“You should tell Michael about this,” is the only thing Gina says after telling her about the rose incident, which, now that I think about it, was not a big deal. The worst part happened when Cynthia found us on the hallway. But, it seems that Gina thinks it was way too much.
“What will be the use? It was just a rose.”
I thank that Michael hasn’t shown up yet because, I he sees us with mops in hands, he’ll demand an explanation and, what would I say to him? Everybody knows that I suck at telling lies because my face turns bright red and I start to stutter, even if the lie seems silly and natural to the others. Besides, Gina is here and she surely would start ranting about the tick.
“You mean this time it was just a rose. And later? You heard her yourself: she won’t stop until she gets Michael back. What if the next thing she does is making you trip on the staircase or poison your lunch? Michael should know so he can make her stop before this gets worse.”
“The good thing is that I never bring lunch.” I laugh, but Gina sets the mop aside and looks at me with the most serious face she has. “What? It is true. Besides, you know what they say: barking dogs never bite.”
Gina shrugs before saying: “I won’t say a thing to him, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”
I nod fervently and wipe the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand when I finish mopping the floor underneath my desk. Even when the bottle didn’t spill the water completely, while we searched for the mops, it has slipped to the sides. I take my backpack and hurry Gina out of the classroom to look for Martin, the janitor, to give him back his cleaning utensils before Michael catches us.
“I thought you’d forgotten about me,” says Michael when we found him at the staircase. Gina always makes me take the stairs instead of the elevator, arguing that I should go to the gym with her if I don’t. “I was looking for you, but the classroom is already empty.”
Gina stares at me with narrowed eyes, waiting for my big lie, and clearly taking advantage of my situation.
“It’s just that,” I stutter and add with quiet voice: “You didn’t arrive and we decided to go to the bathroom to give you some time.”
“I’m sorry. The teacher got excited and didn’t want us to leave before he finished.”
“It’s okay.” I smile sheepishly.
Gina spends most of the time nudging my ribs every time Michael looks away. She hurts me a couple of times, but I hold back the laughter, the pain and the desire of punching her back. I can’t expose myself to another round of lies. In our campus, there are some food stalls where they sell all kinds of stuff: from salads to pizza. While we wait for our sandwiches to be ready, Gina makes sure Cynthia is nowhere in sight.
“You’re too paranoid.”
“And from the both of us, you are the one who can see ghosts.” I raise my eyebrows. Gina is one of the few people who know about my peculiar ability and the only one who can mention it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, which doesn’t bother me or hurt me the way it would if anyone else mentioned it. “Maybe that’s the problem,” she adds, without looking at me.
“What?”
“The fact that you can see things I can’t annoys me,” she complains like a little girl.
“I have already told you that it’s been a long time since I saw one,” I mutter and bite my tong. It’s really been a long time between the last one and the boy from the garden that my words almost sound natural. Sometimes it’s a shame that Gina knows me so well!
YOU ARE READING
(Invisible) Red Thread
Ficção Adolescente“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break.” – Chinese proverb. Ever since that terrible accident in her childhood, she has bee...
