After Snow

As I walked to class, Ricardo’s face turned my way. I smiled at my best friend.

“Dude, I’m dead,” Was his way of greeting me.

“Good morning to you, too,” I replied.

“Man, I’m serious here! Marina found out I cheated on her,” He hissed, and I laughed loudly getting a few looks from the people around.

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought about that before you cheated on her,”

“I didn’t want to. I did it because I wasn’t sure if I actually felt something for her, and I do,” He explained. I remember what his old plan was. He had told me he was going to kiss another girl to see if he wished it was Marina instead, and it was. We had decided to keep this between us but now someone else had told his girlfriend.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She.. She just cried and said ‘I’m sorry’. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” He growled.

“I don’t know! Does it look like I have a vagina to you?!” I growled back.

“Dude, you’re supposed to help me. I think I just lost the best girl in my life,” He whispered. I felt bad for him. This had been his first girlfriend. An official one at least. He called her ‘The One’. I didn’t believe in true love, or just love for that matter. But he was different. He liked her from the moment he looked at her, the moment he talked to her, he ’fell in love’. Or at least, he said so.

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“No, I just decided to talk to you first about it before talking to her, because you know, it’s not like I need her to forgive me or anything,” He replied with sarcasm dripping on every word.

“Damn kid, calm down. I ain’t the one you cheated on,” I backed up. By now we were sitting at our table. He was sitting in front of me at the last row at the left of the classroom.

“William, I need your help. Please,” He begged. I sighed.

“Alright, wait for her to come to the class, greet her the sweetest way possible. Do not bring the subject up,” I order him, as he nodded intensely. Right on cue, Marina walked in with bags under her emerald eyes, and her black unusually messy. Her books pressed against her chest, as if the books were keeping her together. Some guys glared at Ricardo, some smiled, probably thinking they had a chance against Ricardo.

“Good morning, Nina,” Ricardo greeted her, using his nickname for her. She looked at him, and as fast as ice melts, tears formed in her eyes.

“G-Good mor..morning...” Her voice broke and she turned away. Making sure her front bangs covered her eyes. I looked at Ricardo, and he was gripping his hair forcefully, staring at his desk.

“Good morning guys,” I heard a voice greet loudly enough for everyone in the classroom to hear. I turned around at there was a tired Lia smiling at everyone. Everyone greeted back cheerfully, besides Ricardo, Marina and me. Lia looked at Marina and her eyes instantly saddened. She walked to the next row besides ours and sat on the chair in front of Marina. Dropping her books on her desk, turning around talking to Marina in Italian. I just stared at her in awe. And before the second morning bell rang, Marina was already smiling slightly. I didn’t know what Lia told her, or joked about. But she had the power to make her friend happier.

“Sei sicuro che stai bene?” Lia asked.

“Sì,” Marina replied. I mentally cursed at myself. I should’ve taken Italian for my free class.

“Tu lo ami, non è vero?” Lia asked softly. Marina just nodded.

“Well, changing unwanted topics to important ones, how is your family?” Lia asked suddenly perkier.

“They’re good, the usual.. Mom’s having the baby next week,” Marina smiled softly.

“Oh, that’s great! Is it a boy or a girl?” She asked curious.

“We don’t know. We wanted it to be a surprise,” Marina explained.

“Aw..” Lia cooed. “That’s really great, I hope everything goes great,”

“So do I,”

“Okay kids, stop talking and let’s learn about cyber-bulling!” Our teacher walked in. I think I forgot to explain it earlier, this is Ethics. We talked about feelings and life. My school was a bit different from the usual ones. We had eight classes a day, different schedules everyday. The classes variate from this class, Ethics to Accounting. Our school didn’t let you choose your classes except for one. We wore uniforms and they were very strict about them. Girls had to wear them below the knee otherwise they would have to clean the floors without first warning. Boys couldn’t have any type of visibility of their underwear or they would have to clean the gym equipment. Talking in the middle of a lesson equalled to a detention slip plus your thirty minute lunch inside a classroom cleaning the board. You fail a class, you won’t pass the year unless you go to school for the whole summer, doing work all day. It was a special school that prepared you for university and the money world. Once you were in it, you couldn’t drop out. It was against the rules. All in all, this school was strict.

After an endless day, I regretted leaving my car at home. Walking home was a torture, it had snowed quite a lot for the past few days, and it was starting to snow again. I don’t understand how people love or like snow. It’s cold and when it melts it just ruins the shoes because of the salt. As I got closer to my house, I saw someone on my porch.

