Quest of Nemesis

The Ingenious Scholar - Part II

For Nemesis, Charmel and Grace stood above all other friends. They had developed strong, mutual inclination towards one another since their first year in the university. Despite remoteness from each other's residency, they had always been driven back to the same joyfulness and togetherness once inside the class.

Grace, being a single child, had been raised with lengthy patience and indestructible gentleness. In an aesthetically constructed real estate along Merryland Village, she resided with her eternally affectionate parents. With so much care and spoiling however, she had never let herself sink into the absurd disgrace of possessing brat attitude; rather, she impelled herself to vitalize the sense of responsibility and mindfulness.

About six miles away was Charmel's home situated in a very strategic point of Mooreland Street. Being second born had been for him, a grievous fate, as he staggered back again and again from his older brother's trickster jokes and gambols. Though he would sometimes do pungent yet comical reprisals, he never managed to parallel the sleight of his brother's revengeful contraptions – door traps, nerve-wracking surprises and arachnid pranks which he despised the most. Indeed, among the circle of friends, Charmel had the most phobias, which earned him nothing but unwarranted mockery from Grace.

Finally, less than an hour away from the university, Nemesis and her mother lived in a traditionally designed house, sheltering them from the palpitant Kenniger Street.

Unyielding was Nemesis, Grace and Charmel's bond, even when surrounded by a myriad of possible favorites. No matter how many gentle fellows, generous students or thoughtful neighbors to captivate them, they kept their dedication to one another. They were united by an ambition to sally for their target bull's eye of success. But sometimes, they would set books and pens aside to enjoy themselves and fool around – even poking fun on their professors.

Not long after the first bell rang, a walking she-lexicon – as the students named her – slammed the door, heading straight to the high standing seat in front of the class. Every commotion drove to a halt, and every eye turned towards her. She was Professor Catherine Blubberine, a language teacher. Truly was she a walking lexicon in the eyes of her scholars, not for grandiloquence or inclination for syntax, but merely for her superfluous mass of almost a hundred kilograms.

'Page thirty-six,' she voiced austerely.

The students opened their book, turned to the said page and began reading quietly.

'Hey, Nemesis, nice type of a coat there huh, Miss Blubber's, must be a new one,' Charmel whispered.

'Shut it Charm,' Nemesis whispered back grinningly.

Just as both of them were about to return reading, an uncanny strike of two identical booklet slammed their faces one at each head.

'Dare to let me see you chattering again Mister Bjorn and Mister Camelot and that would be the last light you shall ever see,' Professor Blubberine indignantly nagged at them.

Charmel and Nemesis cowered down their hurt heads, while Grace smirked at them tauntingly. A couple of moments later, Charmel whispered to Nemesis once more, apparently oblivious of the professor's warning.

'As I was saying, Miss Blubber's a fine swine with that look,' whispered.

'Charmel, shut it I said,' Nemesis wearily murmured.

An agitating thump against the front table's surface appalled the whole class. Without giving a word, Professor Blubberine marched colossally straight to where the two chatterers had been trembly sitting. When she was about to evince a forceful slap with a thick book, the door opened suddenly, accompanied by a loud crash. She paused, and so did everyone. But Charmel and Nemesis remained shaking, eyes-closed, bracing themselves to feel their rageful demise.