Friendship
Chapter
5: Her Magical Influence
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Notes: From Cecilia’s point of view.
Adam was
sitting in front of Cecilia in the classroom, drowned in books. He seemed a bit
disoriented because he was supposed to be working on his science project but
Scott, his science-partner, was sick, so he had nothing to do.
Right
behind him to the right, Cecilia tried to work on her project with Nish, but
the two of them were not able to work together without arguing the whole time.
“I’m
telling you, if you write that, no one will know what the hell you’re going on
about,” Cecilia explained loudly. “Not even me, and I am your partner.”
“No, for
God’s sake, if you were my ‘partner’, I’d kill myself,” Nish said with
determination.
“Hey, I’m
not stopping ya, go ahead. Here, I think there’s a knife or scissors somewhere
close.” Cecilia got up from her chair and walked over to Fred and Travis, who
were working together at the other side of the classroom.
“You guys
mind if I hang here for a while? Nish is having a melt-down.”
Travis
shrugged. “As long as you’re not disturbing us.”
“Yeah,”
Fred continued. “We’re in for some progress here. I think I can get an A this
time. Thank God Travis got to be my partner, or else I’d be struggling for that
usual C-.”
Cecilia sat
down on the edge beside him and watched what they were doing. She knew that
Fred had been struggling hard this term to get better grades, and she wasn’t
about to spoil it for him. Travis, on the other hand, never seemed to have any
problem in school. He aced most of his classes and was the person everyone else
wanted to work with when it came to projects like these.
“Look, if
we try to solve this problem, the next problem will get easier, since it’s
almost the same concept,” Travis explained. That was another good thing about
Travis. He could explain things so it was understandable. Unlike some other
people.
“Hey,
Cecilia, are you coming or what?” Nish yelled. “If you’re not helping, I’m
taking your name of the report.”
“I did most
of the work, so don’t you dare,” Cecilia shouted and went back to Nish. “It’s
written with a pen, so screw you.”
Nish and
Cecilia kept arguing until the others began to complain and throw creased
papers at them.
“Hey, why
are you throwing at me?” Nish yelled. “She’s the one bitching, I’m just trying
to defend myself.”
Cecilia
took the folder with all the report-papers and tossed it at Nish. “I’m not
bitching, I’m trying to help your sorry ass to get an A.”
“My ass
doesn’t want an A, it wants some peace and quiet. Shut up!”
More
creased papers flew across the room, mostly from Fred and Travis.
“Okay, stop
the tormenting,” Nish bellowed. “I rather fail then work with you, Cecilia.
You’re such a pain in the ass.”
“Could you
stop talking about your ass? I’ll get nightmares, bad ones. I’ll shut up if you
do. Will you?”
“Could you
both maybe shut up?” Guy asked. “I’m trying to think here.”
“Congrats,
Guy. I told you it wasn’t that hard,” Cecilia teased. “So, is there anyone else
who wants some inspiration to get their brain to function? Because if Guy made
it, anyone can. Wanna try, Nish?”
Both Nish
and Guy groaned and began on what looked like the murdering of Cecilia. Fred
and Travis interfered, and soon all of them where trying to separate the
fidgety cluster.
“Cut it out,
both of you,” Connie mediated.
“Both of
whom?” Cecilia asked. “They are trying to choke me, not the other way around.”
“Sorry to
burst your bubble, but I wasn’t talking to you,” Connie smiled. “Guy, stop it.”
Guy
grinned. “I’m just trying to hurt her a little. That can’t be illegal, can it?”
“To hurt
Cecilia just a little? I think that is what the law prefer, instead of just
leaving her alone,” Charlie interfered. “Maybe you could leave it for some
other time, though. There are some people trying to work here.”
“Let me
go,” Cecilia shouted and tried to shake Guy’s hands of her. He had grabbed her
shirt and was now trying to push her over the bench and over to the other side.
“Take back
your comment.”
“Which one?
The one about your thinking, or the one about Nish’s ass?”
“I don’t
give a damn about Nish’s ass,” Guy growled. “Say you’re sorry.”
Cecilia
grabbed the edge of the chair and tried to pull away. They were both struggling
for a while, until Guy let go of her shirt, and she fell to the floor with a
loud thud.
Nish began
to laugh and everyone else started to laugh too. Except for Cecilia, who was
whining somewhere from the floor.
“Damn you,
Germaine. That hurt!” she winced. “If anyone is concerned, I’m fine.”
“Nobody
cares, Cee. We’re laughing at you, not with you,” Nish said with a big grin.
“Bet your ass isn’t feeling too good right now, huh?”
After the
class got dismissed because the teacher got tired of their behavior, Cecilia
and Fred ran into Adam by the lockers.
“Hey,
Banksie,” Cecilia said and punched him. “Had a good time at science today?”
“Yeah, it
was first-class entertainment today,” he answered with a smile. “Don’t punch me
again, please, it hurts.”
Cecilia
shrugged. “Baby.”
Adam exchanged
a look with Fred. “Hey, sorry about last night, I know I was disturbing.”
