A Debt Unpaid (Original)

Walter

Its dismissal time now; around 20 minutes since we were dismissed from our last class.

"Would this place do?" Angeline asked, pointing at the quiet little bench at the waiting room.

It was a good place to stay; not much people tends to go to this place cause of the dull atmosphere, so it usually ends up being a place for the bags to rest. But, its still a bit early. The lower grades aren’t done yet with their classes, so the bench is unusually empty...

"Sure, I guess it would do" I replied apathetically.

She didn’t react to that, and walked over to place her bag onto the bench. I did the same, placing my bag beside hers, and taking a seat beside the bags.

"So, let’s start..." Angeline said quite enthusiastically, pulling out a small notebook and a pink ball pen. "Ok, so what kind of story genre would you want to write?"

I look up, trying to look like I am thinking about it, when honestly, I just want to stay away from Angeline for a while. but...

...either you two pair up and make it happen, or don’t work together and I can just fail you, along with Angeline...

Reminding myself of the professor’s warning, I realize I have no choice but to play along.

"Ahm, well, what kind of story genre do you like?" I ask back.

"Ah, well, there’s fantasy, romance, and mystery." She replies.

"Ok. One, I don’t like fantasy. Two, mystery bores me. And finally, why romance of all things?"

Angeline suddenly turns her body to face me, her eyes wide in shock, as if she just heard me say something strange. "Why can you not like romance? Its like, the best of all the genres. its like, funny and awesome and cool, how two people can just meet each other and fall in love with each other, beyond the challenges that faced them, and all."

I smile, seeing the fire in her brownie colored eyes. Its a refreshing feeling, to see someone so motivated like this.

A chuckle escaped me. "Hehe...I guess you’ve fell in love before, huh?"

She looked at me, again eyes wide with shock. A small redness brushed over her cheeks. "N-no...I don’t believe love was even made for me. I just like reading about it..." She slowly turned away, eyes looking downcast at her hands clasped within each other.

"Oh, I see." I say, shamefully.

An awkward silence befell between us for a couple of seconds, before she broke it. "Well, no need to fret on that. If you want, maybe we can just do mystery."

I shook my head. "Nah, let’s do romance. It seems like you know a lot about that genre. It would be much easier for us to make the novel. But, ahm...do you even know how to write?"

"Ahh..." her pupils shot up, as she tapped the edge of her pen on her chin, "not so sure...I’ve tried writing before, but it always ends up awful that I just end up throwing it away."

"Wait... You just throw away your works?"

"Ahuh, something wrong?"

"No, its just that," I scratched the back of my head, "isn’t that just a waste? I mean, you could have written a best-selling novel, and you just threw it in the trash."

I slumped down, seeing how much that would be a shame. I’m sure she has even a bit of talent in her, but to throw it away? How would I know that one of the movie blockbuster based on a novel movies just came from some lucky guy digging through the trash for a story...

"I don’t write good. Its always ugly." she said, completely showing no confidence in her own works.

"Well, you have an example? Like in that little notebook of yours?" I reach for her notebook, but she quickly moved it away.

"No," she said, glaring intently at me, like a cat ready to bite. No, kitten, actually.

I raised my hands in defeat. "Ok, never mind..."

And again, silence befell us...

This time, though, I was the one who broke it. "Look, I don’t know how to write, and you...are not confident with how you write. Maybe we should try to look for a reference?"

"A reference? Like, a novel we can try to base the story on?"

"Yeah, something like that."

She looked a bit unsure, "But, isn’t that like...stealing?"

"No, its not. Its just, we need some reference to know what we have to make. Like, a blueprint of sorts."

"Ohh, I get it." Her face seemed to lighten up a bit. "Alright, maybe we can go to the library tomorrow. We don’t have classes tomorrow, so maybe we can meet up and look for 3 books; one on romance, one on mystery, and another on fantasy. I know a couple of authors and books we can try looking for. What do you say?"

"Sure." I thought of saying, but as I opened my mouth, the memory of her mother resurfaced. My cheek seemed to quiver a bit.

"What? Something wrong?" Angeline asked innocently.

"No, its nothing." I lightly shook my head, shaking away the thought, "Where should we meet up?"

"Hmm...maybe at the cafe beside the library. Probably around afternoon."

I took a moment to think if I have any plans then. I didn’t, but I took a moment to make it look that I did, before I agreed. "Great, see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okie." She said, standing up. She wrote something on her notebook and ripped the page, folded it in half, and handed it over to me.

I looked at her suspiciously, before taking the paper and opening it.

Meet at the cafe

tom. at 3

don’t forget!

That was what was written, in pink ink and girl handwriting.

"Do not forget, alright? I’ll hate you if you keep me waiting." Angeline added.

"Don’t worry, I’ll come early" I said assuringly, even adding a smile for added effect.

"You better." Angeline put her things in her bag, and stood up. "See you." She waved goodbye, as she came out of the waiting quarters.

There was a small wall beside me, so I had to lean to see her off.

Her mother was there, telling her something before Angeline went out of the gate. Her mother stood for a moment, glanced to the side. I quickly hid myself behind the wall, but still felt her cold gaze pierce through the concrete wall between us. It took me a few moments to sum up the courage to check, but once I did, she was gone.

I let out a sigh of relief, looking at the piece of paper on my hand, asking myself: 

"Should I even go?"