GUARDIAN FROM NEPTUNE : ZEAL

23

 VAER

SECOND DAY OF CLASS

In between classes, the students always had a break for lunch in the internal area of the school. Some students preferred to stay in the classroom, others in the refectory and many boys preferred the sports court while the girls had a tendency to stay in the schoolyard, talking on the phone or so talking to girlfriends.

I preferred no place but kept doing company to Erina. She walked beside me in the center of the schoolyard. Before long, a very beautiful mulatto girl approached us. She was dressed in clothes in fashion and hardly wore the school uniform. But as she was the daughter of a teacher at the school, she had the teaspoon to avoid school uniform and thus parading her successful singer- style clothes.

"Hello, girls!"

She waved to us and walked forward, with a gait as a catwalk model. The young woman was wearing red high heels that made her even more elegant. At that moment, I stood looking at her and Erina realized I admired her somehow. Something in her had betrayed my silent gaze.

Then Erina stepped forward to explain.

"That is Yolanda. She is the daughter of the teacher Yonah. She is also drum queen of a samba school in the town. And because of it, she feels she is the goddess!"

Erina rolled her eyes after her own words.

"Drum Queen? What is it?"

"Have you never been at a carnival?"

She questioned me with astonishment. I shook my head, stating that 'NO'.

"Oh my God! On what planet do you live, Vaer?"

I got red and confused by her question. Erina was just playing with this question, but for a moment, I took it seriously and thought she knew I was part of another planet, which had not this event called Carnival.

"Vaer, do not get me wrong, but I think you need to know more about our world. Apparently your parents are nothing liberal and at least they do not let you go to the movies with friends."

At that moment, I remembered me that my parents were extremely zealous with me and if I lived on Earth with them, they probably would be just as Erina had described them.

"Yes, they are very concerned about me and do not let me make my own choices."

"Where do you live?"

"I live..."

At that second, a boy from our class approached us. He came up to the Erina and exchanged a gentle kiss on the lips. Then I remembered me that they should truly love each other. Because my father and my mother sometimes exchanged that kind of kiss on the lips and they loved each other so much. My parents were the most beautiful couple I had ever seen in my life.

"Vaer, this is Gaboh, my boyfriend."

"Happy to meet you."

The boy affirmed, extending his hand to me and touched it with fear. The dark-haired young man with dark brown eyes made a slight grimace as he felt my hand a little glacial between his.

"Your hand is very frozen!"

Soon he exclaimed without thinking. I ended up pulling my hand from his. Erina ended up nudging the ribs of her boyfriend with the tip of her elbow.

"Gaboh, Be more polite!"

"Excuse me." He scratched his head. "I did not want to offend her."

He spoke, apologizing regretfully. I forgave him with keeping me grudges. He had the reason, my hands were very frozen and I or he had no fault for it. I also could not see coarsely by part of his comment. But Erina thought Gaboh had been impolite to me. So I figured she had exaggerated in her oppression against her boyfriend.

"You're new at school? That's not it?"

"Yes, I am. And today is my second day of school."

The boy smiled and hugged his girlfriend from behind, his arms were crossed at her waistline and we continued there, trying to hold a conversation to three.

"Where are you from? You do not seem to be from Rio de Janeiro."

"I came... from..."

They were looking attentively at my face, waiting for me to finish speaking. But another student from our class came to us and called Gaboh for a football match at the school court. So Gaboh forgot about his question done to me and soon affirmed.

"Girls, I have to give up the company of you for a few minutes. I'm going to hit a little ball with my companions."

I felt relieved for not to have to say them where I come from. That unknown boy had done me a great favor by calling Erina's boyfriend for a football match.

Soon the two boys walked out toward sports court and I stayed with Erina in the courtyard. She looked at her boyfriend as she was holding a smile on her lips. That scene showed she seemed to admire him a lot.

I arrived at my home and did the same routines as ever, i.e., I passed through the front door, threw my school material on the couch and sat down to remove my boots from my feet. But, I stayed sat on the couch for longer, as I began to remember the kiss on the lips of Erina and her boyfriend and then the kiss on the lips between my father and my mother. They looked so happy while doing it.

Probably the feeling that this kiss gave them should be very good. Or they would not smile at each other and look into each other's eyes after they had pulled away the lips from each other.

Without thinking, I just ended up touching my lips with my fingers and silently lamenting the absence of that kind of kiss on my mouth and also in my life.

I had eighteen and had never tried this experiment. My lips had never faced other lips of the opposite sex. Since then, I waited so long for this day, for this moment which should be memorable in my life. But I was in need of a partner and I lacked to fall in truth love for this to happen the softer, real and exciting way.

To conclude, I realized that my reality was another. I was on planet Earth, alone and up to that moment, no boy in my school had enchanted me. My heart had not accelerated for any of them yet.

I just sighed heavily, imagining that maybe it would never really happen to me. <0}