Bernie knocked on the open door of the Teacher's Office and questioned, "May I come in?" He slightly peeked over the doorframe to show his face to the staff.
"Yes Bernadette, come in," Mr. Robinson said and held up a hand, gesturing him in to walk in.
Bernie tapped Nadia's shoulder and walked inside, the girl followed, closely behind. The teacher's office was a spacious room with mini-cubicles for every teacher in the highschool division. The cubicles were decorated according to their owner's preferences and it did not take one to be Sherlock Holmes to guess that Mr. Robinson liked spiderman.
His cubicle, on the inside, was lined with red paint and yellow comic sans lettering of famous lines. He had a red and black coffee mug beside his desktop and tiny spiderman stickers pasted in plain sight. His mousepad was a black mat with a silver spider and the pillow resting against the wall of the cubicle had the comicbook Peter Parker's face on it.
Though Mr. Robinson's disapproving glare at Nadia made her believe that he did not share Peter Parker's sense of humour.
Beside his cubicle was Ginerva Paisely's cubicle, with no decorations, just succulents and a bonsai cluttering the limited space. She did not look up at Nadia as Mr. Robertson began:
"Thank you Bernadette for bringing her here. I did not expect a good girl like Nadia to pull a prank like this, I must say, I am disappointed," Mr. Robertson shook his head.
"It wasn't just Nadia, teacher, I was there as well. I told here where the keys were hidden. It was all my idea," Bernie declared before Nadia could even open her mouth to string a sentence.
"Lying will get you no one's loyalty, Bernadette Louise," Ms. Paisely said, voice cold and chilly, unlike the tone she used at home, "I know you were with Marilyn in your classroom. I was the one who reported Nadia and I she should suffer the consequences of her own actions."
Nadia's jaw clenched as she looked up at her mother. Ms. Paisely did not turn to look at Nadia; she merely stared at her computer screen and kept typing away.
"Write a 1000 word apology essay, Bernadette, I am disappointed in you," Mr. Robinson tsked, "And you," he looked at Nadia, "What were you thinking?! Breaking into the Broadcasting Room like its your playground, creating rumours, do you know that the student council was unable to have their lunch because they were busy searching for your made-up fight? That is very irresponsible of you, Nadia."
"I apologise," Nadia said through gritted teeth, head hung low and hands squirming behind her back.
"You're a good kid, just make sure to not inconvenience anyone, okay? Now write a 3000 word apology essay. You will recite it in the morning assembly tomorrow," Mr. Robinson sighed as he gestured the kids to leave.
"Yes Mr. Robinson," the children bowed and left the office.
Nadia dragged her feet as she made her way back to the class. Her heart was being weighed down not by the weight of disappointment in her mother's eyes but by her words, 'I was the one who reported you.' Nadia knew for a fact that her mother would never report Bernie or Ryker if they were to ever land in a similar situation.
Her shoulders slumped, mind burdened by reasons and possibilities.
"Did it work?" Berine asked. He walked by Nadia's side with his back bent so that his face could be by her's as he whispered in her ear, "Tell me it worked."
Nadia turned to look at him and gently flicked his nose with her finger. "It did," she said and smiled, "I don't fail at conversations."
"Cheeky brat," Bernie snorted and stood up straight, "Tell me if there's something I can do to help," he offered.
Nadia shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. Maybe help me understand why my mum secretly hates me?"
"Hey! Ms. P doesn't hate you!" Bernie exclaimed in her defence, "She just wants you to learn good lessons and be a better person!"
"Mhm," Nadia hummed and walked inside the classroom. She greeted her classmates as she walked all the way back, to her seat, and plopped herself ungracefully. On her desk, in front, was placed a periwinkle lunch box over open books, leaking oil onto the pages. It would leave an everlasting mark, if deepened, forever blurring out of the words on the page and a few after them.
Nadia stared at the stain, silently, while Marilyn and Bernie stared at her.
Ryker ran inside, smelling like fresh mint, as he took a seat beside her. His eyes followed her line of sight and tsked at the vision of yet another book being destroyed by Nadia Paisely's actions. He ranted something about Nadia's inherent carelessness as he picked up the lunch box and wiped its leaking sides with tissue papers before putting it inside his desk. He blotted the oil off the paper, still rambling something Nadia was not paying attention to.
Her eyes were focused on his fingers gently pressing the oil out of the paper as best as he could. The bell rang again, a teacher walked inside, everyone stood up in greeting and the class began.
Something was being written on the blackboard but Nadia was not able to process it. There was a ringing in her ears, which made her unable to focus on anything. Memories flooded back.
"I just want my daughter to be the best, you know it." Ms. Paisely said, holding her daughter's head down in front of the Principal.
