Bonds

School fights are a rather common occurrence at River Rock high; I've even been involved in a few since my freshmen year. Since fighting is considered to be "barbaric and dishonourable" by our wise and noble principal, all school fights took place at the end of the school day in the park just two blocks away as to avoid interruptions by staff members. I usually avoided being part of the audience that gawked and placed wagers on these wonderful events. They bored me to a wild degree unless one of the participants were an acquaintance of mine in which case I would tag along for moral support, not that I cared if they won or not, either way I'd feel like I was abandoning them if I didn't show my face. Fights were arranged for all kinds of reasons; girls, money, spilt milk... whatever the reason, no matter how trivial the excuse, it was enough to spill blood and break bones. I suppose that's the view Agamemnon held when Helen left for Troy. 

Today was no different than any other day for me, or so I thought. The school day had just ended and I made my way towards the school library where I waited for my brother who had to stay behind for some project he was staying behind to finish. I heard rumours about another fight taking place today and because of this the library was completely empty since its regular visitors decided to take a well earned break from studying and took off to enjoy the latest show. I sat myself down in my usual corner on the upper floor where stood a small round table with two plastic chairs, on one side there was a long book shelf stacked with old fiction novels and on the other side was a set of smooth banisters. I chose the seat that allowed me sit with my back against the wall and provided quite a nice vantage point where I could see the entrance, stairway to the second floor and the receptionist desk. The light that rested on the wall opposite the book shelf flickered occasionally and produced a low, dim light that kept the small corner dark, at least dark enough to remain unnoticed by anyone below who wouldn't notice me unless they looked up there specifically. Now resting comfortably on the plastic chair, I reached into my pocket to retrieve my Iphone in which I had stored the latest manga and anime that would keep me entertained for the next hour or so. I always found these to be a great escape from reality, a place where I could let my mind wonder careless and free as I followed in the adventures Naruto, Gon and many others who would save me from the tedious daily routine of everyday life. It was when Geina dropped her bag on the table with a loud crash that kick-started today’s events.

I always considered Geina to be my best friend. She was smart and beautiful. Her hair, which was long, pink and soft, fell to reach her hips which she kept neat and tidy. We’ve known each other since we were kids; seven I think when her mom almost knocked mine over with her trolley at the local grocers. While they bickered and made up and made plans to go out for a coffee to apologise for the accident, I was too busy sneaking something into mom’s trolley when another kid about my height waddled up to me. I turned to look at her, her hair, still long, was a deep black colour and covered half of her face. She stood awkwardly shifting her and rolling one hand in the other when she finely found the courage to look at me but remained silent.

“Hi” I said, I was feeling nervous myself as I rarely talked to anyone and now all of a sudden this girl is standing, staring right at me.

“I think... my mom nearly ran over your mom... sorry about that...” she nervously replied. I remember that I couldn’t help but think for sure that this girl was definitely weird, and I didn’t like weird, at least not at that time.

“Yeah...” I returned “Did she send you to run me over as well?”

“NO!” she yelled, her stance was different now, she leaned forward and for a brief moment brushed her hair aside with her hand to reveal the rest of her face, only to then realise what she was doing and returned to her original position embarrassed. The abruptness of her response startled me and I think she noticed by the expression on my face to which she then said “Can... Can we be friends?”  

This confirmed it for me. She was crazy, but for I felt myself being more drawn to her as I looked into the sweet brown eyes (well “eye” since the other was hidden behind her hair) There was something odd about her that just made her all the more pleasant to me and finally, after a long silent minute I said “Yeah, my name is Lucas”

“Lucas...” she was staring at the ground when she said this and finally looked up at me, her twinkling eyes looking right into mine and a smile stretched across her face as she said “I like it, I'm Geina”  

“What are you still doing here?” she inquired. I looked up into her glossy chestnut eyes in confusion, I was so distracted by my phone that I didn’t even notice her approach me.

“What? You know I'm waiting on for Daimon, he’s staying behind in class to finish that project ya know?”

Now it was Geina who looked at me in confusion, her eyes studied me for a second as if she suspected me of something then shook her head in disbelief before saying “I thought you of all people would be at that fight today”

“Me? At a fight? Why would you think that for? You know I'm not interested in that nonsense.”

She threw herself down on the other plastic chair. “No of course you’re not... waiting on Daimon did you say? Working on a project yeah?

“Yes” I said “you know all this already, why ask questions when you already know the answers ya know?”

This response made her chuckle “oh that’s typical Daimon for you, he finished that project yesterday but I guess he didn’t tell you” she laughed again

“What do you mean finished it yesterday? Where the hell is he then” This definitely annoyed me, I hate when he lies to me like this. Wait a minute I thought, Geina was asking me why I'm not at the fight... damn it Daimon! “He’s fighting today isn’t he?”

She laughed a little harder now “Yeah, that idiot Tony finally crossed the line with him! Little Daimon in his first ever fight oh how he’s all grown up!”

I was really annoyed now, partly because he was actually in a fight for the first time in his live, partly because he lied to me about it. Like don’t get me wrong, we trained with each other every week so I’m already pretty confident he’ll kick Toni’s ass but this is one of the few fights I had to be there for, for my little brother. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go already!”

“Can’t you let me rest for a minute I just got her gosh?”

“Sorry Geina but you don’t wana miss out on all the excitement do you? C’mon already we’re wasting time ya know!” I didn’t have time to be annoyed right now, I can be annoyed later but now I just have to make it there in time. My emotions were all over the place now, I was annoyed, I was excited, but most of all I was worried, worried because Tony isn’t exactly the fairest of people to be fighting against. He was known to play dirty in his fights. He fought a lot and he played dirty a lot. I lifted my bag and took a short cut over the banisters. Geina followed, one thing I liked about her was that she was fearless and not one those girls that cried over a broken nail.

“You’re worried about him aren’t you?” she shouted as we dashed out of the library doors and down the corridor, her pink hair and contrasting black messenger bag billowing in the wind behind her.

“You’re not?” I replied, we reached the stairs now which took us to the second floor with the main staircase just around the corner leading to the main entrance.

“Yeah... Tony of all people can’t be trusted! You’re gona jump him for Daimon aren’t you?”

“You always could read me like a book” I replied. We were nearing the exit now.

“That’s why he lied to you Lucas! I wouldn’t expect any less from you two seriously!”

“I guess he can read me just as well” I said. I turned my head to her. We looked at each other for a moment as we ran and both let out a laugh. Finally we reached the exit, burst through the doors and headed for the park.