CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When Marina left the cafeteria, she took a deep breath and massaged the base of her neck to release some of the tension accumulated. More relaxed, she stretched. Thoughts seemed to be flowing better in her mind. It was then that she felt thrilled by an unexpected idea. She grabbed her rucksack and walked to the back of the canteen. When she arrived there, she ripped the backpack zipper and pulled out a pen and a notebook, which she opened on a blank sheet. Thought for a second and scrawled, ‘Purepecha, I'm worried about you. Meet me’. She tore the piece off the sheet, folded it and put it near to the wall, covered with a stone so it wouldn’t fly away. Leaving a note under a stone was archaic, nonetheless it was the only choice left. If he stopped by there, he would see her message. She hadn’t signed it, but it wasn’t necessary - just the two of them knew what Purepecha meant. She left, but she still turned back twice to check if the paper hadn’t broken loose to dance in the wind. Nevertheless, there it was, right on the same site. It’d better stay there; she was putting all her hopes in it.
The rest of the lunch time was spent chatting to the air, at the usual stone bench in the school yard. The weather was much like the previous day, with the sun peeking out shyly. Marina felt like a lizard sunbathing. She stared at the bracelet on her wrist for a second and thought, At least it worked fine yesterday and today. It’s progress.
When it was about time for class, she made her way to the locker, to get her things for Computing and Translation. While making the exchanges, she commented to herself that more likely she wouldn’t see Ana the rest of the afternoon, since they had different classes. Her friend’s love news would have to wait. She presumed what could have happened; though, it would be good to have confirmation. She would be happy for her.
She headed to the Informatics room, settled at her work station, turned the computer on and got the notebook and the pencil ready. While the rest of her colleagues came in and sat, Marina found herself remembering Ana’s latest theory on Lucas, that he was a fallen angel. To Marina, he had nothing in common with angels. Okay, now she was being unfair - he had helped her. Deep down, he was good, although the mask of a ruffian he insisted on wearing stank. Still, Marina had to admit that the danger he exhaled from his pores enticed her - all of him was a promise of daring and deadly adventures taken to extreme. Playing with fire could be good, if she didn’t get burnt; the problem was that, with Lucas, she could already be burning and not realizing it until too late.
Marina joined Google and inserted the words ‘fallen angel’. Chose a page and read:
"Fallen Angel is an angel who gives his powers up for coveting a higher power, surrendering to the darkness. The fallen angels are part of Catholic theology, the best known being Lucifer, also referred to as Satan, who ambitioned the power of his Holy Father. Lucifer thought himself superior to God, so which he incited a revolt against Him. However, the insurgency was discovered and Lucifer and his allies were expelled from Paradise and exiled to Hell (hence the term fall) by the Archangel Michael, being forced to deal with the souls not accepted in Heaven."
She opened another results, but the definition that appeared was always similar to the first, so she stuck to that one. She reread it with attention. If a fallen angel was an entity that had been ambitious and expelled from Paradise, then it couldn’t be a good thing.
Marina ran a new search, this time on the supposed appearance and characteristics that would allow identifying that kind of being. The references she found mentioned only that they looked like men, and they could have black wings, bat wings with black feathers or only one wing, among other images that resembled a typical fiction movie. That description looked nothing like Lucas. She had already seen his back and he didn’t have wings of any kind. Vampires were easier to identify: they had fangs, were as white as a ghost, were cold and they didn’t get along with the sun. What about fallen angels? Marina was frustrated; she had no arguments to refute Ana’s’ speculation. Score - one for Ana and zero for me, she thought.
As much as she tried to be attentive to Informatics class, Marina was much more occupied with the research on fallen angels, thus she didn’t even notice the time passing by. The Translation lesson also seemed to fly and it didn’t take long to be over. Once more, the teacher liquefied with Joshua as ice melting in the sun, and only he was asked to answer questions. That day, that was a good thing, as she was too busy thinking on how to prove to Ana that her fantastic conception was wrong. She also wondered if Lucas would have seen her message, although she had serious doubts about that.
When the bell rang, it was like the end of the pressure of raging waters rushing against the railing of a dam: goodbye school, hello weekend! She had no big plans, but not to have classes was very good. ‘Not to have classes was very good?’ Marina scolded herself. Since when had she become that kind of person? She had always liked to study and now she was happy because lessons were over. She had to organize herself and review her list of priorities, which seemed a bit fuzzy.
Marina left her things in the locker and walked to the school gate promptly. She was anxious to get home, throw herself onto the bed and savor the beginning of two days of pure relaxation. After passing the gate, she was surprised by Ana, who was waiting for her. She looked at her suspiciously and noticed that, a little further ahead, were Dennis and Joshua. It smelled like a trap. She thought about turning back, to escape through the back gate; however, she would be being rude to Ana, her best friend, so she just stifled a grunt.
