𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇

counterfeit cooperation

Damian

When me and Chase were six, we would sneak into the back seats of the church at the beginning of the mass, and make a competition of who could pass Angry Birds' levels faster. Of course, our little contest wouldn't last five minutes, because as soon as we sat our asses on the wooden bench furthest from the priest, our mothers would be snatching their phones, previously stolen from their bags, out of our hands and dragging us back to their side. Most of the time, with a well-deserved ear tug, as a bonus.

Well, the good man up there, must have taken our bad behavior personally, because he strongly refused to give me a hand when the topic was the girl now sitting on the floor of our corridor, with a book resting on her legs.

Friday night had ended terribly for Emma. Nico had appeared, made a big scene in front of the whole school, and ended up being beaten the shit out of him by my best friend. Normally I'm not the biggest fan of using force to solve problems, but after calling Emma a whore and telling Chase to go burn in hell next to his dead mother, I think Nico's broken nose fits him like a glove.

Carrying my schoolbag on only one shoulder, I walked to the end of the crowded room, filled with groups of students on either of its sides. The babel of diverse voices engaged in conversations echoed in a rowdy sound mixed with laughter. However, the girl in front of me seemed to be unaware of it all. Oblivious and immersed in the pages in front of her, Emma sat reading as if she was in the most quiet environment she could have found.

"Hey", my voice captured her attention back to the real world, and suddenly, for a brief second, the gentle smile of serenity on her lips disappeared.

My presence made her shrink as if she hadn't expected someone to interrupt her but then, with no hesitation, she slightly moved to her left, making room on the floor for the both of us to sit without our shoulders having to touch.

"Hey", she finally greeted me back the moment I lowered myself onto the tilted floor, a shy smile returning to her face when her gaze met mine.

"Anyone giving you trouble since Friday night?"

"Not really", she said almost in a sigh while closing her book, "apart from Lexi's attempt to send me to the principal's office during Physics, of course," she clarified, "But what can we say, it was just Lexi being Lexi."

"Well, screw Lexi," I replied with an encouraging tone of voice, playfully nudgeding her shoulder with mine.

My words made her chuckle and an honest smile spread on her face, before she looked up, her eyes meeting mine once again, "Yeah, but I was late. She kind of had her reasons.", Emma confessed with a quiet tone of voice, resting her book on the tiled floor next to her, and bringing her knees to her chest.

"So? I bet you had your reasons too."

"Maybe", she answered, shrugging her shoulders, not totally convinced of my statement.

I quickly realized by her brief pause in the conversation that she was visibly immersed in her introspection, silently contemplating things inside her head, which was something I had noticed she did a lot.

I couldn't blame her because I had been doing the exact same thing since the moment my eyes laid on her, from the other side of the corridor. Actually, I was consumed with the feeling I had left important words unsaid, since the moment I let her walk away from Chase's house in Camila's company, that night.

It was the first time I was seeing her since then and I didn't know how to bring Friday's events to the surface or if I should bring them up to begin with. I didn't even know if it was my place to say something about it. But I wanted to know. I wanted to know how she was doing and give her some type of comfort: let her know she wasn't alone.