29 June, 2010
The fan wasn't enough to nullify the heat that slid in through the glass windows as sunlight during the maths period. While the short tempered, lanky Asian maths teacher wrote equations and drew graphs on the greenboard, I was busy reading the new Jack Reacher novel.
"So", Mr. Liu looked coldly towards the students, who were more asleep than when they are actually asleep.
"Almost every mathematical function can be sketched out as a graph. Given we successfully determine it's monotonocity. But be very careful while sketching out graphs of signum functions or GIFs", he said and then began wiping his glasses.
I scribbled down whatever was written on the black board mindlessly.
"Mr. Lowe was a French mathematician in the 1900's and was one of the pioneers of sketching out graphs and the process of it. But most of his manuscripts got burnt and only the first few remained. Only years later, we would find out the genius of that man and the depth of his research on graphs", he said and took some water.
I loved these memories in school when you actually learn some shit. Otherwise how the fuck will plotting graphs help me in life?
"By the way, he was not only a mathematician but a true romantic. He used to play the ukelele and piano for women in pubs and bars of those era", Mr. Liu said. He picked up his bag and left the classroom. Mr. Liu was one of those teachers who just intrigue you as a person, nor their teaching or their subject. He was very young to be a teacher but since he had passed from a prominent university, getting this job was quite facile for him. Even during lunch time, you could find him walking alone in the playground, staring deep into the soul of a vast, free sky.
I got out of the school a little bit late after school was over due to a heavy call of nature. Seth and Tyler sat on the warm, tall grass in the park beside the school, munching on some sandwiches.
"Looks good. You have one extra sandwich?", I asked them and also trying to find a place to seat with no sharp grass.
"I don't think we have any," Tyler said and smiled devilishly towards Seth, who smiled as well.
"You guys are real assholes",I said, snatching the sandwich from Tyler's bag.
"It's a shrimp sandwich, dude. We ate the ham sandwiches. You don't have any shrimp allergies, right?", Seth asked.
"No, man. And actually I am not even that hungry but I won't decline a free sandwich any day," I said
"Then enjoy your Kuchi Zamishi", Seth exclaimed.
"What the fuck is that?"
"It's the Japanese word for not being hungry but eating anyways coz your mouth is lonely", Seth shared his gospel knowledge.
"What the fuck?", I asked.
"It's true, we googled it," Tyler said,"Japan's fucking weird, you should know that".
"Infact if you hadn't come, then we would have given it to the single guinea pigs of Switzerland".
"What? I didn't get it".
"Apparently, anyone keeping only one guinea pig in Switzerland is subject to animal abuse".
"Why?", I asked.
"Coz they get severely depressed without a group, man, these guinea pigs, you know... ".
"Why the hell do you know all this crap?", I asked.
"I don't know but it's fine, I guess... ", Seth tried to justify.
"Aren't those your sisters?", Tyler said, pointing to one cornor of the park.
I looked there and found Lily and Rose talking to a guy. Upon going close, we realised that Rose was having a heated discussion with a guy, with Lily just standing there for support.
"Okay I understand, but can you just listen to me?", the guy said in desperation.
"Okay, go on", Rose said.
"See, the truth is…".
"Fuck off", Lily said.
The guy looked at Lily with anger and disgust but anyways continued.
"But I like you. I really do".
"You really want a kick in the balls, eh?",Lily screamed.
"What's the problem with your sister?", the guy asked Rose.
Rose looked at us boys with concerned eyes and then at the guy.
"You want to get beaten, huh?", Rose asked calmly.
The guy, who was quite muscular and tall himself, looked at us. We weirdly smiled at him.
"I have a black belt in karate! Haye!", Tyler screamed like it was some national news.
The guy looked quite perplexed and sad, completely unperturbed by Tyler's statement. And the truth was, he could smack us together anytime.
"I am going then. But I just wanna say, feelings just creep up like that, Rose. There's no rationale behind them coz they are not thoughts", the guy said and walked away.
"When did you take karate classes?"
"Nowadays, they sell black belts for fashion".
All of us did a mental face palm.
"Hi Tyler and…", Rose tried to remember his name.
"Seth. I am Seth", he said.
"Oh! Yeah, yeah. I know it. It's just...", she smiled, embarrassed.
"Who was that guy? Another creep?", I asked.
"I was a friend of his younger sister till they transferred to another city", Rose said,"But he came back to meet me a few weeks back".
"So, he is a creep", Tyler chimed in.
We all sat on the grass and began to talk about various topics as dried leaves began to dwindle and fall on the grass like a slow snow fall.
My sisters knew Seth and Tyler since we were kids. Infact, when Lily was all funny and lively, she played video games with Tyler at his house for hours while Seth and me were stuck with Rose, role playing a violent family. It's funny how all of that fell apart as we began to change as adults ourselves.
As soon as it was evening, me and the witches decided to cycle back home while Seth and Tyler planned to go see some movie. I wanted to go with them but then something in me pulled me out of it.
"That guy seemed very genuine though", I broke the silence as we were walking, rolling our bicycles manually.
"Of course he would seem genuine to a GUY", Emily spoke.
"I mean, Rose, wasn't he a hot guy?"
"That made you think he was genuine?", Emily again spoke.
"Stop bickering", I said sternly to Emily.
"Then go, lick the ass of that guy. Why roaming with us?", she shot up.
"Will you guys shut up? Everytime? Seriously?", Rose said,"And it's not entirely his fault. We dated quite a bit and I liked him".
Emily's usually shrunken, arrogant eyes now ballooned up with anger and surprise.
"You told me you just knew him as the brother of your classmate!", Emily asked.
"I know I said it. But it was all in the heat of the moment. I don't want to be with him now", Rose tried to explain.
Emily looked at her, grinding her teeth and giving a nod of disgust. She cycled away while we looked at each other, not being able to make sense of anything. Rose was quite shaken herself, it might be one of the rare times when Emily just shut her mouth and left. That was her 'real' anger.