The Little girl who runs backwards

                                    The little girl who runs backwards

 

  ‘Maybe this just wasn’t it. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to end like this either. She didn’t have to leave. I didn’t have to let this be. I shouldn’t have said those awful things that I didn’t mean to her. I should have ran after her. I should have apologized. But, now, it’s over. It’s too late. She’s already gone. It’s always all my fault, Isn’t it? What should I do now? Someone please tell me…’



Chapter 1

  “Come on, Jane! You’re slower than grandma on her wheelchair! We’re gonna miss the school bus! And the bus driver is gonna leave us, AGAIN.” Ana impatiently said to me from my door, tapping irritatingly on the door. I tied my hair into a simple pony tail and quickly dumped all the stationeries from my desk into my new Espirit bag. I grabbed my bag from its side and ran to her.

“Mum’s gonna have a fit! I practically swept all the eraser dusts from my desk into my new bag that she bought for me!” I told her. She rolled her eyes, pulled my hand and ran for the bus, which is honking impatiently too. We got into the bus and apologized to Trex, the gangster looking bus driver. He grunted and moved on to pick up the next student. We ushered our way through the rusty bus to the last row. Jeremy, our best friend since first grade, waved to us with his ever refreshing smile. Both of us let out a sigh once we sat down.

“So, who was late this time?” Jeremy asked, smiling. Ana laid her head to the seat and pointed straight to me. I stared back at her in disbelief.

“And whose fault was it?! Who was the one who ‘forgot’ to iron my uniform when it was obviously her turn to do the ironing? And because of that, I had to rush ironing my uniform!” I shot at her. She smirked at me first and then laughed along with Jeremy. “You’re so egocentric, Ana! Last week I did your uniform for you and today you didn’t help me even though you had ample of free time last night.” I pouted and looked out the window, fuming.

  “Alright, alright. Good girl.” Jeremy patted my head.

“Come on, your uniform doesn’t look…” He looked up and down my uniform and snorted, “That’s BAD. Jane, you iron terribly!” I glared at him and continued sulking all the way to school.

Chapter 2

  “Jane! I’ve missed you! How long has it been already?! Did you hear about the new transfer kid from Heathway? I heard he’s very smart!” Keith hugged me. I broke off from him and started walking to my classroom.

“It has only been 2 days. Take your hands off my new bag, Keith. And, yes, I’ve heard about the new kid.” I replied crossly.

  Ana chuckled and said, “I heard that the new kid’s very ugly. I even hear that he went for plastic surgery.” I walked faster to the classroom while Jeremy and Ana headed for their own classes, chattering away.

“Okay, seriously. What’s wrong?” Keith pulled me to him and rubbed my shoulders. I sighed and sat at my desk.

“Nothing, Keith. It’s only a small issue. I’m fine.” I smiled at him. He gets very worried about even the smallest things. He stretched my cheeks and forced me to smile wider. I slapped his hand away and laughed. Keith smiled and sat beside me. Mike, the school’s top student, rushed in the class; puffing and slapped Keith’s back.

“What are you doing so close to Jane, Keith? You’re not planning to do anything indecent to my Jane, right?” He grinned.

“I’m not yours, Mike. How did the Biology competition go yesterday?” I asked.

He perked up and replied enthusiastically, “Wonderful! It went well because of the good luck text message my Jane left me that morning. Thank you!” Keith butted in and shoved Mike’s face away from me.

“She’s not yours didn’t you hear that, buster? And I was here first.” Keith punched Mike lightly on the chest and they started quarrelling. 

  That was when the new kid came in.









Chapter 3

He’s nothing like the rumors. He has chocolate brown hair that compliments with his deep blue eyes. Everything about him screams sophisticated and cool. He wore the most gorgeous snickers and watch. Once he came into the class, he looked surprised. He shook his head and scratched his head. Since we were the only ones in the room, he walked up to us and humbly asked, “Is this Mrs. Tira’s Literature class?” We stared at him and laughed. We pointed to the door, which has a super big sign that says ‘Literature’. I laughed and nodded. He thanked us politely and took his seat behind me. We all turned to him.

“Hey hey. What’s up man? I’m Keith Hastley. Nice to meet cha’!” Keith stretched his hand out to greet him. The new kid reached for Keith’s hand and shook it. Before he could introduce himself, Mike charged in.

“I’m Mike, the student body president of this school. Nice to meet you.” Mike stretched his hand out too.

“Stop showing off, Mike.” Keith growled.

“Oh yeah? Are you jealous that I’m the president and you’re the vice? Heh. Pity you. ” Mike scoffed. They began fighting again. I shook my head and sighed.

“There they go again. Don’t mind them,” I said to the new kid. “I’m Jane.” I stretched my hand out to him. He smiled and reached for my hand. “I’m Henry. I’m from Heathway High. Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so…” I replied

“You look awfully familiar to me.” He stared at me closely. Mike and Keith stopped arguing, placed both their hands on my desk, looked at me in the eye and both asked simultaneously, “Jane, do you like this jerk?” The both pointed to each other. They glared and each other first and then turned back to me.

