Picture Picture

Chapter 4: Under the tree

4 Under the tree

I hate him! I hate him! I hate him! These words circulated Nicky’s head. She didn’t know how far she’d walked and how long she had been walking. She didn’t even pay mind where her angry steps were taking her. All she wanted was to get away from it all. Even away from Iggy’s sympathetic eyes.

This is the worst day of my high school life! She thought. No! This is second worst to the day I flunked a Trigo exam most of my classmates aced that even that dimwitted Josh did way better than me. It was because of that exam that I nearly got toppled over by John Michael on the first grading—that grade-eating monster!

Crap! And then it hit her. I am the grade-eating monster more than John Michael after all. Even now that my high school social life is on the brink of ruins, I still keep thinking on grades. Who am I kidding here? I practically don’t have a social life to begin with. My social life is as lame as some dumb public high school’s idiot’s grade in Physics. And it has practically becoming more evident as I had just used grade as a metaphor to it.

Oh, well, I actually got grades as my life I’m practically already married to it.

Nicky nearly stumbled on a small rock as she followed a narrow pathway bordered with tall grasses and wild plants. Her eyes lingered on the yellow wildflowers for a moment. She realized she was already a bit far from the school backyard. She was already treading outside school, passed the torn-up wire fence. She didn’t mind. She kicked off the rock, and it flew a few feet away in the bushes.

Wait! Another thought hit her. Just wait a minute. This is actually a lesson that I had to learn the hard way. Oh! I get it now. A smile started to form on her face. I really had to keep my focus on the prize—on the big goal—to be the valedictorian. And because, I got astray, got distracted, I got stumped. I stumbled. Her eyes were on where the rock had landed, hidden by the grasses.

This is what I got for succumbing to peer pressure. I am not like everybody else. I don’t want to conform with everybody else. I have greater things ahead of me. I have a great future, shining like a beacon. I won’t let such messy break-up get to me. I won’t crumble to this. I’m bigger than this.

She grabbed a stalk of a yellow wildflower as she went on walking.

“DO you think we should wake her up?” Nicky heard a grouchy male voice.

“No,” replied another male voice.

“But she shouldn’t be here,” said the first male, sounding more agitated.   

“Don’t mind her,” replied the other male, his voice, low and even, was quite the opposite of the first.

“How did she even get here,” complained the first male with voice getting louder and even grouchier. “This is our hide-out place. We can’t have her here.”

“Listen. She snores.”

The voices suddenly died down. After a moment, there was laughter. 

“I think she even has a bit of saliva dripping from her mouth,” said the second male in his almost apathetic tone.

“Really?” Nicky heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her. After a moment, the footsteps retreated. “How do we get rid of her,” came the same grumpy voice of the first male. Then there was a sigh, a resigned long sigh.

Nicky thought she smelled some cigarettes. Suddenly, she stirred from her sleep. The voices of the two males are getting louder. They seemed to be talking about Josh and Annie, and Nicky even heard the mention of her name. It couldn’t just be a dream. The smell was hogging on her nostrils. She coughed and woke up.