Tricky Heart (Wattys 2024)(English)

Chapter 5 - The cigarette

I am on the school toilet and have peed. I am about to get up, but I hear girls coming in through the front door of the toilet.
In this place, people feel safe and often indulge in private talk.

Sometimes, even in the hallways you hear scoops. But, what people can say to each other in the bathroom, you can't find anywhere else.
I don't know why. It must be one of the mysteries of life.

Footsteps approach.
A girl chooses to enter the toilet next to mine: she opens the door and latches it shut.
I hear a jingle: I think she is wearing a bracelet.

Further on, the sound of water, running from one of the sinks, invades the room.

It should be two people. It's worth waiting a minute; there could be compelling news.

I no longer hear the water, but the girl next door pees and flushes the toilet. She opens the door again. The bracelet jingles.

"How is the new math teacher?" .

"She seems good, but she already wanted to explain some things today."

The water in the sink runs again. "Is she crazy? It's the first day."

"Yes, indeed. We were all weirded out."

The faucet is turned off and the sound of flint from a lighter begins to crackle a couple of times.

Someone is smoking. What a smell.

The girl with the bracelet is excited. "You have the new boy in your class, don't you?"

"Yes, but I haven't talked to him yet. He's really nice, however, he has the face of an asshole." She ends with a long exhalation.

The girl with the bracelet laughs. "We'll soon find out."

Are they talking about Paul or is there another new boy this year?

"The only thing I know about him is that he is good at math: he answered two of the teacher's questions well."

"So, he's not only handsome, but he's also smart."

The other girl takes her time, takes a deep exhalation, and hangs up to talk. She is the one who is smoking.

"We miss to know if he's an asshole."

"Will you invite him to your kickoff party?" That jingle is making me nervous.

Another deep exhalation fills the silences. "Of course I'm going to invite him. By now I want to figure out what kind of guy he is."

"Are you inviting David, too?"

"Yes, I want to make him explode with envy when he sees me with Paul."

I knew it. They are really talking about him. Who will this girl be? The voice is familiar.
Anyway, for sure she will be his next girlfriend.
She will cheer at all his games and yell at every foul he suffers.

"I already have a few bottles of vodka at home."

"Do you want to get him drunk?"

"No need."

The two laughed.

"Let me have two puffs." The bracelet jingles one more time.

I kind of envy her, but it's for the best, I don't think he and I would have had a future. Besides, I don't even know if he likes me. Maybe that contact in the car was good only for me; maybe for him it was just an annoyance.

I'll never know, and we'll never hang out in the same circles.

He arrived a few hours ago and already he is going to be invited to a super exclusive party.

My phone rings. Shit.

"Who is it?"

The girl with the bracelet has discovered me. What do I do?

"You heard us, didn't you?"

I can't play dumb, I have to get out. I pull up my pants and open the door.

There's a blond girl: she's the one who received the cigarette and she's the same as the one in the bracelet. She approaches.

"What have you heard? Speak up."

"Actually, I didn't hear anything."

"Tell me the truth." She puffs smoke in my face.

I cough and chase the smoke away with my hand.

"Leave her alone. Everyone knows I have a party every year anyway. It's not like it's new."

It is to me. The black-haired girl has never invited me.

Knock knock. Someone knocked on the door.

A man's voice shouts outside the bathroom.

"Are you smoking in there? You know very well that you can't smoke."

The girl with the cigarette crinkles her eyes and glances at her friend for a solution.

"I count to three, and on the count of three I open the door. One..."

The blonde stares at the cigarette in her hands. "What shall we do?"

"Two..."

I look at her who is scared and, without thinking too much, I take the cigarette from her hands.
What the hell am I doing?

"Three." The attendant bursts into the bathroom.

He looks at me in disgust. "Ah, you're the one who was smoking. Come with me to the principal right away."

I throw the cigarette on the floor and put it out with the tip of my shoe.

"You'll see what an exemplary punishment the principal will give you."

I look at the two girls and, reading their lips, the one with black hair says, "Thank you."

I walk out of the bathroom.

What has come over me? Why did I take that cigarette? I got in trouble for two girls I don't even know.

My lips stretch into a big smile.

I didn't know them, though, I have to tell the truth, when she thanked me.
I felt cool.