  Mrs. Tira came in just in time to send them back to their seats.

“Fighting over Jane dear again, boys?” Mrs. Tira teased. I laughed meekly and turned back to the front. I pulled my hair band off and let my hair down loose. It is still damp from this morning’s shower. I can’t wait for the next lesson; History. Not that I like that subject or anything, it’s just that Heather is going to be in that class. Heather is my best friend since forever. But Ana doesn’t like her. Ana thinks that Heather is a hypocrite. We had a big fight afterwards. It’s totally cool now though.





Chapter 4

I sighed as there was still 10 minutes of Mrs. Tira’s lessons. There was a tap on my shoulder from the side. I turned and saw a student passing me a note that has my name written on it. I accepted it and hid it under my desk to read it.

  Dear Jane, it says.

Please do not let your hair down in class next time. Even from the last row, I can smell that sweet raspberry flavored shampoo that you used today. It’s suffocating me (in a good yet bad way). Most of the boys in the class are drooling over the smell. I feel like ripping all their eyes and nose. Hah. You’re too beautiful, Jane my dear.

                                                                                                                                          Loves,

                                                                                                                                            Mike

I turned back to look at Mike. Only to find him lying on the desk facing me, smiling. I smiled forcefully back and turned to the front. I folded the note back and stuffed it into my pencil box. What nonsense, that was. I didn’t use raspberry shampoo! I used strawberry! Huh! He could smell it, my ass. He even got the flavors wrong! I took a piece of paper and wrote:



  Dear Mike,

I applied a STRAWBERRY flavored shampoo today! Not Raspberry! If you’re trying to flatter me, you’ve definitely succeeded in turning me down. -.-

                                                                                                                    TOTALLY loves,

                                                                                                                                      Jane ><

I looked at him intently as he received the letter and read it. He was mouth was wide open. I giggled as he waved at me, obviously embarrassed. Keith then threw a crushed paper to Mike and glared at him. He mouthed a few obscenities to him and they both continued fighting again. I smiled to myself and realized that Literature class wasn’t so bad. I chuckled to myself and stared up to the clock. Come on… soon…

The bell rang and Literature has finally ended! I quickly got up from my seat and walked towards the exit. Suddenly, someone tugged my elbow gently from behind. I turned around and saw Henry.

“Yes?” I asked him politely.

“Um, my next class is by Mr. Tay teaching History. Do you know where his classroom is?” He asked.

“Oh? That’s my next class too. Why don’t we go there together? I’ll give you a quick tour of this school on our way there.” I grinned at him. He quickly relaxed and lighten up. Before we could even take a step out of the door, Keith called for my name. I sighed, turned around and asked him what the matter was.

“Um, I will call you today so please remember to switch on your cell phone! You never do!” he shouted out across the classroom to me. I chuckled a little and signaled him an ‘okay’. I then gestured us out of the classroom to head for our next class.

I introduced Henry to people along the corridors towards our History class. They were dumbstruck after they met Henry as he wasn’t what they had expected. ‘plastic surgery’, ‘ugly’ and ‘stupid’ weren’t the words that they would describe him, ever. One classroom before the History classroom, we met John; the Football jock. After he saw Henry, he blurted, “You really went for plastic surgery?”

I gawked at John. Henry eyes widened.

“Huh?” was all Henry said.

I nudged John, really hard. I gave an awkward laugh and said, “Hah. What are you talking about, John?” John quickly got the message and replied, “Yeah yeah! What am I talking about? It’s not like you’re Michael Jackson. Hah… Hah…” And he left, his awkward laugh hung in the air.

We stared at the retreating jock for a few moments and laughed awkwardly to ourselves. I cleared my throat and said,

“Let’s get moving. Mr. Tay wouldn’t be happy if you were to be late on your first History class.” He nodded and we made our way to our History class. Almost everyone was already in their places, except for Mr. Tay. There were only two seats available. There’s one right in front and the other right behind.

“I’ll take the one in front and you can have the airy back seat.” I smiled and headed for the first seat. When we got to our seats, Katherine nudged me and asked, “That’s the new guy?”

“Yeah.” I replied.

“He’s fine man! How’s he? Straight or curved?” she wriggled her eyebrows teasingly.

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, Jane. You know what I mean. Uh oh. Miss Lip-gloss is making her move.” Katherine pointed to the back. I turned and saw Jessica flirting around with Henry.

Chapter 5

Jessica was practically flirting with Henry the whole lesson! When he doesn’t have his history notebook, she volunteered to share with him so she was able to sit closer to him. Then when Henry accidently drops one of his pencils, she would flirtingly laugh and say, “Oh, you’re so clumsy!” And then she’d giggle and he would laugh softly.

I was disgusted. I mean, seriously. Look at her! She looks like some pink lip gloss monster who likes young boys! While I was thinking of crude words to describe Jessica, Katherine passed me a note.

Dear Jane, it says.

