Conflict is very much a state of mind. If you're not in that state of mind, it doesn't bother you.
Leo agreed with this quote. No, rather, he lived it. Conflicts are constants of life. However, every human deals with them differently. Some confront it, others escape.
Leo did neither. He always ignored the conflicts. Never engaged in problems, he felt were unnecessary. Many called him cold-blooded, but was he? He always wondered. If I don't feel the need to engage, why should I?
"Tch" Leo walked out of the washroom, grumbling as he flapped his drenched shirt. The tap was broken again. Leo always noticed if it was broken; however, these days the school felt odd. As if his eyes and mind were constantly treading through the crowd. Even a slight mistake and he could risk his sanity.
'Only one more week, then I won't have to worry.' Leo walked towards his classroom. On his way, he saw some girls and boys whispering and giggling. Just from a glance, it was pretty evident that they were a flock of lovebirds.
Leo shifted a few steps aside and continued walking. 'What do they even talk so much about? Daily...' he never really understood couples. In his 18 years of life, he hadn't once liked a girl. Yes, they looked beautiful. But it didn't mean his heart was a tree that grew fruits if looks were showered on it. He didn't even know if the tree could bear any fruits.
Leo let out a sigh. 'Still four more hours...' he looked at the metal watch on his wrist.
"Ms. Maya! You are already going to the class?" Leo's ears perked up when he heard the name. Immediately, he rushed through the door, accidentally pushing a boy on his way.
"What's with that dumb doll?" The guy looked back at Leo, anger spewing from his eyes. But Leo had already occupied himself with shuffling through a book on his seat.
The boys ignored him and walked away. But Leo couldn't ignore it. Had he waited or turned around, it would have been a trouble. And like most trouble, he couldn't just ignore this. His body won't let him.
Leo's eyes closed, his hand still shuffling the pages of the book.
Maya was the temporary transfer teacher. She had come to their school for a month, as a trainee. Only a week remained before she left the school and town.
The problem wasn't her teaching. She taught well. Extremely well. The kids who always snored in lectures or paid no attention, actually paid attention. She had her way of teaching, that made the kids curious.
The problem was her. Not for the class, but for him. Whenever he looked at her, within a minute, his body did things he didn't need in public. And the worst thing was, he didn't even know why it was happening. Nor could he control it.
As he laid his head on the desk, facing the window, the class went quiet. Leo inhaled deeply, his nostrils taking the air in as if he were suffocating. He heaved slowly, letting his mind register the motion. His head had calmed down a bit, but the blood still thumped in his veins.
The sun was now opposite of its origin, looking Leo straight in the eye. But the window protected him. However for the past three weeks, since Maya had arrived, he had been letting the sun bathe him. He opened the window. The class didn't even turn around.
From their perspective, he had gained another stupid habit. To open the window at any time. But only he knew, that the discomfort of the sun was manageable, but not looking at Maya.
"Alright, class, today we will revise Chapter 2. Since Mrs. Ava has completed the chapter, I will be helping you clear your doubts. But before that, I will distribute the papers that you submitted yesterday for the test." Maya rolled out the rubber from the roll of papers and pushed it on her wrist.
She then started distributing the papers, one by one.
Leo was already sweating before she even approached him. When she did, he tightened his fist, hiding under the desk.
"Leo" his ears shivered. A melody ran through his head, spreading to his face, invading the blood, and aching his heart. A soft voice, but it held the stillness his body had forgotten for the past few weeks.
He had heard his name countless times, yet the first time he had felt it. He propped his hand outwards, and the papers were put on his hand. Maya walked away, but the wind and the window had partnered to betray him.
A sudden wind blew in, rushing every scent and dust on him. And somehow, his body only focused on the scent. A charming scent like chocolate, cuddled by rose. He restricted movement, daring his eyes to not peek at the woman.
The alarms in his body had already started to flare, and he could feel them.
Fortunately, Maya walked to the front after distributing all the papers. The revision wasn't just a reading session. Maya answered the student's doubts, and she gave them tips. She explained some complex topics again. Overall, it was just like a complete lecture.
Then, she began asking questions to the kids, testing quickly whether everyone had understood the chapter. She asked a few students, and from their looks, it seemed that the concepts were pretty clear. A few couldn't answer, but even they seemed to understand the basics.
Then she looked at the very end of the classroom. The oddity of the class 10, Leo. The first day she had come to the school, she had been surprised by him. The sudden noise of the window jerking open, despite a teacher being in the class. She thought he was a troublemaker.
But before she could give him a piece of her mind, he had apologized. He was quite weird. Not because of the apology.
It had been close to a month since she started her temporary job here. And next week, on Sunday, she was going to leave. But in this considerable time, he hadn't looked at her even once. And it wouldn't have bothered her, but he avoided her eyes so often and openly that it made her irk.
