Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 27

Lectures in school on Monday morning were by far a lot more boring than the previous week and Chemistry, the subject we had before lunchtime, was the worst of them all. Spending half the day with boredom was a completely different thing entirely from the way I had planned the day to be after the unexpected incident at Richard's party last weekend which almost severed the friendship between Ruth and Chloe who told me of their fight in a phone call that the same day the accident occurred. After hearing Chloe's side of the story, I resolved to refrain from having anything to do with Richard and focus on my studies as aunt would have wanted it if she had found out all that happened ever since the first time I started classes.

Better still, I had thought of helping Chloe to patch things up with Ruth and to maintain any sort relationship I had left with the girls who had my back ever since I knew them whilst struggling hard to get good grades and Chemistry was making it harder for me to cope with, thanks to the chemistry teacher whose efforts in making it difficult for the fresh year students that joined the class including myself, was far impressive than the teachers I had experienced back in Georgia. Just before lunchtime, he had divided the whole class in two groups and had all ten students including myself paired in two at the lab where he usually held his classes. He intently did this for everyone to partake fully in an experiment he was to prepare us for a quick test that he was planning to give the class on Friday of the new week. Each pair was given the necessary apparatus and beakers to conduct the experiment and I was at first partnered with a nerdy but intelligent guy with a funny nose, named Diego. Both of us sat comfortably at the back of the class and were fully engaged in injecting liquidized substances of hydroxyl chloride into each test tube which contained acidic solution of different pH level. Thankfully, I had a bit of idea of what the teacher wanted us to do and luckily, Diego had mixed the solutions pretty faster than others did.

As for Richard, he was paired with someone else at the front seat and I could clearly see the back of his red T-shirt staring blankly at everyone. He wore the same hefty goggles like the rest of us and he seemed to be more focused on what he was doing with the beakers in front of him.

"...And an acidic foam will issue out of your beaker with the addition of a little or more sodium carbonate", The teacher explained further as he walked to and fro in between our midst. He kept watching the entire class with the eye of an eagle, anxious to see if anyone was defaulting but every one of us was silent as ever. According to him, the chemical substances in the beaker weren't harmful and none of us had a lab coat on when applying the mixtures based on his instructions. I was about getting somewhere in my experiment when he called me from the front of the room.

"Hey...uh...Rosalie, right?", He called out to me but I didn't hear him the first time. Diego tapped me on the shoulder and I stopped what I was doing.

"Yes....", "I'm really sorry for interrupting your work but can you switch places with Jessica here, please? That's if you don't have a problem being stuck with someone popular", He said politely. I paused for a while thinking it over and glanced at Richard at the front seat. He looked back as well and saw me staring at him but he brought his head back to the front again without saying a word.

"I don't mind at all", I replied not too convinced of my decision.

"Great, you can come over....Jessica, please swap places with Rosalie and be quick about it", He ordered and grinned. Jessica made a face after she got up from her seat and reluctantly walked where I had sat down with Diego though it was clear to everyone that she wasn't happy with the teacher's decision while I went over to the front and sat down quietly in her place.

"That's better... You there, swap places with Mason....", He ordered pointing to another student in the middle row of the class. The student grumbled at his decision and trudged to replace Mason at the third seat in the front row but he didn't seem to care if Mason was not pleased being swapped with someone else he barely acquainted himself with. One after the other, he shuffled everyone in the entire class till he was satisfied with the arrangement.

"Alright...fellas, now for those with a new partner....you gotta help complete whatever lapses your new partners are battling to deal with", He said after everyone had sat down to continue the test and came in the midst of everybody through the aisle. Ironically, I wasn't in the mood for any discussion and he stealing glances at me, seems to know this. Richard surreptitiously kept stealing glances at me as we both settled down to carry out the experiment even when I didn't show any sign of being attracted to him. As he sat close, He seemed to be thinking about something but I wasn't ready for any chit chat after all that had happened because of him. When the teacher wasn't looking, he quickly took advantage of it and broke the silence between first before I could even realize his intentions.

"I know this may sound awkward but I apologize for what happened", He whispered pretending to twirl the test tube in circles with his right fingers. I didn't say anything even though I heard him and pushed the next beaker to him without uttering a word. He could sense that I was angry about something he knew too well had to do with him but he wasn't ready to give the conversation he started first.

"I can tell that you're upset and probably don't want to talk about it", "If you already knew that, why bring up the subject, huh?",

I asked rudely and evaded his appalled look.

