Circle of the Moon

Sapphire

I ran outside of the classroom. My face was so red it resembled a tomato. Calm down. Breathe. I leaned against the wall of the aisle, closing my eyes in order to make my heart beat slower. When I opened them I saw Matias’s gray eyes staring at me with curiosity. I was
startled, so I jumped a little.

“Matias?” I said. “What are you doing here?” I asked as he struggled to stop himself from laughing.

“I was going to the bathroom”, he answered, “and I saw you standing here.”

“Oh,” I muttered.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked, curious.

“Eh…” I stammered. “Well, a couple of girls from my class asked me to have lunch with them at recess but I told them that you had already invited me, so then they told me to ask you to come with us,” I said in a single breath. My cheeks were red again.

He frowned, confused. “What?”

“Umm…” I took a deep breath. “Would you like to have lunch with Zoe, Elyon and me?” I said in a slower pace.

He stared at me and a little smile appeared in the edges of his mouth. “I’d love to.”

I stopped holding my breath and I smiled too. He said yes! “Ok, then I’ll see you at recess.”

“See you.” He messed my hair and kept walking.

I smiled, satisfied, and went inside of the classroom again before the next class began.

Elyon

I skipped English, the fourth class of the day and the one we’d be having before recess. I scurried between people as soon as the previous professor left the classroom and I ran towards the cafeteria. The tiny, squeaky, wanna-be childish voices of the preppie girls diminished as I got away from them.

I sat at a round table and placed my legs over it. I folded my arms over my chest, leaned my head against the chair, and listened to music.

What time is it? Do I have enough time to sleep? I asked myself. I couldn’t get enough sleep at night. In fact, I almost didn’t get any at all.

I took my cell phone out of the pocket of my skirt to check the time. There was a new message from Christopher.

From: Chris
10.02 am
Miss Elyon!
Do you want to be with me at recess?

I felt how my lips pursed in an involuntary smile. I remembered what Zoe had told me just before Mathematics and I replied:

Why don’t you come with me?
Zoe and the new girl asked me to have lunch with them…
They are kind. You will like them.

I didn’t have to wait a long time before receiving his text:

Nah, I don’t want to.
I’d rather go with Albert.
If you need me, which is obvious you will, you now know where to find me.

You arrogant bastard!, I thought as I rolled my eyes.

I replied with an angry:

I don’t need you more than you need me!

And then I closed my eyes and allowed Morpheus to take me under his soporific wings.

Zoe

“It’s finally over!” I said with relief as soon as English ended. “The class was eternal for me.”

“Yes, for me too”, Kim agreed leaning in her chair.

“Well, let’s go”, I said as I got up from mine.

“Aren’t we going to wait for Matias?”

“Nope. In fact, we are going to get him right now. He is so distracted that he probably doesn’t even remember he’s going to have lunch with us.”

“Since when do you know Matias?” Kim asked with curiosity.

“Since the first year of middle school. But don’t worry, I am not into him,” I said with a smile.

“Wh… Who told you I like Matias?! I just met him and…”

“Well, let’s go,” I said pulling her up from her chair.

We walked in the long aisle watching all the students reuniting with their respective groups of friends and, in the end of the aisle, we saw the 5ºA classroom. Kim and I stopped for a moment and then we opened the door. It was almost empty, but we saw Matias in one corner chatting with a friend. We got closer to him and, as if it had been work of some magical spell, the friend ran away, leaving Matias alone.

“Matias!” I yelled as we got nearer.

“Hi, Zoe! Hi, Sapphire!” he said with a smile that was more intended for Kim than for me.

Sapphire? Wasn’t Kim her name? I turned around and gave her a puzzled look but I kept quiet.

“He… Hello, Mat”, Kim said. Her face had blushed.

“Well, where are we going to eat?” I asked brushing the dirt off my skirt.

“I don’t know… Hey, where’s Elyon?” Matias asked in an inquisitive tone.

“I don’t know. She went out of the classroom and we haven’t seen her anymore”, Kim explained as she glanced to the door.

“She probably is in the cafeteria or in some other gloomy place”, I sarcastically said.

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, let’s go”, Matias said as he got up from his chair.

We went to the door and, in the moment we opened it, I stumbled with Kiyoshi. His face was very close to mine, and I felt how blood rushed to my cheeks. I took a step forward and the two of us began laughing.

“Hi, Zoe”, he said, smiling.

“Hi.” My voice was nervous.

“Where are you going?”

“We… we are going to look for Elyon to have lunch together. Do… do you want to come with us?”

“Thank you, but I have to do some things in the music classroom.”

“Don’t worry. As they say, if it isn’t today then it will be tomorrow.”

We went into the cafeteria and saw something very weird. A pair of feet were in top of the table but the person they belonged to seemed as if he or she had fainted or something like that. The three of us crept nearer to see who it was and discovered it was Elyon. She was deeply asleep.

