9

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

~Nelson Mandela

We went to a small coffee shop close to the school because Raphael demanded he wanted coffee before we could start our tutorial session and we ended up deciding to have it from there instead because it was quiet.

“Your black iced coffee and blueberry muffin.” The waitress said in a flirty tone while placing the cup and plate before Raphael. “And your strawberry green smoothie.” She put my cup in front of me.

“Thanks.” I mumbled and put the straw in my mouth sucking the content in the cup.

“Do you need anything else?” The waitress asked leaning towards Raphael.

“Yeah, your number.” He smirked in response making her blush profusely. With a big grin she leaned over grabbing the smart phone in his hands and put in her number on it.

“Text me.” She winked walking away.

“Oh I will.” He smiled licking his lips and rubbing his hands together.

“You’re disgusting.” I gagged.

“Says the girl drinking whatever the hell that is.” He gestured to my smoothie.

“If you must now it’s healthier than that.” I scoffed.

“I’ll stick to my less healthy beverage thank you very much.” He retorted and took a gulp. “Soo good.”

Rolling my eyes I opened my bag and took out the books we would be using, he had escorted me to my locker and I retrieved them before coming here.

“Are you ok pigtails?” He asked staring at me curiously.

“Yeah.” I nodded tacking the strands of hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear nervously.

“Is that blood on your jersey?” His eyes were fixated on the sleeve of my turquoise blue jersey that had been stained with blood from when I was bleeding earlier.

“No, it’s paint.” I shook my head trying to hide it but I was too late, he grabbed my arm and gave me a pointed look.

“Is that the best you could come up with.” He scoffed and I pulled my arm out of his hold.

“I don’t owe you any explanations.” I glared hiding my arm. I couldn’t fold my jersey because my arm was still kind of red from the rush hence I had no choice but to sit like that.

“Emilia told me what happened earlier.” He leaned back watching me intensely.

“And so?” I shrugged feeling uncomfortable.

“So, are you sure you are alright?” He leaned forward still studying me. “Passing out could-”

“Can you give it a rest, me being fine or not is none of your business.” I snapped feeling irritated.

“As a matter of fact it is my business pigtails, you being unwell equals no tutorial and no tutorial equals Mr. Robertson and my coach being on my neck.” He retorted with the same energy. “Don’t mistaken my asking for me caring about you, I just need you to be well enough to tutor me that’s it.”

“Whatever.” I huffed.

“By the way where the hell were you for the past 3 days?” He asked. “I thought goodie-goodie nerds like yourself never skip class.” He added the last part to taunt me.

“Away.” I responded not wanting to let on more.

I had missed school for 3 days because my flare up was not reducing, a few hours after going to bed, I got worse and my mother had to rush me to the hospital where a spent two nights. The doctor refused to discharge me because he needed to observe me but after making sure the flare up had reduced to a point I could take care of myself he finally let me go home and just to be safe he put me on bedrest for an extra day, he wanted to make it to but I protested against it, I didn’t want to be home anymore. My mother had to call the school and explain to them why I they had not seen me for the past few days.

Earlier while I was in the sickbay Mr. Robertson, after finding out what had happened came to check up on me and make sure I was alright before almost calling my mother to come and get me but luckily I was able to convince him against it just like I had done with the nurse.

“Let’s get started, yes?” I looked at him and he nodded taking his notebook and pen out of his bag. “What topic do you find challenging in calculus?”

“All of them.”

“I’m serious Raphael.” I huffed not finding his joke funny.

“It was just a joke, where’s your sense of humor.” He scoffed. “Stop being so uptight geez.”

“What topic?”

“Parametric equations.” He answered seriously.

“Alright, let’s get started then.”

I started explaining to him and we went through several questions.

“I hope you’re not saying you’ve understood just so you can leave.” I told him after he had told me he had understood all the concepts and formulas I had explained to him.

“Relax, I have understood.” He told me while packing his books.

“Good.” I nodded and packed my books into my backpack before finishing my smoothie.

“What?” I scoffed at Raphael’s facial expression.

“I can’t believe you finished that.” He scrunched his nose with disgust. “You’re so disgusting you know.”

“Says the guy who exchanges saliva with different people on a daily basis.” I retorted.

“It’s not my fault the ladies want all this.” He gestured to his face proudly and I rolled my eyes but before I could respond a group of girls walked up to us.

“Hey Rapha.” The girl who I assumed was the leader of the squad greeted in a flirtatious tone while she played with her long strawberry blonde curls with her index finger.

“Hi.” He responded with a smirk.    

She completely ignored my existence and slid into the booth, sitting beside him while her 4 friends stood waiting on her as though she was royalty or something. I stared at her from the corner of my eye as she and Raphael conversed, she was young, probably a year or two older than I was but the perfectly done makeup on her face and outfit consisting of a cute white sweater and mini skirt made her appear slightly older than she actually was.

“So, I’m having a party at tomorrow night.” She told him while leaning closer. “And I was wondering, maybe, you might want to come, it’s going to be really fun.”

“Sure, where’s it going to be held?” He asked.

“My place.” She took her sparkly smartphone out of her bag and gave it to him. “Put in your number and I’ll text you the address.”

Without hesitation he put in his number and gave it back to her.

“Great, see you there then.” She squealed and pecked his cheek. “You can finally get to hang out with real girls like us.” She added the last part after looking at me.

Her friend giggled at the comment and I just looked away not really bothered by it. She gestured for her friends that they should leave and they made their way towards the door with her leading the way.

“The ladies love them some RV.” He smirked proudly.

“You’re disgusting.” I gagged getting up and grabbing my bag.

“Don’t judge me you just finished a whole green smoothie.” He retorted while grabbing his bag as well and following me to the exit. “Besides stop acting like you wouldn’t want a taste of all this.” He gestured to his body but I dared not give him the satisfaction of looking at it.

“I don’t.” I scrunched my nose with disgust. “I’d rather drink my grandmother’s celery and kale shakes for the rest of my life.”

“You’re only saying that now.” He teased.

We walked into the school premises and made our way to the parking lot where could see Arnold’s charcoal grey car waiting for me at a distance.

“Tomorrow we’ll be going through functions.” I told him.

“No can do pigtails, tomorrow is Friday and I have a party to attend.” He shook his head.

“You have a test next week, a party should be the least of your worries.” I stared at him like he had grown an extra head.

“Goodbye pigtails.” He waved and made his way to a red sports car.

Deciding to ignore him I walked over to Arnold and got into the car. As usual I greeted him and he responded before a sunk into the seat and enjoyed the comfortable silence.