by Rute Canhoto
CHAPTER FIVE
The night went well and, this time, Marina had no nightmares. In fact, she had slept like a rock and hadn’t dreamed at all. Her mother woke her up in the morning and bade her farewell before leaving for work. Feeling lethargic, Marina got up, got dressed and brushed her hair, deciding to wear it loose so that combined better with her skirt. After having breakfast, she went on her way to school.
Walking in high heels wasn’t as easy as Marina hoped, so she chose to take smaller steps. She arrived in school just before the bell and hastened to go to the classroom. Arriving close to it, she saw Ana, who frantically waved at her. “Hello, Ana,” said Marina as she neared her friend.
“Geez, babe! You’re so not used to having a phone. In case you haven’t noticed it, I sent you two texts last night and another one this morning,” complained Ana almost screaming at her.
Surprised, Marina took the phone from her backpack, turned it on and soon after heard three beeps, indicating that it had received messages.
“Oops... Sorry about that, but yesterday I turned it off to charge the battery, and today I hadn’t turned it on yet,” replied Marina, trying excuse herself.
“Fine. Just put it in silent mode or it will ring in the middle of classes and you know that teachers will keep it,” warned Ana.
“Yes, you're right. I'll do it right away.”
The Portuguese professor arrived, giving Marina just enough time to put the cell phone back in the bag and to tell Ana that they would talk about the texts on the next break.
The students entered the room, but as they sat down, one remained standing next to the teacher. Before someone asked who he was, the teacher informed, “Class, this is Joshua. He’s 17 and has been transferred from the United States of America. Let me tell you in advance that his parents are Portuguese, so it isn’t necessary for any girls to volunteer as translators, if you know what I mean. You may sit down wherever you want, Joshua.”
“Wow, what a pie! He’s fit!” muttered Ana to her friend.
Marina looked at the boy from head to toe and nodded in silence. In fact, there were no doubts about him being gorgeous; she just had to look around and see the gaping mouths of the girls in class. The new student was tall, wore his light brown, golden highlighted hair short and spiky. His eye color ranged from very light green to blue, his teeth were super white, and when he smiled, he had some adorable dimples at the corners of the mouth. In short, a sexy hot guy.
Joshua searched for an empty chair to sit down and found several available, some deliberately emptied by girls who didn’t mind having that piece of heaven sitting beside them. After considering his options, he decided to sit on the empty desk at the bottom of the room, right behind Ana and Marina’s.
Noticing that he had picked the place just behind them, Ana simulated that she was feeling hot, as if the temperature had fired up. Marina rolled her eyes, showing that she was exaggerating, and busied herself by taking a notebook from her backpack. A glimpse of the notebook’s cover on the table made Marina remember that this was THE diary that contained THE sheet that should be torn out. She opened the page she had scratched and gazed at the name that the letters formed. Noticing her friend so transfixed, Ana decided to peek at what she was looking at. When she read Lucas’ name, she couldn’t help sounding a little screech, that made the teacher give her a stern look and ask her if she had anything to say, to which she replied, “No, sorry.” Marina rushed to turn the notebook at the right page to write the summary, but it was too late: Ana had already read everything. Intrigued by the news, her friend smiled at her and winked her eye, indicating that they would talk at recess.
Ana’s euphoric state increased even further when she heard the sweet voice of the latest addition to the class saying, “Ladies, can you lend me a pen, please? I forgot to bring my pencil case.”
Ana only had a blue pen, but she didn’t mind lending it to him, because he was soooo good-looking. Marina always had three in her case, so she grabbed one and turned around to give it to Joshua. Before being able to do it, Marina was surprised by Ana, who snatched it from her hand to pass it to the boy. That irritated Marina: if she wanted to give it to him, she just had to ask her. She decided to ignore what her friend had just done and observed her with a censorial expression, as she almost melted into the chair when she heard Joshua thanking her.
After a mighty dose of Portuguese language evolution throughout History, the bell announced that the class had just finished, which was a great relief. Their next lesson would be in the same room, so they left their things on the tables and left. In the corridor, a crowd surrounded Joshua, who could hardly breathe. Poor fellow. The girls gave him no rest and asked him all sorts of questions: ‘What's your name again?’; ‘From which place in particular in the States do you come from?’; ‘What do you like to do?’; ‘Where are you living?’; ‘What kind of music do you like?’; ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ The questions followed one after another, but he could answer none, because when he opened his mouth to try to talk, they were already asking him something else. Ana wanted to join this group, nevertheless Marina pulled her by the arm, stopping her. Ana snorted and protested, but not for long, because she remembered that they still had a pending conversation that interested her.
Noticing that the two friends were moving away, Joshua apologized to the girls that surrounded him and said that he had something urgent to do. Deviating from one and another, he managed to run towards them. Marina was surprised to see him, unlike Ana, who seemed to be dancing around in the clouds. The ‘amazing’ Joshua took a pen from his pocket and handed it over to Marina. “Here’s your pen. I don’t know if you need it...”
