By the time I got to school my hand was excruciatingly painful. But each time I flinched at the pain I couldn’t help grinning. I had punched pretty boy Benedict and he wailed like a little girl. Ha! Okay, I know that wasn’t very mature of me and it probably didn’t reflect my true pacifist nature... Still, I couldn’t help smiling. I sauntered into the school grounds and Ricky walked over to me.
‘Eish!’ He frowned at my hand that I was cradling. ‘What happened to you?’
‘I punched Benedict,’ I grinned.
His face dropped and his mouth fell open, quickly spreading into a wide grin that seemed to cover his whole face. ‘Ag no man, Emily – why do you do something like that when I’m not around to see it? I would have given my ma’s front teeth if she had any to see that…’
I sensed an idea brewing in his scheming shaven head. ‘No! You cannot organise a fight and play bookie! This stays between us, d’you here me?’
He frowned at me disappointed. ‘C’mon man Emily – we can make a killing… Hey, I hope you’re not going to do a Darth Vader on us and turn to the dark side, hey? I mean, just now you end up chopping your kid’s arm off then he has to kill you…’
‘I think I need to go to the nurse.’ I was feeling a bit dizzy.
‘Benedict is going to sue you if there’s damage to that pretty little face of his. And if he goes to the doctor, this is gonna be all over town. You’ll be the local hero. Except for the chicks that dig him – you might want to invest in some bodyguards. There’ll be a lynching or necklacing for sure if they find you alone…’
‘Are you offering your services?’
‘Uh, let me think… Fighting off a bunch of hot babes with very little clothing on… Yaah! You can count me in for that. But you know – chicks can moss get wild. My auntie Sara once klapped a oke lights out for 3 days. I swear, s’true.’
‘Was he dead?’ I pulled my nose up.
‘No, but he wasn’t altogether with it after the klap if you know what I mean…’
‘Isn’t your Auntie Sara a tiny bit bigger than the chicks Benedict has hanging around him?’
‘Yah, but my Auntie Lynn she’s skinny and almost as tall as you – she broke my uncle’s arm in three places cos he asked Auntie Sara to dance at their wedding.’
‘Woaw… Your family clearly has anger issues.’
‘Yah,’ Ricky beamed proudly. ‘But only in the woman! So, what are you going to do now you’re a hero?’
‘A hero? For what? Losing control? How stupid is that? I would much rather have some more profound accolade bestowed on me, thank you very much.’
Ricky groaned. ‘Stop with that rubbish – you know my talents are limited to verbal diahorrea and mildly entertaining facial expressions.’ He walked with me down the passage to the nurse.
‘You are way too self deprecating – I’ve seen that copy of Dostoyevsky that you hide in your bag…’
‘Dosty what?’
‘Uh-huh.’
Mrs Mullaney frowned at us – her lips a thin and unimpressed line.
‘What are you two doing in the passages before the bell has rung?’ She asked.
‘Little accident, Miss.’ Ricky yanked my arm up and almost shoved my hand under her nose. I thought I would pass out from the pain he inadvertently inflicted.
She barely managed to stop herself from swearing and barked, ‘Go to the nurse, immediately!’
Ricky nodded and as we walked a little further on he muttered, ‘What do you think we were doing, you miserable old hag. Gah! That woman thinks we’re grade 3’s or something.’
‘Ugh… I don’t feel that great.’
The nurse took one look at my hand and called my dad. I don’t know why I thought my parents wouldn’t find out, but if that was my intention, it was too late for that. Ricky stood snickering in the corner until my dad arrived and took me to Dr Visser.
‘What happened?’ my dad demanded, looking at my swollen hand.
‘Uh, I punched someone.’
My dad raised his eyebrows.
‘Are we going to be sued?’
‘You’ve heard already I take it?’
‘I don’t know what was said, but you do understand that your intended victim now has the upper hand. He knows he can get to you and he knows exactly what to say. He will play you like a puppet if you don’t learn to control yourself.’
I nodded.
