Deadlock

XVI

It was my fourth day cleaning the fourth floor and the gym. I couldn’t believe that Ms. Beckendorf made me come to school on a Saturday just to clean. Now I had to finish fast; I sure didn’t want to go to the cemetery alone at night.

“Emily, where are you going?” Aunt Sally asked me as I descended the stairs.

“She needs to go to school because she was punished by Ms. Beckendorf, a teacher at Ourine Academy. She has to clean the school.” Nikki answered for me, she was leaning in the table.

“But today is a Saturday.” Aunt Sally stated.

“Sucks right?” I told her.

“But isn’t today your parents tenth death anniversary?” She inquired.

I did not forget that. It had been ten years since my parents died. And I terribly missed them. There were still nights when I wished mom and dad were here. But those people around me said I had to grow up. So those nights were slowly diminishing.

“Yeah Em, it’s their death anniversary.” Nikki said.

“I’m going to go to school and do the task. I’ll finish it early and then I’d go straight to the cemetery.” I told them.

“Are you sure you want to go alone?” Nikki questioned.

“Yeah, and I’m probably going to be late.” I told them and then went to the door. I waved my hands and bid them goodbye.

I was walking out of the main building on a Saturday afternoon. I was heading to the gym. One thing that was good about this was that Rob Van Garrette was not going to be in school on a Saturday. He had been pestering me for the past four days and he even caused this punishment. I couldn’t believe that it was all only because of a key chain that had a little piano in it.

I took the key chain in my pocket and looked at it. It was not special, just an ordinary one. But it must be really important to Rob Van Garrette.

We were at the dining table eating dinner. It was a good thing we get to eat together on a Friday night. This week for me was just horrible. I’ve been going home late since Tuesday because of the stupid penalty for throwing a cake into the teacher’s face.

“Oh yeah, before I forget. Emily, is this yours?” Aunt Sally asked. 

She placed a key chain in the table. There was a little piano in it. I took it and I looked at it intently. I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t think it was mine. And then I saw ‘R♥J’ inscribed at the bottom of the piano. 

“R♥J?” I asked warily.

“Emily, didn’t you say Rob accused you of stealing something from him?” Nikki asked me. I looked at her. “He might be telling the truth.”

“Slow down in there Nikki. I’m sure I didn’t steal anything from anyone.”

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. What I was trying to say was that he might be right about you having something that belongs to him.”

“Is this the thing that he was saying I took?” I asked her. 

Aunt Sally was just there listening to our conversation. She was still clueless I was sure of that. I didn’t explain because I, myself didn’t understand the situation.

“I guess, didn’t you say R♥J?”

“Yeah so?”

“I’m guessing it means Rob heart Jane.”

“Who’s Jane?”

“The girl you saw when he proposed.”

“So this is what’s so important to him? This key chain that has R♥J in it?” I muttered.

“You sound like you’re hurting.”

“What? No!”

“So are you going to return it to him?”

“Yeah, I have to; I’ll return this on Monday. He won’t probably stop bullying me if I won’t. And it seems like this is really important to him.”

“So how did you take it from him?”

“Huh? … I don’t know.” I told her. It was a good thing she didn’t ask more.

So how did I have his key chain? The only time I had come near him was last Saturday at Jake’s birthday party. I probably took it when I grabbed his suit to give him a head butt. Yeah, I guess that when I unconsciously grabbed it.

I entered the gym. It was empty. Of course, it was a Saturday. I saw a ball in the middle of the basketball court. I decided to shoot some hoops before cleaning. And after some attempts of shooting the ball, I decided to give up because I just couldn’t shoot it. Silly me, why did I even try?

I scanned the place. I was searching for the utility room. I was going to get the cleaning stuffs and start my… job. And it kind of scared me to clean this place because now I was starting to realize just how huge this was. There were even a lot of rooms in this gym. I opened the double door room hoping that it’d be what I was looking for. When I entered the lodge, I realized that it was not the place I was searching. It was a locker room or something, probably a shower room too. I decided to turn and get back to the court. But when I tried to open the doorknob, it wouldn’t budge. I started to panic. I tried to open it harder but it just wouldn’t open. I was shouting for help but no one was outside. I cried hard. I couldn’t be locked in there. I just couldn’t; I needed to be at my parents’ grave. I had to go and pay respect to them at their tenth death anniversary.

I slammed my body to the floor, still crying. I was sure this was the dirty doing of Rob Van Garrette again. I hated him. I really really really did. I hated him so much I couldn’t take it anymore. It was like my heart was going to burst out with all the hatred I had for him. I buried my face into my hands and all I did was cry. And then I heard footsteps. I looked up and I saw a brunette guy wearing nothing but a towel. I looked away. I couldn’t help but blush even though I was not supposed to.

“What’re you doing here?” He inquired.

“I… ahm…” I wanted to tell him about the situation but my words weren’t coming out of my mouth.

“You can look now.” He told me and I did what I was told. He already had his clothes on. And then he looked at me intently. His gaze was so strong it was as if it was making a hole into my body. I almost wanted to melt right then. And then he smirked at me. “You… what’re you doing here?”

“Ahm… the door’s locked.”

“What?” He asked as he went to the door and flipped the doorknob. He too couldn’t open it. He tried so hard but he didn’t succeed so he just gave up. “Do you have your cell phone?” 

“Ahm…” Cell phone? Why didn’t I think of that? I tried to search for my pocket and found no cell phone. “Oppsss, I guess I left it outside.”

“Great, now we’re stuck.”

“Don’t you have yours?”

“If I had, do you think I’d ask?” He told me. What a jerk. “Sorry… my bag was outside. My things were in there.” He looked at me nicely. So maybe he wasn't an absolute ass.

He wasn’t as bad as it seemed. He said sorry and I think that was nice. We were in there and an awkward silence followed. Nobody talked. I was there staring at the ceiling. And he was there… staring at me.