Despite Ana being the one who gave it to him, he knew pretty well who the true owner of the pen was. What Ana had done didn’t go unnoticed by him, but he decided to ignore the gesture too.
Marina shook her head and rejected the object. “Keep it. You'll need it for the rest of the day. When classes end, then you can return it to me.”
“Okay. Thanks then.”
As they had nothing else to say, an embarrassing silence took place. Ana was giggling and she was also quite flushed, which annoyed Marina a bit. Why did Ana respond like that when she was close to a cute guy? Couldn’t she control herself? Putting an end to that situation, Marina turned to Joshua and said, “So, we’ll meet you in class, right? See you soon.”
Joshua was somewhat flabbergasted with that reaction, so he just replied with a simple smile as the girls walked away.
“W-we have to go?” stuttered Ana without the slightest desire to go anywhere.
Marina almost burned her with a flash of her eyes. With contained fury in her voice, she muttered, “Ana, two words for you: lunch-ticket.”
“Fine, spoilsport. Let’s go buy the lunch ticket then,’” mumbled Ana, thwarted.
They marched to the bottom of the bar, joined the line and waited. After almost ten minutes, their turn came when the bell was ringing for next class. No way! The Geography teacher would have to wait, because now they were buying their tickets and they wouldn’t go anywhere without them.
“And, just to be in line for the lunch coupon, we left the utterly epic American and you haven’t told me the story of Lucas,” complained Ana as she pouted.
“Don’t worry, we’ll talk later. You know that the following recess is the longer one,” Marina said.
The friends put their tickets in their wallets and returned to the room for the next lesson. The pandemonium they found was the same as when they had left: Joshua was looking desperate, surrounded by uncontrollable women, and he had the most bored expression. They were like a pack of hyenas. It seemed like they had never seen a carcass before... although Marina had to admit it was a great one.
This time, the boy was saved by the Geography teacher, who came to him allegedly to explain the modus operandi of his lessons, pushing him into the room. The friends laughed at the ridiculous situation and also entered the room.
The last Geography class was the day Marina missed school, so she decided to focus harder. However, a twinge of concern in her soul distracted her from time to time: Lucas didn’t attend the Portuguese lesson and continued to be absent. Would he be too hurt from the fight with the Goth? He didn’t seem to be in such bad shape when he got up and walked away. Maybe his body was so sore that he had decided to miss school; she herself had skipped lessons for one day due to pain. On the other hand, he might not want to be seen in that state, and had therefore decided to stay home. Besides, he was a tri-repeat student, so he wouldn’t miss much.
After the Geography class, Ana was thrilled just to think about the topic of conversation they would have. However, the episode of the previous lesson repeated itself, albeit with some slight changes: this time, Joshua decided to remain in his place until everyone had left the room, but he had no such luck. His ‘crazy fans’ surrounded his desk and neither Marina, nor Ana could get out from the table with so many people around them. Annoyed, Marina yelled, “Get out! We need to go to the bar and you’re not letting us. Step out of the way!”
Nobody took much notice, after all her moment of being the center of attention was over and done. Right… just the day before, she had been the target of all stares and comments from everyone: as she knew what Joshua was going through, she felt sorry for him. How about some theatre to save him? Marina rolled up her coat sleeves, put on a ‘bad-ass face’ and started to push the girls around. Once she was able to get up from her chair, she turned back to the boy’s desk and began to argue with him out loud, “How’s it gonna be? A while ago you pissed me off, saying that you wanted me to show you where that place is, so that you could go there to get that thing, but now you’re only wasting my time. I know you think that you’re the heartthrob of a daytime soap opera, but you better start moving, because I don’t have much time, and I still want to go to the bar to get something to eat!”
Some girls stared at Marina with suspicion, others with jealousy. They barely got him to utter a single word, and she was already his buddy and they had things planned? They weren’t happy about that.
Noticing that the girls weren’t moving away, Marina grabbed Joshua’s arm without any gentleness and dragged him out of there, leaving behind a bunch of girls, green with envy and red with fury. Who was she, to take away their new Ken edition? They almost ran down the corridor, with Marina pulling Joshua. She only let him go after crossing the garden and reaching the back of the drawing rooms.
“What vultures. Woo!” Marina growled. “You're safe here. I’ll go in that direction, because I’m going to the bar. And you… you do what you want, ok? You're on your own.”
Joshua smiled, irradiating light from every pore. It was easy to understand why all the girls would surrender to his charms, but she wasn’t like them. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, she just wanted to have good grades. Besides, one guy crept into her life just a few days ago and he had already given her too many headaches. And they weren’t even friends, as he often pointed out.