‘That being said, I’m sure there are one or two people who would have paid more than a month’s salary to see that. Emily?’
‘Yes, dad?’
‘Don’t do it again.’
‘If it’s in self defence?’
‘Don’t try and justify violence. It never solves anything.’
Maybe not, but it sure as heck felt good watching him wail…
Dr Visser’s waiting rooms were always busy. He had a super efficient German secretary that scared the living daylights out of everyone. Her hair probably required an entire bottle of hairspray every day to set it so perfectly that it looked like a plastic mould on her head. I guess if we wanted to thank anyone for the hole in the ozone, we knew where to come.
Anka looked at my dad and me and nodded to the door.
‘He’s waiting for you.’
Dad sank into a chair with a magazine. I walked into the empty consultation room and collapsed unceremoniously in the chair. There was a door leading from one consultation room to the next, giving the impression of a conveyor belt production of patients. Dr Visser would visit one patient in the room next door, and when he was done, he would buzz Anka to send the next patient. Meantime, he would walk through the adjoining doors and consult with the patient in the room next door, and so it would continue.
A moment later he breezed into the room and looked up at me once he was sitting behind the desk.
‘So, what can I do for you?’
‘I hurt my hand,’ I raised it for him to see.
‘Hmm. I want you to go for an x-ray first.’
He scribbled a note and handed it to me. ‘Go to the clinic and they’ll do the x-ray.’
I nodded and took the note, remembering that Dr Visser was never one for idle chatter.
As I stood up to leave, he cleared his throat. ‘One more thing,’ he looked me in the eye. ‘Thumb over the fingers, not in the fist.’ He winked at me.
I blushed as I nodded and walked out the room.
Later that afternoon I sat with my hand bandaged up – no breaks, just a hairline fracture. Jack was walking around smirking; making comments like ‘so you think you’re tough, hey?’ and then he would burst into fits of hysterical laughter. If I moved, he would feign hysterical fear and dive away from me… it got old really quickly.
The last straw was when I walked past him in the kitchen - he squirted a stream of milk out his mouth and yelled ‘Don’t hurt me! Please!’
I rolled my eyes and muttered that I needed chocolate.
I walked to shop listening to my iPod. I was listening to Hoobastank and turned the sound up to blot out everything. I walked into the cool air conditioned grocery chain store. Ignoring the occasional stares from people who had clearly heard about the whole “incident” I strode to the sweet aisle and stood in front of the rack of chocolates. I stared at the chocolates – completely distracted by the lyrics. Suddenly an earphone was yanked out my ear. My hand swung up instinctively and I looked up to see Jonah grinning at me. Wow… The young Thor… or was it the dying Gaul? My lip twisted up in a half hearted grin.
‘That stuff’ll kill you.’
‘I need a kick.’
His smile broadened. ‘I have something better, come on,’ he tried to take my injured hand and I flinched.
He frowned, his smile disappearing instantly. ‘What happened?’
‘I punched someone for insulting my dad.’
‘Woaw!’ he grinned. ‘What did he look like afterwards?’
‘I think I broke his nose,’ I started blushing from ears. I’ve heard somewhere you can control blushing. If anyone knows the trick I’m all ears. Pardon the pun. ‘Anyway, I haven’t seen him since, so I’m not sure.’
He kept grinning at me.
‘I wish my dad enjoyed it as much as you are.’
He wrinkled his nose up, ‘He’s a parent, he has to say and do the right thing. My guess is he’s grinning inside.’
‘Uh-huh, deep, deep down inside.’
‘So, you’re wearing a tracksuit – do you have a t-shirt underneath?’
I nodded suspiciously.
‘Come on. You’ll love this.’
‘Hmm. I’m not so sure.’
We walked out the shop and he led me to a very small industrial section of the town – a place with tyre shops, exhaust fitment and garages. We got to a rundown building next to the tyre fitment centre and went inside up a narrow staircase. A broken down dirty door opened onto a large space with mirrors and exercise equipment.
