"Friendship cannot overcome pride and jealousy"

The Book of Chances

'School sucks' this thought kept ringing in Manu's head as he trudged his way back home. He was sweating beneath his tucked in shirt and tight school belt.

It was quite odd that he was as hot as we was because it had been raining throughout most of the day but that had actually been the cause of his latest humiliation.

' I will show them all….' Manu muttered under his breath and kept shuffling along with his head down, some tears still visible amongst the sweat.

'Manu, hey Manu! , wait up!'

He did not turn back , he just wanted to get home for the day and did not want to face anybody.

'Wait up dude!', Kazak said as he finally caught up with him.

'What do you want?!' Manu kept looking down while increasing his pace to get away from it all.

'What happened back there?' said Kazak as he increased his own pace to match Manu's which wasn't that much of a challenge as Kazak was a full head taller than Manu and twice as lean.

Manu didn't say anything , kept his head down and kept shuffling rapidly along the path.

'And why are you holding you backpack so weird?' said Kazak as he noticed how Manu was holding it in front of his body, almost as a shield, it made him look like an inverted turtle.

'Its nothing' said Manu as he tried even harder to increase his pace.

'Cmon man, what the matter?, I heard Rohnak and Nivin laughing like hyenas back there and now I see you doing your best snorglak impression, just stop for a bit , we will sit down and you can tell me what happened' Kazak said, as he stopped in front of Manu.

'Just leave me alone man' Manu grunted as he tried to get past Kazak.

Kazak just stood firm, he grabbed Manu's shoulder and lead him to the nearest bench.

Manu still hadn't let go of the bag that he was holding in front of him, he tried to get away from Kazak's grasp but he wasn't strong enough to shake him off. He sat down awkwardly on the bench , still keeping the backpack in front of him. He looked around and saw a bird nesting in a nearby tree. The chirping was quite beautiful.

Kazak huffed down beside him.

'So , are you finally going to tell me what happened?'

' I just want to go home, what's the big deal?' replied Manu sullenly.

'Yeah, this doesn't look like a normal deal, tell me what's up.' Kazak stared down at him..

' I told you! It's nothing! Just let me go home!' Manu was shouting now and the tears were starting to fall again. He put up both his hands to hide them, the bag he had been holding fell away.

'Oh' said Kazak as he looked down to see the front of Manu's shirt. The shirt had been soaked through with rain and was sticking to the chest , which revealed generous appendages in areas which are only flattering for teenage girls. The bird song could still be heard in the awkward silence between them.

'Oh I see now', Kazak quickly looked down, a faint smile playing on his lips

Manu was horrified, he quickly grabbed for his bag and tried to cover up.

The tears were falling fast and hard now, Manu squeezed his eyes shut and held on tighter to the bag.

'Hey, hey… It's alright man, it isn't that big a deal,' Kazak said in a soothing voice trying to pat Manu's head.

'Don't ! Just Don't!' Manu screamed, 'I told you to leave me alone!' , he was bawling now.

' Woah dude! Why are you going so mental , I mean I know it is embarrassing but it really isn't that big a deal' Kazak tried to placate him.

'You don't get it! Everyone was there , EVERYONE! , and they were all laughing, all of them, even her….' Manu almost whispered the last part.

'Her? You mean Sarah?' Kazak asked

'YES! She was there with her friends and they were all laughing' Manu was slowly getting calmer but the look of outrage in his eyes hadn't dimmed

'No man, she isn't like that , I am sure you must have been imagining things' Kazak reasoned.

' I know what I saw ' Manu replied quietly

'Anyway, don't take it so seriously man , and if you want to get in shape you can just start running in the mornings with me, I have told you this before , this time i hope you listen' Kazak got to his feet and started to pull Manu up.

Manu shrugged off his hand.

'Yeah, I will start running, I will get in shape and show them all' Manu had his voice in control now.

'That's the spirit!, now come on, Glourp Tales' will be about to start soon, and they left it at a cliffhanger last week , I don't wanna miss it' Kazak said excitedly and took off running .

'I will show them all' Manu repeated with his fist clenched and as he shuffled off behind his friend the bird could no longer be heard as it lay twitching on the ground looking to all the world as if someone was choking her neck.