"I'm just trying to make you feel better", I scoffed, "By apologizing?", "Isn't that supposed to help?", "You shouldn't be sorry", I mumbled and brushed ringlets of hair aside from my forehead which prevented it from coming in contact with the acidic substance in the test tube.

"But what Claire did-", "You weren't the culprit, right?", I questioned intrusively. He paused for a moment and was tongue-tied.

"I don't need your pity if that's how you feel", I added and briefly returned back to what I was doing before he interrupted me. He took some time to ruminate deeply about my negative response and continued our silent conversation. "I don't pity you...I'm just concerned....", "Don't be. Thanks but no thanks", I interrupted him once again before he could complete his statements. Then I mumbled something out of my lips but he overhead me. "You're just like everyone else",

I said to myself but he clearly heard me.

"No, I'm not...I'm way different...More different than you think", He stuttered in a careful way that didn't arouse any noise and added a bit of sodium carbonate into the solute he had mixed in one of the bigger beakers but disappointingly, it didn't foam like the teacher had said it would react.

He sighed softly and added more of the reactant into the solute.

"I thought that was true when I first met you but you already proved me wrong", "How come?", He asked and looked me straight on the face. I returned his look, peering back at him while searching for answers in his handsome visage particularly his bluish pupils which seem to question every bit of the opinion I earlier had about him.

"At the party, you just stood there by the pool like everybody else and watched me drowning to my death....", "You got the wrong idea...I...", "But that's what I saw. You must have thought it was fun to watch some random girl you barely knew trying to save herself from swallowing a lot of chlorine because she doesn't know how to swim",

I retorted fervently in a low voice. He could tell that I was agitated and glanced back to check if the teacher had taken notice of our private discussion only to find out that the teacher was saying something to Diego at the back of the class. He returned his head forward and resumed what he was doing with the beaker.

"It wasn't my intention to do nothing...", "And neither was it my intention to believe you", "I'm not lying. It happened so fast that I froze up like everybody else and believe me, it greatly caught me by surprise that it turned out to be you", "You really think I'd believe that?", His eyes widened with disbelief and I gave him the last tube meant to finalize the little experiment Richard and I had barely enough time to complete. He received it without complaints and placed it beside the other apparatus.

"It's up to you to believe it or not", "I don't", "Suit yourself then",

He responded. We returned back to mixing the liquids in the beaker and what was left for both of us to finish the experiment was for me to pass the last beaker containing the right liquidized catalyst to enable Richard to get the desirable result with the solution. Before I could pass it to him, the glass beaker accidentally slipped from my fingers and fell on the desk. It smashed as it disturbed everyone in the class and broke into several particles which ricochet off the desk straight into the air. A few pieces hit my face, almost blinding me by the eye while Richard was aghast and stunned to the marrow to see the last liquid meant to complete the boring experiment spill on the floor. Everyone looked in our direction including the teacher who caught on with Richard checking to see if I had bruises all over my face and spoke from where he stood beside Diego at the back.

"You okay?", He asked with every bit of concern in his face but I withdrew away from him when he tried to touch my face.

"I'm fine..., it's just a minor cut, that's all", I firmly retorted, rubbing my slight bruise on my left cheek.

"Everybody back to your beakers!...... I have my eyes on you, Richard", He yelled aloud to the other students and strolled to the front.

"So what have our popular athlete been up to, huh?", He said as soon as he came to where Richard and I were seated, unable to withstand the shock of losing what would end the experiment for the day. "Nothing much...", Richard replied evasively and began gathering the broken pieces of the beaker to one side.

"It looks like you've been messing around with the beakers, haven't you, Jefferson?", "I'm really sorry about the mess I caused; we only made a mistake with the last acid we needed to complete the experiment", "Is that so?", "And now it's all wasted", Richard added not too concerned if his response was offending the teacher or not. The teacher folded his hands across his chest and I saw that he was definitely not amused by the unexpected accident.

"There's only one possible explanation for this accident to occur", "What are you implying here, Mr. Wilkinson?",

Richard asked and this time, Richard looked at him in the face.

"That you've been fooling around with this lady here, instead of getting the solution ready", "You're highly mistaken, sir. We didn't do anything wrong", "Like she said, it was only an accident", "No, I say it was other the way around", He looked squarely at Richard and didn't flinch when Richard scoffed.