‘Oh, I really don’t do exercise…’
‘Come on – you’re going to love this.’
He led me to a group of exercise bicycles.
‘You’re kidding, right? A fish on a bicycle?’
‘It gets better, come on.’
He handed me a small towel and a bottle of water and winked. My heart was pounding and I was sure that the loud coursing in my ears was being heard by the few people strolling around and lifting weights.
A woman I didn’t recognise climbed onto her bicycle and yelled at everyone to saddle up. She was small and looked as though she was super fit. I got scared…
The saddle was hard, but I was impressed by the quality of the bike – these people were serious about exercise.
‘That’s Angie,’ smiled Jonah on my left hand side, ‘And today we’re going to have some fun with her.’
‘Hey!’ A guy climbed on the bike on my right hand side.
‘Oh, hey Symond, Alexander,’ he nodded a little more formally to the guy next to Symond. ‘This is Emily.’
‘What happened to your hand?’ asked Symond.
‘I punched someone – broke his nose.’
‘Sweet,’ he grinned.
I noticed his turquoise eyes and smooth textured skin and I looked back at Jonah. He was pedalling to the instructor’s directions.
I pedalled leisurely at first, but with Jonah and Symond ripping at the bikes like their lives depended on it, I began to cycle a bit harder.
‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah and suddenly he and Symond eased off, and just as suddenly they started a vicious, hard cycle again.
‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah.
That’s when I understood what they were doing. Every time the instructor looked down, they eased off. When she looked up they cycled like mad.
They kept this up for an hour – my legs were lame and my body seemed to be shocked by a process it seldom endured: perspiration from exercise. When the hour was up, Angie climbed off the bicycle and bent forwards, leaning her arms on her legs. People tried to talk to her and she shook her head, covering her mouth. Suddenly she darted from the room. Symond and Jonah barked at each other and slapped a high five.
‘You’re insane, you know that?’
‘Sweet revenge,’ crooned Symond.
Alexander stood aside, not participating in the camaraderie. He reminded me of Gabriel – he had that same snobbish, ‘you’re not good enough for me and you smell like blue cheese’ expression.
I ignored it.
‘You can get off the bike now,’ grinned Jonah.
‘I’m too embarrassed. My legs are like jelly.’
‘C’mon, we’re still running the treadmill.’ Symond grabbed me off the saddle and dumped me on my feet.
‘Oh no, there is no way I’m doing that now…’
I was dragged to the treadmills anyway and I stood gingerly on the black rubber.
‘Okay, just press that button in the top right hand corner,’ called Symond. He was clearly enjoying this as much as Jonah.
I pushed the said button and without warning, I was flung to the floor landing flat on my back, my feet on either side of the moving plastic.
‘Are you okay?’ Jonah looked worried – Symond was trying really hard not to laugh. Jonah eased me up.
‘I’m fine, really – I did that on purpose, you know – to break the ice.’
Symond burst into fits of laughter, holding his belly as he tried not to fall over.
‘Okay. Symond, would you control yourself?’ Jonah glared at Symond.
‘I’m sorry,’ he managed and turned his back to try and stop laughing.
‘Put your feet on either side like that,’ Jonah stood close to me and I could feel the coolness of his body through his t-shirt. ‘You adjust the speed here – start slowly.’ His arm brushed mine and my skin puckered up in gooseflesh.
‘Thanks,’ I smiled weakly at him.
The walking was a good way to wind down after the intense spinning session.
I watched Symond and Jonah – they were laughing and talking as they ran at full speed for about 45 minutes. Alexander was silent. He watched everyone like a predator. I shivered. Symond was taller and bigger than Jonah. He was a big boy but reminded me of those people who were large but very soft hearted.
His hair was curly and blonde, but instead of being streaked with silver, it was streaked with yellow. He kept it slightly longer than Jonah’s, but his face was cleanly shaven. Alexander was probably as tall as Symond, but not as large. He was well built and toned – I was absolutely certain there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body. He had jet black hair that looked almost blue when the light shone on it. His brow was cut in a permanent scowl and although he was good looking, he was seriously creepy. Maybe I was bias because he wasn’t friendly to Symond and Jonah. Probably.
