Bab 18: Sinister Plans & Sweet Reminisce
T-4 Days to Incident
#Ogologos High
Tom’s classroom.
It was around gym time when the Pig and Snake duo entered the classroom.
“That was fun!”
“What fun! I lost so much money in the gaming zone!” Martin and Elister put their bags on their desks. “By the way, where’s my punching bag?”
Eliser grabbed another weakling by the collar. “Oi! Where’s TomAass?”
“How would I know? I haven’t seen him since yesterday!”
Elister, let him go. “Hey! Then did we see it right? I thought I saw TomAss entering our gaming space. But the moment I wanted to catch him in the act, he vanished! Was it him?”
“What! How dare he spend time in the gaming zone without paying us tribute? He must be tired of his comfortable life!”
"Maybe he’s skipping school because he’s afraid of us.”
“Well, we can’t really do that, can we? We, the best buddies of Tom, must look after his educational well-being, no?”
“Yes. We must. We have a moral duty as his friends!”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
"Perhaps we’re on the same page about this?”
“Let’s report his absence to the homeroom teacher. We can’t help him unless he’s at school, right?”
They gleefully skipped as they were excited from the burning anticipation of what they’d do to Tom when he came to school next. As they both entered the teachers’ lounge, they looked for their homeroom teacher. He was reading something on his desk.
“Sir! We want to report an absence.”
The teacher looked at them and smirked. “You and your report of absence? It’s nice that you are here. I haven’t seen you two during the roll call. Where have you two been?”
“Sir! You didn’t see us? But we were there! We saw you!”
“Then, explain why you are absent from my class."
“Sir, there must have been a mistake. Perhaps we slept during your class.”
“Look at these shameless bastards! Go back to your classroom! I don’t want you causing any trouble.” The teacher resumed reading his book.
Exiting the teachers’ lounge, Martin burst like a volcano.
“This bastard TomAss! He’s responsible for this humiliation!”
Elister nodded in assertion. “Damn right! I can't bear this humiliation. We have to take proper action against him.”
Martin was hissing in anger. But it was amazing how the bullies deflected and blamed everything on Tom. They refused to accept that the humiliation was their fault. Why? Because it’s Ogologos High! No one dared to reprimand them!
“Should we not report this audacious punk to the SYNDICATE?” Elister asked.
“Are you fucking nuts? We can’t take just anyone to them. We’re going to get burned instead, you hear me? Don’t you dare report Tomass to them! We're big enough to handle a punk like him. We’ll just string him up next.” A fiendish smile appeared on Martin’s face.
The dumpsters are behind the school. The smoking zone for the girl gang.
Maisie spat on the ground near the dumpster. “Fuck! This bitch skipped school! I was planning a grand premiere of what I have been working on!”
Everyone else was doing their own thing; they didn’t pay attention to her. In fact, they didn’t really care about Cacey. Only Maisie was the most hateful and jealous.
“Look, Maisie! Why are you so worked up about this? We have already spread the video throughout the school group chats. You’ll soon see her on her knees, begging!” Carol said. She took the cigarette from Elaine.
“No, that’s not enough! She skipped school. How dare she foil my plans? I will do the unimaginable.”
“What do you mean?” Everyone was attentive now.
“I’ve called the SYNDICATE.”
“What fuck would you do that for? How would you pay?”
“Cacey is the payment herself for this job.”
“What a devil woman!” They proudly smiled at Maisie’s talent.
“So, what did you tell them to do?”
“Oh! You don’t need to worry; they are working on their masterpiece as we speak. Serious money is involved, but they will take the money out of that bitch once things are done.”
Everyone shuddered at the thought of what was coming next for that poor girl. The evil mastermind, Maisie, was fiendishly smirking as she smoked. Everyone became edgy from the upcoming exciting event!
“Oh, SHIT! It’s happening! It’s the sign we are talking about. It’ll be a super hit this time, as well.”
#Baker Residence
Tom was standing in front of the door of his house. He looked at the sky and his watch.
“Tsk! Was I a bit too early? If I go in now, this time will be registered as a standard time, and the next day I’ll be expected to return home by this time. What do I do?”
Sitting down on the porch, Tom began thinking about the day. A faint smile appeared on his face.