“Look,
don’t worry,” Fred told him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry too, about the
whole... You know.”
Adam
nodded.
“Are you
guys done? Are you friends again?” Cecilia wondered.
“Who said
we weren’t friends?” Fred asked.
“I just
assumed.” Cecilia looked knowingly at them.
“Just
typical you girls. You just assume everything, no wonder you get everything
wrong all the time,” Adam grinned. “Better work on that, until next time.”
Cecilia
tried to punch him again, but Fred stepped between them and pushed her towards
the stairs. “Calm down, Cee. I think you should shorten your fights to only
three per day, don’t you think?”
“The first
one wasn’t a fight. It was just difference of opinions.”
“Did you
hurt yourself?”
“A little.”
“Then it
was a fight. C’mon, let’s get to our lesson, before you start arguing with
anyone else.” Fred pulled her by the arm.
Cecilia began
to object, but Fred was already in the middle of an interpretation on how she
should behave in public.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Notes: From Adam’s point of view.
Adam
slammed the door to the locker and rubbed his arm. Cecilia could be quite
violent sometimes. He shouldn’t complain, though. He was a hockey-player; he
should be used to rough tackles. That included Cecilia’s grips too.
He followed
Guy and Connie to the next lesson. He felt like the third wheel, trying to
avoid overhearing the conversation between them.
He didn’t
know why he always became the third wheel. If it wasn’t Guy and Connie, it was
Fred and Cecilia. He was really good at trying to pretend like he was
comfortable in a situation like that.
“So, what’s
wrong with Scott?”
“Huh?”
“Adam, are
you listening?”
“Yeah, no,
what did you say?”
Connie
laughed. “I asked if you know what’s wrong with Scott. He wasn’t at science
today.”
“The flu, I
think. The whole team is gonna be sick by the end of the month.”
“Better
not,” Guy whined. “I hate being sick. Connie hates it too.”
“Nobody
likes it, Guy. Sneezing and coughing and phlegm. I hate phlegm,” Connie said.
Adam
nodded, not because he was paying attention, but because he had to show some
interest in the conversation. Otherwise it was just rude.
“He’ll be
back soon, he’s never sick,” Connie stated. “You can work with us if you want.”
“It’s just
business studies. I think I can manage to think without your help,” Adam
smiled.
Connie let go
of Guy’s hand and grabbed Adam’s arm. “Look, Adam, it’s okay, if you want to
hang with us, you can.”
Adam tossed
a glance at Guy, who was standing behind her. He was shaking his head violently
and waving his arms.
“It’s okay,
Con. I can take care of myself.”
Connie
turned around, catching Guy in the act. Adam decided it was time to sneak away,
since he’d gotten a good sense of knowing when a fight was about to blow up.
“Too bad
Cecilia isn’t in your class,” Charlie said. Adam turned his head and found
Charlie standing next to him.
“What do
you mean by that?”
“Just that
you two work good together. You’re a good team.”
“She’s my
friend, Charlie. So is Fred, you know that.”
Charlie
nodded. “I know, Adam.”
“I also
want to point out that I was not the one starting the fight at science today.
If you’re out to punish anyone, I mean.”
“I know
that too,” Charlie laughed. “You’re not the one starting fights, I have other
to accuse for stuff like that. Speaking of Cecilia, where is she?”
“She has
her weekly lesson in Swedish with the rest of the Swedes.”
“Yes,
that’s right, they are working on that. Wonder what they do at lessons like
that?”
“Mostly
stupid stuff, according to Cecilia. They get their assignments faxed to them, and
then they have to work on them. Mostly, they just hang out talking.”
“And you
know this, how?” Charlie asked. “For a class you’re not taking, you’re awfully
engaged to the arrangement.”
“Cecilia
told me,” Adam said monotonously. He already knew what Charlie was going to
say.
“Cecilia,
huh? Yeah, you two have been spending an awful lot of time together lately.
Talking and stuff.”
Adam
started to feel a bit annoyed. “Excuse me for having a friend to talk to,
Charlie. I didn’t know the friendship you and I were having was exclusive. If
you have a problem with me and Cecilia hanging out, just tell me, coz I’m sick
and tired of having to explain myself to everyone. She’s my friend, that’s it.
I’m not trying to steal her away from Fred or anything like that. I’m just
trying to be happy, excuse me for trying to have an actual life!”
Adam’s fit
of anger got Charlie stunned. Before he got the chance to open his mouth to
object, Adam had already left.
Adam tried
to calm down, while walking through the hallway. Even if Fred wasn’t always so
approving of Adam and Cecilia’s friendship, at least he didn’t pretend he was.
Hopefully now, Charlie would try to shut up, instead of giving hints about what
he thought about the subject.
Adam
sighed. Since when did friendships have to be so difficult? Since when did
everyone around have to approve a friendship, and if they didn’t, why did they
have to try and destroy it?
All he
wanted was to hang out with Cecilia. That seemed to be considered as a crime.
It wasn’t too much to ask for. Was it?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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