We walked out the gym into the cool night air. I had sent a text to my dad to let him know I was with friends, so I sent another message to say I was on my way home.
‘Hey, I’m sorry I laughed, Emily.’ Symond patted me roughly on the shoulder. ‘You’re okay.’
‘Please, if I’d seen it I would have been rolling on the floor.’
‘It was pretty funny.’
Jonah whacked him on the back.
‘What?’
‘How’s your hand?’
‘I’m fine, really,’ thank goodness I could get some painkillers at home.
There was silence for a couple of seconds, and then Symond whacked Jonah’s back, ‘Hey, we’ll see you later,’
Alexander nodded.
‘Ha! Can’t take the pace huh?’ and accidentally I wacked my fist into my damaged hand.
‘Aah!’
‘Going now,’ Symond covered his smirk and shaking shoulders as he walked off with Alexander.
Jonah shook his head, but grinned and guided me back to our way home with his hand on the small of my back.
‘Symond brought something for you.’
He handed me something that looked like a piece of dry seaweed.
‘Forget the pain killers. Put this under your tongue tonight. Make sure you’re in bed – it works really fast.’
‘Am I going to grow a tail and gills?’
‘No, but you’ll be able to talk to whales.’
‘Really?’ I asked excitedly.
‘Don’t they have sarcasm where you come from?’
I wrinkled up my nose. ‘I’m oblivious to it. Ask Kate.’
‘Kate?’
‘My best friend – never mind.’
As we turned the corner to our house I saw a figure walking to the door. My blood ran cold. As he stood under the verandah light, I turned to Jonah and whispered to him.
‘You have to go, quickly before he sees you. It’s Eli, he’s back early and he knows about you. Or maybe it’s Gilgamesh he knows about…’
Jonah looked past me and then in the fading twilight he smiled.
‘Thank you,’ he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. It felt like everything stood still and I think perhaps I held my breath too.
He turned and walked away and I turned back to walk to my house with a stupid grin on my face. I skipped to the door and opened it with my key.
‘Eish!’ He frowned at my hand that I was cradling. ‘What happened to you?’
‘I punched Benedict,’ I grinned.
His face dropped and his mouth fell open, quickly spreading into a wide grin that seemed to cover his whole face. ‘Ag no man, Emily – why do you do something like that when I’m not around to see it? I would have given my ma’s front teeth if she had any to see that…’
I sensed an idea brewing in his scheming shaven head. ‘No! You cannot organise a fight and play bookie! This stays between us, d’you here me?’
He frowned at me disappointed. ‘C’mon man Emily – we can make a killing… Hey, I hope you’re not going to do a Darth Vader on us and turn to the dark side, hey? I mean, just now you end up chopping your kid’s arm off then he has to kill you…’
‘I think I need to go to the nurse.’ I was feeling a bit dizzy.
‘Benedict is going to sue you if there’s damage to that pretty little face of his. And if he goes to the doctor, this is gonna be all over town. You’ll be the local hero. Except for the chicks that dig him – you might want to invest in some bodyguards. There’ll be a lynching or necklacing for sure if they find you alone…’
‘Are you offering your services?’
‘Uh, let me think… Fighting off a bunch of hot babes with very little clothing on… Yaah! You can count me in for that. But you know – chicks can moss get wild. My auntie Sara once klapped a oke lights out for 3 days. I swear, s’true.’
‘Was he dead?’ I pulled my nose up.
‘No, but he wasn’t altogether with it after the klap if you know what I mean…’
‘Isn’t your Auntie Sara a tiny bit bigger than the chicks Benedict has hanging around him?’
‘Yah, but my Auntie Lynn she’s skinny and almost as tall as you – she broke my uncle’s arm in three places cos he asked Auntie Sara to dance at their wedding.’
‘Woaw… Your family clearly has anger issues.’
