Class comes to an end. "Magnus!" Ms. Felicia calls out and he rushes over to her, grabbing his bag. He locks eyes with Anthemon briefly but ignores her. She didn't deserve his love. Sabine sat next to her like a bandage to a wound. Just that Sabine was the wound and could stain Anthemon. Magnus scoffs and stands opposite a seated Felicia, arms crossed, the table separating them.
"Wait, let everyone leave first"
"Umm okay"
"In the meantime, let me read your poem on your little broken heart"
"Wait how did you—"
She gestures for him to bring the book. It was so obvious Magnus would write something on his inextricable pain.
"Look I get it Anthemon, you don't drink cold water because you're a singer but you didn't have to lie"
Sabine says softly to Anthemon when she realizes, they along with Ms. Felicia and Magnus were the only ones in class. She knew they were out of hearing range but the class gets a bit of an echo when it's empty. She sees Ms. Felicia reading Magnus' diary.
Strange, were they that close?
Her eyes fall on Anthemon whose head was on the table and she runs her palm across her back.
"Yeah Sabine" she raises her head looking at Sabine. As her eyes race around, they fall back on Sabine, "You're right."
Sabine gives her a steady look.
The look read a serious, is everything okay?
"I know I'm acting weird. It's because of them", her eyes stretch towards Ms. Felicia and Magnus.
"Oh they're making you uncomfortable?"
Anthemon nods, lips sucked in.
"You're kidding! She's our teacher Anthemon"
She covers her light lips as the corners of her eyes tighten, trying to hold in a giggle. Anthemon slightly slaps her head but this loosens Sabine's chignon hair. Anthemon sees but ignores, giving an evil smile.
"But no!", she says falsetto, "It's just their presence. Don't worry they're negligible"
Sabine shakes her head, rubbing her forehead in her palms.
Sabine and Anthemon remain silent for some time.
"Hey have you been seeing how Magnus and Elaine look at each other?"
Anthemon tilts her head sideways waiting for an answer. Sabine looks at her blankly.
"You're—"
"Becoming jealous?" she scoffs, "Yes" she nods vigorously. Sabine shakes her head.
"No because what on earth could those two be talking about?"
"Point taken", Sabine leans toward Anthemon, whispering, "Let's follow them today"
Anthemon's eyes grow wider, she's a bit hesitant.
"Look he's your ex and she's my ex…", there's some silence. "…best friend"
Anthemon sighs.
Ms. Felicia reads Magnus' diary, her eyes, peeping over the top. She whispers to herself.
"Dewdrop", she looks at Magnus above her frames, "That's a nice title. What inspired you?"
"Well thinking of it now.." his head tilts, "It's just a reminder that nothing lasts forever" Magnus gives a downward smile.
Her eyes drop back onto the diary in silence, she whispers…
"Kiss my face with the kiss of moonlight
Warm my numbing cold with the warmth of sunlight
Bathed, you are, in a pool of chrysanthemum petals
Till the good sweet scent settles
Faint sheets of zephyr walk through the splashing waves
Weaving itself onto your skin
Your presence like rain after it touches sand so dry within
Name of flower, Name of silver
Name of power, Make me better"
She drops the book and looks at Magnus, touched by the words of such a young guy who seemed to have had it all figured out.
She picks it up again, flipping to the next page. Magnus shrugs at this.
"Oh this looks interesting… The Wither" her eyes fall on Magnus again.
"Oh yeah that is basically self explanatory" he smiles nervously, casually picking up a random book from the teacher's table and fanning himself. "It's a bit hot, don't mind me"
Her eyes fall back on the book.
"In Grandfather's garden…" she pauses, "Magnus why Grandfather?"
"Oh he passed some months ago"
"Oh my condolences"
"Yeah" he opens up a random book.
"…the vibrant green grass begins to molt
A brown colour change brings Grandfather sadness
As long as his favourite tree stood, no reason he had to bolt
To his graveyard to mourn its loss in blood redness
He turns around back home
Oblivious of the unknown
Grandfather comes back the next day
His garden, afar, looks not the same way
Night had come upon Grandfather's garden
He had had no chance to whisper a goodbye
Pain becomes the song, his lips guarding
The ashes of his garden make him cry
In a corner, he weeps
In his broken heart, all joy, out seeps"
She locks eyes with Magnus for a moment.
"It seems like you had a lot to say in umm" she scans through the diary, "…the wither", she pushes up her glasses.
Magnus shrugs, tilting his head and nodding.
She's about to shut the diary but flips again to see a quote. A rather spine chilling one.
"I would climb the clouds and mould them into a heart
In a place where nobody goes, I stay
"Red", they called it, "white beauty", I called it
In a place where nobody goes I crave"
"Magnus, who wrote this?"
"Well, it's by umm" he gestures his head to the back of the class.
"Anthemon?" she mouths. Magnus nods.
"Okay she's coming", she mutters.
"Huh?", Magnus casts his head back to see Anthemon and Sabine strutting out of the classroom.
"Well that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Sabine says, nudging Anthemon.
She chuckles, "But what on earth have they been on about? It's closing time for God's sake"
Sabine just rubs Anthemon's back as they keep walking. Henry walks past them, Sabine releases soul-damaging stares at him. They don't even talk and no one really notices that.
"Magnus close the door" Ms. Felicia sighs, "I have to show you something", she drops he glasses gently on the table.
Magnus dumps the book he held, walking to the open door.
As he walks back, the door bursts open with two students kissing passionately. Eyes shut. Ms. Felicia gives an intended cough awkwardly before they walk away shamefully. Magnus is dumbfounded.
So this is what goes on after school.
He closes the door again to see a student file on the table.
"Open it" she says softly.
Magnus runs his fingers over the name, Sabine Wult.
