Before the class ended, Henry walked up to James' seat. James noticed Henry approaching him, and he became wary. "If you want to hit me for clapping, you have to understand that I was doing it out of..." James said as he stood up from his seat, but Henry raised his hands to gesture that he was here for peace.
"Relax, that's not what I'm here for. I just want to thank you for relieving me from that embarrassing moment in class. That's all. If you don't mind, I would like you to teach me basic maths." Henry said looking uncertain.
James could not help but change his expression. "Wait, you want me to teach you math?" James asked incredulously as his voice slowed down with every word. Henry nodded, took out his wallet and counted a few dollar notes and handed it over to James.
"I'm only doing it to better my understanding of subjects I don't understand, so don't get the wrong impression that I want to be friends with you. It can never happen", Henry said without expression, but James was unperturbed.
James nodded and pushed his hands back to Henry. "I don't need the money Henry, keep it. Besides I don't monetize on my knowledge." Henry stares at James with anger. "I told you that this would never make us friends. Why are you acting all modest?"
As he asked the question, the school bell rang, indicating closing time. James packed up his textbook, along with the book he borrowed from the library to his backpack. He then looked at Henry's brown eyes. "I'm not being modest. Unlike you, I am always ready to assist anyone, irrespective of who they are, or were", James said and left Henry.
Before James left his classroom, he turned around and faced Henry's direction. "Henry, by the way, your first answer was wrong. It was condensation polymerization, not conversation." James then left the school premises.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
James saw Maribel's car, and took a deep breath, before walking to the car. Usually, when James was about to approach the car, the car door would be opened by Maribel. But this time, it remained close.
James manually opened the car door and climbed to the back seat. "Good afternoon mo.. aunt Maribel", James greeted, but Maribel didn't answer. Angel, who was seated next to James looked up at him and asked with an innocent expression. "Brother James, have you finished what I requested from you?"
James looked at Maribel's expression from the rear-view mirror, before answering Angel. "Yeah, I'm almost done. By the time I am finished, I would inform you, alright?" James assured Angel. Angel smiled sweetly and continued licking her ice cream.
Maribel closed her eyes in weariness. "Angel, come to the front seat", Maribel said gently. Angel was a bit reluctant, so she slowly opened the door and left. James could not bear the isolation from the family, so he tried to defend himself again.
"Aunt Maribel, I want you to trust me, please. I did not do all the things James claimed I did. Don't you see that he wants to get rid of me? Here, I have proof to show you. Take the flash drive and see to it." James said as he handed the flash drive to Maribel.
Maribel looked away from the rear-view mirror and ignored James. She stretched her arm to open the door for Angel. James sighed and retract his hands.
"Angel says that you know how to do something like VFX, am I right James?" Maribel asked James without looking at him. James nodded firmly. He was an expert when it came to video manipulation. Although most of the work is done by an AI he wrote recently, it was still his work anyway.
One time, he showed Maribel how he could delete the ball used in the pitch from a live football match and replaced it with a 'hello kitty image, making the video hilarious.
Maribel had once told him that he had a promising future. She believed that with James talent, it would not be too difficult for him to find a job here in Canada.
Now that Maribel had asked that question, James knew where she was going with this. She had assumed that he created whatever video he wanted to show her. Damn it!
"So what makes me think that whatever 'proof' you wanted to show me would not be made by you, do you take me for a fool?" Maribel asked with a glint of anger in her eyes. James knew that this was going bad for him, but he could not do anything at the moment, only to deny that claim.
Why was he always fighting with every foster family he joined? What kind of luck was this? James was depressed.
"I didn't edit this video, I swear. It's hundred per cent real", James could only say. "That's what I thought." Maribel then ignored James like he never existed.
Just then, Josh opened the door of the front seat. Seeing Angel sitting where he used to sit, he whined. "Mom, why is Angel sitting here? You know I seat here all the time."
Maribel looked at Josh and smiled. "And a good afternoon to you Josh, how was school?" she asked a bit sarcastically. Josh rolled his eyes and smiled. "Sorry, today was just tiring for me. As for my seat situation...." Josh said, but Maribel interjected, "She would be sitting here for now on. She cannot stay in the back anymore", Maribel said with a stone-cold expression.
Josh seemed to understand what she was saying, and he subconsciously looked at the passenger on the backseat. Josh expression changed to disgust, and he nodded to his mom and sat on the back seat, far away from James. All this while, James was reading the book he borrowed from the library, not wanting to listen to these people anymore.
James could not spend another day without his gadgets, so he planned to steal his phone back. Even if it was just his smartphone, it was enough for him. His freelance inbox would have piled up so much by now.
As of now, he cannot spend his money to buy a new smartphone, it would only infuriate Maribel the more. Taking from Martha's incident.
Forget all that, he still have to complete the birthday project that Angel had requested from him. He couldn't just disappoint her. "Aunt, there was a project that was given to me by the school to to to the internet to research the Chernobyl incident. Please, I would need my computer back for a limited time", James requested.
"Mom, he's lying. He wants to use it again to..." Maribel interjected Josh's sentence. "That's enough Josh. James, if it's the school that gave you that assignment, as you claimed, then I would let you use my computer. However, I would assign Josh to be watching you all the time as you are doing your assignment. Do you understand?" Maribel said, and James quickly nodded.
Josh's face contorted with anger. "No mom, I don't want to be monitoring him. I don't want to get infected by his disgusting habit!" He protested, but Maribel was not yielding. "You would be watching James no matter what, and that's final. If you don't have anything doing outside anymore, come inside the car, let's leave here."