She approached her with reluctant steps and demanded, “Spit it out at once. What’s the ambush you prepared for me?”
Ana turned red. Gee, she was really losing qualities! Now she was busted only by being looked at. Maybe she had been discovered, because she knew her too well. Ignoring that, she put her arm around Marina’s shoulders and invited her to walk up to the boys. Ana started, “Me and the guys were thinking...”
Marina cut her out right away. “Ouch! Just hearing that already makes me fear what you’re about to say. I bet I won’t like it one bit.”
Ana gave her a piercing look and contested, “Don’t be such a pain. As I was saying, we decided to go out tonight. It’s nothing special, we’re just going to Kupido's Bar for a coffee and we’ll stay there for a while, chilling. Will you join us?”
Marina curved her eyebrows. They were going out that night and they wanted her to go with them. Joshua too? He hadn’t spoken to her the entire day… She concluded that they were trying to reconcile them by force. She didn’t know why, but it seemed to her a freaky double date. She bit her lip, getting ready to decline the invitation. She didn’t like alcohol and didn’t appreciate coffee. Going to a bar didn’t make much sense to her, only if it was to socialize. The ambience, however, promised not to be a happy one: Joshua probably wouldn’t talk to her, while Ana and Dennis wouldn’t leave each other alone for one minute. What would she do all night? Look at the clock and count the seconds passing by? She'd rather stay at home.
Marina faked a smile, pulled Ana by one arm closer to her and muttered between her teeth, “What are you doing? You know I don’t go out at night.”
Ana pulled loose and was keen to carry on the conversation in a loud voice, so that the boys could listen to it. “You didn’t use to go out at night. Tonight we’ll go out. I’ll stop by your house at 9.30. Don’t worry, I'll phone your mother to take care of everything.”
Marina let out a sardonic laugh and retorted, “With all the annoyances, if it depended on my mom, I would be locked in my house. Forget it! Besides, I have an appointment with my bed. So, have fun and good weekend to all of you”. She stressed out the word ‘all’ as a criticism to Joshua and his mutism.
She began to move away while the other three remained in the same place. When she was about seven feet away, Ana shouted at her, “Make sure you’re ready on time. I don’t want any delays!”
Marina snorted. Why did she keep on insisting? She wouldn’t be ready on time, because she simply didn’t inte
nd to go out. If by chance Ana appeared there, she would find her tucked in bed. She was annoyed – she hated when someone tried to force her to do what she didn’t want.
When she got home, Marina locked the door as if to barricade herself inside the building. Playing it safe, she put on her pajamas. She was acting like a stubborn child, but she couldn’t stop feeling threatened and Ana was stretching her thin rope of patience to the limit. Next, and wanting to take advantage of the daylight coming through the living room window, she sat on the sofa doing her English homework. It took her about forty minutes to finish it.
When mom arrived, Marina was placing the dishes on the table. Luísa greeted her and went to her room to leave her bag and work uniform; then she helped her to finish arranging the table. Her mother’s expression transpired trepidation. Marina wasn’t sure she should ask what was happening; she didn’t feel like knowing about more problems to solve – she already had plenty swamping her.
Luísa sighed loudly three times, leading her to cross her arms and demand to know, “What’s bothering you, mom? Since you got home, you’ve been huffing and puffing. Tell me what's up.”
Her mother tried to circumvent the issue, but ended up revealing, “I received a phone call from Ana.”
Marina murmured a less proper word. That foolish girl had dared to call her mom. When she met her, she was going to scold her. That was worth a big fight between them.
“If Ana called you because she wants us to go out tonight, I told her I didn’t want to. I’d rather remain here, as an old lady knitting while watching soap operas.”
“Yeah, she told me all that, but she also presented me some interesting viewpoints. For example, she made me note that you have an anti-social character and, with everything that had happened, now you have the tendency to repel those who love you and to hide yourself at home.”
Heck, that chick was good! She should seriously consider the possibility of going into politics or something else more at hand, like a debate club. Marina shook her head at her mother in disagreement, but it was no good: she had been convinced by Ana.
“Joshua's father is coming to get you at 9.30,” completed her mother.
“Come on, mommy! Do your wicked mother role and tell them that you won’t’ let me go. Just say that I'm grounded or that I went to Mars and you don’t know when I’ll return. Please, please, please,” Marina begged in a childish attitude.
Although her mom felt tempted to give in, she thought that she shouldn’t do it, so she shook her head in a sign that she would not do what she was begging. They sat at the table, but Marina was too upset. She had lost her appetite with that imposition, so she took almost an hour to finish eating.
