Thirty- Four: Fake Message

Looking around, he realized that there was no sign of his parents, and leaving a note stuck to the fridge, he wrote:

"Good morning. I'm going to school by bus because it's about to rain a lot and it'll be safer. Call me if you need anything."

But then she remembered that Sandra had already gone to spend some time with her mother, in order to avoid seeing Marina off, even though she knew she wouldn't be going until July, but there was also a chance that she would be able to go before the deadline - if her grades were good.

What was different about that school was that her grades had been put together since the first year of high school and if she got a red mark, she would be placed on probation or lose the year.

On the one hand, this was a good thing, as there was no chance of students passing by cheating or bribing the principals and/or teachers.

So, if Marina got a good mark in these tests, she had a great chance of achieving the final average that was missing from the previous year, preventing her from failing and going back to the previous grade.

She went out into the yard, grabbed her umbrella and headed towards the main gate, without looking back, towards the school.

He went down a small hill, turned right and walked for a couple of minutes until he reached the bus stop. The bus took a while to arrive, but it was still enough time to get to school on time.

The traffic was chaotic, with the rain falling outside non-stop, causing many drivers to slow down their cars and motorcycles and congesting the neighborhood.

It was already past six fifty and the vehicle had not arrived at its final destination. Marina was already getting worried, as her sociology teacher didn't allow delays and she could miss the exam or the chance of a second call, unless she brought a doctor's note.

rain continued to fall outside, thundering down, leaving her a little frightened.

For a moment she thought about texting Lucas, asking him to let her know that she would be late and to let her teacher know, in the hope that she would be able to make a second call in the afternoon, and even though she was afraid that he would be rude to her, she broke her pride a little by texting him:

"Good morning Lucas. If you're already at school, tell the teacher I'll be late. It's raining a lot and the driver has stopped the bus and refuses to drive in this situation - 6:55 am".

"Good morning, beautiful. I'll let you know, but are you all right? If you'd told me you were taking the bus, I'd come by and pick you up, but you didn't say anything yesterday, not even a message-06:56".

Marina found his message strange, as she had opened her heart to him yesterday and he still said that she hadn't sent him a message? But she thought about his words yesterday, whether he would only talk if she brought it up. Maybe he wants something from her and she would do it, but face to face and not through an SMS.

"I didn't want to bother you, that's why I didn't tell you. When I get to school, we need to talk, because I've already made up my mind. Now the driver has decided to go on and I'm almost at the school. I'll be getting off in a little while - 07:03".

She got no reply and assumed that he had understood her message, but little did she know that he didn't even know what had happened.

When Marina sent the message to Lucas, declaring herself, his cell phone was in the living room charging, while he was out on the balcony playing with his son and as his device didn't have a password, it was much easier for someone to tamper with it by impersonating him and that person was Diego - with Milena's help.

With Marina out of their lives, the two of them could live in peace, without Lucas discovering the child's true paternity. So as not to leave any traces, she deleted the message when she realized it had been delivered and put her cell phone back where it was and went back to her activities.

Marina finally gets off the bus and mentally tells herself that the next time it rains, she'll cycle the same way or get up earlier and walk, so as not to be so late.

She crossed the street and followed the road until she came to the first street on the left, where there was a huge school where she studied and which would soon become just a memory in her mind.

The inspector stopped her this time and gave her a warning for being fifteen minutes late - which meant that she entered the classroom at 7:50.

Meanwhile, she sat in the schoolyard, notebook in hand, studying for today's exams:

Biology, Geography and in the afternoon presenting a paper on the difficulties faced with children in the classroom.

The work was to be done in threes and she was soon resigned to doing it with Diego and Lucas. At least everything went well - apart from the fights over the assignment - but that was already considered normal when the two of them were working together on the same school assignment.

It was time for her to enter the classroom. So she went into the classroom, sat down at the back of the room and then started taking the test.

The lesson went normally and when it was over, she handed the test to the teacher and looked for a place to sit next to Lucas. Seeing her, he pulls up a chair and they stare at each other without saying a word.

She hopes that the break will come soon so that she can talk to him and clarify everything, and he hopes the same as her - but to try to understand what is going on, since he doesn't even know what happened.

The second test is taken and when everyone has finished, the bell rings for recess. Marina calls Lucas to talk in an empty room and before he can say anything or protest, she pulls him by the arm and they go to the video room.

Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Marina puts a finger to his lips and says:

-I'm really getting out of here. The paperwork is already being done and the hearing will be held soon. So that's my decision. I'll go back to my brothers and I can't stop you from being happy. That kiss was a mistake and it can't happen again, otherwise you'll both suffer.

He remains silent, closes and opens his lips several times, but nothing comes out of his mouth.

In response, he approaches her, holds her by the waist, bringing her close to him, and whispers in her ear:

"Let's enjoy the moment we have together."

She doesn't understand, thinking that he can only be joking with her.

During the night he said completely different things and today he already wants to be by her side. Could it be that he's had a change of heart and wants to put things right between them, even for a short while? As much as her heart wants to be with him, she turns away from him and says they can't be together because she's dating someone online.

Although he knows this is a lie, as she doesn't even use the internet, apart from basic social networks, he prefers not to insist and leaves the room, knocking as hard as he can. Marina - irritated by his attitude - sends him a message, leaving him even more confused:

"Yesterday you told me you didn't want me and today you want to date me while I'm here? If you really knew me, you'd know that I'm not dating anyone and you'd pay more attention to the words you said to me yesterday. Oh, and I don't want you to talk about it anymore, just school-related stuff. It'll be better this way-10:25".

"What did I do yesterday?-10:26".

Irritated, she doesn't even reply to his message. She spends the whole break in that room and when the bell rings, she goes back to the classroom, finishes her exams and waits until it's time for her trio work.

When the time comes, he presents it professionally. They are then released to leave, as the rain has caused a tree to fall in part of the courtyard, preventing students from passing through, and the whole school is released at 14:40.

Marina takes the bus again and arrives home in a few minutes. She goes up to her room, gets a change of clothes, takes a relaxing shower and lies down on her bed to sleep all day and try to forget about Lucas.