At about two hours later, Josh, Aaron, Brighton, Michelle, Jess and Ash were on the garden at the back of the house. Michelle had quickly grabbed Josh´s arm but Ashley had gotten her way in the middle of them, the latter “won” and Josh went to sit on a bench with Ashley, and so did the rest. as time went by, they settled in pairs and drifted away.
The perfect setting Ashley thought: the night getting colder, the garden, the darkness, the girls saying that they´re getting cold.
“You´re right Ashley, we should get inside” he said with a smile and got up, noting the windows on the second floor of the house. Only one had the lights on, the window was open. He wondered... “Who do you think is up there?” he asked innocently to the girl still sat on the bench.
“Ah, that´s my little sister´s bedroom, I guess her nanny can’t put her to sleep.”
“Ah, so you have another sister” he commented
“Yeah, would you want to see the fountain? it´s nice over there” she had moved a few steps away with her hand stretched to him ushering him to come. He saw at that moment the lights go off on that bedroom and then a shadow came out of it. She´s leaving now, he thought.
“Naah, Im hungry, let´s get inside”
“I´ll go get the others” she said. So, no fun for you, no fun for anyone, he thought and laughed when she left.
She was beautiful and he was like any other boy but the way she had treated Nichole had made him seen how ugly she really was, a huge turn off for him.
***
“You shouldn’t come here, you might be tempted to get up again” Nichole said. Once again she was standing on the edge of the stone wall on the limit of the school´s property.
“You have a good ear”
“You kept stepping on twigs and dry leaves, anybody could have heard you, Josh” she said quietly, he laughed and heard her laughter, her back was to him.
“Did you just came back?”
“No, but I guess you did. I came hours ago. I get up early some days”
“mh, yeah, we just got back”
“Arent you sleepy?” silence.
“Will you run like the other day if I ask you something?”
“Maybe... but you wouldn’t know if you don’t ask, would you?”
“Are you ok?”
“Don´t I look ok to you?”
“Seeming ok on the outside doesn’t mean you are completely ok... Your sister looks a lot like you”
“You had said that already”
“Your home is close to school”
“That´s not my home. Why are we repeating ourselves? and three hours is not close”
“I suppose not for school days but close for weekends”
“mh” she sat on the edge of the wall, still with her back to him.
“Do you not stay at home because of your sisters?” he hoped that she didn’t run
“Ash and Jess are not my sisters, they´re my father´s wife daughters, only Camille is my sister, of course she´s their sister as well”
“You should talk to you father so that they stop bugging you so you could stay home”
“Once again, Josh, I don’t have a home” despite such a sad statement there was not even that emotion in her words, they were just that, words, a truth said out loud.
“What about Camille?”
“What about her?”
“She seemed to miss you a lot”
“And I miss her a lot”
“So?” that was all he came up with but he hoped that made her elaborate a little more.
“The little girl loves me as much as I love her even though she hasn’t seen me for more than a few hours since she was born... Celia must have to do a lot with that”
“How long have you been here”
“For about a couple hours before you got”
“No, I mean in this school”
“ I knew what you meant”
“oh” his brow furrowed in confusion, she was so strange sometimes, so evasive.
“She´s six... I had already about two years in here when she was born”
“Did your step mother sent you here?”
“I wish I could say she´s the one who did it -a bitter smile was drawn on her face- but no, it was my father who sent me here a year after mom died” Josh heard her sobbing and wished he hadn’t asked
“Nichole, I’m sorry. I shouldn´t have...”
“I could´ve run... I knew you were going to ask about this sooner or later...better now that there is no one to hear or see you with a weirdo” she laughed a sarcastic laugh. Her sobbing had stopped as fast as it has started. Josh guessed her eyes kept the bitterness.
“I never got the time to properly apologize on behalf of my brother...”
“it doesn’t matter, he´s right, you shouldn´t be around me”
“Nic, don’t let his words get to you”
“ah, Josh, I´ve been called worst, his words meant nothing to me. I’m just saying that he´s right on that you should keep your distance”
“Why? do I bother you?”
“Do you bother me? mmmh kinda -she laughed- but I would´ve been in trouble if you hadn’t follow me that time and stitched me after, I never got to thank you for that little annoyance” she jumped from the edge of the wall and sat next to him on the grass, the sun was rising.
“So, it´s ok even if I bother you a little”
“In some cultures the one who saves a life becomes responsible of the one who he has saved, or so some guy told me” she said without looking at him. He grinned and turned to see her. He noticed her bandaged hand. Since he had seen her, she was with that bandage on her hand, it made her look somehow fragile.
