“Fries?”
Josh asked on the cafeteria line, she nodded “I´ll treat you” he pointed to the
food on her tray.
“No,
thanks, I´ll pay for mine”
“Nichole…”
“Hurry up,
Josh, we have a line behind us” she said grabbing a dessert. He paid for his
food and the fries.
When they
were about to sit on a table in a more or less quiet space, Josh´s phone rang
and he wrinkled his nose when he saw the caller ID.
“Yeah?” he
answered “I was busy” he continued sounding annoyed. “What is it, Aaron?” he
heard what his twin had to say. “No way! I’m not helping you. I´ll give you my
notes but that´s it! I warned you that if you didn´t have your notes complete I
wouldn´t help you” he heard some more of his twin’s arguments “I´m eating so
leave me alone” he hung up
Joshua told
Nichole what the call had been about even if she didn´t ask. She didn´t really
commented on it but he didn´t mind her silence, it didn´t mean she didn´t
listen just that she didn´t seem to be good with spoken words.
“Hey, the
guys of the art club invited us to go with them to town this weekend. Wanna
go?” he smiled, she took a fry from the plate they had in the middle of the
table, both of them were eating of it.
“Invited
us?” she raised an eyebrow
“Yeah” he
smiled and shook his head
“What is
it?”
“Nothing,
it´s just the girls really want you to go” he chuckled
“Then I´m
not going”
“You were
going to go?”
“I don´t
know” she said honestly
“You don’t
like the girls?”
“They’re
ok, they´re great artists. Maya´s really good in abstract art and Jill´s good
at animation”
“Then?”
“If they´re
hoping that I go it can only mean they have something in mind that I won´t like
–Josh raised his eyebrows questioning, he had never seen Nichole and the girls
talking unless it was necessary but Nic seemed to know them well- I´ve been in
the art club for a while now and so have they” she explained
“I thought
you were either distracted or focused in only one thing but you notice things”
“Wow! What
a compliment you´re giving me, I´m either distracted or self-centered” she
bowed her head slightly
“No. No,
no! –he motioned his hands no- that´s not what I meant…”
“I notice
things” she interrupted him and smiled a small smile
“Thank you”
he said relieved placing his hand over Nichole´s on top of the table.
“Hey! What
are you guys doing?” Nichole heard a voice coming from behind her; she removed
her hand from under Josh´s and took some more fries
“We´re
eating”
“Here take
my notes” Josh pushed his notebook and book to his twin that was sitting next
to Nichole, in front of him. She moved away a little.
“Come on,
Josh, just give me the summarized version” Aaron asked reaching for the fries
in the middle of the table. Nichole moved them away before he could take any
“I thought
these were to shared” he pouted
“Not with
you” Josh took a few of the fries
“Ah, so it’s
a lovey-dovey thing that you do?”
“Are you
jealous?” Nichole was immune to his words, Josh chuckled.
“You´re not
with this guy” Aaron said with confidence
“Go get
yours” his twin said
“Why are
you mad?! It´s just fries. I can pay for the plate”
“I´m eating
and you come asking me for a summarized version of my notes? Where are yours?”
“Come, it´s
not like I´m asking a hard thing to do, besides that way you’ll study double,
so it´s a good thing”
“How are
your bruises?” Nichole asked Aaron turning to look at him; he just had a light
purple color by now
“They´re
ok” he said taking the notes from his twin
“In what
trouble you got into this time?” Josh said sternly
“No trouble
I was just practicing box with the club…” Aaron lied
“You´re
lying but I´m not going to ask since we´re not expelled yet”
“I´m not
getting you expelled” Aaron hurried to say
“Doesn´t
seem like you often remember that” Joshua pointed to his twin´s face
“I´m not
getting you expelled” he said almost solemnly
“Ok, you
better study then, ´cause I don’t want that people confused me with a flunking
guy” he smirked
“I´ve
always gotten higher scores than you”
“Only in
math-related stuff”
“Still, I
don´t copy and do better” Aaron was smug
“Ok, give
me back my notes then”
“I´m taking
them” he got up before Josh could take them from him
“Do you
know what happened to him” Josh asked Nic once his twin was out of sight. She knitted
her eyebrows “you knew about his bruises” he said thinking her knitted eyebrows
meant she couldn´t have known
“Didn´t you
see them?”
“Until I
paid closer attention to his face”
“And you
call me distracted”
“Ah, so you
pay close attention to my twin´s face?”
“He´s easy
on the eye” she smirked, his eyes widened a little
“Well,
thank you…”
“For?”