"Mr. Wilkinson, Trust me, this is nothing but a clear misconception", "You and I clearly know that's not true. I won't penalize you for causing trouble in my class because I didn't catch you red-handed.....", "But-", "Let me finish. This is the first warning, boy, if you keep chit chatting with the girls in my class, I'll cut you off without hesitation and your reputation can absolutely do nothing about it...", He said, still folding his hands across his chest. Richard wasn't the only one struck dumb by his threat but everyone else in the class including me as well. The bell for recess rang unexpectedly after a brief moment of silence got everyone staring transfixed at him.

"We clear on that, Jefferson?", "Yes....Mr. Wilkinson", Richard mumbled and shuddered slightly. Then Mr. Wilkinson turned to face the entire class most likely to end the session which had lasted for over an hour since the lesson began. "Class dismissed and I look forward to your performances in our Friday test, especially you, Jefferson....",

He sneered at Richard and stopped abruptly when everyone had barely left their seats.

"And you too as well, Miss Thomason", He added briefly and glared at me before leaving the class first. Then we all followed afterwards till we all left for lunchtime.

***

Lunchtime happened to be the perfect chance for Chloe and Amanda to fulfill their promise of showing me around the school premise. A promise she made the week before but we weren't able to cover much ground in our tour in each of the facilities the school had which turned out to be better and broader than what I had expected and the ones I had seen way back in Georgia particularly the school Theater which was the second I had seen in person and the biggest I had seen so far in my entire life. It housed quite enough seats for the school to hold an orchestra event that could amass a larger gathering of people to be entertained by the lovely harmonic sounds of musical instruments.

We met no one there except for the drama group that were already past their first segment of auditioning teenagers for their drama event they had planned for the school this year and we didn't wait behind long enough to hear the rest part of Maggie yelling at a few of those who signed up for the drama club, from where she sat down in her seats beside some of the executives of the club, below the raised platform which served as the stage for the performers to be interviewed by the Judges. It was apparently clear to us that she was part of the judges and also a core member of the drama club based on what I learnt from my two escorts who knew her very well to have known that Maggie had shouldered much of the burden of the club the entire previous school semesters.

The school gymnasium was the last building we had to end our tour for the day and there weren't anyone lurking in the arena when we got there except for some of the female gymnasts working out on their routine near the at one corner of the hall and the empty seats that were meant for the audience to watch the game in the hall. We could have left since the entire building was completely empty and quiet but Amanda convinced us to rest our legs in the upper row of the seats after walking the school grounds for an hour into the next period when recess was supposed to end.

"You got guts, you know that", Amanda said after I told her of what transpired between Richard and me. I sat in the middle with Chloe sitting by my left while we enjoyed the tranquil silence of the hall. Though the interior part of the gymnasium was a bit darker for us to see, we felt cozy silently watching the oblivious athletes repeating the same stunts over and over again.

"What do you mean?", I replied with a question and took a sip from the plastic water bottle I brought along with me during the walk around the school.

"I didn't expect you would say that him....I mean Richard of all people", "Me neither", Chloe added with an even bit of more surprise and patted me on the back.

"Guys, it is quite obvious that I was upset about what happened at the party", "And you took it out all on him", "Yep, honestly, I didn't want to but he asked for it", "Now that's mean", "You're free to call it what you want", "And come to think of it, I heard from Chloe that he saved you from drowning a couple of weeks ago before the school resumed for the session, why didn't he do the same at the party last week?", "Frankly speaking, I have no idea if he really was the one who saved me or not", Chloe cut in,

"Maybe he wasn't the one who saved you", "I'm not lying. I can still vividly recall what I saw that day the incident happen", Chloe chuckled.

"Really?", "I guess so", "That says it all. No wonder you were into him the moment you first saw him. I bet Lori would be mad at you if she hears about it", Amanda said and drank from her smoothie.

"Lori? Who's that?", I asked curiously but Amanda looked puzzled as soon as she heard what I said and peered suspiciously at Chloe who looked the other way.

"You haven't told her yet, haven't you?", She said after giving Chloe a long stare.

"No", "Told me what?", This time, it was my turn to look at Chloe but Chloe didn't say a word in spite of the fact that it was clear that both of them knew something I didn't know or perhaps something Chloe didn't want me to know.

"Are you gonna play dumb or are you gonna tell her who Lori is?", Amanda questioned again taking another sip from her smoothie.

