No Hard Feelings

Clarissa jumped onto her feet again. 'Fight?! Fight?! Justin practically beat him up right here while the entire school watched!'

'Miss Sherman, I don't want to have to tell you to sit down again,' Deputy James warned her. He was still using his calm but authoritative tone.

Clarissa was now breathing heavily. She took one long and dangerous look at the deputy then another at the Inspector. Finally, she sat down, crossed her arms and pouted in the opposite direction.

Inspector Charles turned back to Sineas. 'Now, Sineas, I understand these past thirteen years have been difficult for you. Your grandparents' car accident, your father's suicide and your mother's…illness. Yes, it must have been tough.' He paused. He tapped his fingers on the table several times. He looked at Sineas' facedown eyes. He said, 'Did your fight with Justin trigger something in you like…a certain rage or..?'

Clarissa laughed whilst she shook her head. 'I don't believe this. Do you seriously believe that Sineas killed Justin? Justin Foyer: A rugby player, an athlete twice his size? You are seriously going to sit there and say that Sineas was able to chop Justin up with whatever he used to chop him up with?'

Deputy James clenched his teeth and turned towards Clarissa.

She got the message. She locked her arms again and looked the other way and began muttering something to a far away tree.

Inspector Charles leaned towards Sineas. He was not smiling anymore. 'Son. Is there something, anything you want to tell me?'

He did not look up. He continued to fiddle with his thumbs under the desk.

The inspector sighed then put on his cap. 'Very well, kids. It seems like we'll be chatting again soon.' He stood up and so did his deputy. The inspector said, 'Have a good one,' and nodded at them. The two began to march towards their car which had been parked by the sidewalk.

Sineas and Clarissa were left sitting on the bench.

'I can't believe those people!' Clarissa hissed as she banged her elbows against the table. 'Me? Get dumped by Justin? To think I'd kill Justin, really?! What a pair of..!' She failed to find the word. She became quiet. She was still breathing heavily and discordantly, like a bull with its sights on a matador. It gradually began to dispel. She stared sideways at Sineas.

His face was on the table.

She sighed. 'You okay?'

He shrugged.

She drew closer to him. 'Sineas, why did you have to lie about your family?'

He looked away.

'Sineas; I was mad when your aunt told me the whole truth about your family but now that I think about it, I don't see any reason to be mad at all.'

He mustered the courage to look at her. 'Really?'

'You've been through so much I can't even begin to imagine the pain you're going through right now.'

'Life, hey?' he said laughing nervously.

'Yeah…life,' she said now smiling.

They became quiet.

Clarissa said, 'Don't ever feel the need to lie to me about anything, Sineas, okay? I have never gone through what you went through but I understand that it's hurting you inside, deeply. If you ever feel the need to talk about anything, I'm here for you, okay? I care about you.' She immediately withdrew her eyes and turned them in the opposite direction.

He could feel himself blushing too. He pinched his cheek hard, hoping the pain would deny his emotions from revealing themselves. 'Uh…your eye,' he said nodding at the bandage.

'Huh?' She turned her neck to look at him. There were still traces of red on her cheeks.

He pointed at her face. 'Your eye. Did you really fall?' he asked.

She made a smile then she nodded. 'I was coming from the library. Or running to be specific. Believe it or not, I tripped over a cat.'

They both laughed.

'Are you coming to Justin's funeral this afternoon?' she asked him.

'Didn't he die last Tuesday?'

'I think the autopsy delayed it. You have to understand, Sineas that a murder of that class needs a little more looking into.'

He nodded thoughtfully. He turned back to the table. 'So, it's this afternoon?'

'Yes. The entire school is going to be there. I won't blame you for not coming though. And I'm sure no one else will. You and Justin weren't exactly friends.'

'Were you friends with him?' he asked her. He could see a little red surfacing on her cheeks again.

She smiled. 'No, not really. Even after we broke up we didn't become enemies either. There were no hard feelings, that's all.'

He nodded understandingly.

'So…you coming?'

He shrugged, then smiled.

She got up and walked to his side. Looking down at him, she extended a hand.

He reached for it and they left the cafeteria hand-in-hand.