“We have
the same face”
“Naah, he´s
easy on the eyes… a mole make a lot of difference” she was nonchalant, his
green eyes had gotten wider and somewhat darker “so, yeah, you´re the less
smart, less good looking and less toned” she said passing her middle finger
over the palm of his hand “but you´re also less annoying, less idiot and –she
paused and he closed his eyes- the green in your eyes is nicer, like the forest…”
she half smiled
“Thank you
–he opened his eyes, it was a great compliment coming from her, she loved the
woods, the girl spent most of her time going there- …so… do you think there´s
an ulterior motive for Maya and Jill to want you to go?” he brought back their
prior conversation topic
“Your eyes
tell me there is” she said with an eyebrow raised. He shook his head as he
smiled
“Ok, what
do they tell you?” he blinked twice and then looked at her. She stared at him
for a moment her gaze was piercing; it was like dark fire that you feel like
watching but at the same time just like a bright light that makes you squint
your eyes. Her eyes were not empty of emotions as they were when they first met
but they had the same intensity that makes people look down.
“They asked
you if we were together –she made air quotation marks, still staring at his
eyes, he nodded and rolled his eyes- they asked you to invite me”
“That´s
easy, I´m doing it”
“They want
to know something related to the rumors around me…”
“Rumors? As
in many?”
“Yeah –her
eyes lost all emotion and light as she uttered that word- the one about my
roommate, the one of my rich family giving money so that I can do what I want,
the one of me being with you or me with no relationship at all…”
“I´m sorry”
once again he placed his hand on top of hers and squeezed it lightly
“For?”
“People
gossiping about you without even knowing you”
“It´s ok,
they´re boring… so, which one is it?”
“Do you
know about the one of you being a model or some model related thing?”
“There’s
one about me being a model?! -she huffed and rolled her eyes- they have so
little imagination… why would I be a model?!”
“They say
that the way you walk make all boys go idiot and that your yearbook pictures
are model-like…”
“My walk”
she huffed, he eyes became cold and her face expressionless, her breathing
controlled and her stance that had been relaxed became tense
“What is
it?”
“It´s a
stupid rumor” she seemed to mind it a lot
“They want
you to teach them or something…”
“I won´t do
such a thing” she said and stood up to leave
“Where are
you going?” he hurried to her
“To my
room”
“Are you
mad at me?”
“No”
“Are you
mad at them?”
“No”
“Are you
mad?” he asked, she stopped turned to him and shook her head no “going to the
stone wall?”
“Not exactly”
“Where
then?”
“To the
other side?”
“But it´s
dark”
“I know,
I´m not afraid of darkness but you should be” she teased
“I thought
you were going to your room”
“I am and
then I´m going to the woods” she poked her tongue out to him
“Mind if I
join you?”
“It’s dark”
“I still
have the flashlight you gave me the other day”
“It might
rain”
“You´ll get
us an umbrella from your room”
“It´s
dangerous for you”
“For you
too”
“I take
back what I said about you being less annoying” she said humor in her voice.
They had gotten to her dorm. She walked up the stairs as he walked to the back
of the building where her window was. After a few minutes she came out of it.
She landed next to Josh who was standing his back to the building.
“Whoa! –he
said surprised- how do you do that?!” he never ceased to be impressed every
time she did that kind of things.
“I´m a cat”
she handed him a scarf
“I have to
give you back the other” he said wrapping the scarf on his neck
“I have
plenty, you can keep it. I´m not going to carry this around” she gave him the
umbrella she´d taken from her room.
They walked
in silence to the wall, it was dark and slightly windy, she walked a few steps
ahead Josh who had the flashlight on. When they reached the tall thick stone
wall she sat, her back on it, one of her legs drawn to her chest.
“Didn’t you
say you were going to the forest?” he stood in front of her
“This is
the forest”
“True but
just the part that belongs to the school, when you say the forest you mean out
of the school”
“Ha! So
good boy Josh wants us to break the rules” she said in a teasing manner
“Of course
not” he sat next to her and turned off the flashlight
“You can
leave that on”
“It´s ok, I
don´t want the batteries to run out”
“You should
be afraid of darkness that´s where monsters lurk”
“Monsters
don´t exist”
“Says you”
she poked his side, he flinched and she chuckled
“How did
you get there without me noticing?!” he said shocked, she´d been at his left
side and when she poked him she was at his right.
“I told you,
you should be afraid of darkness”
“It was
just you… I´m not afraid of you, how could I be?”
“You
should”
“Do you
want me to be?”
“I don´t
know” she said and he didn´t know what to do or say when she said things like
that, so he chose not to say anything, he guessed he didn´t have to understand
it all.
“Why do you
like it here?” he said after a while in silence
“I believe
you´ve asked that before –she said but answered anyways- it´s peaceful… the
sounds of the night and of the river ease my mind”
“I don´t
like the sound of the river”
“That´s why
we´re here where you can´t hear it”
“Can you
hear it?” Josh asked, his eyes had slightly adapted to the darkness, he thought
she nodded yes “Did someone teach you to walk the way… you walk?”
