Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5: Relations
It was Friday afternoon. Trueworth academy stopped obligatory classes at Thursday, due to students going out on Thursday in order to keep time free on Sunday to finish their work for Monday. The system was odd, but it worked, and it meant that classes became a matter of choice or ability. If you could choose to get up, then you could come to class.
The boys’ common room was filled with the smell of sweat and beer, as well as being filled with students. Most were passed out on a couch, except for one person who had fallen asleep underneath one. One of the boys grunted and fell off the couch, quite coincidentally landing on the “Play” button of the stereo installation.
The entire room shook awake as a scream echoed through the room, followed by a heavy guitar and drums. A loud thump underneath the couch was followed by a groan and some heavy swearing.
‘In the name of everything God-ridden and hell-bent, who turned on the music?’ Joneth said, slowly getting up and rubbing the side of his head. He looked underneath the couch and picked up his hat. It was slightly dusty, and it had a beer bottle on the inside. It was still full.
‘Sorry. I must’ve dropped on the remote.’ A voice came from behind the couch. Now that Joneth had been awakened, he wished he hadn’t. A hangover, he thought, should be renamed to something more serious. His head felt like it was split in two with an axe, and his tongue felt like someone had ridden over it with a fuzzy bicycle.
The music, on the other hand, was good. He’d never heard it before, but it caught his interest.
As the room began to wake up, a symphony of groans and moaning, Joneth walked among the ravages of the previous night. Big O’ had passed out in the middle of a pile of beer bottles. The sight was too good to let slip, so Joneth took a quick snap with his cell phone before walking over to O’Conner. He needed a quick shake and a slap before finally waking up and realizing Joneth was not, in fact, a hot supermodel willing to make out with him.
‘Snap out of it, O’Connor.’ Joneth said, massaging the back of his hand.
‘M’name’s Bill. Bill O’Connor.’ The drunken Bill muttered, trying to get up and failing.
‘Right-o, Billy. No need to get up for me. Just tell me what band’s on the stereo at the moment.’
Bill raised his head off the floor for a second and listened. He then fell back, and muttered “Avenged Sevenfold” before rolling over and throwing up.
‘Oh, come on O’Conner, not again!’ Harry said, still in the same position he was in last night, except that he had a girl in his right hand rather than a beer.
Joneth made a mental note to get some of the music of Avenged Sevenfold, as he made his way through the drunken and hung-over masses. It sounded pretty angry and raw, but there was a charm in there. He could imagine them singing of death and murder whilst sipping wine and reading a good book. Sweet god, he thought, I make them look like cartoon villains.
He decided to take a day off from social interactions. It was good for his image to sometimes be that distant guy who likes some alone time. Apparently, it was mysterious. Besides, he had been using what mind space currently not occupied with being hung over to think a bit.
Jesse liked being alone as well. However, for her this was easier than for Joneth. Therefore, she would be somewhere where you could be alone whilst being surrounded with people. The only two places, then, would be the library or the cafeteria. Considering her love for literature, the choice was narrowed down to one.
The library was dusty and deserted, like any good library on a Friday. Books sat unread in their shelves, looking almost sadly at the few people who browsed through them. One of these people was Jesse. She was moving through the English Literature section systematically, like a robot categorizing an entire archive case. Joneth moved behind her, deciding on a sneak approach in case of her ninja-ing here way out of the library.
It was the term he’d given her for escaping social situations. Like a ninja, she could be there one second and be gone the next. She’d have to know the school’s layout by heart, and possibly wear a pair of suction shoes to walk on the ceiling, but it worked for her.
‘You can talk to me now.’ Jesse said dryly, selecting a book and walking over to a deserted reading table.
‘How’d you know I was there?’ Joneth asked, sitting down in admittance of defeat.
‘You breathe, you walk on shoes, and your hat casts a 12 o’clock shadow that a blind man could see.’ Jesse answered simply.
Joneth tapped the hat. It was an automatism, and he’d have to learn not to do it some day. It seemed egoistic at times.
‘Anyway, I don’t think you crawled from your drunken stupor just to sit in a library, so tell me what this is going to be about.’
‘You. Again.’ Joneth said, realizing that Jesse was controlling this conversation now.
‘White girl, good-looking, working class parents, no siblings, no history of abuse and a psychopathic disorder that sent three psychiatrists to the loony farm so far.’
And there she went again. The way she could state a life story in a few sentences, as though all information was trivial. Still, it helped if you knew some psychology, and there had been a small pause between “no siblings” and “no history of abuse.” Joneth was smart enough to note it, and also smart enough not to press on it. He’d have to use it later, if possible.
‘Is it my turn now?’ He asked innocently, looking at the cover of her book. Jesse nodded, silently.
‘Cool. My name is Tirian Poppeldosen, I am forty-three years old and suffer from incurable alcoholism. I like girls in the age group of ten to fifteen, and I wear long overcoats which can hide my enormous-‘
‘- nice try.’ Jesse cut him off, sighing. In a second of silence, she produced a small notebook. It was black, and it had a rose on the cover. She flipped through it and began reading.
‘Joneth van Izen. Born June 25th, in your parents’ home. No brothers or sisters, but a father and a mother who made a sport of spoiling you. You lived your first years in your enormous mansion, attended a private school, got expelled three times and eventually kicked altogether. You skipped several years, but made up for repeating one year in the same row because you switched schools constantly. Your ability to quickly make friends rivals only your ability for mischievous pranks, as well as your talent in creative arts. You live in the centre of attention, having always been one since your birth. You excel in classes, you hate solitude, and you have had more girlfriends than the average movie star. And, this afternoon, you have a date with Jennifer. The merry-go-whore.’
The last words were a muffled cough, but clear enough to be heard. Joneth raised a smile, confusing Jesse. She had been expecting surprise, confusion, or anger. Instead, Joneth took her notebook and wrote down another few lines. Once he had finished, he returned it to her, still smiling. She read, slightly hesitant.
‘Lying, cheating bastard with no sense of morality. Treats people as servants because he was always used to doing so. Always hunts for a specific girl in each school, and yearns after me now. Is also as socially adaptable as a chameleon in a rainbow. Top hat contains useful items for everyday purposes.’
She put down the book, and looked at Joneth with a look that could only be described as being “vaguely interested.”
‘Everyday purposes, huh? Such as?’ She asked, pointing at the top hat.
‘Nothing special. Let me work my magic.’ Joneth said, taking off the hat and reaching in like a stage magician.
‘One music player, filled with personal favourites.’ Joneth said grotesquely, as he pulled out a small, black music player. He proceeded to pick a selection of the items in his hat, like opening a can of beans onto a plate.
‘A series of pens, ranging from mini to fun-size. A pack of paper, a packet of chewing gum, a cell phone, a calculator, a pair of folding glasses without glass, a knife that supposedly was once used to cut my wrists, a shark tooth, a deodorant spray, a small statue and a 9-inch...’
Joneth said, before being caught by a sneeze. He sniffed, and looked at the items.
The last item had rolled onto the table with appropriate silence, and stopped against Jesse’s notebook. She eyed it with some suspicion, and then picked it up.
‘Not for personal use, I presume?’ She asked, turning the thing in her hand
‘I don’t swing that way. Though it is considerably kinky.’
‘You tell me. Not used, I see.’
‘Want to change that?’ Joneth asked playfully.
‘Maybe later.’ Jesse answered, noting something down in her notebook.