XIII | Rain

❦

'Eat dinner with me.'

Rowan stares at me
with her expressionless

black eyes.

'No.'

But the tips of her ears

are angry red.

She continues reading her Bible.

She's sitting under the
rowan tree

like the first day we met,

reading her book

like the first day we met.

I crouch
so our eyes touch.

She holds the book up like a shield.

'Hey Clyde!'

A female voice.
There's some giggling.

'Come on,' I urge Rowan.

The rowan leaves above us laugh.

'Are you scared of me?'

Footsteps.

'Clyde!'

Nora and two other girls
wave at me from the corridor.

I hold out a finger.
Wink.

'Let's talk later?
'Project work stuff.'
An eye-roll.

Shuhui and Pretti.
They know me from somewhere

didn't know they know Nora.

Nora smiles.
'We'll be at the canteen.'

I sit next to Rowan under
the rowan tree.

I watch students leaving
as Rowan reads her book
and call out

when I recognise someone.

'Go away,' Rowan says,
'there's no project work to discuss.'

'Why liddat? I'm trying to apologise.'

She looks up at me then,
and sighs.

'You're not sorry.'

I grit my teeth.
Angry.

She's just pretending to be holy.
I know you're not.

'How do you know?
'You won't even look at me.'

The tips of her ears
turn red.

She looks up.
I see my reflection in her eyes.

There's a faint touch
of raindrops on her skin

like powder.

I want to kiss her again.

Make her properly mad.
Make her regret messing with me.

Fire and brimstone.

Let's see
who'll
fall first.

I blink. 'I'm sorry.'

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]