She didn't know what to expect from her first day in school. Anything could happen honestly, and what happened then made her lost. Lea thought that since she already knew someone in her new school, she could adjust quicker, but her new acquaintance and guide, Katherine, became busy with other things.
'You have the worst stunts in history!'
'You would've left me alone anyway. I was planning to go the third floor from there because of loca-'
'Well, remind me not to follow you again.'
'I'll try my best.'
Lea waited outside her classroom, which happened to be Katherine's class as well, at break waiting for Katherine and the rest of her crew to finish discussing some incident that supposedly happened before she met her. Lea didn't really understand what happened, but Katherine told her she'll have to wait for some time while she 'forces some sense into someone's brain', whatever that meant.
Her stomach grumbled. She had eaten nothing that morning and she would be lying if she ever said she wasn't starving, but how can she find a place to eat at? She'll have to interrupt Katherine from whatever she was doing.
Lea turned around to the door, but the door flung open before she could hold the doorknob. Katherine stood on the other side, breathing in and out slowly while pinching the bridge of her nose.
'I hope you were able to force sense into whoever you were dealing with's head.'
Katherine knew Lea didn't mean evil, so she sighed her frustration away. It is kind of hard to not be upset at someone who comments after being ticked off, but Lea was a new kid. Katherine might as well try to forget Mark's idiocy.
'I hope I did, but I highly doubt it.'
Lea raised her brows. 'Is that person that stubborn?'
'I don't even need to describe him. You'll get to know him soon since he's our classmate. Oh, and I must fill you in on our project.'
'Please do. I don't really get what it is.'
'Sure, Sure,' Katherine held Lea's arm, 'but first, let's roam around. I need to show you the school first. Nobody would want the new kid finding herself in the boy's restroom when needing to go the library, right?'
Lea's face reddened and she nodded. 'Sure, nobody would want that.'
Inside the classroom, though, Mark was chilling at his desk as if nothing happened. Behind his chair stood Dennis with a smile plastering his face. He clearly looked amused.
'Now you had her, Mark. Katherine is normally a chilled person.'
'She's probably having her own issues.'
On the teacher's desk Sat Sally. She had a book on her lap and was deep in the book. She raised her head up.
'Katherine left?'
'Yeah,' answered Dennis. 'She's most probably showing the new kid around.'
Sally closed the book and hopped from the desk. 'I don't usually see her that upset, though.'
'Yeah, Mark must've made her super mad.' Dennis walked in front of Mark and dragged a chair with him.
'I didn't do a thing. She came over to talk to me about this pain of a project while knowing that the floor lady is roaming around. I had to take measures. They make you do work at detention.'
'Either ways, just be careful with her.' Sally said as she walked to the door. 'I bet she just wants to make memories with everyone.'
After that, she left the class.
Dennis sat on the chair he dragged in front of Mark. He sighed and faced the ceiling. 'Sally made a point, but I doubt you'll put the effort.'
Then there was silence. Mark looked at the window beside him. 'If she does, then I might as well give it a try.'
Dennis looked back at Mark. He had a thoughtful expression on his face. Dennis knew Mark for a couple of years by then, and if he wants to describe him in three words, he would say, 'Subtle, Serious and unpredictable'. Though if he says that to anyone, he will end up being laughed at. Everyone knew Mark as the lazy one who always had what he wanted without trying, or that's what they all saw him as. Even if he was unpredictable, there were still things he would never do.
He wouldn't give in to do something he considers as hard work.
'Well Mark, whether you do or not is your choice.' Dennis stood up. 'I have an invitation for you by the way.'
'From who?' Mark asked and faced Dennis.
Dennis contorted his features into a smug face Mark didn't see before.
'I, Dennis the Magnificent, had been able to reserve two tickets to the first premier of the "Space Raiders" movie!!'
He might've expected applause. Poor thing, he didn't get it.
Mark didn't reply for some time and silence prevailed.
'You know that the first premier was last week, right?'
Dennis' confident smile didn't leave his face. 'This is the first premier in Juneborn city's cinema.'
Mark narrowed his eyes. 'Juneborne is 30 mins away by train, and the nearest station is 10 minutes by car.'
''I have it all arranged Mark.' Dennis gave out an exasperated sigh. He walked towards the door and waved farewell for Mark.
'See you tomorrow!'
'It's tomorrow? '
Door shut...
There were a lot of holes in that invite, but Mark decided to leave it for later. He was too lazy to do something about it immediately.
'I'll just call him when I go a home.'
###
No matter how lazy Mark was, he could never escape his mother. She always believed that 'exercise is a crucial part of being a teenager' and always made sure Mark included some exercise in his daily activities. One of them being walking from and to school.
School was not near.
Even after she left them, Mark still did it. His father made him do it in the end. Why else would Mark do anything that is considered work?
When he got home that day, he noticed his father, Ian, looked more apprehensive than normal. He noticed that in dinner. His father kept knocking his spoon on the table, something people do when worried obviously, and there were more coffee mugs than normal. He didn't ask Mark about school that night, which was something he did every night and made Mark prepare dinner.
Tuesdays were his father's turn, not his.
'Er, Dad, did something go wrong at work?'
'Wha- Oh!'