“What happened to your hand?”
“What happened to my hand?” she said, sighed and lifted her hand to observe it. “I don´t really know” “Have you gone to the doctor? does it hurt?”
“Not even my baby sister asks so many questions at once” her voice was barely audible, her eyes were closed.
“I’m the older brother, though, that´s why I ask so many questions”
“I figured but I’m not your sibling”
“But you are my friend”
“You shouldn’t have followed me that first day. Either of us would be responsible for the other under the eyes of any culture” she laughed a little. She liked talking to him, it had been so long since she had talked freely to someone.
“We can’t turn time back, can we?”
“No, I guess not” they sat in silence for a while. He yawned.
“The lady that came to see you the other day, she is a doctor, right? -she nodded- you should tell her to look at your hand”
“I don’t think she´d like that” she smiled and got to her feet, she climbed the wall right after that.
“Where are you going?”
“Out”
“What? where?”
“Just out, somewhere. You should go to sleep, you look like you need to”
“Wait, no, you shouldn’t”
“It´s not the first time I go out on a Saturday, big bro” she stuck her tongue out to him while slowly walking ahead.
“I wanna go”
“Go to sleep, Josh” she kept walking.
“You shouldn’t go alone, it might be dangerous”
“I´m a rose and have thorns to defend myself” she laughed
“Right, take me with you, Rosie”
“Nope. You´d fall asleep” she heard him moving towards her, his intentions clear.
“Woah! no, Josh, no climbling the wall for you!”
“I wanna go”
“And here I thought you were the mature twin”
“Oh, come on! I spent a boring night, have some mercy”
“I thought Ash or Michelle were keeping you company”
“Exactly” he said matter-of-fact, she laughed
“You´re funny. Don’t you like pretty girls?”
“Not when they´re ….like that”
“I see... well, later, Josh”
“I’m climbing the wall”
“I won’t be here to see it” she sing-song the words
“I´ll follow you, even if you want it or not”
“I know...just don’t climb the wall”
“Can´t you just walk on the ground?”
“Nope”
“Why?”
“Practice”
“eh?”
“I’m a cat, don’t you see?” she laughed but something told him that she hadn´t been joking about the practice part. In the same way they kept walking until they got to some gates.
“I didn’t know these gates were here”
“Hardly anybody knows, it´s practically a secret!” she laughed “and now I´ve shared the secret with you” “ha! I’m privileged!”
“Yeah...”
“No, seriously, why are they closed?”
“Well, behind these gates there´s no road, only a path that ends somewhere in the woods but if you know it well enough you can actually get to a road that leads you to a small town”
“And.. you know it well enough”
“I do” she said confident. He furrowed his eyebrows.
“I used to go out a lot before... Ok, so, now if you really want to follow me you gotta come up here and we´ll jump to the other side but you gotta be careful not to trip with the trees´ roots ok?”
“I’m not that clumsy”
“I´ve heard that one before” she teased.
“Wow this is so nice” josh said once they were in the woods
“I know. Hey! I´ve been wondering...won´t your brother miss you? I mean I assume you guys spend the weekends together?” she inquired. He grinned.
“He thinks I’m mad at him plus he must be sleeping and he´ll keep sleeping for a long time”
“You should be sleeping too”
“I’m fine, I usually get insomniac so I’m used to not sleeping”
“I see... ok, but we can go back anytime if you feel like ok?” he smiled at that.
“So, where are we going?” he asked after a while walking in silence
“Well, I usually just come to hike and explore the woods but since you decided to come I think we could go to the town and explore a little”
“Havent you ever gone to the town?”
“I have but not for long periods, just to specific places and a few times only”
“Specific places?”
“Yeah, you know, some family restaurant, the supermarket and some library but only twice or so”
“So you prefer the woods?”
“I prefer the peace and quietness, yeah..”
“We can stay here in the woods if you prefer”
“All right” They sat under a tree, both with their back on a trunk of a tree.
Birds singing and a growling stomach made him woke up, yet his eyes felt so heavy that he kept them closed. His back was on something hard and his pillow wasn’t there. He was between being awake and asleep. He moved his covers but those were not his covers for he felt a scent in them one that was not his, then he realized where he was and his eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was greenery everywhere and then he saw Nichole, her eyes closed and her earphones on. She was motionless and he thought she was asleep. Quietly he removed the coat that was over him, the coat she had been wearing when they were walking, obviously she had put in on him and now it was his turn to do the same. Except than when he got up, she opened her eyes.