"It best if you don't wanna know her", "Come on, girl, the school isn't wide enough for them not to cross paths. She'll still find out eventually", "Chloe, is there something I need to know?", I inquired further but Chloe remained adamant and unwilling to say anything like I had thought she would.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell her, I would", "Go ahead then", "I will...", Amanda remarked not intimidated by Chloe's reluctance to tell me the truth. Amanda went ahead without giving the slightest thought of the implications like Chloe did "Lori is Richard ex-girlfriend and one of the best known cheerleader in school since she started the try outs with the cheerleading team a couple of years ago", Amanda narrated while I listened quietly.

"Apart from the athletic team, this hall is practically her territory and the...", "The school stadium", Chloe rejoined and rested her back on the seat with her hands crossed. It was clear that she wasn't interested in talking about her for some reason best known to Amanda herself and I didn't want to pry into something that seemed personal to her.

"His ex-girlfriend, that means they have broken up, right?", "Yes, dumb-head, that's what it obviously mean", "She also has friends in the athletic team", "Friends, you mean those girls training over there?", "Yes, but not all of them", Amanda answered and we all looked in the direction of the gymnasts.

"They are really good at showing off their skills but why are they so few?", I was still fascinated at the acrobatic stunts the gymnasts were pulling off in the training area.

"So far coming, a lot of females haven't really shown interests in acrobatics even though the principal made an incentive to train those that neither have the skill or potential to learn", Chloe explained.

"That's a bummer", "If you think so, why don't you try out? You can't swim remember", Amanda suggested twirling her smoothie that had gone empty "Me? Acrobatics isn't my thing", "But you can learn how to swim. Give it some thought, who knows? Perhaps you got some skills you haven't realized yet", Chloe rejoined and we all went silent again.

"So...you guys didn't mention anything about Lori at the cafeteria because...", "We didn't wanna be the one to weaken your hopes in Richard and Chloe here still feels the same. To me, every girl has a right to chase a guy that got dumped by his ex", "You're implying that Richard was dumped by Lori", "Rosalie, please don't force words into my mouth. I didn't say that and that wasn't absolutely what I meant to say", "Well...if you want to know, here's your chance to find out", Chloe intruded out of the blue and gestured at a group of boys clad in sporty outfits, jogging into the gymnasium from the exit except for the coach trailing behind them. Apparently, it was the athletic team on a practice session which obviously was under the directives of the coach whose whistle kept stuck in between his lips as he blew the whistle repeatedly to usher the boys in for a round of swimming.

All three of us watched quietly from our seats as Richard and his teammates quickly assembled beside the pool in two groups of eight facing each other to kick-start what they had come to do. Judging by his cap and his tight-fitted black T- Shirt as well as his red shorts, he was the coach of the athletic team and he found his way to the midst of the two groups after his team had arrayed themselves facing each other.

"All right, listen up, ladies. We already know the drill and we got less time on our side, so start swimming your ass out!", The coach yelled and blew his whistle. The shrill sound resounded into the spacious hall and the once quiet hall was turned upside down into a hellish pandemonium of sturdy boys pulling off their T-shirt off but left behind their shorts which stuck tightly against their waist before diving into the larger pool consecutively at the sound of the whistle since there were two pools reserved for both genders of the team in the spacious hall.

"Should we wait or...?", Amanda said after we got fascinated watching the athletes display their manly strength of swimming in pairs to the opposite end of the pool.

"I think we should leave", "That's a surprise. I thought you would love to watch Richard play with his friends", "I'd love to but I don't want him to see me here", I replied and got up to leave. Chloe followed suit leaving Amanda a bit disappointed that we were about leaving the fun behind way too early than what she had thought.

She sighed and got up afterwards.

"As much as I want to see naked boys with albs, I think it is best if we go back to class", Amanda said trailing behind us with the empty smoothie in one hand. Chloe led us to the training arena as we descended down the aisle of stairs to the bottom arena where the boys were getting themselves wet with the water. We decided to take another route where the female gymnast were also busy getting their routines better to avoid coming in contact with the boys who were engrossed in their never ending swimming in the pool under the supervisory eyes of the coach who stood with his hands folded at the edge of the pool whilst he observed the lapses of his team.

He was not too concerned about the females and it seemed to us that his focus was on the drills the boys were engaging themselves in to the point that he, apart from Richard and his teammates, didn't notice that the three of us walked past him by the left flank of the broader pool before we exited out of the building.