Sapphire

When we went inside of the cafeteria, I saw a pair of feet on a table in a rear corner. We walked towards that place and we saw Elyon, deeply sleeping. I let out a soft giggle.

Zoe extended her hand and lightly shook Elyon’s shoulder. “Elyon”, she whispered. “Elyon, it’s lunch time”, she said in a stronger voice, shaking her again.

This time, Elyon suddenly opened her eyes and quickly lowered her legs. “What?” she asked in a daze.

“It’s lunch time”, Zoe repeated. “Are you coming?”

“Yes”, she snapped and as she got up. “Where are we going to eat?”

“I was thinking”, I said. “Why don’t we have lunch in the yard?”

They remained thoughtful for a while.

“I think that’s a good idea”, Matias said in a happy voice. “Let’s go.”

Zoe, Elyon and me walked beside him. Zoe had a thoughtful expression on her face. What is she thinking about?

We went outside to a placed that seemed to be an enormous garden, with some tables spread around.

My eyes opened wide. I didn’t thought this was so pretty. I followed my friends towards a table that wasn’t too far away from the entrance. We sat and I took out the lunch I had brought from the residence.

“Do you bring your lunch?” Zoe asked, frowning. “Doesn’t it consume too much of your time?”

I glanced at my food and twisted my mouth. “Yes”, I replied. “Actually, today I was late because of it.”

“You can buy it in the residency, didn’t you know?” Elyon added.

“Really?” I was incredulous.

Matias and Zoe laughed at the same time. “Yes, you can”, Zoe said, giggling.

“Well, and how long have you been in this school?” I asked.

The first one to answer was Matias. “I entered the first year of middle school”, he said, “and that was the time when I met Zoe.”

“What about you, Zoe?”

She laughed even harder than before. “You won’t believe me, but I’ve been here since the first year of elementary school.”

My eyes went wide. “First year of elementary?!” I exclaimed. She just kept laughing. Wow. That’s a lot.

“Elyon?”

“Since the third grade of elementary”, she said without emotion.

“And do you like it?”

This is the way the chat went during a while. We spoke about school, classes and professors. They told me some amusing stories about the preppies and the kids that weren’t preppies. They informed me about how annoying could preppies be, and I believed them. There was no doubt.

Ten minutes before recess was over, Matias got up and said:

“Even though I don’t want to, I’ve got to go”, he sighed. “I have to speak to the Physics teacher.”

“It’s all right”, I said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yes”, he smiled. “See you.”

He grabbed his backpack, put it over his shoulder, and went inside the building.

“I have to go, also”, Elyon told us.

“Where are you going?” Zoe inquired.

“Uhm…” She stalled a little before answering, “I’ve got to search for someone”. She grabbed her backpack and went away.

“Well, do we go to the classroom?” I asked Zoe, grabbing my stuff and getting up from my seat.

“Yes”, she answered. She had again that thoughtful look in her face. She was making me nervous.

“Kim”, Zoe called me as we walked back to the classroom.

I spun around. “Hm?”

“Can I ask you something? “ she said.

“Yes, of course.”

“Why did Matias call you Sapphire?” she asked with a frown.

Damn it!

Elyon

I walked behind Matias for a minute or two. My heavy, black, gothic boots resonated in the entire aisle, but he didn’t seem to notice me. We were in the longest aisle in the entire school with many doors in each side. Just as Matias got midway, he turned right and entered a classroom.

Now I was completely alone in the silence.

I kept on walking until I got to the end, accelerating my pace every few feet, feeling anxious because I wouldn’t know what to say if I ran across Christopher. I wanted and at the same time I feared seeing him. Things had changed between us, they had become colder in the last two days, and that scared me out. I was afraid of losing what I didn’t even have.
I heard in the distance a few male voices. They came from the last classroom, the one that wasn’t even normally used. I went towards it.

“….so what will you do with her?” I heard a voice asking.

“I don’t know, mate. The thing is I really like her. Really”, Christopher replied. His pitch was very characteristic.

“Joseph says she isn’t a very nice person”, a third voice commented.

“Why?” the first one inquired.

“Well, rumors say she is a really bad girlfriend. And, she is a slut.”

A nervous silence covered it all. I knew they were speaking about me, …or weren’t they?

“I don’t care, dude”, Chris said as he let out an incoherent and pretty silly giggle. “Sometimes pain is actually worth the pleasure. Soon, I will ask her to be my girlfriend.”

“Whatever”, the third voice said. I could almost picture how he shrugged with resignation.

Suddenly, I heard a fourth voice in my mind. It wasn’t audible, it was a thought. A foreign thought. Kim is not who she says she is, but she is not evil. And she is in trouble right now.

A chill ran through my entire body. It was as if a bucket of ice had fallen on me.