“Can I help you?” I asked, getting closer, but not sure who was sitting there. The sitting person’s head snapped up. Lia’s blue-green eyes were the saddest eyes I had seen. But in a split second, they lit up and I questioned my sanity, thinking my mind made it all up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Um, do you mind if I hang out with you for a while? My parents aren’t home, and I forgot the keys to the house..” She trailed off looking embarrassed.

“Um, sure,” I replied feeling embarrassed as well, though I didn’t know why. I opened the door, and waited for her to walk in, but she was looking at the sky.

“It’s getting cold,” I told her, expecting her to get the hint to go in.

“Is it?” She asked distantly.

“Yes, it’s better for us to go in,”

“I’m alright, I’ll stay out here,”

“You’ll catch a cold, come in,”

“I’ve bothered you too much, I just needed your permission to sit on the porch. Now if something were to happen, you’d be closer,” She said, turning around and giving me one of her famous breath-taking smiles. My heart sped up, and I lost my breath for a second before pulling myself together.

“You need to come in, your parents and my mom will kill me if you get sick,” I told her, exaggerating.

“I won’t get sick. I never get sick,” She said, her smile never seizing.

“Yes, you will. Now come on in, it’s cold,”

“No, I won’t. Now go in, you seem uncomfortable. I want to stay out for a while,” She said, it seemed as if she wanted to say something more, but wouldn’t.

“You’re stubborn,” I boldly stated.

“I could say the same thing,” She smiled, yet again. “Now, go. You look cold as well,” She urged.

“Okay, but if you don’t come in soon, I’m coming to get you,” I threatened, walking in. She laughed, quietly. She turned around, and sat on the same step she was sitting before and gripped her hands together, holding them close to her mouth, looking at her lap. I reluctantly closed the door behind me and went in the kitchen.

I got a mug, filled it with milk and placed it on the microwave. As I waited, I kept thinking of how cold Lia must be. I decided to put in a mug for her as well. After finishing the hot cocoa filled mugs, I put on my jacket with gloves and a scarf. I walked out and Lia didn’t seem to notice. I looked at her, and she was looking at her hands and her eyes seemed to water.

“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly. She jumped slightly and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Oh my, you startled me,” She breathed out. “What’s up?” She asked after she regained her breath.

“Well, you don’t want to go in, so I decided to come sit with you,”

“You didn’t have to, I mean.. You could get sick, then it would be a bother because you wouldn’t be able to go to school, then.. Then you would be mad at me for making you sick, and.. And I would hate myself for that-” She rambled. I cut her off.

“Calm down, if I get sick. I get sick. There isn’t much I can do about it anyways,” I laughed. Which seemed to put her at ease.

“Is there something wrong?” When her face turned to worried again. She looked up surprised.

“Oh, nothing..” She forced a laugh. I don’t know why, but it bothered me she would hide what was wrong with her.

“Here,” I decided to finally give her the hot cocoa. She looked at it confused and smiled taking it.

“Thank you,”

“You’re welcome,” I answered. After a few seconds, she broke the silence.

“William?”

“Yes?”

“Why do you think bad things happen to people?” She asked quietly. She is a weird girl, she has been saying strange things since I first talked to her, making metaphors, asking questions with double meaning and deep comments. I just wish she were bold and just came out with the whole truth.

“Well, maybe because they are bad people,” I replied thoughtfully.

“Hm.. Bad people..?” She trailed off. “I understand now,” She smiled, but her eyes seemed kind of sad.

“Lia?” We heard a deep voice. We looked towards her house, and Mr Attias was getting off the car.

“Hey dad!” She shouted, smiling genuinely.

“Hey baby!” He waved. He looked at me. “Sorry to bother you, Will!”

“No worries!” I shouted back.

“Well, bye. And thank you for the delicious cocoa, William. Again, always being so nice to me,” She smiled at me, and it made my heart skip a beat. No one had ever been so kind towards me. A few seconds later, I shook my head, pulling myself together.

“Um, you’re welcome.. You don’t need to make such a big deal out of nothing,” I smiled back. She waved at me and turned around walking towards her dad.

“Say, do you think I’m bad?” She asked suddenly, turning around.

“Um, well.. No offence or anything, but I really don’t know you that well,” I laughed uncomfortably.

“True, sorry for asking such weird questions..” She laughed.

“Don’t worry about it,” I chuckled. “Now go, your dad is waiting for you,”

“Ok, bye,” She smiled and slowly jogged towards her dad. Embracing him into a tight hug. I stood up and walked inside, taking her empty cup with mine.

My heart was beating so fast it took the air out of my lungs. It wasn’t because of excitement, nor because of happiness. It was rapidly beating because of fear. That’s all I knew. Now all I needed to figure out was, why fear?