‘Yah,’ Ricky beamed proudly. ‘But only in the woman! So, what are you going to do now you’re a hero?’
‘A hero? For what? Losing control? How stupid is that? I would much rather have some more profound accolade bestowed on me, thank you very much.’
Ricky groaned. ‘Stop with that rubbish – you know my talents are limited to verbal diahorrea and mildly entertaining facial expressions.’ He walked with me down the passage to the nurse.
‘You are way too self deprecating – I’ve seen that copy of Dostoyevsky that you hide in your bag…’
‘Dosty what?’
‘Uh-huh.’
Mrs Mullaney frowned at us – her lips a thin and unimpressed line.
‘What are you two doing in the passages before the bell has rung?’ She asked.
‘Little accident, Miss.’ Ricky yanked my arm up and almost shoved my hand under her nose. I thought I would pass out from the pain he inadvertently inflicted.
She barely managed to stop herself from swearing and barked, ‘Go to the nurse, immediately!’
Ricky nodded and as we walked a little further on he muttered, ‘What do you think we were doing, you miserable old hag. Gah! That woman thinks we’re grade 3’s or something.’
‘Ugh… I don’t feel that great.’
The nurse took one look at my hand and called my dad. I don’t know why I thought my parents wouldn’t find out, but if that was my intention, it was too late for that. Ricky stood snickering in the corner until my dad arrived and took me to Dr Visser.
‘What happened?’ my dad demanded, looking at my swollen hand.
‘Uh, I punched someone.’
My dad raised his eyebrows.
‘Are we going to be sued?’
‘You’ve heard already I take it?’
‘I don’t know what was said, but you do understand that your intended victim now has the upper hand. He knows he can get to you and he knows exactly what to say. He will play you like a puppet if you don’t learn to control yourself.’
I nodded.
‘That being said, I’m sure there are one or two people who would have paid more than a month’s salary to see that. Emily?’
‘Yes, dad?’
‘Don’t do it again.’
‘If it’s in self defence?’
‘Don’t try and justify violence. It never solves anything.’
Maybe not, but it sure as heck felt good watching him wail…
Dr Visser’s waiting rooms were always busy. He had a super efficient German secretary that scared the living daylights out of everyone. Her hair probably required an entire bottle of hairspray every day to set it so perfectly that it looked like a plastic mould on her head. I guess if we wanted to thank anyone for the hole in the ozone, we knew where to come.
Anka looked at my dad and me and nodded to the door.
‘He’s waiting for you.’
Dad sank into a chair with a magazine. I walked into the empty consultation room and collapsed unceremoniously in the chair. There was a door leading from one consultation room to the next, giving the impression of a conveyor belt production of patients. Dr Visser would visit one patient in the room next door, and when he was done, he would buzz Anka to send the next patient. Meantime, he would walk through the adjoining doors and consult with the patient in the room next door, and so it would continue.
A moment later he breezed into the room and looked up at me once he was sitting behind the desk.
‘So, what can I do for you?’
‘I hurt my hand,’ I raised it for him to see.
‘Hmm. I want you to go for an x-ray first.’
He scribbled a note and handed it to me. ‘Go to the clinic and they’ll do the x-ray.’
I nodded and took the note, remembering that Dr Visser was never one for idle chatter.
As I stood up to leave, he cleared his throat. ‘One more thing,’ he looked me in the eye. ‘Thumb over the fingers, not in the fist.’ He winked at me.
I blushed as I nodded and walked out the room.
Later that afternoon I sat with my hand bandaged up – no breaks, just a hairline fracture. Jack was walking around smirking; making comments like ‘so you think you’re tough, hey?’ and then he would burst into fits of hysterical laughter. If I moved, he would feign hysterical fear and dive away from me… it got old really quickly.
The last straw was when I walked past him in the kitchen - he squirted a stream of milk out his mouth and yelled ‘Don’t hurt me! Please!’
I rolled my eyes and muttered that I needed chocolate.
