FADED VIRIDITY

CHAPTER SIX

The wait was over when my final year at school started. It's ironic how life balances joy with grief. In this year, I was constantly in the intermediate stage of laughter and tears. It was a fantastic year despite its shortcomings. Amelia had forgiven me, and I her but I simultaneously received a 'buy one get one free' voucher, for with Amelia came Sofia. While my eyes stayed shut last year, Sofia had taken steps in becoming comfortable with my best friend. The more the merrier, yeah? Let's find out...It was a cold winter's morning. Nearing sunrise there was a shadow of darkness still lurking around. I could feel the cold breeze seep in from the edge of the windowsill, and make its way through the hole of the blanket where my foot once rested during the earlier parts of the night. Like a sip of icy water I felt the air travel up my body to the tip of my nose- making it crystalize. 

I changed positions in search for warmth and cuddled up closer to the person that was fast asleep next to me. My eyelid lifted slightly as I turned. Just in time to catch the intense bright light shining directly in my half-awoken eyes. Confusion hit my already scrambled mind as I watched the blinding sun stare back at me, smile even. I buried my head under the sizzling, sunless blanket to try and adjust my blinded corneas. When my eyes recovered from the sun tan, I stuck out my head from beneath the blanket out of curiosity. I saw Amelia stand in front of the light switch. It wasn't the sunlight; it was the switched-on lightbulb. And it wasn't the sun that smiled at me, it was Amelia in her yellow pajamas. 

'Wakey, wakey', she screamed. 

'It's time for prayer, then we need to finish our math homework. Probability, remember!' she said enthusiastically. 

Sofia came back to life and stated, "I'll wake up for prayer, but there is no way I am doing math this early in the morning," before returning to sleep. 

'Oh my god! It's only 4am!', I replied in aghast. Before she could reply I pulled the blanket over my head and swam closer to Sofia in desperate hope of finding more heat. 

'Well, I feel bad after last night and we promised ourselves that we would study. So, that's what I am gonna do!', she said to the blankets.

How did we end up here? From enemies to sisters. Well, it began due to forced circumstances, and ended up being something we wanted. The three of us were contained within a salt circle, which, let's just say, insured our survival. We were the only three, you see, who had math together. It was just us 3 girls, and a few boys. Our shared desire to succeed strengthened our relationship. It started on a Thursday afternoon, when the whole school got dismissed, except for 3. Myself, Sofia and Amelia were the only ones left in school after hours. Not for detention, relax, but for math tuition. It was that day that Sofia suggested a 'sleepover' to help one another out in 'probability'. So we agreed. We planned that we'd go home with Sofia's father on that Friday after school to study together. Sofia had a handsome house, I admit. 

The kitchen looked almost angelic what with all the white flooring, white furniture, white table cloth, the list goes on. And festooned with hints of black here and there, but minute. The lounge on the opposite end of the kitchen extended across oceans, if I may. She adorned herself with two gigantic sofas, both of which were light leathery brown. She also took pride in her clear glass table that occupied one half of the lounge, embraced with transparent chairs that finished up the look so elegantly. Lastly, her bedroom. It was an ocean blue color mixed with white and black to really make a statement- to stand out from the rest as she suggested. There was a small, dingy passageway that led to her room, down two steps, a swing of her door and there it was. She had a black and white rug on the floor at theentrance that made every bone in your body beg for sleep. Her curtain and the board she used for studying ran down in a line across her white wall, adjacent was her cupboard, and opposite was the queen size bed. The house, the way it looked that did not matter though. What mattered was the eyes of the house that still retains our memories...We excitedly got back from school that day and set foot on the grounds of her house. A colorful jungle-gym filled the back yard and there were two dogs that guarded the front section. I was impressed. I thought I was the only kid in the whole of New Castle that had a jungle gym. The dogs greeted us as we entered the gates, by barking so loudly it made the hair on my forearms stand high and strong, like soldiers directed by their leader.