Written: Saturday. March 14, 2020.
The morning went by, and there was nothing Toby could think of other than meeting Mara on Recess. There had been two subjects in the morning, which was more than what the students could honestly handle at that time. Especially on Monday Mornings. Toby kept tinkering in his seat, vandalizing his armchair, rapidly tapping his feet, and making beats on his lap. He told June about what he and Mara talked about outside of the classroom, hopefully to get whatever’s causing him to be jittery to come out of his system. June just silently listened to him talk about Mara. Until she noticed the empty seats nearby.
“Where do you think they are?” June asked him. It took a whole two seconds before Toby noticed her question. June pointed toward the vacant seats.
“Maybe they just stayed up all night playing games.” Toby answered, proceeding to click his ballpoint pen as fast as he could.
June rolled her eyes. “Come on. All three of them at the same time?”
Toby gave her a shrug. “I’ve seen them playing online more than usual this weekend. I didn’t go online myself, but I could see when my friends in-game are online. Is this making sense to you by the way? I know you’re not that much of a gamer or anything.”
“I play… games… “ June straightened herself, but noticed Toby’s sarcastic nod. “Okay, fine. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Toby chuckled a bit. “It’s like when your on social, and you see the people who have that small green dot on their picture. It’s kind of like that in games too. You get notified of things.”
June nodded slowly. “Why didn’t you hang out with them in this online game… that’s such a weird sentence I never thought I’d say.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.” Toby said to her. “I didn’t really have the time, cause of Omnius being what he is.”
“An awesome friend?” Omnius’s muffled voice came from inside Toby’s backpack.
“… Sure.” Toby answered him, looked at June and shook his head. “I walked him along our village in the morning. And he walked his frog. It was sort of a weird picture to look at. People kept asking me questions about him, and I just gave them the usual routine of saying that he’s this new robot toy from Japan that knows how to speak. And then they say, ‘but why does he sound like a twelve year-old? And I say, ‘Man, these toys don’t come with English instructions.’ And then they’d scratch their heads and leave. Then Macrodon would croak them goodbye… “
Both of them just started laughing. Mr. Summers asked them what was funny, so they apologized and told him that it won’t happen again, so Summers just went back to writing something on the board.
When the laughing finally settled down, June noticed that Toby wasn’t tinkering in his seat anymore, and remembered the odd scene that happened earlier that morning. “You really think its her? Mara, I mean.”
“I think so. I mean… she knew stuff, June. She knew things Mara would know. Korriavania wouldn’t know the stuff Mara told me awhile ago.”
“She didn’t say that much, really.” June told him. “Sure. She told you that she knew about the fire, she knew about you not being in school on Friday. Who do you think knows that, too? And what about the punches she gave you? You said that it actually hurt.”
“For the things I said to her in the past, those punches were far from what I deserve from her. I told her that she had to stay away from me, and that this wasn’t gonna work out between the two of us — “
June tried cutting him off, “You’re letting your emotions dictate your actions, Toby. You have to analyze what’s happening right now, and stop seeing things the way you want to see it — “
Toby cut her off just as firmly, “Which is exactly why I said those things to her back then… cause that was the day after I had the nightmare.” June’s expression showed exactly what he had expected to see. “You think I would just openly tell someone to get away from me without much explanation as to why?”
“I didn’t know — “ June started. Then the bell school bell rang, and stopped her from saying more.
“Forget it.” Toby got up from his seat. “I gotta go.”
“Toby — “
“I said it’s fine!” Toby trailed off out of the classroom.
June tried to catch up to him, but was stopped by someone who held her by her wrist. She looked back, and saw Amanda. Tom and Drew were standing behind her. “Where have you guys been?”
“No time for that now.” Amanda let go of her wrist. “Where was Toby running off to?”
“He was gonna see her.”
“Her who? Mara?”
“Yeah…why?”
Amanda and Tom looked at Drew. All three of them nodded at each other. “We were right.”
“Right about what?” June asked them. “What’s going on?”
Drew faced June. “We have to get to them. Right now.”
The cafeteria wasn’t that much packed during Recess time. Students only had thirty minutes to get down from their buildings, get in line, and there’s also the factor of having to choose which type of food you were going to get. There was a French Fries Station placed outside of the cafeteria, several booths that gave out all of these different viands of food to choose from which were too expensive for the average student to pay for. There was also a Burger stand that took just about twenty five minutes to fry a single patty and the remaining five minutes to eat the hot meal while in the midst of walking fast to get back to the classroom. This being a Catholic School, they’ve refrained from selling any junk food, because for some reason they think it brings out the devil in the young-lings; something like that.