“I thought you were asleep” he said a little starlet.
“Hello there, nope, I’m not asleep”
“oh... -he didn’t say a thing for a while just stood there- sorry that I fell asleep” he finally said
“It´s ok, it´s only noon by now”
“Are we still going to the town?”
“mh? I guess...” this time she got to her feet. They started to walk, Nichole leading the way. At about half an hour later of walking in what felt like a diagonal direction they got to a road. They walked along it. It was a lonely road over a hill, down the hill there was a town.
“It´s not so far” he commented
“Well, it´s taken us about seven hours to get here” she grinned. His eyes went wide.
“You know you loved the quietness at the woods”
“The snoring? nope, I didn’t enjoy that”
“Such a liar I don’t snore”
Their conversation during the whole way had been like that, not very serious but there were some tinges of serious things. It seemed that for Nichole teasing, joking and being distracted were defense mechanisms to not get to what hurt.
“I saw you last night”
“Yeah, and we ate some pie”
“No, coming out of a window. How did you learn to do that? is that how you injured your hand?”
“I wish I could say that I learned it on my own but no, I actually have had trainers. I remember that at six mom used to take me to karate classes, it was so much fun -Nic smiled happily, she had a beautiful smile- then at eight I started to have several other trainers, one of them taught me how to jump off windows without braking a leg”
“Wow and when did you have time to train? or where?”
“Before coming to Burgeoys -their school- I used to train at my father´s house in the city where we lived, well he still lives there, and then after I came I used to go to that house you went last night every afternoon and weekends, and during summers I go to mmm I guess it´s a military summer camp stuff”
“Really? do you like that?”
“I don’t mind it anymore and I got to learn how to defend myself”
“But you look...”
“Fragile? -she laughed- that doesn´t matter, I only need to be agile”
“And now how to fall right to not brake a leg”
“Exactly”
“You should teach me that”
“Why would you want to jump off from windows? plus I bet you´ve had a lot of practice in fighting with your brother, you are not fragile-looking so you have that, let me have the jumping thing” she stucked her tongue out to him. He shook his head while smiling. Another half hour had passed when they got to the town.
“Where can we eat something? I’m starving!” Josh said.
They got into a small restaurant where they just ate, both of them busy with their food. After that they went to explore the shops in the place where Josh bought some normal clothes since he was still wearing his tux from last night´s party. He was starting to feel self-conscious with every body staring at him. Nic got a few things as well, a bag, some food, a flash light and supplies for her first aid kit.. He convinced Nichole to go and watch a movie and they watched a comedy since that was what she liked best. At five they got out of the movies and decided to eat dinner before returning to the school. It was six thirty and they were walking back, still on the road, not ten minutes away from the town.
The day had been cloudy and the night had come quickly, it was dark. Two men were behind them, since she felt them she started to walk faster making Josh do the same, the men did the same.
“Let us borrow some money” one of them said Josh turned to look at them while still walking
“We don’t have money” Josh said. He could sense the danger. Nichole was wishing they´d go away. The men caught to them and stopped them.
“Give me your money, pretty boy” one said. Nic took some bills from her pocket and handed them to the other man. She nodded to Josh asking him to do the same. He did so.
“Your girlfriend is so smart” the thief move towards her.
“You have our money, let us leave” Josh said firmly. The thieves laughed
“ha, so you think you can order us? fuck you!” the man punched Josh´s face, a line of blood appear from his lip. Before Josh could punch back he showed him the knife he was carrying. Josh stopped, the thief started laughing, the other laughed along
“not so brave now, ha?” one said. Taking advantage of their laughter, Josh punched the thief who carried the knife with all his strengh. The man fell to the ground, the knife falling a few feet away. Josh grabbed him and started to punch the man several times on his head.
“Enough!” commanded the other thief taking a gun out pointing to Josh
“I’m going to kill you now and have fun with your little girlfriend, how do you like that?” the man was irate. He advanced close to Josh, close enough that the man´s gun was on Josh forehead. Josh´s heart was beating fast.
“Don´t do that please” Nichole pleaded walking to the man
“Shut up, bitch, I´ll deal with you later”
“Nic, go!” Josh said. The thief started laughing
“Aw, so romantic! you make me sick!” he yelled and pointed his gun to Nichole, Josh moved and tried to punch him to avoid him shooting at Nichole but the man quickly moved his gun to Josh.
A gun shot ripped the air.
