Page 13

Then

Even Joshua had finally hung up his exhausting hat of being at the frontline of the taunting. Understandably so, since he had his own girlfriend-type-fling of sorts to obsess over.

After the fourth time, Seth asked for his sake, and Sasha’s too, to stop hearing about it.

“That’s not something to announce,” Seth told Joshua during their history class, with distaste pouring from his tone, “That shit is private, you know?”

“You’re just jealous, because you haven’t found anyone to fu -”

Seth didn’t want to hear the end of that sentence. He’d gotten up from the desk and sauntered over to Will and some other boys, who were watching a replay of a soccer match. They had a substitute that day, who wasn’t bothered to quieten down the rowdy class.

Truth is, Seth didn’t care about all that. Sex. I mean, sure, he’s thought about it, like every other boy has.

But it’d never been a priority for him.

Not when his parents had started spending more and more nights away from each other. The week before, his Dad was away for almost three nights.

He wouldn’t be surprised when they finally announced that they were divorcing.

But just because he didn’t care about sex so much, didn’t mean he hadn’t enjoyed the thrill of shameless flirting. As long as it never led anywhere, never led him to be close to anyone.

When Seth joined the boys table, he heard Joshua’s loud groan from across the room. He glanced back, with a scowl burning his eyebrows.

And that’s when his eyes fell on Nina. She was sitting beside Celine, pointing and smiling at her laptop screen.

The glow from the screen spilled onto her features, making her appear illuminated.

It distracted him a moment, that he lingered a little too long on her. She must’ve felt his gaze, because her eyes fluttered up. Met his.

And he looked away immediately.

During Term 2 of high school, their family car had to be sent to the mechanic. It had to be there for around two weeks, meaning that Seth’s Mum used the car for work, and his Dad used public transport to carpool to his. They could’ve easily carpooled together, but no.

Seems like even convenience couldn’t mend a broken marriage.

There was no bus stop built near Seth’s house, and he definitely didn’t count the dodgy one on the side of the road that guaranteed a twenty minute walk home. He’d hoped that the new train station and shopping centre being built nearby would hurry up.

Before, it was Seth’s Dad that would pick him up from work, since he finished on time. But now, that wasn’t possible.

And Seth’s Mum finished an hour after Seth’s last class did. So he had no choice, but to wait at a nearby park just a ten minute walk away, because Seth’s Mum didn’t like driving in through the office school gate.

His friends all took the bus, so he had no one really to walk with.

On the first day that he stood at the traffic light crossing, he noticed a flash of chestnut brown hair tied back into braids.

Nina.

His heart sped up curiously, but he lingered back, so she didn’t spot him.

She was walking on her own, with wired earphones connected. Together, they crossed, with him a few steps behind.

He watched her as they sauntered toward the park, and even though there was a crowd of students around them, he felt oddly as if it was just them two alone.

She swayed her head to whatever music she was listening to. The sight of it made Seth smile.

He continued to linger back, concealing himself behind some trees when they reached the park, and pretending to be occupied on his phone. She hung near a swing, and was picked up within five minutes.

The second day, he caught her at the traffic light again.

And on cue, his heart began to speed up.

Why don’t you just talk to her?

Joshua and Will weren’t around, and really, who cares if anyone saw them? They were both from the same classes, it was normal that he’d chat with her.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he sidled up beside her. The action startled her, because her shoulders jerked backward, and she’d yanked the earphones out.

“Oh gosh, Seth!” she exclaimed. Then, she placed a hand just above her heart, “You scared me.”

“You scare easily,” he laughed. She looked really cute when she was scared.

“Well, I can’t really argue with that, sadly,” she replied.

Then, they walked on in silence, not knowing what to say.

“Do you -”

“How was class -”

Their words clashed against each other, and Seth cleared his throat, abashed.

“You go first,” she offered, before he could.

“Oh, I just wanted to ask if you still like Criminal Minds,” he said, because that was the one thing they shared when they sat next to each other in science.

Obviously, he knew she liked other things too. Like that one time, she mentioned during an English presentation in Year 8, that her favourite fairytale was Sleeping Beauty.

Or that other time in math class, when her and Celine were caught by their teacher for trying to secretly watch YouTube videos about this new game called Five Nights at Freddy’s.

But he couldn’t mention that, because it’d suggest that he’d been watching her.

“I do, I’ve caught up. Always up to date,” she professed. “Do you?”

Admittedly, he’d dwindled on watching it about a month after they were separated in class.

“Not..lately.”

“Oh, what do you watch?”

Seth realised he didn’t really watch things. Not serial things, like tv shows. He mostly watched gameplays on YouTube, or read Daredevil comics. He wondered if he should tell her all that.

It wasn’t a matter of her caring, but would it matter? Would they talk about it again?

Too much time passed, and he eventually settled with, “Oh, just whatever is on TV. And YouTube sometimes.”

God, he was pathetic.

As they crossed the road, Nina said, “By the way, are those new shoes?”

He glanced down at them, surprised she’d noticed. Well, he supposed they were shinier than most.

“I did,” he responded, smiling.

“The clicking sound - it sounds so fancy. I noticed it today on the way to history. It was echoing through the locker bay.”

Seth laughed at that.

“That’s exactly why I got them,” he admitted, and she laughed along.

“And you’ve got a new haircut too, haven't you?” Nina asked.

Seth reached up, and touched his new cut. Not even his parents noticed, not really. He was so proud of the hair cut too, because it was his first haircut from his own earnings.

“I did, yeah,” he replied, and a small smile began to creep onto his lips.

It wasn’t the smile he gave other girls, when he was trying to foolishly flirt. With Nina, he couldn’t. It didn’t feel…right. With the other girls, it was fake. But with her, it couldn’t ever be.

On cue, red began to blossom across her features, but she held his gaze. Even returned a smile of her own.

“Looks like you’re becoming a new person here,” she chuckled, “New hair, new shoes. Experiencing a midlife crisis already, Seth Moore?”

The tease caught Seth a little off-guard, that he had to blink a few times.

“I-yeah I guess so,” he responded, realising that he was stuttering over his words because of Nina Mendez. Gulping, he glanced forward, and in an entirely cowardly move, he said, “Anyways, sorry, I usually wait at the road just up ahead. I should check if my Dad is there already.”

Nina nodded, and he couldn’t tell if she was disappointed that their conversation had been cut short.

“Okay. See you, Seth.”

“I’ll see you Nina.”

That’s when he picked up his pace, putting distance between him and the girl that’d made his heart jump unwillingly.