After cleaning up the kitchen, her mother told her to go and put on something more appropriate. She had no choice and really had to go out with them. It will be super fun, she grumbled in her mind. She opened her closet and stared at the clothes hanging in the ranks. What would she wear? She had no special outfits for that, like Ana. She chose a pair of elastic skinny jeans, and grabbed a huge grey shirt, dropped off one of the shoulders. Next, she took a belted leather jacket, got a large scarf to put around her neck, and snagged a pair of high heels, all in black. As for accessories, she chose hoop earrings and a large watch in shades of white and gray. The make-up summed up of highlighting her eyes by applying some black pencil. Her hair was worn loose, with a hank held in the center with a hook to prevent it from falling in her eyes. When she was ready, she put on some perfume.
Minutes later, the honk of a car was heard. Luísa went to the door and returned next, announcing that it was her friends. Marina grabbed her purse and put inside it the phone, the house keys and her wallet.
When she passed the door, she found a bright red car, clearly a sportive luxury vehicle. She had no idea what brand it was, nor how much it would have cost, although she could bet that it had been a good amount. Could Joshua be rich? She had no idea, although the car pointed to a fat bank account.
Joshua, who looked like a soap opera hunk that combined sexy with the upright, came out from the passenger side. Seeing her, his eyes travelled her from top to bottom, evaluating every inch. Nodding in approval, he pulled the front bench and invited her in. The car's engine roared powerfully, and they went away so quickly that Marina's mom was left open-mouthed and reticent on whether she had done the right thing.
Joshua's father left the four of them on the doorstep of Kupido's and disappeared soon after. Although there were some free tables outside, they decided to go in. With the icy wind blowing, they could guess that the night would get pretty cold; inside the bar, they would be sheltered. Inside the bar, hot air blew their faces like a powerful heat wave, making their cheeks pink. Ana chose a table and the friends followed her. Upon arriving at the table, Marina took off her coat, which led Joshua to admire her with a dumbfounded air, leaving her embarrassed. Ana and Dennis sat along the wall on a sort of couch, and she and Joshua held two seats on both sides of the table. The barman asked them what they would have. All, except for Marina, said they wanted a coffee; she asked for a soda water with a twist of lemon. She could swear that the dinner was jumping around in her stomach as if on a trampoline.
“Three coffees and a lemon Frize,” said the barman while putting drinks on the table by way of confirmation to their request.
A laugh from Ana caught Marina’s attention and she observed her friends: Joshua stirred his coffee lost amongst his thoughts, and Ana and Dennis flirted with the utmost impudence, exchanging secrets followed by laughter, sometimes too loud. Uninterested, she looked around. She got curious when saw two boys assembling a television on a stand. The microphone in the hand of one of them made her consider the chances of what would happen next.
She fund a small pamphlet on the table and read: ‘Karaoke tonight with DJ Vidigal and Gonçalo Oliveira in Kupido's Bar, at 10p.m! Come and have fun!’ Despite the karaoke being set at 10, the music was already playing, indicating that the entertainers were in the testing stage. The noise came to her as a relief, given that she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Moreover, Ana and Dennis were now kissing like there was no tomorrow and she couldn’t turn around and talk to Joshua, because he was in the phase of ‘not speaking to you today’.
Marina had no idea how much time had passed. The pseudo-artists had already begun to sing and their tuneless chords echoed through the air, generating a few sniggers of derision. In response to this phenomenon of revelation of non-talented stars, the bar filled with people and it was bursting, increasing the heat inside. Marina grouched. She put on her coat, took her drink and left for the outside area without saying a word to her friends. There was only one table vacant. She sat at it, leaned back in the chair and tilted her head back slowly to enjoy the moment. Then she settled on the seat and began sipping her water. As she did so, she saw her friends walking up to her. Ana had happiness emblazoned on her face, forcing Marina to welcome her with a smile that looked like a Frankenstein grin.
“Hi there, runaway chick! People inside were just staring at us, so we’re going for a walk. We’ll come back soon, ok?” announced Ana.
What could Marina say? It wasn’t recommended to walk alone at night on the street, but they were big enough to make their decisions. She nodded to Ana, while the lovely couple withdrew. Only then she became aware of the implications of that departure: she had to stay with Joshua, who was now standing beside her, looking into the bar through the glass door. Occasionally he stared at the TV, where a soccer match was on.
Joshua spent ten minutes standing on the same spot, until Marina pulled him by the wrist and forced him to sit in a chair beside her. “I know you’re too amused giving me the silent treatment, but you could at least sit next to me. I don’t bite... much! And, by the way, is tomorrow one of those days we talk? With you, I’m always confused in what comes to the days we’re fine and those you pout and say nothing,” she shot.