The whole day, he felt a new kind of happiness.
“How do I explain this sensation?”
It was a blend of fear of getting caught and humiliation that could follow, an anticipation of something unknown and something sweet, a fear of rejection, many elevated and skipped heartbeats, the sun felt nice, the breeze caressed gently, the only existences he felt were his and the girl’s, the flying leaves, the murmur of wind playing with the tree leaves, even the waves of water in the river reciprocated his feeling, he thought.
“This is something I have never felt before. What a sinful addiction! An illicit adventure I’m not supposed to embark on!”
He felt his insides were on fire; his heart burned; he felt thirsty.
His heart was still racing. He couldn’t keep sitting for long, so he rang the doorbell.
“Mom! Open up! Hurry! I don’t feel well! I’m burning up!” He was screaming in his mind but outside, he kept a calm composure.
As the door opened, Tom’s mom appeared with furrowed eyebrows and a curious face.
“Tom! You’re early today! But you don’t look so well!” She observed her son’s face. She immediately knew something was up. She was this boy’s mother. So, she knew immediately, “This boy is somehow feeling happy.”
“Mom, I ran.” Tom smiled.
Janis smirked, “Boy! Who are you fooling? Have you perhaps made a friend?” She hid her thoughts well behind her face.
“Okay, go cool yourself down, get changed, and freshen up. I’ll bring your dinner.” Janis smiled back.
“Thank goodness! I ran. Safe!” Tom’s inner voice was thankful.
Tom complied with his mom. After almost an hour, he was done freshening up and laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling and smiling.
He clutched his pillow in his bosom as if he were holding the girl. He buried his face in the pillow. “Naughty Bastard!”
His face had a life of its own at this point and it kept losing its usual demeanor. “This bloody face won’t stop smiling!” he delightfully thought.
He forgot that he skipped school and it would be reported later to his parents. Everything else was a blur, except the girl and the path he took to follow her around. He tossed and turned.
“Ugh! This heart! It’s still racing! Stop, stop now, please!” Tom’s innocent and virgin heart was elated. It wanted to know the girl. It wanted him to hold the girl in an intimate embrace. Tom blushed.
“Hey! Stop it! What are you thinking? Tom, you are a naughty boy!” He wanted to pull the rein on his tumultuous mind. It was going all over the place. He just could nnot helpbut feel the thrill. reins
There was a knock on his room’s door.
“Yes!”
He jumped up and opened the door. His mom served his dinner in his room. The dining table downstairs was a place of fear for Tom. He hated being spotted by his dad.
“As long as I’m not on his rudder, I’m safe.” This was what he always thought. But today, even if his mom served the dinner downstairs, it wouldn’t have mattered!! He forgot that he had a dad! The only thing that replayed in his mind was the adventure today.
Tom was happy. “Today was a beautiful day! I hope a day like this comes every day."
“Ah! I almost forgot the dolls I won from the claw machine! How do I give it to her?”
Tom got up and rummaged through his school bag.
“There it is! I’ll keep you safe, my bear! That girl must like bear dolls a lot!”
He kept the doll beside his pillow. It was a reminder of his sweet adventure with that illusive girl. “I still can’t believe I spent time with a girl like her... She is practically an idol. Beautiful and classy. She is like an illusion to me—now that she is here, then she is not. She was so close yet so far! A boy like me... can I make friends with her?” An oblivious Tom kept thinking about his day with the girl. Although what he did was just follow her around without even talking to her,.
#Summers Residence
Cacey’s room. She felt a bit dejected. The only boy she was interested in meeting kept his cowardly distance from her. Dejected, entering her room, she threw her bag in a corner of her room and herself in the bed.
“That idiot! Would it hurt so much to come forward and strike up a conversation? Didn’t you do just fine on that day?” She kicked her bed with her heels in frustration.
The excitement of wanting to talk to a person of your liking can be very exhausting due to stress and anticipation. Cacey felt it. Besides, there was this girl gang thing at school: “Ugh! That gossip thingy! Tomorrow I have to go to school again! Should I skip again? Where will I go next?”
However, she didn’t have much time to plan for tomorrow’s adventure. She was so tired that she fell asleep.
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