I walked to shop listening to my iPod. I was listening to Hoobastank and turned the sound up to blot out everything. I walked into the cool air conditioned grocery chain store. Ignoring the occasional stares from people who had clearly heard about the whole “incident” I strode to the sweet aisle and stood in front of the rack of chocolates. I stared at the chocolates – completely distracted by the lyrics. Suddenly an earphone was yanked out my ear. My hand swung up instinctively and I looked up to see Jonah grinning at me. Wow… The young Thor… or was it the dying Gaul? My lip twisted up in a half hearted grin.
‘That stuff’ll kill you.’
‘I need a kick.’
His smile broadened. ‘I have something better, come on,’ he tried to take my injured hand and I flinched.
He frowned, his smile disappearing instantly. ‘What happened?’
‘I punched someone for insulting my dad.’
‘Woaw!’ he grinned. ‘What did he look like afterwards?’
‘I think I broke his nose,’ I started blushing from ears. I’ve heard somewhere you can control blushing. If anyone knows the trick I’m all ears. Pardon the pun. ‘Anyway, I haven’t seen him since, so I’m not sure.’
He kept grinning at me.
‘I wish my dad enjoyed it as much as you are.’
He wrinkled his nose up, ‘He’s a parent, he has to say and do the right thing. My guess is he’s grinning inside.’
‘Uh-huh, deep, deep down inside.’
‘So, you’re wearing a tracksuit – do you have a t-shirt underneath?’
I nodded suspiciously.
‘Come on. You’ll love this.’
‘Hmm. I’m not so sure.’
We walked out the shop and he led me to a very small industrial section of the town – a place with tyre shops, exhaust fitment and garages. We got to a rundown building next to the tyre fitment centre and went inside up a narrow staircase. A broken down dirty door opened onto a large space with mirrors and exercise equipment.
‘Oh, I really don’t do exercise…’
‘Come on – you’re going to love this.’
He led me to a group of exercise bicycles.
‘You’re kidding, right? A fish on a bicycle?’
‘It gets better, come on.’
He handed me a small towel and a bottle of water and winked. My heart was pounding and I was sure that the loud coursing in my ears was being heard by the few people strolling around and lifting weights.
A woman I didn’t recognise climbed onto her bicycle and yelled at everyone to saddle up. She was small and looked as though she was super fit. I got scared…
The saddle was hard, but I was impressed by the quality of the bike – these people were serious about exercise.
‘That’s Angie,’ smiled Jonah on my left hand side, ‘And today we’re going to have some fun with her.’
‘Hey!’ A guy climbed on the bike on my right hand side.
‘Oh, hey Symond, Alexander,’ he nodded a little more formally to the guy next to Symond. ‘This is Emily.’
‘What happened to your hand?’ asked Symond.
‘I punched someone – broke his nose.’
‘Sweet,’ he grinned.
I noticed his turquoise eyes and smooth textured skin and I looked back at Jonah. He was pedalling to the instructor’s directions.
I pedalled leisurely at first, but with Jonah and Symond ripping at the bikes like their lives depended on it, I began to cycle a bit harder.
‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah and suddenly he and Symond eased off, and just as suddenly they started a vicious, hard cycle again.
‘Chips!’ whispered Jonah.
That’s when I understood what they were doing. Every time the instructor looked down, they eased off. When she looked up they cycled like mad.
They kept this up for an hour – my legs were lame and my body seemed to be shocked by a process it seldom endured: perspiration from exercise. When the hour was up, Angie climbed off the bicycle and bent forwards, leaning her arms on her legs. People tried to talk to her and she shook her head, covering her mouth. Suddenly she darted from the room. Symond and Jonah barked at each other and slapped a high five.
‘You’re insane, you know that?’
‘Sweet revenge,’ crooned Symond.
Alexander stood aside, not participating in the camaraderie. He reminded me of Gabriel – he had that same snobbish, ‘you’re not good enough for me and you smell like blue cheese’ expression.
I ignored it.
‘You can get off the bike now,’ grinned Jonah.