Seeing her preparing to go away, Joshua rushed to say, “Thanks. I must confess I wasn’t expecting you to get me out of there. Despite all the attention I’m getting, you're the only one who seems not to care a dime about what I do.”
Marina frowned. Was he complaining about not having her attention? Why should he have it, when he received a lot from the other girls? Could he be that egocentric? Without much thought, she replied, “Different priorities, but let’s not go there. I helped you only because I know what it’s like, wanting to breathe and not being left alone, in peace, to do it. A few days ago I was in your place.”
“Yeah?” he questioned, encouraging her to go on.
It demanded an explanation that Marina didn’t want to give. Although it was easy to talk to him, she had her friend waiting, therefore she went for a short reply, “Yes, I was in a similar position. Anyway, you're safe here and you can go anywhere you want, Joshua.”
“Josh” the boy corrected.
“What?” she asked, a little bit confused.
“You can call me Josh. That's what my friends call me.”
“Okay… Josh. See you next class,” replied Marina with some reluctance. That said, she girl her back and headed to the bar.
While watching her moving away, Joshua couldn’t help laughing at the memory of a so far-fetched bailout.
Upon finding Ana at the bar, Marina signaled her to go to the stone benches outside to eat, as they did in the days when the sun showed up: it was a way to recharge batteries, as if they operated on solar energy.
Before sitting down on the bench of whitewashed cement, Ana rushed to ask her friend, “So, what did you do with Joshua?”
“Nothing. I left him whole, safe and sound, nearby in the drawing rooms. If you want, you can go check it out.”
“I believe you. Whoa, you walked away in a gale! But hey, I never thought you’d do that for him,” confessed Ana before taking a bite of her croissant.
Marina sat down and replied, “It was driving me nuts to see so many girls around him as if they wanted to break him into pieces and to eat him.”
“I would totally have a piece of him. Yum-Yum!” said Ana, rubbing her hands and licking her lips as if she was very hungry.
Marina felt the need to explain herself better. She turned to her friend and remarked, “What I mean is I know what he was going through. Do you remember that just yesterday I had to get away, because people wouldn't leave me alone? It's very annoying to have so many people around you.”
Explanation given, Marina took a big bite of her croissant and let Ana know she wasn’t talking again before having eaten it all. Ana imitated Marina, but since she finished eating first, she had to wait for her classmate patiently; they still had a pending conversation about some intriguing figure.
After Marina finished eating, Ana made her a frantic gesture with her hands to speak once and for all. Yet, Marina didn’t utter a single word. Ana stepped ahead, saying with urgency, “Just tell me! What happened between you and Lucas? Is it just fantasy or has he really caught your eye? Are you friends? Did you talk to him? Come on!”
When it came to boys, Ana couldn’t shut up: it was her favorite topic, so there was no way to avoid that conversation. And why would she dodge it? If Marina didn’t want her to know certain details, she just had to leave them out.
Marina put her hands in front of her in a defensive position and told her friend, “Easy, slow down. I wrote that the day after the river incident. Do you remember me telling you that I thought he had saved me? I did that as a way of releasing the confusion in my mind before I went crazy. There’s nothing special about it.”
Ana was a bit disappointed. All of that work, with beautiful cursive letters, and it was nothing special. Great… Her friend really needed some excitement in her love life.
Before Ana asked anything else, Marina interrupted, “No, I'm not friends with him, nor have we talked. Besides, yesterday he made it quite clear that he didn’t want to see me.”
Like a dog raising its ears over the owner’s calling, Ana became more alert and got hungry for details. After all, they had spoken. Why did she say the opposite? Baffled, Ana intervened, “Hey, you did talk to him. Otherwise, how would you know that he wants you away from him? Spill it out at once.”
Indeed, Marina was contradicting herself, but the fact was that she couldn’t classify as a ‘conversation’ what happened between them: only Lucas had spoken, and, frankly, it would have been better if he hadn’t opened his mouth. Marina decided to tell her only part of it. “Yesterday, after going to the phone shop, I saw him being beaten by that guy dressed in black that I saw here, at school, in the morning.”
“That’s a wicked scene. What then?” quizzed Ana, wanting to know some more.
“Then... look, I was a fool. I threw a stone at the Goth’s head and he fled away. Shortly after, Lucas got up and told me to stay away from him. And he left, just lik
e that.”
Ana opened her mouth in shock. She was astonished that her friend had sided with Lucas, but she was even more surprised by his negative attitude in the end. With an expression of anger, she let out, “What a dork! I mean, you helped him and he was so ungrateful that he sent you away. A true gentleman... Forget about him, he’s not worthy of your concern.”
“I know, but I noticed that today he didn’t come to school and I was worried. Was the beating so brutal that it left him in bad shape? I didn’t get that idea,” explained Marina wondering about the last words inside herself.
