Budding Roses

The entire room quaked with laughter from the students.

Mr. Gwarini slapped Sineas' shoulder playfully. 'I'm just fooling around, lad,' he laughed.

Sineas turned to the floor. He did not want to be in that room anymore. Too many eyes. Too much laughter. Too much, just too much.

'You're a fresh one, aren't you?' Mr. Gwarini asked Sineas as soon as the laughter dissipated. 'What's your name?'

'Sineas,' he whispered. He managed to get one glimpse of his teacher then turned his gaze back to the floor.

'A quiet one too,' said Mr. Gwarini. 'Okay, Sineas, show us what you got.'

Sineas began to look hopelessly somewhere inside the crowd, way past it. His eyes rested on a wall. They stayed there.

'But, sir, I've already done enough for both of us,' Clarissa reminded Mr. Gwarini. She looked puzzled.

'Its okay, its okay, Miss Sherman. I just want to see how our mini-gangster here can get down.' He smiled deviously at Sineas.

He did not budge. His eyes were still lost somewhere through the crowd.

'Don't tell me you're going to allow a girl to beat you at push-ups?' Mr. Gwarini laughed as he folded his arms and looked around the class. He achieved a much louder laughter than before.

Sineas snuck a worried eye at Clarissa.

She smiled and gave him a nod.

There was now a great silence on the court. An impatient yet mocking silence. He felt like a drunk driver asked to perform a sobriety test. He knew he had no option. It was an order but most importantly, it was an opportunity. He had to show them that he was not as useless and clumsy as they made him out to be. He smiled inside. Yes, this is it, he thought. The whole school shall know his name, in a positive way. He shall be the guy who did eighty push-ups and did not break a sweat. He could not wait to rub it in their faces.

He slowly dropped onto his hands. The moment of truth, he told himself. One. This is easier than I thought. Two. Even easier. Three. He could swear he felt his elbow shudder. Nevermind. Four. His body shook violently. His mind dove into a state of confusion. He could only see shadows. He lowered his body for a fifth. He lugged, he whizzed, he panted. Like a bag of dried meat, he crashed to the floor. His face took the worst impact.

The class could not contain its laughter. They roared mad like it was their last moment alive as Sineas lay on the floor. Even Mr. Gwarini was shedding tears, his immense body quivering with laughter.

Mr. Gwarini placed a hand on Clarissa's shoulder while he laughed. 'If I were you, Miss Sherman, next time I'd choose a complete human being for this exercise. Okay, class is over.' He began to drive the class towards the exit, taking their laughter outside.

Clarissa knelt on one knee in front of Sineas' corpse.

He slowly opened his eyes. He made a slight groan. He turned onto his back then sat up. He rubbed his head slowly. He looked lost. His head danced around the room. 'How many did I manage?' he asked her.

She grinned at him and said, 'Enough, Sin. You managed enough.' She helped him up.

He saw the last two students laughing as they walked out the door.

'That's why they're laughing, right? They're impressed, right?' he looked at her anxiously.

She nodded profusely as she placed an arm around his shoulder. 'You're a champion, Sin,' she told him as they approached the exit. 'You're my champion. Don't ever forget that.'

Clarissa had changed back into her prior clothes and was now leaving the school building with Sineas. As always, she had her books pressed tightly against her chest. She had first accompanied Sineas back into the classroom to collect his books and then they made for the building exit. On Wednesdays, 1 P.M to 2 P.M. was lunchtime. 2 P.M to 4 P.M was gym class for the grade twelve classes and 4 P.M was dismissal time. The two; Sineas and Clarissa descended the steps slowly as they liaised.

Clarissa said, 'So, how do you rate us so far, on a scale of one-to-ten?' she asked him.

He seemed confused by her question. 'I'm sorry?'

'I mean us; Malrich High. How do you grade us?'

He shrugged a shoulder and shoved a hand into his pocket. 'I'll give you a solid four,' he said.

'Four?!' she grinned before she punched him in the shoulder, but softly. 'Sineas, you're so stingy! Why would you grade us so low?'

He laughed. 'Because you're all boring. And annoying. But I'm giving you a four because I'm in a good mood.'

She laughed too. 'Good mood? Please share, Mr. Murphy.'

