Hopeless Romantic

10. Storm

It is said that once two people start being with each other for a long time, two things happen, their behaviors synchronize and they start finding faults in each other. The only way to solve this was to keep some distance after a while. This is exactly what happened in their case
It was an ominous day in the month of November. The sky was dark and filled with clouds. A thunderstorm was approaching our town. This made the entire atmosphere of the school gloomy and nobody looked like they wanted to be anywhere inside the school.
As usual classes continued, the merciless teachers went on with their students. As if that wasn't enough, I could sense the tension around Oscar and Rio, a tight rope was on the verge of breaking. It was recess soon enough. Oscar got his lunch and sat with us, right next to Rio.
"What's up!"
"I'm eating"
"Yeah, I can see that"
"Why would you ask then"
"I don't know just felt like"
"Whatever"
The usually chirpy twins kept quiet after that. Nobody in our group said a word.
Thankfully the bell rang. All the students headed back to their classes for the second half of the day and I'm pretty sure many of them decided to skip class and head home.
"Hey are you okay?" Oscar asked Rio while they were walking.
"Yeah, I'm fine"
"You don't look fine to me"
"It's the weather"
"If you say so"
They sat in their seats, Rio sat away from Oscar, which confirmed the doubt in his head that she was not fine, something was wrong. Being the oaf he was, he decided to cheer her up. He wrote jokes up and threw it at her. She glanced at the direction it came from, saw his idiotic smile and ignored him.
As if he was a comic character, he made a face of pure shock. But he didn't give up, he wrote another joke and threw it her way. This time she saw him throw it so she caught it with her hands. He signaled her to open it. With an annoyed expression she did and almost burst out laughing, the teacher felt the presence of joy in the gloomy classroom and went on high alert. Rio then wrote back on the paper 'Stop this' and threw it back at him. The teacher saw this. "Rio what did you just throw"
Rio panicked and said "Nothing ma'am"
The teacher headed toward Oscar who had also panicked by then and his face was a visible white, perfectly ghastly and aligned with the weather.
"Oscar did she throw something at you"
"No ma'am"
"Open your hand"
"I can't I'm afraid I've gotten a cramp"
"Sure, I'll open it for you" the teacher proceeded to tear his grip and open his fist. She found the note.
"Is this what I have been teaching? What is the worst part about being a cross-eyed teacher?" She went to her desk, opened a drawer and pulled out her pink book. That meant only one thing. Detention.
"Rio you're getting detention for a week" as she tore off a page from the book and handed it to Rio.
"But ma'am I-"
"This kind of behavior is not tolerated in my class, do you understand"
"Yes ma'am"
Now in such a situation, what would a sane person do, shut their damn mouth and get over with it?
Nope. My dear friend decided to revolt.

"Ma'am one week is way too much"
"What did you say?"
"One week is too much"
"I heard that, I was giving you a chance to take it back" then she proceeded to tear off another page from the pink book and handed it to Oscar "Here you go, two weeks of detention, still think it's too much?"
"No ma'am"
"Good, I expect to see both of you at the end of the day"

That's it that was the last straw.
The day ended before we realized and the both of them headed to the detention room
"I'm sorry" Oscar tried to talk to Rio
"Don't talk to me"
They both spent an hour of silence. You weren't even allowed to do your homework in there. It's just you and your thoughts.
"You may leave now" the detention monitor told both of them.
Rio rushed out into the hallway and Oscar followed behind. They reached the exit and was raining cats and dogs by then.
"Do you have a Poncho?" Oscar asked Rio
"Why would anyone have a Poncho?"
"Well, I'm usually prepared for anything"
"I don't"
"You can take mine"
"No thank you, I can go home like this"
"You'll get drenched then"
"Obviously"
"And you'll get sick and won't be able to complete your detention time"
"Just shut up Oscar" she walked out as she said that.
"Rio please wear this you'll catch a cold" he ran after her.
"I don't want to leave me alone"
"Rio wear it" Oscar held her hand and raised his voice.
"Who do you think you are? You're not my father" she yelled, pushed him away and walked out of the school grounds.
Oscar stood there in the rain. Shocked. This was the first time someone other than his parents had yelled at him. He saw her run into a bus and roll away with it, while he just stood there.

"At least wear it now, you don't have to get wet too" I told him
"I had..an umbrella you know" his voice was shaky and I could tell his eyes was tearing up.
I put the poncho on him and took him to the bus stop. There were no vehicles to be seen on the road.
"Sometimes people just need their space Oscar, and she told you she needed it"
"But I'm her friend, right? She can tell me if something is wrong"
"She didn't want to and that's her choice"
"I know she's going through something, I just wanted to help"
"The only way you can help now is by giving her the space she asked for"
"Okay" the water was trickling down is hair onto his face.
A bus came by after we waited for what felt like a decade, we got on and headed home.
"Can I cry with you or are you crying because of me
Can I be with you even when you want me to leave,
Can I be the one, that one you'll ever need
Can I be your shade, against the tidal rain,
Can I be the man, who helps you through the pain" he recited like a loveless bard.

Everyone goes through something or the other, and they have their own ways of dealing with it. Rio was definitely fighting some demon of her own and a headstrong person like her wasn't going to ask anyone for help. She was better equipped for the battle on her own and she knew it. Unfortunately, Oscar didn't. He always depended on someone for his issues. Maybe he will grow to understand this or maybe he won't, only time would tell.
The thunderstorm didn't end and school was closed for a week due to its severity. Neither Oscar nor Rio texted each other. I made the mistake of calling and asking him how he was doing. He was very close to breaking and sending a text asking if she was fine. I strongly advised him not to and thankfully he did.
When a person goes through something, they usually take on of two paths, one is to talk to others and confront the problem, and the other is to ignore it and let it build up inside you. Thankfully Oscar was one of the people who confronted it.