Stop insulting Jessica in your head. (Katherine is so my best friend, I grinned to myself.) I can see the green monster in you coming out. CONTROL yourself! There’s no way Henry would go for ‘an S’ like Jessica!

                                                                                                                                XOXO,

                                                                                                                                      Katherine

p.s.: I’ve got some things to do after school in the Newspaper Editorial Club so I can’t go to your house and read your most anticipated story today. James is bugging me about my story. Sorry!

I glared playfully at Katherine and replied with an ‘okay, I get it’. I grumbled to myself while looking out the window. Katherine is supposed to come to my house to read the new story that I recently just finished and spend the whole afternoon together with me. I looked out the window and saw Keith in the midst of his Art lesson out in the garden. I texted him, “I’m looking at you now. Haha.”

I saw him reach for his cell and read. He then looked around. I texted him again, “I’m in the History room, dummy. 3rd floor.” He then looked up and then grinned at me. He text me.

“What’s up? Mr. Tay boring you already? Ha-ha.”

I replied, “Yeah, a little. Hey, do you have any plans after school??”

“Yeah. I have Arts lesson again. There’s a competition coming up next week so I need to prepare for it. Why?”

“Oh… I see. Nothing nothing. Just wondering, that’s all.  Don’t mind me. Good luck for your competition!” I replied him. He received it, grinned back at me and continued with his work. I sighed. Mike is definitely busy with his Student Council duties. Ana and Jeremy will be going for their Social Studies trip to the Ancient Civilization Museum. It’s going to be a lonely afternoon!

Chapter 7

School ended at 2 in the afternoon. I stared out into the skies and noticed patches of dark clouds hovering over me. It is going to rain soon.

“Darn.” I mumbled to myself. Now I can’t even go for a swim. I will just have to rot at home alone since Mum will be over in London and Dad will be at a conference meeting in Africa. Something about a new branch there. As for Mum, she heard about the new Marc Jacobs store in London so she went there to check it out. I know, I have the most considerate mum.

While walking out of the school doors, I saw Henry sitting on the curb; texting on his iPhone. Since there was no rush to go home, I sat beside him and joined him. He was startled by my sudden appearance beside him. I just grinned at him and asked, “You’re waiting for someone?” He shuffled his feet and replied.

“Yeah. My mum will be picking me up after her work is over. I’ll just be waiting for her here. Just called her and told her that I finished school.” He gestured his phone towards me. I nodded and looked on the road. I realized a squirrel in the middle of the road and pointed to it. Henry glanced to my direction too and smiled.

“That’s cute. In the city, there weren’t many squirrels to see. It was filled with high rise buildings and MRT train tracks. The air there was so thick that one has difficulty breathing. Sometimes it’s suffocating. But, here, it’s wonderful. I feel re-born.” He laughed weakly to himself and rolled his eyes a little. I tapped my fingers on the curb for a while and asked him.

“You said you were from Heathway High, right?”

He replied, “Yeah, why?”

“Oh, it’s just that I had a friend that I know from that school too.”

“Really? What’s your friend’s name? I might know him/her. I was a… never mind.” He cleared his throat and looked back at me.

I gave a skeptical look and said, “He’s name is Frank Keel. He’s the student body president of Heathway High. Know him?”

He was shocked for while but answered with a nod. “He’s…uh, my brother.”





Chapter 8

I stared at him with wide eyes.

“You’re kidding,” was all I could say. He shook head and I continued, “But, you guys don’t look alike at all!” He just smiled weakly.

“We’re step brothers actually. His mum married my father. My mum died when she gave birth to me. Then my father was engaged to his mum, whose father died in a plane crash. Yeah, that’s about it.” He told me. I blinked my eyes a few times.

“I’m so sorry, Henry, about your mum.” I placed my hand on his. He laughed it off and said, “I don’t remember anything about her anyway.” I tried to smile back but it was so depressing. He was staring out into the long road ahead; waiting for his ride back home. I broke the silence and told him cheerfully, “I met your brother at one Student Leaders Conference held in L.A. around last year July. He was my partner.”

He turned to me and exclaimed, “Oh! Now I remember where I’ve seen you before! You took a picture with my brother during that conference right?” I nodded. He continued, “Yes, yes. That’s why you look so familiar to me. When he reached home, he told me about a girl from George Field High; you. He said you had the most creative ideas for the committee. But they rejected it because it uses up too much money. And you were debating with the committee president about it. It turned out a little ugly, I heard.” I blushed and covered my ears.

“Ah! Don’t remind me. I already had enough of my friends, teachers and principal mocking me about it.” He laughed, patted my back and said, “Don’t worry. I had much worst moments then you!” We then laughed together.

I stood up and said, “Hey, what time will your mum be picking you up?” He looked up to me.

“Around 5-6 pm. Why?”

I grinned. “Since you’re free, can you accompany me to the book store in Town? It’s new. There’s a book that I’m dying to buy.” I pleaded to him with imitated puppy looking eyes.

He shrugged and said, “Why not?”



To Be Continued ;)