"No matter who starts a fight, we should always be there to end it," she said as she watched Nadia write an apology application for a fight she never started but ended by agressively pinching the bullies which caused them to have temporary scars.
"Apologise and move on, Nadia," her mother had said.
At least, this time, the fault was hers.
A finger snapped in her face. Nadia blinked out of her reverie and turned to face Ryker. He was staring at her, wide eyed, concern laced in his interlaced brows.
"You good, bud?"
"Mhm, brilliant," Nadia grinned, "Why are you talking like a coach though?" She whispered, laughing.
"Doesn't matter," Ryker brushed it off, "I've got my hands on Mario Kart 8 and Destiny, wanna play this afternoon?"
Instantly, Nadia's eyes brightened up, "Destiny?! Woah! How did you get it?!" She whispered excitedly, body subtly shaking with happiness.
On the other side of his desk, hidden from Nadia's sight, Ryker sent an emergency text: 'Antoni, brng ne M K 8 & Destiny before school ends.'
"Ehh, some upperclassmen, eh, doesn't matter how, the point is— you're so losing in Mario Kart!!" Ryker winked and sat back straight, knowing her riled her enough to distract her from her botherations.
"How dare you!" Nadia whisper-shouted and pulled her chair closer to his.
"It is what it is," Ryker shrugged, a smug smile lacing his mouth.
"You're the loser! I've only lost twice!" Nadia stomped her foot on his, gently.
Bernie turned back to glare at them, his frown screaming, 'Shut up before the teacher makes you!'
Nadia grinned apologetically and nodded, 'Yes, yes, sorry,' her crinkled eyes conveyed.
'Aren't you seeing my pain here?!' Ryker's exasperated frown begged for attention, nostrils flared in demand of justice.
'You'll live,' Nadia's eye roll conveyed.
Bernie nodded in agreement.
"You three, on the back! Stand up and move out of my class! Right now!" The teacher shouted, alarming the trio enough to jolt up in a guilty stance. "And you!" the teacher pointed the chalk at Marilyn, "You stand outside as well!"
"W—what, wh-why me?! I did not do anything!" Marilyn protested, looking around at the three standing people surrounding her.
"They were distrubing the class and you did not inform me about it. Disappointing," the teacher all but spat, "Out now! All four of you! I don't have time to waste!"
Marilyn went pale as paper as she got up, legs slightly shaky and breathing a mess. She could feel the stares of those around her, staring at her, judging her imperfections. She was standing out— Marilyn's spiral was interrupted by a nudge from Bernie's book.
'Move forward,' his wide eyes said.
Marilyn turned and saw Nadia smiling at her.
"Yes sir," Ryker mocked a salute and picked up the oily book. Nadia, Bernie and Marilyn followed suit with their books in their arms as they walked out of the classroom from the backdoor, head hung low.
Ryker grinned as they stood in a line, unintentionally in order of their height with Nadia as the smallest on the right, Marilyn on Bernie's right and Ryker on his left. Their shoulders pressed together as Ryker nudged Bernie who in turn poked Marilyn and Nadia. The shorter dark haired girl paid back with a nudge of her own, until the four of them were going left and right like an accordion, biting their tongues to stop the giggling from reaching inside.
The sun was high up in the sky, shining on their faces with it's slanting rays. It was warm again, heating up the moment as they stayed close, finding ways to laugh even during a punishment.
There was nothing to be embarassed of, Marilyn realised as she existed in the middle of Nadia and Bernie. Punishments in her previous school were frowned upon, laughed at and looked down on. They were a blot on the student's very existence, probably, she did feel like it though. Being singled out, looked at with eyes witholding questions, knowing their minds were conjuring up stories.
"Rock, paper, scissors! Ha! Marieeeeeeee lost!"
Marilyn was summoned out of her thoughts by a flick on her forehead. She seethed at the sudden attack, glaring at Nadia.
"What was that for!?" Marilyn whispered.
"You lost, losers get flicked. Now, three, two, one. Rock, paper, scissors! Oho! Bernie lost!!" Nadia laughed and gestured him to get down to her eye level.
Bernie grumbled harsh nothings under his breath as he bent down to Nadia's level. She flicked him hard enough to make him physically flinch, eliciting a loud snort from Marilyn and another scolding from the teacher.
"Nadia's a man with her fingers," Ryker laughed to himself as he looked at the 'You Lose' title card on the game screen in front of him. They were at the Ranger Shelter wherein, over the years, Ryker had contributed a lot of gadgets to make their time after school relatively better.
"I dare you to fight me with these muscles," Nadia grinned and wiggled her fingers around the 'You Win' title card on her screen. "Sucks to suck, you still suck," she took a tongue out and mocked him.