The ends of his finger grabs the edge of the yellow file, swinging it open. Magnus gasps, "Oh My…"
He leaves the classroom, bumping into Henry.
"Yeah of all the people in the school I could bump into, of course it has to be you" Magnus fumbles back to his feet. "It's always you"
Henry remains silent, genuinely shaken and sorry. His hands sink into his pocket as he looks at Magnus' short afro cut. "Nice hair", he smiles and walks away.
Magnus smiles, softened up by one compliment.
"Hey you! ", Elaine exclaims, skipping with joy towards Magnus. He waves her over.
"Hey we have to talk, seriously", Magnus grows a slight frown.
"Don't let her behaviour and absence take such a great toll on you" Elaine places a hand on his shoulder. He smiles, nodding.
"Wanna come over?"
"Yeah", her hand still rested on his shoulder, her eyes dazzling into his.
"We should probably go now"
"Yes, yeah" she removes her hand. They both chuckle.
"Since when did they get so close?" Anthemon grunts. "So he was cheating on me even before we broke up… nice", she shakes her head, grabbing Sabine viciously by the hand, heading towards the school gates.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on", Sabine retreats, grabbing Anthemon's dark warm wrists. "They literally just left the school compounds"
Anthemon sighs. Her mood drops. She was rushing.
"They'd know we're following them", Sabine rests both arms on Anthemon, "Breathe Anthemon because they're not babies" she says softly, her eyes taking a peek at Henry walking out of school. He had his phone to his ear.
"Umm, who's this" he questions.
"Oh my bad" the voice chuckles, "it's Julia and I got your number from the—"
"School group?"
"Yeah" she chuckles.
He does same too.
"I wanted to talk to you about the…"
"What", he says rather softly
"The… money"
He remains silent.
"You know the one you… the… the one you umm… stole?"
"Yeah Jul I know"
She holds in the explosion of a million smiles. Jul? Well, that was new.
"Okay I'm sorry", she giggles.
Henry's brows draw back in surprise. What was that giggle for?
"No problem… yeah so what about the money?"
"Well, it's fine"
"Huh so why'd you call me then" he raises his voice slightly, kicking against a stone on the pathway as though it was football.
"Huh! I mean it's fine. The girls had a moment, Ava decided to cover everything so you're good"
"Oh My God!", he stops walking, "This is unreal! Thank you so much, I LOVE YOU!"
"Geez, would you calm down. It's not such a big deal anyway. You should be thanking Ava, not me. I'm sending you her number"
"Yeah okay but still", he smiles, "thank you."
"Yeah bye!"
"Bye"
Julia hangs up, her phone placed firmly between her bosoms. She looks up, whispering, "I'm so lost between 'I think I love you' and "I…" she sighs, "What the hell is happening to me!"
Henry calls Ava to thank her, explaining the whole loan situation to her. She seemed quite unconcerned but he didn't care. Soon, the call ends.
"Oh my… He's taking her inside?"
Anthemon and Sabine hid behind some bushes opposite Magnus' house. She has seen her beloved ex taking Ms. Elaine into his house and she did not like it, for some… reason.
"Elaine this is my mum, Mrs. Nancy Pais and my dad, Mr. Damien Pais", Magnus points them out. His mum smiles, looking at his dad at a distance, on the sofa. "Can I tell him now? You know he's eventually going to know"
Mr. Damien groans at this, his head dropping on the head of the sofa. "Fine"
"What's happening?" Magnus asks a bit puzzled.
Elaine completely lost, says "Umm… I can go if.."
"No, no stay… please" Mrs. Nancy requests. She walks over to her son and places his palm on her belly.
"No"
"Yes!"
"No", he chuckles
"Yes! Ha!" she laughs
"No way! Mum!"
They hug out of joy.
Soon, he takes Elaine to his room.
"Okay I know we're here to talk about some serious stuff but I'm just so happy", he beams up with smiles. "Well then, I'll make everything brief."
"Sabine…", Anthemon pokes her head out of the bushes, "It's been over ten minutes, I'm going in"
"In?" Sabine asks as she nods, "Well, I'll wait here"
"Okay" she whispers, crossing over the short hedges.
"My parents are gonna kill me!" Anthemon whimpers when she lands in the pavement.
"My parents are gonna kill you", Sabine whispers bluntly.
"Did you say something?" Anthemon's head peeps over the hedges toward Sabine.
She sat on the grass, legs outstretched. "I'm just texting someone"
"Then where's your phone?"
Sabine runs her fingers through the blades of grass, trembling slightly.
"Just relax girl, I'll be right back" Anthemon retreats, marching to Magnus' house.
She peeps around, trying to eavesdrop but Magnus' room was upstairs. She hears faint voices, that of Magnus and another. It sounded like Elaine. She was walking into the kitchen.
Finally, some clarity!
She plasters herself onto the outer wall beneath the kitchen window to hear better.
"Thanks for making me dinner though, my mum says I shouldn't stay in too late," said Elaine.
"My treat. And technically I'm just heating up food so…" Magnus replied.
She chuckles.
"So tell me, what about Sabine makes you so disturbed?", Magnus was partly focusing on Elaine as he stirred the huge pot on the stove with a wooden spoon.
Elaine sighs.
"Don't sorry my parents are watching TV. No one's listening"
"Look, I just feel like I can't really give you the details yet but Sabine and I really stopped talking because…", she rests her palms backwards, on the counter, "…one time when we were kids playing hide and seek at her house, I entered a room obscured by a curtain"
"This is getting spooky", he pauses stirring.
"Because it is." She sighs, "That room had a box, a coffin and it has parts"
"What do you mean, parts?" Magnus starts to dish out the food into plates.
"Human body parts"
Anthemon retches, her hand glued to her mouth.