The Colours We Give | On hold

| 3 |

tassel

CURRENTLY, I'M SITTING UNDER a mango tree beside the soccer ground with my legs outstretched, plotting ways to murder Arohi Narayan.

Mrs. Lowry asked us to prepare for a debate in the morning today, and the debate is the day after tomorrow. She was also nice enough to assign Arohi as my partner even though she is absent.

I whine at the thought. I just loathe debates. They're so pointless, especially when the topic has been given by Mrs. Lowry. The middle-aged ginger woman, although strict, is a pretty nice teacher. But one thing she doesn't know is to give a proper topic for a debate. This time, it is whether peanut butter is American or not. Either way, it would be considered as a fact. You can't debate with a fact. 

Google it up, copy some random lines, and I'll be done with it. Still, I need to arrange and prepare the script and above everything else, practice speaking. Because we have to debate in front of other human beings. And I get super nervous debating in front of other human beings.

Hope Tanner from English class was nice enough to offer me her phone for the leisure period. I don't want her kindness in to go in vain, so I'm trying my best to gather some valid points from the internet. 

Showing up in pajamas to school, that too late, is bad enough. Constantly reading and looking for information about a product you despise just for an assignment's sake is worse though.

I'm halfway through an article about conspiracies associated with peanut butter, when I can't take it anymore. I sigh and look up. 

It's a blue September sky, with clouds all white and fluffy. The sun shines just enough to leave a golden lining on the trees and lawn and flowers. It's a little cold, but my sweatshirt is protecting me and I mentally thank myself for falling asleep wearing it last night.

Kim, my other friend, suddenly pops up out of nowhere, blocking the view of a sparrow I just spotted. She leans down to look at me, making her long braid fall on my face. I swing it like a rope and send it behind her back again.

"Awesome outfit, Tassel. Looks just like you," she chirps and sits down beside me. "Like me?" I laugh. I don't understand it and don't bother to.

I had planned that after some content-searching on Hope's phone for the debate, I'd spend whatever time I have left of the leisure period taking a walk, searching for Hope and giving her phone back, and then go get lunch with Kim. But since she's already here, I'm quite sure the entire leisure period won't have a second of me preparing the debate.

Kim is a hell lot more fun than peanut butter, so I don't tell her to go away either.

"Why didn't Arohi come today?" she asks.

"I don't know. Maybe she's not feeling well." I reply half-heartedly. When Kim questions my tone, I narrate the story of today's English period. She only laughs.

"Help me, please," I groan.

"Way too boring. I'd rather help you out with your Biology homework if you have any. You know, Reproduction is a nice chapter to read," she says, wiggling her eyebrows.

I give her a blank look. "Are you sure you're still a virgin?"

She nods seriously. "But I wish I weren't," she winks.

I proceed to facepalm.

|| ~~~~~ ||

Kim actually helps me to finish up a bit of the debate. A really tiny bit, but that still marks as progress. And with her sporadic jokes, writing it is passable.