Damn it!, I heard Kim say in my mind. I felt her nervousness, her concern.

What the fuck?!, I thought as I realized that my eyes were closed and my body was curled up in a little ball in the floor.

The bell rang drilling though my eardrums.

Christopher, Albert and Michael emerged from the classroom. When they saw me lying on the floor, Albert hided behind his two friends. The third voice had been his. Chris looked away, annoyed and ashamed, and Michael said:

“What are you doing here, dear Ellie?”

I tried to get to my feet but I realized that my skirt had been rolled up. Way up. I blushed and, mortified, I got up with a little more of discretion.

“I was looking for this man”, I explained, pointing to Chris. He didn’t even dared to look at me, “but I had a migraine attack.”

“Did you hear something?”

“No, Micha”, I lied. “What were you talking about?”

“Nothing!” Christopher grunted. “C’mon, guys”, he added, pushing Albert with a little of violence.

Michael gave me a huge grin and waved his hand.

“See you later, dear.”

“See you”, I weakly smiled.

I ran my palms across my skirt and I played with the cloth, lowering my head.

What the fuck with Kim?!

Zoe

“Why did Matias called you Sapphire?” I asked, puzzled.

“Be… because that is… is my… middle name!” she said really nervous ly and began laughing.

“Yeah, right”, I said unsatisfied and we kept walking towards the classroom. Kim was chatting with nervousness during the whole way. The more she spoke, the more suspicious she looked. Her preoccupation was exaggerated for the simple fact of asking her “name”. We arrived to the classroom and Kim went quickly towards her desk.

Why is she running away if I’m going to sit next to her anyways?

The end of recess bell rand and Elyon entered, looking somewhat baffled. She sat with consternation behind us. Both Kim and Elyon looked nervous but I didn’t dare asking what.
The next class was Art, and the teacher arrived twenty minutes late. She wasn’t tall and her hair was short, and he dressed in a very weird fashion. Her excuse for arriving late was “people in the aisles wouldn’t let her through”.

I was getting my art notebook out of my backpack when I felt a strong headache that made me lose my sight for a moment. In between the rushes of pain I heard some voices talking inside of my head. Has she realized?, one said. Damn Chris!, the other one expressed. Soon, my body wasn’t able to endure the pain anymore and I fell to the ground near unconsciousness. I saw and heard very little, but I glimpsed Kim and Elyon looking at me with consternated expressions and asking me what was wrong. Even though I was trying really hard to get up I wasn’t able to, and suddenly everything faded to black and I didn’t know what had happened to me.

I woke up in the nurse office, laying on one of the beds. I didn’t understand what had happened and why had I heard those voices. They sounded as if they were Elyon’s and Kim’s but I wasn’t sure. The bell rang. Five minutes after, the nurse office’s door opened and Kim, Elyon, Matias and Kiyoshi appeared.

“How are you?” everyone asked almost at the same time.

“Don’t worry, it was nothing. I believed my sugar level went down or something like that”, I said with a little of nervousness.

“You scared us”, Kim said.

“Kiyoshi and I found out about this because we saw you going out of the classroom with the teacher… she was carrying you”, Matias said, laughing.

“Oh, no! I’m so embarrassed!” I said as I covered my face with my hands.

“The good thing is that you are already better”, Kiyoshi said with a smile.

“Yeah… well, I think I can leave now. I feel perfectly fine”, I replied, returning the smile to Kiyoshi.

The nurse office opened and the doctor entered. She was carrying a bunch of sheets with her and she left them on top of a desk.

“You can leave, Zoe. Just be more careful from now on”, she said, smiling.

“Ok”, I said with relief.

I left the bed, grabbed my schoolbag, and went with everyone else to Chemistry class.

Sapphire

When Zoe woke up, Kiyoshi and Matias entered the nurse office to check on her.

No one knew exactly what had happened to her, but I thought it hadn’t been a simple, normal faint. There was something weird about Zoe, I felt it, and I was going to find out what was it.

When we stepped outside of the nurse office, Matias and Kiyoshi parted was and headed towards their respective classrooms.

We walked in silence. I couldn’t stop thinking about Zoe; her faint hadn’t been normal and she was suspecting about my name. Is she aware of something?

“Kim?” Zoe’s voice said from far away. “Kim!”

“Huh?” I turned around.

“Are you fine?” she asked with concern.

I blinked. “Oh… yes, yes”, I shook my head. “I was just thinking”, I smiled briefly.

She looked at me with a mischievous expression. “Were you thinking about Mat?”

“No!” I exclaimed, blushing. “Why would I be thinking about him?” I laughed nervously.

“I don’t know”, she sang. “Maybe because…. You like him?” She raised an eyebrow.

I opened my eyes wide. “I don’t like him! We just met.”

“So what?!” Zoe said with a huge grin. “You don’t have to know someone for a long time in order to like him”, she said. “It is not as if you were in love with him.”

