached the orange locker, bucket and brush in hand. The intendent had actually made him clean his own locker, after blaming him for trashing school property … Somehow Robin knew he didn't believe it … He just couldn't be bothered to clean it himself or to make the ones responsible pay for it … So armed with a soaked brush, Robin Locksley began cleaning his locker but not his reputation. The school was silent. It would be two whole hours before all the other students would come to classes, but he had been summoned early … He was to clean his locker and then report to the principal's office for a "serious discussion" …The hazing had begun.
-oOo-
"Hi …Dijaq? Ahhhhh … It's Will …", he began, his voice trembling slightly. He had been pushed into it by all his friends. "It's no or never!", they had told him. So there he was … Now or never!
"Yes, Will … I know", she giggled as she struggled to eat her breakfast with one hand and hold her cell with the other. "It's not like we don't talk every single day!".
"Right .. right …", he said quickly, forcing a laugh. "Listen, I was thinking we might walk to school together … ".
"Who is that? Your boyfriend?", he could hear someone talking …
"Shut it, Said!", Dijaq warned pointing a finger at her little brother … little hell brat was more like it.
"Yeah cause clue: you don't have a boyfriend! The boy girl!", he screamed laughing until a firm hand over the back of the head silenced him.
"Don't talk to your sister like that!", his father told him in his stern voice, from behind his newspaper.
Said kept quiet but stuck his tongue out at his sister quickly.
"Sure, Will! Let me just call Katie. We can all walk together …", she said in one breath before putting the phone down and whining: "Daaaaaaaad! Said stuck his tongue at me! And he's been listening to Vasey again!". Dijaq had told her father all about Vasey when she realized that her little brother had developed a quite disturbing and unhealthy admiration for the "Rat Knight", as she called him. Said had been forbidden to go within 50 meters of Vasey ever since.
Another hand from behind the newspaper came crushing down on to Said's head. "Awwwwwwww!", he whined. Dijaq grinned. She had always been "daddy's girl". Said didn't stand a chance.
"Actually I was hoping it would be just the two of us …", Will said before realizing that he had been talking to himself. Djaq had hung up.
Dijaq's mother came into the kitchen carrying a trey filled with sweet nut rolls and saw her daughter still on the phone. It seemed to her that her daughter was spending her life attached to that cell she had received on her birthday … It haddn't been so in her day. "Dijaq, are you still on the phone? Put it down. We're eating!".
"Just one more, mom!", she said distracted. "Katie, hi! What are you doing?"
"Oh, same all, same all …", Kat replied on the other end of the line, still sleepy. She was sited on her bed, putting her shoes on and spoke in a ironic, playful voice: "Won a Pulitzer last night, broke a heart or two … got an invitation to go to Paris for the weekend … The usual. How about you?".
Dijaq laughed for a moment before speaking in a serious, low whisper. She felt her heart beat faster when speaking the words, although she didn't really know why …"Will asked if we could walk to school together …so come by my place and we'll all go form here. Ok?".
"Ahhhhhh …no, thanks.", came the awkward answer. "Ithink it's closer if I just go straight from here …".
"No, it's not!", Dijaq responded quickly, her exact, mathematical mind already measuring the different distances. "My house is straight on your way …".
"Ahhhhhhhhhh …", Kat tried again, thinking of a good excuse. "Dijaq, really go on without me … It already late and I'm not ready … I might ask my dad to give me a lift."
"But I thought your dad was away on business …".
"Bye!", Kat replied quickly and shut the phone before Djaq could object again.
Dijaq starred at the phone for a few seconds, in shock that she had been dismissed by her best friend in such a way. Finally she dialed the number and started thinking about what to say. She really didn't have a chance to prepare her speech since the cell was answered even before it had started ringing.
"Hi, again!, Will's voice came at the other end …
"Ahhhhhh …". It was Dijaq's turn to be at a loss for words … "Katie isn't coming so it will be just the two of us …".
"Great!" … the relief in his voice was evident.
"Fine … great ... just great", Dijaq babbled, unable to stop. "So when will you get here?", she finally managed to say, biting her lip in expectation.
"I'm here …", he said quietly. "Outside your door …".
Dijaq's cheeks went red on the spot. She had kept him at the door all this time! She looked around the table, unable to speak, as her family watched her with increased attention. Her father had even lowered the paper. She finally spoke … her voice trembling and guarded: "I'll be right out!".
She jumped up from her sit and ran towards the hallway when she remembered what she had failed to do. She took two steps back and shouted: "Bye mom … dad … jerk!!!". She grabbed her veil which she placed on her head in record time and stormed out of the house.
Will was waiting for her on the steps and stood up just as soon as he heard her come out. "Hi!", he said, for the third time that morning, a little louder then he would have wanted.
He had taken great pains with his appearance that morning. He had shaven, even if he really didn't need to yet and used his father's extremely expensive cologne. He had worn his best jeans and a clean shirt … He had done and re-done his hair several times since it had the stubborn tendency of always looking confused.
He stood still and stiff looking at her and then lowered his eyes awkwardly … Finally he brought his right hand up and extended towards her one single red rose.
