Chapter 11: (August 9)
Riley felt the soft light stream from her open window onto her face as the sun slowly came up. Rubbing her eyes, she sat upright in her bed, disoriented. Groaning loudly, she managed to roll out of her sheets and stand –albeit a bit wobbly- on two feet. Blinking once, twice, three times, Riley noticed that her dorm mates were still fast asleep. Going to the dresser and opening her drawer, she grabbed what felt like pants, and a long sleeved shirt. It only took her five minutes before she was downstairs, rummaging around in the kitchen.
"Riley, why are you awake? It's like five in the morning," Nomi stated in astonishment, looking up from where she sat on the tiled floor.
"I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing?"
Nomi shifted the laptop resting on her legs, obviously trying to hide something. "Nothing," she said, "Just some tech stuff… "
Riley nodded her head, understanding what was being implied. She searched the cabinets until she'd found some cereal, and poured the remaining contents in a bowl. She then sat on the counter to eat and watched Nomi quickly type and click away on the keyboard.
"Let me see," she said softly after swallowing a mouthful of the food. "They brought you to the school because you're good with computers."
"Mmm-hmm." Nomi pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, and then looked down again with a smile.
"But they don't know you can hack." Riley scooped up the last bit of cereal, the scraping of the spoon breaking the early morning quiet.
"Probably, probably not. I don't mean to gloat, but I'm pretty good."
"How good?"
"Very. Why, you want a fake ID to drink or something?" Nomi laughed gruffly, shutting her laptop.
"No, the legal drinking age here is…" Riley smiled as realization dawned on her. "Eighteen."
Nomi's eyes widened as she recognized Riley's plan. "Oh no. This is going to involve a bar, isn't it?"
/
Kala, exhausted from the previous night's events, didn't wake until ten o'clock in the morning. When she did, she opened the window and stuck her hand out to feel the temperature. The wind sent cold chills up her body, and she hastily shut the window. It's the usual, she thought sadly. Grabbing her warmest jacket and dressing herself quickly, she set down the hall for the stairs. Just when she was turning the corner, she bumped into Amanita.
"Ahh, sorry Kala! God, I'm clumsy as hell."
"Oh, no, don't worry."
Amanita jerked her chin towards the jacket. "You going somewhere?"
"I don't know, perhaps a walk. Marie wanted me to pick up some things for my chores. What about you?"
"Nah, I finished unloading the dishwasher. And vacuuming. I have a feeling she doesn't like me. Anyways, Nomi texted me earlier this morning, talking about going into town tonight … I'm about to go get my fun on!" Amanita waved a peace sign and left for the room.
Kala smiled at the thought of going into town. It would be nice to finally learn about the surrounding area besides her school. The steady rhythm of her messenger bag hitting her hip was somehow soothing as she walked towards the administration building. The doorknob was cold to the touch, and she placed her hand to her cheek in order to warm it again. Entering, Kala found a table set in the middle of the first floor that hosted a stack of papers and small bins, behind which a woman raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Is this where I sign out?"
The woman nodded and replied in a slight English accent, "Yes, right here, and you show me your ID to verify. Then when you come back to school you come here again to sign in. Okay?"
Kala handed her the school ID, and printed her name neatly in the large, leather bound notebook. Taking back her ID, Kala left the building and headed down the small road towards the gates. There was a man standing next to the gate, who tipped his hat at her while she walked past. She assumed he was probably a security guard, and acknowledged him with a small wave of her hand.
As Kala left the gates of her school, she felt suddenly relieved of most of the overwhelming tension from the past few days. Trees became sparse as she left the school's road, and she took out her phone to find the location that lead to town. Thirty minutes in, and she knew she'd taken the wrong direction. Instead of heading closer to the heart of the mainland, she'd strayed nearer to the ocean. Already she could hear the sounds of the waves as they echoed off of the surrounding slope. Making her way up and over a small hill, Kala finally saw the ocean come into view. There were cliffs in the distance, but directly in front of her was a small beach.
Kala balanced herself carefully as she descended, smiling as the grass became wispy and yellow, and eventually turned into sand.
"Kala!" A voice called to her over the sound of the crashing waves.
Turning around, she saw Wolfgang striding across the beach, coming up on her left side. He was wearing shorts, and a gray hoodie covered his hair.
"Are you actually here?" Kala asked. He was close to her, but kept his distance.
"Yes. I am actually here," he responded, chuckling under his breath.
"So do you enjoy stalking me, or are you just very good at accidentally doing it?" She walked away from him, moving slowly through the sand. He jogged to her side and matched her pace.
"Kala, I don't understand. Why are you angry?"
"I'm not angry. Can't you tell I'm not angry?"
"Then why are you being like this?" He stepped in front of her to keep her from leaving.
Kala sighed, inhaling and then exhaling away her stress. It was a few seconds before she turned to him. "I don't know. I'm confused. Actually, I'm a little more than confused. I don't know what I'm feeling anymore, because my emotions no longer belong to just me!"
Instead of responding to this, he nodded towards the stormy colored water.
"Come on, Kala. You need to have some fun." She turned quickly, blushing, as he pulled off his sweater, and then his shirt. He kicked off his shoes, and was in the water before she could even protest at the suddenness of the situation.
"Yes, I'm sure you're an expert on fun. Are we even allowed to swim? And isn't it freezing?" she called back loudly as she slowly turned around to face him again. Wolfgang was already swimming, his body moving powerfully against the motion of the waves.
He slowly waded back towards her so that they could talk. "I'm from Berlin. I'm used to it." He lay floating on his back, looking at her sideways.
"Yes, well, I'm from Mumbai, and I'm not used to it," Kala countered. "Now can you please put some clothing on, you'll catch a cold!"
Wolfgang shook his head in laughter but came back to the shore. Thankfully he'd brought an extra pair of pants. She averted her eyes and he replied to her previous comment while he changed. "You know, you worry too much. And if I did catch a cold, you'd nurse me back to health."
"Or I probably wouldn't," Kala murmured under her breath, though she flushed at the thought.
"How come you always show that you don't like me? Even if you and I know it's not what you actually feel." He'd caught up with her after grabbing his belongings, and was now gazing down at her face.
She froze at the question. Of course he'd be the one to ask. He was quite direct in that way, when talking about other people's emotions. She could be too, but it was harder with him. She wanted to be so honest, yet there was something there that was blocking the both of them from speaking the truth.
"Kala, I know that you don't like that guy from the party. I know it because I am a part of you, and you are a part of me. How much longer are we going to ignore each other like this?"
Kala looked steadily at him, suddenly noticing all the small details about his face. The water dripping off of his hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and his lips turning blue from the cold. They were small imperfections, but she didn't care. You didn't hurt someone that you were one with. Closing her eyes and turning away, she responded casually, "I'll see you later, Wolfgang. I have to go buy some cinnamon." She dug out the list from her jacket pocket, and sighed.
"Will you at least let me walk you to the road?" Wolfgang asked. "You'll get lost by yourself."
Kala turned and, after slight consideration, nodded. She waited for him to catch up, and they walked side by side.
A/N: Officially going on summer vacation this Friday. I won't be away from the keys. I'll probably write more, actually. Updating will be same as always. Here's Chapter 11. I've been really busy making a music video of Kalagang and the feels are just UGH, Season 2 please! Anyways, Chapter 12 coming on the 24th. As always, have an awesome day!
~C.o.D.