His father raised his head quickly and hit the table suddenly. One of the mugs tilted over and the others shook too much and spilt some coffee.
His father stood up. 'I have to get this cleaned.'
He wore a buttoned shirt with a necktie...
Mark stared at his father's side of the table while he left to get tissues.
There was a pack on the dining table.
Even though Mark fixed dinner that night, his dad had toast, omelettes and coffee, too much coffee.
Mark stood up and grabbed the pack. He pulled out a couple of tissues and started cleaning the mess at his father's side. Something wrong was probably happening to them, he theorised. His father wasn't the type to get too tense about work.
Mark's eyes widened.
'Are we selling the house? Is he getting fired?'
Ian entered the dining room with three packs and noticed Mark cleaning the spilt coffee. Mark faced him and said, 'There was a pack here, Dad.'
'Oh, really? Might as well get these back.'
'No, wait, Dad... Let's finish Dinner first.'
Ian blinked.
'Dinner...?'
'Yes Dad, Dinner...'
Ian placed the boxes in a nearby table and pulled his handcuff to look at his watch.
'I was sure it was 6 am a moment ago,' he whispered.
'Even his biological clock is messed up.'
Mark quickly finished his cleaning quickly and threw the soaked tissues in the bin. It was a half-hearted job, but he resigned himself to finish it off later.
'Dad, is something happening to us?'
'Us...?' Ian quickly lifted his head from watch, not looking less nervous than before.
Mark cleared his throat, shook his head and said, 'Nothing Dad, I just want to finish our dinner.'
Mark walked to his chair and Ian, looking less alarmed and a bit more concerned, followed him.
'Wait, Mark, what do you mean?'
There it was. His father would never let him off the hook when he opened his mouth. It's easier to say what he meant.
'It's just that, you look nervous tonight.' Mark stole a glance at the coffee mugs. 'Even if it was breakfast, don't you think that's just too much coffee?'
Ian looked at where Mark looked at at that fleeting moment. His shoulders relaxed and he looked back at Mark, whose eyes were set down on the table.
'This kid was always like this.'
'Yeah, I guess that coffee was too much. Don't worry, nothing's happening to us.'
Ian walked to his chair and sat. 'Sorry for making you prepare dinner,' he said.
Mark looked up at his father. 'Yeah, I was upset, thank you.' He had to do extra work. There was no way he would let that slide. 'You better fix dinner tomorrow. '
'Yes, sure, fine...'
He was tapping his foot on the floor under the table. He was still worried about something, but Mark kept his mouth shut. His father will act chill for his sake.
It was quiet, abnormally quiet.
The only sounds were of the clanking of spoons. Since Ian was in his own world, trying to act chill, he didn't bother to break the silence. Mark appreciated the silence. It was always hard trying to ignore the noise only one person can make, but he was used to everyday's dinner racket.
That was not normal.
'D... Dad, so...' He wondered how should he start the conversation. 'Don't you think...' Think what? Think what? 'Don't you think it's too quiet tonight?'
He bit his tongue.
'Quiet...?'
Mark nodded.
'I don't know. If you want to talk, let's think of something to talk about. Oh, so, how was school today?'
'Now that's better.'
Ian washed the dishes after they were done and Mark was happy he didn't do so, but he remembered that meant washing them the day after and he sulked in the dark living room, in front of the TV, watching chick-flick movies.
Don't get the wrong idea, he only watched chick-flicks when upset.
'That screenwriter has to be fired. People don't fall in love at first sight.'
'Who said people fall in love at first sight'
Mark's heart skipped a beat. He turned around and found Ian looking at the screen with an interested look on his face.
'You're done with the dishes?' When...?'
Ian raised his eyebrows. 'It's been four hours, Mark. How many movies did you watch already?'
'eh... two and a half...'
Ian sighed and walked towards the door. 'It's too dark here, Mark. It's not good for your eyes.' He switched on the lights and went back and hopped to the couch. 'So, why are you watching chick-Flicks tonight?'
'I'm sulking. I have to do the dishes tomorrow. It's not my turn tomorrow.'
Ian knew Mark's lazy attitude, so he went with the flow.
'I see, but don't you think watching these things is inappropriate?' Ian shuddered when the lady in the screen ruined her makeup while crying. 'I swear, I feel these people always exaggerate the paint in these ladies' faces.'
'True that.'
They got quiet again as the movie continued. Apparently, the main character was heart broken because her perfect fiancee cheated on her, but he wasn't actually cheating on her because he was a secret spy and he had to flirt with enemy's women to get information from them. The story continued till the main character became abdicated by the enemy and found herself a part of a spy story.
'This story is messed up,' Mark said.
'Are you done sulking? You have school tomorrow.'
'Yeah...' Mark switched off the TV, not bothered to know the rest of the story.
He stood up and stretched. His body was stiff-It did feel like he stayed there for hours.
'So, Good night.'
'Good night.'
Ian stayed behind in the living room and Mark left. On his way to his bedroom, which was on the second floor, his phone vibrated and rang on his pocket.
'Probably Dennis replying to that SMS,' he thought.
Though when he took out the phone, he found it something else. It was a message from his father... who was downstairs. Mark furrowed his brows. Why would he send him a message? He tapped on view.
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