Her back pack went heavy in her hands instantly. She started shifting it from arm to arm, folding the straps between her fingers again and again … anything but look at him. She felt a fluttering in her stomach like she had not felt ever before and yet it seemed so familiar … She finally knew what butterflies felt like. "Get a grip!", she told herself. "This is Will! You've known him for years … nothing to feel strange about!" … She mustered all her self control, took a deep breath, flipped the pack over her shoulder and came down the stairs.
She reached out her arm and accepted the rose … Their hands touched just as they looked into each other's eyes and they knew … They knew they weren't friends anymore … They were something else.
They started walking towards school, side by side and even if it was already late neither of them hurried their step …They looked straight ahead and their shoulders brushed one against the other now and again , leaving a bucking sensation at the knees in both of them.
"So how's your chemistry project coming along …?", Dijaq asked clearing her throat.
"Not so well … not very good at chemistry."
"Well …", she said her voice a little shy, "I'm great at it. I could help you … Maybe you should come over tomorrow. We could work on it … and hang.", she proposed.
"Yeah … ok …". Will moved his hand closer to her and grabbed her own. He looked at her for a moment to see if she wanted him to release it or if she would pull away but she just smiled … looked at him and smiled.
"Yes, definitely not friends", they thought at they continued their walk … "Something else."
-oOo-
Kat stood in front of her dressing table, pulling her hair into a tight, simple tail as she did every day. The tight black jeans would have been great for showing off her long legs but she choose to wear a loose, long, black blouse over it that hid most of her away ... The simple white and red canvas shoes did nothing to flatter the situation … She hand tens of high heel shoes and boots in her more then spacious closet but she didn't wear them … She had liked buying them well enough but she kept them hidden away.
Kat didn't wear make-up, although she had drawers filled with every product imaginable. She had liked buying them well enough but kept them hidden away. "Why adorn plainness?", she thought to herself every morning when she looked in the mirror. Her large green eyes, her full red lips, her zit-free skin, her long, thick brown hair … all of these had never been objects of admiration for her. She had spent the first two years of her high school life obsessing over every single defect she could find on her body, staring at it for hours at the time in the privacy of her room and crying. "No wonder no one loves me!", she would tell herself. "My calves are too wide compared to my ankles!" or " I have no chin!" or "My boobs are too big!" (as if that had ever been an issue!) …
Then she realized it was no use. Her father would never give her the money for the plastic operations she would need to undertake because: "She was beautiful just as she was!", a statement that was always fallowed, on the dot by Kat rolling her eyes … Anyway, there would be so many things she would have to get fixed that she would end up looking like Michael Jackson.
So when that plan failed, she stopped looking for flaws and settled for indifference. She simply ignored herself. She looked in the mirror only when necessary, like when she needed to brush her hair or wipe some stain …
This morning was no exception. She tied her hair and thought of other things, pretty things, anything to keep from looking. She stared at her cell phone willing Dijaq not to call her again. She couldn't believe that her friend had called her … Even Kat, with her non-existent boy experience knew that when a boy asks to take you to school is because he wants to take things seriously.
While looking at the cell she couldn't help but see the hour. She needed to get to school and fast. She hated that the Outlaws had to go out of their way to be at school at the requested hour but the Knights had all the time in the world to catch on their beauty sleep in the mornings.
She could hear his soft muffled breaths behind her. He slept on his stomach, with his head buried in the pillow like he always did … ever since she had told him that his snoring kept her up at night.
Well, this was one Knight that wasn't going to catch on his beauty sleep this particular morning! "Guy, wake up! We need to get to school.", she said over the shoulder while she stuffed some books in her back pack.
He grunted and turned face up, still very much asleep. "Why?", he whined. "Lackland won't mind.".
"He will if it's me!", she said turning around. He had discarded most of the blanket and his t-shirt during the night and his chest rose and fell slowly as once again he was falling asleep.
"Guy!", she shouted grabbing hold of his "Green monster" pillow and throwing it straight at him. "Wake up and take me to school! I can't be late!".
Since he gave no response, although she could see her reaction had managed to bring him back from his sleep, she came closer and shook his arm.
He stretched his body and spoke in a groggy voice, keeping his eyes closed. "I think I ate too many doughnuts last night. Will you rub my belly?", he asked.
She sighed. This was his spoiled mood. Whenever she needed him to do something he went spoiled on her. She sat on the edge of the bed and brought her hand over his stomach. She made small and large circles on the skin again and again, trailing it with her long fingers. She felt the fluttering in her stomach and it felt like she was going to be very, very sick very, very soon. She wondered what it would be like to kiss his skin instead of rubbing it and instantly she felt her lips burning.
She wondered in that moment what Dijaq was doing and whether Will had kissed her yet. Kat knew this would not be her first kiss, since before she had left Iraq she allowed a boy to kiss her …But it really didn't count since she didn't like him and it was only a mercy kiss because she felt bad for leaving. With Will it would be different. She wondered if Dijaq was feeling the same butterflies as her at this particular moment.
She breathed heavily. There was no catching her breath while her hand sat on his body. It took another three minutes of the treatment for him to raise from the bed and take her to school. Utter torment!
I dare any Guy fans out there to tell me they didn't want to be in Kat's place! Remember reviews equal love!!!!!!!!!