It's a Date

Bubblegum girl grinned at him from the ground. She placed her hands inside her jacket pockets. 'Remember, Murph; don't trust anyone.'

'Doesn't that include you?'

She laughed and began to walk towards the lunch area. 'What does your instincts say?'

Clarissa now stood beside Sineas. She stood there for about fifteen seconds. Finally, she sat down an arm's length from him. Both of them had their eyes focused ahead, outside the school premises, towards the pavement.

'I'm sorry,' Sineas said.

'Me too,' she replied.

There was a lengthy pause between them. Not an awkward pause but more of a reflective silence. Both parties seemed to have a lot on their minds.

Clarissa sighed deeply. 'Why are we always fighting, Sin?' she asked him her eyes still outside the school.

'I think the question we should be asking ourselves is; what in the world are we always fighting about?'

'Huh?'

'The kinds of stuff we're always fighting about, Claire. I think some things should best be left alone. The murders; who committed them, why they committed them…we're not cops. Charles and his boyfriend should be having these arguments, not us.'

She gave a weak laugh. She sounded weary. She reached for his hand and clasped it in hers.

They looked into each other's eyes.

'There's so much blame and hate going on in this world, Sin,' she said. 'Let's not let it infiltrate ours.'

He nodded in agreement and said, 'Let Charles keep blaming us or even find a new, innocent soul to torment but let's continue to stay true to ourselves. I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I'm sorry I said you're just like everyone else because I know for a fact that you're not. You're amazing.'

'I'm sorry for everything too,' she said. 'I'm sorry for accusing you of murdering those people and I'm sorry for trying to make you reveal your mother's whereabouts.'

'Don't worry about it.' He paused. 'Remember what we agreed upon? About the secrecy?'

She nodded.

'My mother called me on Sunday and we organized a meet at the park.'

'Really?'

He nodded.

'How…How is she?'

'She was doing fine. But she never told me where she's staying though, probably for my sake. Now that Charles is getting desperate, he might try everything he can to make me expose her location.'

'And yet you really don't know?'

'I've been talking to Viola lately.'

Clarissa looked a bit thrown. 'Viola as in Viola Jones? The girl with the unlimited supply of gum?'

'Yeah. Apparently she's the niece of one of the nurses at Breechwood Asylum. She found out from her aunt about my mother and she was told to look out for me. She's been bringing me messages from my mother straight from her aunt.'

Clarissa narrowed her eyes. She said, 'So…Viola's aunt is the only one who knows where your mother is?'

He nodded. 'Viola's organised a get-together for me and her tomorrow morning at the park. So I can at least get to see her one more time.'

'But is that wise, Sineas? Can you really trust this girl?'

He smiled. 'I don't. But I will.'

'Sineas; what if she's trying to sabotage…'

'Claire, it's okay. There's nothing to worry about. I don't trust Viola, or as she prefers I should cull her; "V", for one second. I can't afford that right now.'

'So what are you going to do?'

'I'm going to meet my mother.'

'Sineas…'

'Clarissa, it's alright,' he grinned at her. 'You don't have to worry about me.'

She sighed. 'Well, I guess it's good that you'll be seeing your mother again, right?'

'Yeah. I'll be meeting with her probably at around nine in the morning tomorrow. Which means I may be a little late for school.'

She paused. Suddenly, she exploded into laughter. ' "V", huh? So, when did the codenames start?' she asked him.

He smiled. 'The first time we talked was on Tuesday when you left for the police station. She walked up to me, gum in mouth and she began to unleash a barrage of, "wannas, gonnas, helluvas, prollys and I feel yas".'

'So, does that mean you're friends now?'

He looked at her. He had detected a hint of jealousy in her voice. It was on her face too. He shrugged and said, 'Sort of. I can't say for sure. It's really hard to understand someone with a vocabulary as complex as hers. Anyway, how's it going with the questions from Charles?'

'It's still the usual scare tactics. Same old: "Where were you on the night of blah-blah-blah? What were you wearing, blah-blah-blah".'

'It's that bad, huh?'

'I just want this garbage to end soon so we can go back to living our normal lives, Sin; far away from Charles and his pet.'

'Don't worry, the time will come. For now, we just have to play ball with the bastards.' He stared into her ocean blue eyes for a while. For a moment he thought of his mother.

She noticed his persistent gaze. 'What's wrong? Oh, gosh, is something on my face?' She began moving her hands up and down her face in panic with her eyes wide open in terror.

He laughed. 'No, I was just thinking of something,' he said.

She grinned. 'And are you going to share this "something"?'

'I was thinking that…' he shrugged, 'I don't know…'

She moved in closer and sat right beside him, their bodies touching.

He could feel her warm breath on his cheek.

'Maybe we could hang out tomorrow at the park, after school?'

'But it's not a Saturday. I thought our "meetings" were on Saturdays?'

'I know, I know. I just…' he sighed, 'I don't know, I just thought after the madness we've both been going through…the insanity Charles has been putting us through, we at least deserve a break…don't we?'

She pressed her lips on his cheek. 'That's a good…and a bad idea.'

'How so?' He was already beginning to look disappointed.

'Well, Saturdays are reserved for our park rendezvous. How about…' she gave him a sideways stare, '...How about somewhere more relaxed? Somewhere more private?'

'And where's that?'

Her face began to change into the familiar pink colour. 'Well, my parents will be out of the house from 4 P.M. till eleven o'clock in the evening. So, if you come over at seven, we could have almost four hours to ourselves. I could even cook us a great meal.'

Sineas let slip a small laugh. 'Does it involve apples?'

She punched him playfully in the shoulder. 'No, you idiot! No apples involved. Just you... me... and us.' She tucked her hands between her thighs and turned her face in the other direction.

She was trying to hide it, but Sineas could see that the pink colour was now overwhelming her face. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She turned her face back, the pink still blooming on her face. She grinned.

'I'll see you tomorrow at seven then,' he said.