He saw Simon sitting at their table, the same table where they had hatched this wild plan.
'That was brilliant,' Brendan said whispering and putting on a smile that ripped across his whole face like a slit on a puppet's face.
'Did it bite him?' Simon was eager to know the outcome.
He sat in front of him. 'You bet it did! Didn't you hear him scream?'
'Of course I did. The whole school must have heard it. I was just thinking that maybe he just saw it and managed to get away.'
'No way, Simon, it bit him. I just didn't stick around for the chaos.'
'What type of snake was it?'
'I don't know but I'm pretty sure it was poisonous.' Brendan was still smiling with satisfaction now beginning to eat. 'How did you think of a plan like that anyway?' he asked Simon.
'Well, when I left you yesterday…'
'You mean ran away?' he corrected him, fixing his eyebrows and mouth into a friendly frown.
'Okay, okay ran away..,' he admitted.
Brendan noticed that Simon was chewing a lot slower than he had been doing the previous day.
'I spent the whole night thinking of a way to get everyone in your class' attention, and what better way to do it than to pretend to be gasping for breath?'
'You little genius,' he complimented him, ruffling his hair with his hand. His face was now beaming with joy.
'We're best buddies, Brendan,' Simon said shaking off his hand. 'I wouldn't let you swim alone in an ocean full of sharks for a million gems…unless if we agree to split the money fifty-fifty.' They both laughed at this joke.
People were starting to fill up the cafeteria. Samantha was walking towards them, her pace measured.
'Oh-oh: here comes that evil witch,' Simon said, frowning at Samantha who was now a short distance away. 'Brendan, we better get out of here.'
'Simon, are you just going to let her bully you forever? Sometimes you have to fight for respect.'
'Respect?' He laughed. 'She wouldn't even understand the definition if it smacked her three times in the face and even gave her a hint.' He had stood up and was getting ready to leave. 'You're going to have to fight this battle alone,' Brendan. He left him and went to sit by a table a safe distance away.
'You're here to give me another slap?' Brendan said to Samantha the moment she was close enough.
She had sat in the exact same spot Simon had been sitting. 'I'm not here for a fight,' she said. 'I'm here to call a truce.'
He noticed that she was not frowning. 'That's rich coming from you, after those years you put me and Simon through.'
'I just lose it when people mention my brother. And when you called me by that name I realized how much pain I have caused you both for all these years. I know how it feels to lose someone and you wish you had done something to protect them.'
'So you do, hey?' He was speaking serenely now. But even hiding the shock of seeing Samantha hopeless and distraught in the eyes had been a seemingly impossible feat for Brendan. The girl had always had a clever yet sadistic response to everything he and Simon had used to defend themselves from her. Watching her, a shadow hanging down her once radiant face, gnarly from the long, silky hair to the arrogantly heavy eyelids so close to sleep. A beauty she once flaunted to every living soul in every room she ever sauntered into now resembled her fractured state of mind.
'Well, you should have realized that a long time ago,' Brendan added with a weight of triumph in his voice. 'It's too late now.'
'I know it's too late, Brendan, but…'
' "Brendan"? Don't make me laugh. What happened to "Orphan boy", Sister Brother Finch?'
A tear began to streak down her cheek. She reached for his arm on the table but he quickly pulled his hand away as if in disgust. 'Please try to find it in your hearts to forgive me, please.' The sincerity in her voice did not sound like pretend. Both her cheeks were now lined with tears.