“I didn’t notice that he was absent. Forget him and move on. Now we have another more interesting subject to talk about and that has beautiful eyes that resemble the sea.” Ana pretended to faint down on the bench. Speaking of that guy in particular seemed to give her a rush. Maybe she was starting to fall for him. It was a possibility, however, knowing Ana as Marina did, most likely she was reacting like that because he was news; later it would pass.
The rest of the day went by enveloped in serenity and there were no hiccups in the classroom. Some teachers offered Marina help if she had difficulties understanding things. The same was offered to Joshua as he had missed even more classes than her. As for the breaks, Marina’s crazy intervention that morning made Joshua less harassed, which allowed him to catch up with the boys and start making friends with whom he could play PlayStation or a soccer match. She didn’t know a thing about his hobbies, but, as he was a boy, she supposed they would be video games and sports.
As Ana’s mother couldn't pick her up at school, she would meet her at the accounting office. As a result, Ana would go down town with her friend, making Marina happy. Marina didn’t mind walking the way alone, but having company made the journey more enjoyable and even easier. A minute after leaving school, they heard a voice calling for Marina. They turned back and saw Joshua running toward them. When he arrived near them, his face was rosy and he was panting a little. Ana's internal alarm fired up right away, stating ‘really hot guy nearby’. Marina gave her a little nudge to make her pull herself together.
“Phew, I haven’t had a sprint like that for some time,” he admitted.
“Really? Nobody would say that, you look so athletic,” stammered Ana, half embarrassed.
Smiling at her, Joshua replied, “Thanks for the compliment.” Then he turned to Marina and handed her the pen she had lent him, while saying, “You left in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to return it to you.”
Without facing him, Marina grabbed the pen, ran the bag zip a little and threw it inside. At home she would find it and put it back in the pencil case. In a dry intonation, she stated, “You didn’t have to run just to give me the pen. You could have returned it tomorrow.” Joshua's smile faded a bit. He stopped following them when Marina said, “Anyway, thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye. See you tomorrow,” he responded without much conviction. He remained still, in the same spot as the girls headed home.
Ana soon showed her discontent to Marina, “Are you dumb or what? Did he do something wrong to be so mistreated by you? I mean, he’s super nice and you only gave him snide answers. You need to get back on track, you silly girl.”
Marina had no idea that she was mistreating Joshua. She just didn’t intended to follow him around as a love sick puppy. Not in a thousand years.
Bored, Ana turned back and called, “Hey, Joshua! Where is your home?”
He turned toward her and, for an instant, was undecided about what to answer. Finally, he said, “I live in the old printing buildings near the City Hall.”
“Nice. And are you waiting for someone?”
The question seemed to have some promise. At that moment, Marina’s indifference was already annoying him, so it was his turn to reciprocate. Exhibiting his best smile, he replied, “No, I'm expecting no one. I'm leaving right now.”
“So are we. If you want, we can take the road below the castle and then go down the stairs next to the electricity control post. After that you go home, and we turn left to follow to our route,” proposed Ana with a triumphant grin dancing on her red lips.
That was just what he wanted to hear: it was the perfect opportunity to spite Marina. If she didn’t want him around, she wouldn’t get away with it. He put on a thoughtful expression, as if reluctant to accept the offer and whispered to Ana, “I don’t know... your friend doesn’t seem to appreciate my company.”
Marina snorted, such was his impudence to say that. Hello! She was right there and could hear him loud and clear. Moreover, he was showing off. Peacock, brash and cocky.
Ana soon interrupted, “Don’t worry about that. She's just going through a bad phase with an anti-social attitude added to the mix. Besides, I already gave her an earful and she promised to compensate you next weekend.”
Marina gasped and her jaw dropped to the ground. What? They hadn’t talked about anything. However, before she had the chance to protest, Joshua intervened and she felt that there was no turning back.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. She promised that tomorrow you decide what you’re going to do. You'll see. You’ll have a lot of fun,” assured Ana.
Marina smiled faintly. Ana was so toasted! What right did she have to interfere in her life like that? She would go out with who she wanted and not with whom her friend chose for her. On the other hand, and recognizing that she was too ‘bitter’, Marina was forced to admit that maybe she was having an unpleasant attitude towards the boy. And what reasons had she to do this? In the first place, she had fallen into the river, so she wasn’t in a very good-mood. Second, she was concerned with the ungrateful Lucas, to whom she had reciprocated the favor of being helped, just to be chased away. Third, Joshua was hot, but he was too cocky for her taste. However, she didn’t really know him. He could be acting like that just to tease her, although that didn’t say nice things about his character. Marina tried to calm down and put all those justifications in the fictional closet of ‘things-to-reflect-on-later’. She thought it was best not to prejudge Joshua: he could do the same about her and, in the end, they could discover that they were both wrong.