“Yes” she
said after a long time, he had thought she had decided not to answer
“So you did
go to modeling classes?” it seemed that conversation got better if he asked
“I had a
trainer but this person was the polar opposite of a model” she flinched
inwardly, for some reason it was him the first person that got to hear about
some reference to Tilly besides Natasha
“Was it
hard to learn it?”
“Yeah… you
gotta focus on your gravity center and keep your balance and grace”
“Wow, that
sounded model-ish”
“Not when
your feet are blistered and you have to keep walking for another kilometer”
“You had to
walk more than a kilometer?... you don´t have to walk like that anymore if it´s
annoying”
“I can´t
help it now, it became a habit…”
“I´m sorry”
“You didn´t
do it, you don´t have to apologize for that”
“Still”
“It´s ok
–she took his hand and squeezed it –girls get jealous of me and guys get
stupefied” she said sarcastically
“So, you´re
really not going?” their hands were still laced, he shook both their hands
lightly
“No, I
don´t think so”
“Would you
go if they didn´t have the intention to ask you things?”
“Mmmh no, I
wouldn´t” she said above a whisper
“I´ll stay
with you tomorrow” he said after a while
“You don´t
have to do that”
“I don´t
mind”
“Go and
have some fun”
“You could
have some fun too”
“I’m having
fun now, you can have fun tomorrow”
“You can
have fun tomorrow too”
“Why do you
keep insisting in me going?”
“Why not?”
“In the
time you´ve known me, there have been more occasions in which you´ve been in
danger than all the times you´ve been in danger in your whole life, I bet
you´ve broken many more rules since then too”
“I’ve had
fun” he admitted and she chuckled
“That´s no
reason to keep doing it”
“I don´t
mind having some fun”
“You
shouldn´t hang out with Nichole Cristales!” she joked “she´s a bad influence on
you!”
“Nichole…”
“Mmmh” she
hummed knowing some questioning was coming, she didn´t mind it much anymore, in
a way it relieved her, just like the woods, it helped her keep her sanity because
it made her feel normal, and there was not much risk with Josh because he
didn´t insist much if she decided not to ask and he was kind enough to try to
find a way to think she was good, in a way it made her sad that she could never
be as good as he was.
“Last time
we were introduced to your family at your house… your last name is different
than theirs”
“Yeah…I
used to have the same but not anymore”
She didn´t
really want to talk about it, even though it was easier to talk to him, she
didn´t want that at some point him knowing things about her might put him in
danger.
She didn´t
answer but she remembered when she stopped having the same last name as her
father. Camille had asked her once why she wasn´t a Duchenne like her and her
mom. That´s because I have my mom´s last name, she had explained the little
girl and it was true, in a way. It had been Miriam´s maiden name but she was
buried as Miriam Duchenne but when his father decided Nichole needed a new last
name, for his convenience one of her cousins from her mother´s side had died
along with her parents…they were distant, she hadn´t even known them but that
little girl, her age had been named Nichole as well and after Miriam’s death
Nichole had taken that little girl´s name and her own name had been given to
the little girl, for the world, Karl wasn´t even Nichole´s father but his uncle
and his daughter had died in that accident. She hadn´t understand it but she
was glad to have her mother´s last name with her, especially after he sent her
away but now she knew it was a way of protection… she didn´t want to think who
he was protecting though… Nichole sighed.
“Yours is
interesting, sounds like crystals” he commented, he smiled a little
“That’s why
the house is called that way. I like it better too”
They sat
there in silence for a long time; the night got darker and colder somewhere
away thunders were heard.
“Josh, Josh”
she called him, his head was leaned on her shoulder, he´d fallen asleep.
“mmmh?” he
opened his eyes to the blackness of the night “uh, oh, I fell asleep” he took
his hand to his neck
“I noticed –she
said with a smile in her voice- let´s go, it´s about to rain” they got up, he
turned on the flashlight but he tripped, the light was not enough and he was
sleepy “Come on, Josh! Wake up” she said gently walking back two steps to him
where she took his hand and started to walk, the way you´d do if you were
guiding a blind person. They walked to his dorm.
“I´m sorry
I fell asleep” he said when they got there
“I´m not,
you ask too many questions” she teased “Good night, Josh”
“I
should´ve been the one walking you to your room”
“I’m not
into reinforcing stereotypes –she winked- besides, nothing can happen to me
here” she said and he sighed “go sleep”
“ok, ok,
good night, Nic”
“Later” she
waved and walked away, she too felt like sleeping, despite the memories some of
him questions had brought back to her mind, it had been a nice peaceful
evening. She smiled as she shook her head, pushing away the voice in the back
of her mind that reminded her how she was still the monster and not just
Nichole.