‘I’m too embarrassed. My legs are like jelly.’
‘C’mon, we’re still running the treadmill.’ Symond grabbed me off the saddle and dumped me on my feet.
‘Oh no, there is no way I’m doing that now…’
I was dragged to the treadmills anyway and I stood gingerly on the black rubber.
‘Okay, just press that button in the top right hand corner,’ called Symond. He was clearly enjoying this as much as Jonah.
I pushed the said button and without warning, I was flung to the floor landing flat on my back, my feet on either side of the moving plastic.
‘Are you okay?’ Jonah looked worried – Symond was trying really hard not to laugh. Jonah eased me up.
‘I’m fine, really – I did that on purpose, you know – to break the ice.’
Symond burst into fits of laughter, holding his belly as he tried not to fall over.
‘Okay. Symond, would you control yourself?’ Jonah glared at Symond.
‘I’m sorry,’ he managed and turned his back to try and stop laughing.
‘Put your feet on either side like that,’ Jonah stood close to me and I could feel the coolness of his body through his t-shirt. ‘You adjust the speed here – start slowly.’ His arm brushed mine and my skin puckered up in gooseflesh.
‘Thanks,’ I smiled weakly at him.
The walking was a good way to wind down after the intense spinning session.
I watched Symond and Jonah – they were laughing and talking as they ran at full speed for about 45 minutes. Alexander was silent. He watched everyone like a predator. I shivered. Symond was taller and bigger than Jonah. He was a big boy but reminded me of those people who were large but very soft hearted.
His hair was curly and blonde, but instead of being streaked with silver, it was streaked with yellow. He kept it slightly longer than Jonah’s, but his face was cleanly shaven. Alexander was probably as tall as Symond, but not as large. He was well built and toned – I was absolutely certain there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body. He had jet black hair that looked almost blue when the light shone on it. His brow was cut in a permanent scowl and although he was good looking, he was seriously creepy. Maybe I was bias because he wasn’t friendly to Symond and Jonah. Probably.
We walked out the gym into the cool night air. I had sent a text to my dad to let him know I was with friends, so I sent another message to say I was on my way home.
‘Hey, I’m sorry I laughed, Emily.’ Symond patted me roughly on the shoulder. ‘You’re okay.’
‘Please, if I’d seen it I would have been rolling on the floor.’
‘It was pretty funny.’
Jonah whacked him on the back.
‘What?’
‘How’s your hand?’
‘I’m fine, really,’ thank goodness I could get some painkillers at home.
There was silence for a couple of seconds, and then Symond whacked Jonah’s back, ‘Hey, we’ll see you later,’
Alexander nodded.
‘Ha! Can’t take the pace huh?’ and accidentally I wacked my fist into my damaged hand.
‘Aah!’
‘Going now,’ Symond covered his smirk and shaking shoulders as he walked off with Alexander.
Jonah shook his head, but grinned and guided me back to our way home with his hand on the small of my back.
‘Symond brought something for you.’
He handed me something that looked like a piece of dry seaweed.
‘Forget the pain killers. Put this under your tongue tonight. Make sure you’re in bed – it works really fast.’
‘Am I going to grow a tail and gills?’
‘No, but you’ll be able to talk to whales.’
‘Really?’ I asked excitedly.
‘Don’t they have sarcasm where you come from?’
I wrinkled up my nose. ‘I’m oblivious to it. Ask Kate.’
‘Kate?’
‘My best friend – never mind.’
As we turned the corner to our house I saw a figure walking to the door. My blood ran cold. As he stood under the verandah light, I turned to Jonah and whispered to him.
‘You have to go, quickly before he sees you. It’s Eli, he’s back early and he knows about you. Or maybe it’s Gilgamesh he knows about…’
Jonah looked past me and then in the fading twilight he smiled.
‘Thank you,’ he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. It felt like everything stood still and I think perhaps I held my breath too.
He turned and walked away and I turned back to walk to my house with a stupid grin on my face. I skipped to the door and opened it with my key.
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