The day was over. It was hard to believe that just a single day had passed, but somehow that was the truth. All three of us were standing together besides our blue lockers, where the original intent had been to dress up in our outerwear, but instead, I was the only one who had even opened his locker and clad myself; while the other two were still lost in conversation.
"You two really seemed to have enjoyed that soup of yours, tell me, was there some kind of secret ingredient?" Sadim who still wore no jacket wore instead a taunting expression.
"Funny that you should ask, there actually was. It really served to highlight the whole core of the dish." She sure got over that trauma qui- "Isn't that right?" but before I could finish that thought Dawn called out to me.
"Y-yes, it's true. The lemo-, I mean the secret ingredient added some much needed, ehm… flare to the dish." I had been standing behind Dawn (by my locker) who was facing Sadim and so I'd only seen her back, but as I had been speaking I'd slowly moved up beside her.
Sadim gave a doubtful look and clearly seemed disappointed by us not surrendering to his words. "I saw you throw it away, you know?" So filled with that unsatisfied feeling he now set out to completely crush us.
"Well, we were rather full, so, unfortunately, we couldn't manage to eat the entire thing; no matter how badly we wanted to", That was me speaking, even I was surprised by my initiative.
"It's as Grey says, we were still full from lunch and so couldn't manage anymore", Dawn joined me, but for every word she spoke it sounded like she got closer and closer to her limit, before just completely giving into laughter.
"So you're telling me that because of lunch, which was around three hours before we were able to eat the soup we had cooked, you couldn't even finish half of that meal?" After having laid out that lethal reasoning, which according to almost all logic should've completely cornered us, Sadim just barely managed to hold back his now quivering lips from forming what would most certainly be a demonic smile.
But those lips became completely still when both I and Dawn nodded in complete unison to that statement of his.
He glared intensely at us and I could almost hear the stand-off music playing. "You two…" His eyes began at me and then slowly panned over to Dawn. His arms were down by his pockets, as if ready to reach for some imaginary gun at any moment. Then finally, he did it: "Ah, forget it!" He surrendered.
Instinctively I turned my look to Dawn, something I would've found embarrassing normally. But since she was there to meet my view, that wave of second-hand embarrassment didn't wash over me.
Her smile, unlike Sadim's, had managed to become fully possessed by the devil. She gestured a small v-sign, signaling our victory. The one who had capitulated didn't notice this though, since he was hurriedly pulling out outerwear from his locker - seemingly absolutely against the idea of being surrounded by our gleefulness for even a second longer.
Soon the two of them were also dressed and not too long after we found ourselves just outside the school entrance. Dawn separated from us almost immediately as she headed to get her bike, but once more we parted with the words: see you tomorrow.
Sadim and I then began walking together towards his bus stop, as we had done many times before.
" Well, that was a long day…" After some thirty seconds of silence, my walking companion let out a short statement as he stretched his arms up and yawned.
"Sure... was" I mimicked his yawning.
"And that Dawn, she sure knows how to get on people's nerves. Especially me of all people saying that should really tell you something", he had a point.
"Yeah, it's almost admirable", I humored his complaints.
"Almost being the keyword" Sadim filled in. Silence then ensued once more, but only until the pavement curved and you could see the bus stop a short distance ahead. "But still, I can't deny that it was fun today", He said somewhat begrudgingly.
"Yeah, it was…" Admitting it felt weird, yet I couldn't lie about it. "But if today's anything to go by it's going to be a busy year" I added.
"That's true, but I think we'll manage-", Sadim's expression suddenly tensed up, seeming to have spotted something alarming. "Oh shit, that's my bus…" He then darted away towards the stop. "I'll see you tomorrow!" He yelled.
I found myself standing still, unsure of what to do. I chuckled to myself and responded: "See you tomorrow", Though he didn't seem to have heard me, not surprisingly.
Then I was off towards my subway station, but before heading there, I had decided to make a small stop somewhere else first.
***
"Welcome back. You had a good day?" Just like this morning, Ingrid was there to greet me at the entrance.
"I guess you could say that" I tried as hard as I could to mute the emotion in my voice but it seemed so useless in front of her.
"That's good to hear…" Her eyes glanced down at my right arm. "What's that you got there?"
I lifted up the canvas bag which I'd been tightly gripping, dangling it in front of me. "Oh, this is, Uhm… some school stuff"
She raised her left eyebrow, "It's just the third day and you've already got a bag full of stuff? Actually, now that I look at it, isn't that the bag we used to-"
"I couldn't fit everything into my backpack so I had to use it", I blurted out awfully quick, as if making Ingrid unable to finish her sentence would somehow conceal the truth.
Our eyes met, I formed an innocent smile while Ingrid remained neutral. "Okay, I'm glad you seem to have at least enjoyed yourself today"
Just like that? "A-as am I…" Had my plan really worked? "I'll be heading up then", I announced awkwardly. She nodded in response.
I slowly started walking towards the elevator, moving past her reception desk. What I wanted to do most was to simply dart towards the elevator doors in a victorious sprint, but I realized the medal was not yet in my hand.
"Grey…" I froze up, her simple uttering of my name told it all; she knew, didn't she? I didn't respond, my grip on the bag just tightened. "You don't need the goggles, do you?"
Like a light cooling summer wind, her words calmed me down and reminded me that there had been no need to conceal anything in the first place. "...I'm sorry…" I didn't turn around to apologize, after all, I had no right to. She had been the one who had fought so vigorously half a year ago, just to try and make it so that I would be able to continue doing what I had found some happiness in. And how did I repay her now? Acting like she would try and stop me if she'd found out, I felt ashamed.
"Haven't I told you before? You don't have to apologize nor thank me for something like this…" After hearing her say that my grip around the plastic bag loosened, almost making me drop it, but I knew now - no, I remembered. If the bag were to fall and its contents become exposed all over the floor, it would be fine, it would not matter in front of her. "In fact, I should probably be the one thanking you, Grey…", She mumbled, but I still heard.
My legs began to move again and before I knew it I was inside the elevator. I didn't turn around to face her, my eyes were instead glancing down into the grocery bag. Then the elevator's doors slowly closed behind me.