The Foyer and Bale Memorial (Part II)

'I, uh…I never knew Justin. All I've ever heard about him is that he was a man of honour and promise and a man with a very bright future. And all I can say to that is…' he looked up into the stands.

Clarissa was still wearing that smile. She gave him another thumbs up.

He turned back to the other eyes. The hundreds of executioners' eyes. '…Yes…Yes he was,' he continued. 'Justin was a true sportsman. He was multitalented and was, in my opinion, the best student role model this school will ever know. He had plenty of scholarships in his pocket, awards in his closet, more than enough open doors but unfortunately, a sick and twisted person…or people, for their own unknown reasons, decided to cut Justin's destiny short. I never knew Miss Bale that well either. But for the short time I was in her presence, she was able to bless me with her well advanced intellect and deep wisdom. I felt a sense of purpose somehow. I felt like this was the only person who is capable of taking me where I needed to go. It's sad to dwell on the thought that she had so many years she could have shared with us. Years of joy and happiness. But like I said; I never knew neither of the deceased that well, but the one thing I know, I shall share with you: the world, their families and us here at Malrich High School will miss them dearly. May their souls rest in eternal peace. Thank you.' He nodded at the crowds, then the families.

There was a momentary silence but then, like a veld fire, everyone sprang to their feet, clapping in a frenzy. The noise was deafening. Even the families had stood up, crying and clapping their hands at the same time.

Clarissa was jumping up and down, screaming out loud. She now held up two thumbs up for him.

The rest of the memorial had been quite extraordinary. Apparently, Mr. Regwizini, Mr. Sawyer and four other teachers from the Arts and Commercial twelfth grade classes seemed to know a little more about Miss Bale than everyone else did and so the speeches did not turn out to be one-sided after all. It had been revealed by Miss Bale's male cousin that she had a mother who had been hospitalized due to kidney cancer. Her father was not mentioned but she had a little sister who was currently in the seventh grade. No boyfriend was mentioned. After the speeches from the teachers and Miss Bale's cousin, Justin's mother gave her speech and had to pause in-between for a moment to weep. After her speech, there was a closing prayer from the principal and then everyone filed out: the principal and the families first, the teachers second and then the students last. Most headed to their homes whilst a small number of the students decided to delay a little bit longer and chat, sitting at the lunch tables. Sineas and Clarissa were among those who chose to stay but they were sitting on the steps of the entrance of the school building. And Sineas was starting to get annoyed with Clarissa. She would not stop talking about his speech.

She said, 'I'm serious, Sineas, you should be proud! You should have seen the looks of Sabrina and Doreen when you shoved it in their faces! It was like the entire sky was falling down on them!' She was fidgeting non-stop like someone was repeatedly firing a taser at her.

'Come on, Clarissa. I did what anybody would have done.'

'Sineas, don't you realize what you just did? You've just proven to everybody that you don't keep grudges and you know how to move on.'

He shrugged. 'I guess so.'

She increased the pitch of her laughter, her face turned to the sky. She brought it back. 'Comparing your speech with Sabrina and Doreen's crappy poem, one would think you knew Justin better than they did.'

'I see your scar is almost completely healed,' he smiled, pointing at her eye.

She traced a finger back and forth on the pea sized purple mark. 'Yeah. I think I've put that night behind me. I want to be like you, Sin.'

'Like me?'

'Yeah. I want to learn how to move on. Whoever that person was that I saw that night, I'm not going to let them haunt my mind forever.'

'But are you still convinced it was Justin's killer?'

She nodded quickly, drawing a knee to her chin. 'If only you had seen what I saw. Even though I couldn't really see a face, just by the language this person spoke, I knew straight away that this was the killer. What I can't seem to figure out though is why this person would spare me.'

'Who knows how murderers think, Claire? Maybe that person had killed dozens of others in that same night or day and chose to save you for another day.'

She looked terrified. Her ghostly face almost looked transparent as she stared at Sineas. 'You think so?' she asked in a very low and fearful voice.

He laughed derisively. 'Hey, I'm just speculating here. Maybe it wasn't the killer. Maybe it was just a prankster. It could even have been Sabrina or Doreen or any other loser just trying to get into your head.'

She locked her chin between her knees. 'Yeah…maybe. But that's a big maybe. I just wish I could remember clearly everything that happened that night,' she concluded sounding regretful, massaging the purple scar above her eye. 'It's like…this person was deliberately avoiding the light.'

'Don't worry,' he said, nudging her in the shoulder, 'the police will catch this bastard.'

She smiled at him. 'Say, have you talked to your mom or met with her at all?'

'I…' he turned his face straight ahead towards the road. He shook his head. 'No, not yet.'

'You think she might try to reach out to you any time soon?'

He shrugged. 'I don't know.'

She sighed and placed a hand on his back. 'Hey…hey…' she shook him gently.

He looked at her.

'Don't worry yourself, okay?'

He smiled. 'Of course.'

She grabbed his cheeks with both her hands. She said, 'Don't worry about it.'

Oddly, he did not turn away. He felt at peace…comfortable.

She kissed him on the forehead. 'You want to head out?' she asked him jumping off the step and landing just beside him.

'Yeah, sure,' he replied reaching for her outstretched hand.

The two began to slowly make their way along the main path, heading for the pavement.

Clarissa's smile was so wide it looked like it had been drawn onto her face by a clown. She said, 'My parents are giving me the silent treatment.'

'Because of me?'

'Yeah. But Don't feel bad about it, because whether they like it or not, we're in this together.' She slid her fingers into his.

He didn't mind. Neither did he mind the devilish looks that were staring at them as they walked. 'Remember Viola's speech?' he said laughing.

Clarissa's eyes shot wide open and she gasped, 'Oh my gosh, Sin, that was on another level!' She couldn't hide her excitement. 'It was like she was at a negotiation for two rival gangs!'

A very loud laughter exploded between them.

' "Sippin on dat OJ",' Sineas said inspiring louder laughter from Clarissa.

They were attracting a lot of eyes. The eyes looked familiar to Sineas. Those eyes that they had for him since the first day he started coming to Malrich High School. I guess some things never change, he thought.

Clarissa said, 'I have to tell you, today was one of the best days of my life.' She gave him a very affectionate smile, her face turning pinkish at the same time. Like a defence mechanism, she quickly turned her face to the ground.

Sineas smiled. 'It was one of my favourites too.'

Just as soon they reached the pavement, someone pulled on Sineas' collar from behind. He turned around and was surprised to see Trevor. Behind him was his squad; thirteen of them counting Sabrina and Doreen.