"This is unfair competition, Bern, I am up against a beast! Are you going to let this monster roam free?!" Ryker shouted and clapped his hands in Bernie's face.
The brunette's eyes were glued to a Filipino drama on his screen, his senses lost to the world around him.
"I guess your knight in shining armour cannot protect you now! Muwahahahahahaha!" Nadia cackled and stood up, doing the king-kong chest beat.
Ryker shook his head and looked away, "How are you never embarassed of being yourself," he tsked, "One's loose in the head and the other's lost in a screen. I am surrounded by weirdos."
"Yeah bet you'd prefer the track team more, wouldn't you," Nadia snorted and sat back onto the red cushions.
"I mean— where's the lie?" Ryker placed a hand over his brows, making an umbrella for his eyes as he looked around.
"Our friendship is a lie," Nadia grumbled, "I need to write an essay now. Let's play Destiny tomorrow." She rolled off the cushion and slithered over the carpeted floor (curtsy Ryker's neighbour's yard sale) to reach the schoolbag on the bed.
"Should I bring you some chips?" Ryker asked, his eyes following her lazy movements.
"Na-uh, bring me a new member instead. Only the club can heal my soul now," Nadia exhaled and took out the papers to begin writing.
Ryker shook his head and looked at Bernie. The brunette would act giddy one moment, look scared the other and whisper shout after yet another moment. His eyes followed every frame with such unblinking trance, one wouldn't believe if they were told that it was Bernie's sixth time watching that drama from start to finish.
"Which one do you want next? I'll get it for you," Ryker offered as he scooted by Bernie's side, dragging the cushion along with him.
"Mhm, I'll send you a text, don't disturb me now," Bernie waved a hand in Ryker's face and brushed him off.
Ryker rolled his eyes, pressed a hand on the back of Bernie's head and shoved it into the red cushion on the carpet. A loud yelp was Bernie's best act of defence as he sat with his butt plopped up in the air and his head on the ground.
"What the heck dude?!" Bernie snapped though his voice was muffled by the cushion.
"Wiggle it," Ryker whispered.
Bernie wiggled his raised butt, left, right and circular as Ryker said, "Nadia, look!" Bernie moved his lower back as if he were writing their names with his butt.
Nadia broke into a genuine laughter which continued into the next day, at the assembly stage, when she walked over with her apology letter in hand, following the broad back of Ryker Cordelio and the dainty back of Bernadette Louise.
They too had a paper each in their hands as they stood in front of the microphone, facing a crowd of classmates and seniors. Nadia stood beside them, relatively calmer as she focused her peripherals on her friends' sweaty faces.
"Ahem, I, uh, I am Bernadette Louise, a junior in section A and I am going to recite my apology letter with—" Bernie took a step sideways to let Ryker takeover the microphone.
"I am Ryker, Junior, Section A."
"—yeah, we, I am writing this letter to reflect over my mistake of jumping over the school gates during the middle of the night and pretending to be a cat—"
"I was pretending to be a lion, because we are family, yeah," Ryker interjected.
Bernie gave him a sharp side-eye, "—that is, until, the watchman caught us and punished us."
Ryker nudged Bernie to the side as he took over and said, "We uh, also committed to the act by dressing up accordingly. If anyone's intrested in the pictures, Bernadette Louise in a cat costume will sell for $20 each!"
Nadia burst into laughter along with the rest of the students. Bernie's face flushed and fumed while the teachers stared, scandalised by the children on the stage. It is safe to say no one remembered Nadia's offence and apology after Bernie and Ryker had taken the stage to attempt to elaborate in great detail about how a cat and a lion would share tea from a cup of same size— for which they were dragged off the stage and punished to run 30 laps of the school grounds before the end of first period.
It was moments like these, Nadia realised, looking out of the class window, that she would never truly be alone.
Ryker merely took it as extra practice while Bernie moped and jogged, attempting to keep a straight face when his insides were on fire. His body begged for a break but his mind continued to move forward. For everytime they would cross the south-west of the track, they could see Nadia waving at them from the classroom. It was obligatory to smile and wave back.
Marilyn looked at Nadia looking Ryker and Bernie. She did not understand why someone would go to such lengths just to recieve smiles and waves. Her jaw clenched in realisation — she had missed out on a childhood with them. No matter how close she stayed, she would always be a step behind, lacking in understanding.
Was this how all friendships worked?
Then why was not everyone else acting like Ryker or Bernie or Nadia?
Nadia looked away as soon as the boys ran ahead and smiled at Marilyn. "They're so dumb, right? They'll hang this over my head for a lifetime," she snorted.
'A lifetime,' Marilyn heard. She sucked in a breath. "Nothing's more uncertain than a lifetime," she said.