The cafeteria was the main place to go to whenever Recess and Lunch time came. The first thing you’d notice when going inside were the Sisters. Almost 80 Percent of the staff in Catholic Schools consisted of these Sisters, so it was no surprise that some of them were also tasked with having to serve and prepare the food for the students. They didn’t really have much variation when it came to their menu. You’d usually find viands like Sinigang, or Adobo, or even Mushroom Gravy Burger Steaks. The Burger Steaks almost always ran out immediately after the metallic trays have been opened up. There was just something with the gravy that seemed to get students wanting more. They’d often ask the Sisters to add some more gravy. Some of the regular costumers have already developed a kind of strategy that would get the younger Sisters to give them more. They’d give out compliments, or say a funny joke, or use their natural charms on these Sisters, and the Sisters would almost always fall victim to this jinx.
Toby rarely bought food in the cafeteria, since his mother brought him his lunch everyday. But when days come where his mother can’t bring him food, he’d often try to get to the Mushroom Gravy Burger Steaks, cause that meal was the least expensive out of all the available meals of the day. If he had saved up for a rainy day, or was feeling rich at the time, Toby would definitely go for Sinigang, his favorite meal. Something about the right amount of sour taste in the Sinigang is what makes it so good to eat. Even the soup was just enough for a good meal. Just pour it over some rice, and you’re good to go.
But none of that was in Toby’s mind right now. He looked around for a bit, trying to find where Mara was. She wasn’t in her usual spot inside of the cafeteria. Her friends were there, but he knew well enough not to approach them at all. He wasn’t sure if they’ve gotten over what he did to her. He noticed they were looking at him, so he quickly turned around to face the other way.
As he does so, Toby immediately bumps heads with someone. “Ouch!” He exclaimed, and rubbed the part of his head that got hit. He looked at who he bumped into, and saw Mara. “Oh, it’s you!”
“You have be careful next time!” Mara yelled, rubbing her head just as he did. As she looked up, she noticed who she was speaking to. “Oh… it’s just you.” She stopped rubbing her head, and started walking towards her friends seated by their usual spot.
“Hey!” Toby called out, and walked toward her.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Mara took a few steps back and raised her hands toward him. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean? You said to meet you on Recess.”
Mara’s head turned, “… What are you talking about?”
“You said… “ Toby’s chest started pounding. He started breathing irregularly as the walls started moving around him. His vision got dark. It wasn’t her.
The morning went by, and there was nothing Toby could think of other than meeting Mara on Recess. There had been two subjects in the morning, which was more than what the students could honestly handle at that time. Especially on Monday Mornings. Toby kept tinkering in his seat, vandalizing his armchair, rapidly tapping his feet, and making beats on his lap. He told June about what he and Mara talked about outside of the classroom, hopefully to get whatever’s causing him to be jittery to come out of his system. June just silently listened to him talk about Mara. Until she noticed the empty seats nearby.
“Where do you think they are?” June asked him. It took a whole two seconds before Toby noticed her question. June pointed toward the vacant seats.
“Maybe they just stayed up all night playing games.” Toby answered, proceeding to click his ballpoint pen as fast as he could.
June rolled her eyes. “Come on. All three of them at the same time?”
Toby gave her a shrug. “I’ve seen them playing online more than usual this weekend. I didn’t go online myself, but I could see when my friends in-game are online. Is this making sense to you by the way? I know you’re not that much of a gamer or anything.”
“I play… games… “ June straightened herself, but noticed Toby’s sarcastic nod. “Okay, fine. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Toby chuckled a bit. “It’s like when your on social, and you see the people who have that small green dot on their picture. It’s kind of like that in games too. You get notified of things.”
June nodded slowly. “Why didn’t you hang out with them in this online game… that’s such a weird sentence I never thought I’d say.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.” Toby said to her. “I didn’t really have the time, cause of Omnius being what he is.”
“An awesome friend?” Omnius’s muffled voice came from inside Toby’s backpack.
“… Sure.” Toby answered him, looked at June and shook his head. “I walked him along our village in the morning. And he walked his frog. It was sort of a weird picture to look at. People kept asking me questions about him, and I just gave them the usual routine of saying that he’s this new robot toy from Japan that knows how to speak. And then they say, ‘but why does he sound like a twelve year-old? And I say, ‘Man, these toys don’t come with English instructions.’ And then they’d scratch their heads and leave. Then Macrodon would croak them goodbye… “
Both of them just started laughing. Mr. Summers asked them what was funny, so they apologized and told him that it won’t happen again, so Summers just went back to writing something on the board.
When the laughing finally settled down, June noticed that Toby wasn’t tinkering in his seat anymore, and remembered the odd scene that happened earlier that morning. “You really think its her? Mara, I mean.”