But Maya wasn't the type to let issues play home with her mind. She let no unnecessary problems reside. But still, she had asked about him to the other teachers. Because, just as he had avoided her, he hadn't talked to anyone in the class. For the whole month, she expected him to at least say a few words. But he hadn't even laughed.
Though temporary, her sense of duty was stronger than many teachers in the school. Which wasn't a wonder, since the students liked her more than most of the staff.
So, out of worry that Leo might be getting bullied or being isolated, she discussed it with his class teacher. When she started speaking, he replied to her very calmly.
"Leave him be. He has been the same for many years. He doesn't talk to anyone and doesn't play around. He does whatever he feels like. Since he doesn't cause unnecessary trouble and attends school, no one really engages with him" He answered. But even she could see some worry in his eyes.
The teacher replied to her, "I also tried to get him on track when I was new here. Now I just let him enter the school even after the last bell. Don't pester him. Enjoy your last week here." Leo's classroom teacher was a kind man. She had seen it. Even if he scolded students daily at the entrance, none of them seemed to hate him. They would laugh it off or just accept the punishment.
So when he was saying these things, she decided to not get involved. However, she did get to know about the kid a bit. He was 2 years older than his classmates, making him the only 18-year-old in the class. No one knew why, but he had entered the school 2 years late. Since he won't speak of it, and his parents never attended the PTA meetings, no one knew the reason.
She thought that it might be the age difference that made him distant from the other kids. Still, that didn't explain his hiding eyes, escaping any sort of contact with hers. She had decided to pay no heed and continue working like normal.
But at the time of lectures, it was her responsibility to teach everyone. Without any exceptions. And so, she instructed him, "Leo, answer this question". She asked him a question.
Leo, as usual, was blatantly looking outside even while standing. But he gave the correct answer. Way too correct. He even explained the parts they had omitted since they were less likely to appear for exams.
She sighed a breath that took with it the last worry for the boy.
'I have probably completed my 75% attendance' Leo wondered. He sat down and looked at the sky. A few heavy, dark clouds moved slowly.
The weather was changing again. The air felt damp, but it was raw. There wasn't the tenderness in it when rain poured indiscriminately. Leo didn't particularly hate it, but it didn't soothe him as much as the rain.
His eyes traced the ray of sun that was touching his palm. The sun still stood strong, not bowing to the wet clouds. The only benefit of the sun for Leo was that he could see the hill.
'It should be time. A few days maybe, then I can be free...' he imagined the piercing cold raindrops touching his thirsty skin. The mellow smell of damp soil, the fragrance of bathing trees. How good it would feel, when the rain pours on him, blocking people in his sight and filling his ears with the symphony of the showering rain.
He closed his eyes. He could sense it, and just that calmed him a bit. The rain was his solace, heat an infuriating invader. But this time, his vision wasn't lonely. He could feel someone.
Someone,...not welcomed by the rain.
When he concentrated, his body jolted.
The rain poured on her, Maya. He couldn't understand whether it was punishing her or blessing her. Because when he looked at her, he felt blessed. Her hair was wet and disheveled; some clinging to her cheek, a few back, and some on her ear. And yet, in that wet hair, she looked pretty. Her lips trembled from the cold, but his lips shivered in hunger.
Her hands wrapped behind her back, and he could see her now. The white shirt clamped on her figure, trying to protect her skin from the rain and him. Her pants weren't baggy anymore. They adored her legs, highlighting her thighs. Her skin was like wet clouds, damp and murky.
He felt a surge of electricity penetrating his stomach. His guts tugged, and he found it difficult to gulp. An enormous heat threatened to permit out from him.
And then he saw it, the heaving of her chest, against the lovely rain. With each inhale, the raindrops bounced, and every exhale embraced them. His body was petrified. His eyes felt purified, as they rushed open.
_Thwack_
The class turned around, and Maya stopped explaining. The sound was sharp, clear, and painful. When their eyes wandered to identify the source, Leo sat on his seat, breathing heavily. As if he had just been drenched by the rain, he was sweating buckets. Then, slowly, on his fair milky skin, a red mark appeared. It wasn't difficult to understand, with his hand still in the air.
Maya looked at him, and for the first time in these days, she saw his eyes clearly. Blue, fresh, and yet dull. He was looking at her, but she felt like his eyes weren't even noticing her. They were looking through her. They felt warm...on her skin.
She continued explaining. That gaze felt foreign, but her heart somehow beat with the same intensity.
'Weird' she thought.
But Leo couldn't put his finger on one emotion like her. 'Who are you?' it felt more like a question to his own heart than hers. A thought he was pestering in the heat, a question tightening on his bones, waiting for rain to wash it away.
But what was he going to do about his body, when even the rain smelled like her? When the cold wasn't chilling enough, and his body wasn't familiar anymore. When the warmth was collapsing on him, and rain had yet to arrive.
Leo awaited desperately, to be gulped by the rain, covered by the pretty clouds.