He shrugged awkwardly and tilted his head to the side. 'Well…I had fun today. Lunch…gym class…except the part with the racial jokes from your gym teacher.'

She folded her arms behind her back, bobbing her upper body back and forth. 'Wow, Mr. Murphy. It sounds like you enjoyed my company.'

He looked aside. 'That's not what I said.'

'Even if it's not what you said; I, personally enjoyed your company.'

They had made it halfway down the path and were slowly approaching the pavement.

'Where did you learn before you came here?' she asked him.

'Home-schooling,' he answered bluntly. 'Home-schooled since the second grade.'

She nodded thoughtfully. 'Wow. That sounds like fun.'

'Yeah it is. But then again, if I had continued with it, I probably wouldn't have met interesting people like you.' What did I just say? What the hell did I just say to her?! He shrieked in his head. The awkwardness returned to him. Finally, he saw his salvation draw near. He signalled the taxicab just before it made a left turn onto another road. 'There's my ride,' he said as the taxicab reversed towards the pavement.

'Mine will be here in a few,' she said.

'Your mom?'

'The school bus. It always arrives late, I don't know why,' she pouted and placed a hand over her eyes, searching everywhere for the bus.

Come to think of it, Sineas just realised that he had never even seen the school bus. He looked to his right and saw a crowd of students chatting by the pavement not too far off. They were probably waiting for the school bus too.

'So, I'll see you tomorrow?' she said grinning hard at him.

He gave her a smile. There was something about Clarissa's smiles that made him feel at ease. It made him feel obligated to tell her whatever was on his mind. A level of trust he only shared with Aunt Janice.

She spread her arms, he extended a hand. They finally and awkwardly decided to settle for both.

Clarissa arrived at home at exactly 5:30 P.M. She strutted into the living room and tossed her books clumsily onto the couch. She made her way into the kitchen. 'Evening, mom.'

Her mother was chopping carrots by the sink, her cooking apron wrapped around her waist. She almost jumped. 'Clarissa, you gave me a fright,' she gasped as she placed a hand above her chest. 'How was school?'

'Wonderful…just wonderful.' Beside the sink was the fridge. She opened it and snatched an apple. 'Do you need help?' she asked her mother, leaning her back against the door of the fridge.

She wiped her hands on the apron and turned around. 'Sure, hand me that…' she paused. She placed one hand on her hip and the other at the edge of the sink. Her expression hardened. 'What's going on, Claire?'

'Whatever do you mean, mother?' she asked grinning broadly. She added a soft chuckle.

'Your face…'

Clarissa began brushing her face vigorously.

'No, Claire. It's…different,' she said looking gravely concerned. She walked towards her and began examining her face, squinting distrustfully at each finger stroke.

Clarissa laughed before she shoved her mother's hand off of her face. 'Mom, please. This is how I always look.' She walked towards the sink and began to wash her hands, her smile expanding instantly. She stared at her mother. 'Mom, are you going to stand there or are we going to make supper?' she asked her already beginning to pick up from where her mother had left off. 'You know very well that dad won't like it if he ends up having supper at 1 o'clock in the morning.'

Her mother just watched her. She was wearing a look of grave concern…anxiety. She had seen that look on her daughter somewhere. Probably about twenty years back. She stared for another ten seconds then gave up. She decided to join her. Claire was right; Supper wasn't going to make itself.

Sineas tried his best to fall asleep. He tossed and he turned and he tossed again. He finally turned his gaze towards the ceiling and placed his hands behind his head.

'What's going on with you?'

'What do you mean?'

'You seem…different. You're behaving different.'

'Can you leave me alone? I'm not in the mood for your inane arguments.'

'Ho-ho-ho-ho! Something happened to you, didn't it?'

'Nothing happened. May I sleep now? Please!' he snapped.

'You haven't closed your eyes since your body touched this bed and that's a full hour, Sin! An hour!'

'Be quiet!' Sineas almost yelled, covering his ears with the pillow.

'Fine. I'll be quiet, Sin. I'll shut my mouth. I can be patient and I will be. The truth always floats to the surface and I'm going to find out what is on your mind. This thing that's preventing you from sleeping.'