“I think so. I mean… she knew stuff, June. She knew things Mara would know. Korriavania wouldn’t know the stuff Mara told me awhile ago.”
“She didn’t say that much, really.” June told him. “Sure. She told you that she knew about the fire, she knew about you not being in school on Friday. Who do you think knows that, too? And what about the punches she gave you? You said that it actually hurt.”
“For the things I said to her in the past, those punches were far from what I deserve from her. I told her that she had to stay away from me, and that this wasn’t gonna work out between the two of us — “
June tried cutting him off, “You’re letting your emotions dictate your actions, Toby. You have to analyze what’s happening right now, and stop seeing things the way you want to see it — “
Toby cut her off just as firmly, “Which is exactly why I said those things to her back then… cause that was the day after I had the nightmare.” June’s expression showed exactly what he had expected to see. “You think I would just openly tell someone to get away from me without much explanation as to why?”
“I didn’t know — “ June started. Then the bell school bell rang, and stopped her from saying more.
“Forget it.” Toby got up from his seat. “I gotta go.”
“Toby — “
“I said it’s fine!” Toby trailed off out of the classroom.
June tried to catch up to him, but was stopped by someone who held her by her wrist. She looked back, and saw Amanda. Tom and Drew were standing behind her. “Where have you guys been?”
“No time for that now.” Amanda let go of her wrist. “Where was Toby running off to?”
“He was gonna see her.”
“Her who? Mara?”
“Yeah…why?”
Amanda and Tom looked at Drew. All three of them nodded at each other. “We were right.”
“Right about what?” June asked them. “What’s going on?”
Drew faced June. “We have to get to them. Right now.”
* * *
The cafeteria wasn’t that much packed during Recess time. Students only had thirty minutes to get down from their buildings, get in line, and there’s also the factor of having to choose which type of food you were going to get. There was a French Fries Station placed outside of the cafeteria, several booths that gave out all of these different viands of food to choose from which were too expensive for the average student to pay for. There was also a Burger stand that took just about twenty five minutes to fry a single patty and the remaining five minutes to eat the hot meal while in the midst of walking fast to get back to the classroom. This being a Catholic School, they’ve refrained from selling any junk food, because for some reason they think it brings out the devil in the young-lings; something like that.
The cafeteria was the main place to go to whenever Recess and Lunch time came. The first thing you’d notice when going inside were the Sisters. Almost 80 Percent of the staff in Catholic Schools consisted of these Sisters, so it was no surprise that some of them were also tasked with having to serve and prepare the food for the students. They didn’t really have much variation when it came to their menu. You’d usually find viands like Sinigang, or Adobo, or even Mushroom Gravy Burger Steaks. The Burger Steaks almost always ran out immediately after the metallic trays have been opened up. There was just something with the gravy that seemed to get students wanting more. They’d often ask the Sisters to add some more gravy. Some of the regular costumers have already developed a kind of strategy that would get the younger Sisters to give them more. They’d give out compliments, or say a funny joke, or use their natural charms on these Sisters, and the Sisters would almost always fall victim to this jinx.
Toby rarely bought food in the cafeteria, since his mother brought him his lunch everyday. But when days come where his mother can’t bring him food, he’d often try to get to the Mushroom Gravy Burger Steaks, cause that meal was the least expensive out of all the available meals of the day. If he had saved up for a rainy day, or was feeling rich at the time, Toby would definitely go for Sinigang, his favorite meal. Something about the right amount of sour taste in the Sinigang is what makes it so good to eat. Even the soup was just enough for a good meal. Just pour it over some rice, and you’re good to go.
But none of that was in Toby’s mind right now. He looked around for a bit, trying to find where Mara was. She wasn’t in her usual spot inside of the cafeteria. Her friends were there, but he knew well enough not to approach them at all. He wasn’t sure if they’ve gotten over what he did to her. He noticed they were looking at him, so he quickly turned around to face the other way.
As he does so, Toby immediately bumps heads with someone. “Ouch!” He exclaimed, and rubbed the part of his head that got hit. He looked at who he bumped into, and saw Mara. “Oh, it’s you!”
“You have be careful next time!” Mara yelled, rubbing her head just as he did. As she looked up, she noticed who she was speaking to. “Oh… it’s just you.” She stopped rubbing her head, and started walking towards her friends seated by their usual spot.
“Hey!” Toby called out, and walked toward her.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Mara took a few steps back and raised her hands toward him. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean? You said to meet you on Recess.”
Mara’s head turned, “… What are you talking about?”
“You said… “ Toby’s chest started pounding. He started breathing irregularly as the walls started moving around him. His vision got dark. It wasn’t her.
End of Chapter.
* * *
* * *
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