My face grew even redder, if that was even possible. I heard Elyon laugh. Why is she laughing?

“Why are you laughing?” I asked her.

“Nothing”, she replied. “It’s just that your reaction was funny.” She laughed again.

“What do you mean by funny?” I asked feeling a bit offended.

“That wasn’t meant to be an offense”, she defended herself, “but it’s that you don’t have to worry so much.” She looked at me. “You must keep in mind that Matias is highly demanded.”

“What?” I said, puzzled. Highly demanded?

“Yes”, she nodded. “Many girls from inferior grades like him”, she explained. “You know, it’s because of his friendly, protective personality.”

“Hmph.” I shrugged. “Well, in fact I don’t blame those girls, huh?” I laughed. “I mean, just look at him.”

“Hah!” Zoe exclaimed. “Finally you admit it.”

Shit! I rolled my eyes and smiled. In that moment we reached the classroom. The class hadn’t begun already, but the teacher was already inside going through some papers.

“May we come in?” Zoe asked her.

“Yes, of course”, she kindly smiled. “We were about to begin.”

We went to the desks and sat down. Admitting my attraction to Matias wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

“Guys!” the teacher called. “Today we are going to study the proprieties of water”, she announced. Oh no, please not. “And we will do it experimentally.” Oh no! Damn it!

Elyon

Motherfucker! It can’t be possible that she is fainting! I thought as I watched how Zoe’s movements became clumsier and clumsier. Her eyes went white. Finally she closed them and stayed there, laying on the floor, completely unconscious.

So now… what?

I turned towards Kim and gave her a nervous, expectant glance. She glance back, confused.
I extended an arm and touched Zoe’s shoulder, shaking her softly.

“Zoe? Zoe!” She didn’t react.

Kim was as nervous as me. We exchanged another look.

“We should tell the teacher”, she said.

I nodded and, at the next second, my hand was already up in the air.

“Professor!” I yelled. “Zoe fainted.”

She gave us an uninterested look and then turned around to the blackboard again. It wasn’t until a little while had passed until she reacted.

“What?! Fainted?!” She was possessed by a sudden panic attack. “C’mon! Hurry! We ought get him to the nurse office!”

She ran to Zoe’s desk and clumsily took her in between her arms.

Kim stepped forward and opened the classroom door. All the students were watching with expectant and somewhat mocking expressions. From the aisle, Kiyoshi and Matias stood petrified.

“Let me through!” the teacher roared. Zoe was about to fall from her embrace, but the woman managed to save the situation.

A funny procession was formed. The teacher headed it, and the followers were Kiyoshi in a first place and Matias and Kim sharing the second.
I was about to unite to them when Christopher emerged from what seemed to be, literally, the shadows.

“Elyon, I have something to tell you.”

“Not now!” I exclaimed. “Zoe fainted.”

“She’s in good hands, leave her”, he grunted. “This is really important.”

“Say it, fast.”

My head was turned towards the group of people that were taking care of Zoe. I suddenly felt Chis’s fingers grasp my chin, with both violence and kindness, and he made me turn around to look him in the eye.

“She is dead. She, my ex girlfriend”, he said. “The worms ate her corpse long time ago.” He kissed the top of my head. “Now you are the only thing that I have left, you are my motivation. It’s because of you that I wake up each morning. Even though She was a saint, a goddess, and She turned me into a better person. She died for me.” This time he kissed my cheek. “She sacrificed herself for me; She extended her hand when I was deep in the darkness. She is my savior.”

Now he pressed his lips against mine in a soft kiss that lacked of lust. He completely silenced the words I was afraid to speak.

Why are you doing this? I mentally inquired with an intense commotion. My heart burned of sorrow, confusion and deception. But I am a lake in winter, and nothing is allowed to trespass the ice barrier. Don’t you realize I am a demon and that I am only capable of giving you darkness? I am nothing compared to “Her”. Get away from here. Don’t lose your time with demons when it is obvious that an angel is waiting for you in the Paradise. End this game now! Go away!

I placed a hand on his chest and he interrupted the kiss. I didn’t dare to look at his eyes. “I don’t know what to say”, I lied, “but I kind of love you.”

He just smiled.

“I have also my dose of dark stories and I hide a secret that no one knows…”

“Guess what? I don’t care”, he interrupted me. I looked at him offended, and he went on as if he hadn’t noticed: “For me, your past does not exist. You aren’t more of what you show me right now, in this moment, as I hold your hand.”

Feeling a knot in my throat, I smiled.

“Thank you.” Now I wouldn’t feel bad for my secrecy, for not sharing with him my secret.
Without saying goodbye or giving him one more glance or smile, I turned my back to Christopher and I ran to the nurse office to reunite with Zoe, Kim and the others.

Those girls were my friends now and that was everything that mattered.