Capítulo 7: Chapter 7: parents' meeting and the drunk guy
Vasil leaned his head against the tree in the schoolyard: "This is so boring!"
Stefan, who was sitting on the ground leaning against the same tree, said, "I agree."
He looked up at Vasil. "Isn't your mom coming?"
"She said she'd make it here."
Vasil looked back toward the school gate after saying this. "What about your mom?"
Stefan replied, "She's inside. She came early to talk to the teachers before the parents' meeting."
"You know, the teachers wait until after the meeting to do that."
"Yeah, but she has to go back to her office right after the meeting. She still has work to do."
"Oh, right..."
Neither of them said anything more, mostly because they didn't have anything to say. A cool breeze filled the silence between them.
Vasil yawned. "If my mom was here, I'd be sleeping right now!"
Stefan asked, "Right here? Under the tree?"
Vasil answered, "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
"Well, the problem is, it's not safe to sleep just anywhere."
"This isn't just anywhere, it's school!"
"Yeah, the school where you got beaten up… Never mind! If you want to sleep, go ahead. I'll wake you when your mom gets here."
"But you don't even know what my mom looks like!"
"You could describe her to me!"
Vasil stood up in front of him. "Good idea!"
He gestured to Stefan. "She kind of looks like you!"
"What kind of comment is that?"
"I mean, she has blonde hair and blue eyes!"
"So, you think all people with blonde hair and blue eyes look the same?"
"To some extent."
"…"
"But my mom has wavy long hair and a few freckles. She'll probably come rushing in too."
Stefan looked behind Vasil and saw a young woman, maybe in her twenties, with those exact features, hurrying towards them. "Like her?"
Vasil turned to the direction Stefan had pointed to. "Mom!"
He ran toward his mother. Stefan watched them in surprise. When he'd pointed out the woman, he was mostly referring to the resemblance, since he didn't think someone that young could be the mother of an eleven-year-old boy. Too lazy to get up, he just watched them from afar.
Vasil ran up to his mother excitedly and said, "You came!"
His mother, still catching her breath, stroked his hair. "I promised you, didn't I?"
She straightened her bag on her shoulder. "Where do I need to go?"
Vasil, trying not to laugh, pointed to her outfit. "Uh… Mom…"
Irina looked down at her clothes and realized she'd run the whole way while still wearing her apron. She slapped her forehead. "Oh my god!"
Quickly, she took off the apron and handed it to Vasil. "Can you hold this for me?"
Vasil nodded, took the apron, and then pointed toward the school entrance. "The meeting hall is at the end of the left hallway."
"Thanks! See you soon!"
Waving to Vasil, Irina walked toward the school entrance.
As Vasil folded the apron, he turned back to Stefan. Stefan looked at Vasil's happy, radiant face. "So, that really was your mom."
Vasil: "Yeah."
Stefan looked at the apron. "What's her job?"
"She works in a bar."
"That sounds… interesting."
"What about your parents?"
"They're both lawyers."
"That sounds interesting."
Unlike Stefan, Vasil meant it sincerely. He sat down on the ground next to Stefan and put the folded apron on his lap. "Have you ever thought about what you want to do in the future?"
Stefan said, "Not exactly, but my parents want me to be a lawyer too."
Vasil asked, "Do you want to be a lawyer?"
Stefan answered honestly, "I don't know."
"Is there something else you'd want to do?"
"I don't think so."
Vasil nodded silently. "Then it's not such a bad idea."
Stefan asked, "What about you?"
Vasil shrugged. "I have no idea."
Stefan turned away from him in frustration. "Everyone our age has at least some idea of what they want to be!"
Vasil: "you don't have one either!"
Stefan: "I know!"
Vasil said, "Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"It means…"
Vasil leaned close to Stefan with a wide smile. "It means we have a future full of unpredictable possibilities ahead of us!"
Stefan moved away, covering the ear closest to Vasil. "You know, just because others have already chosen their future jobs, it doesn't mean they'll actually end up doing them."
Vasil replied, "Yeah, but they have a plan that makes their lives somewhat predictable, and we don't!"
"That's not a good thing!"
"It depends on how you look at it!"
Stefan stared at him for a moment, then looked away, still holding his ear. "I don't understand you at all!"
Vasil looked at him, puzzled. "Why are you covering your ear?"
Stefan avoided eye contact. "None of your business."
Vasil, a bit hurt, asked, "Did I talk so much that your ear started to hurt?"
"NO! Stop it! Weren't you going to sleep?"
"Oh! You're right! I forgot."
"...(muttering) Idiot!"
***
"Sorry, sweetheart, did you wait long?"
Stefan looked up from the science book he'd only been flipping through to look at the pictures. "Not too long."
He closed the book and started gathering his things. His mom looked at him, then at Vasil, who had fallen asleep beside him. "Is that your friend? Vasil?"
Stefan nodded quietly. His mother lowered her voice, "He's so cute!"
She looked around. "Shouldn't we wake him up? It's not safe for him to sleep here alone."
Stefan stood up and answered softly, "His mom's still inside. It'll be fine."
Stefan's mom looked at her watch, then at the sleeping boy under the tree. "So…"
" shall we go, Mom?"
"…Alright, let's go."
As they headed toward the school gate, his mom glanced at him, then back to where they'd just been. "Your jacket…"
Stefan asked, "What about it?"
She smiled at him. "Nothing."
***
"Vasil? Why are you sleeping here?"
Vasil slowly opened his eyes. The sun was setting, and the light was bothering his eyes. He rubbed them and looked around.
Irina asked, "Are you looking for something?"
Vasil ran a hand through his hair. "Not really…"
"Whose jacket is this?"
Only then did Vasil notice it. A blue jacket with yellow stripes, one he recognized well. It seemed someone had put it over him while he slept.
He smiled faintly. "My friend's."
Irina: "Stefan?"
"Yeah."
He stood up, handed the apron back to his mom, folded the jacket, and held it. "I'll give it back to him tomorrow."
He grabbed his bag and looked at her. "Shall we go, Mom?"
"Yes, let's go!"
After a few steps, Irina said, "By the way, it seems like your grades aren't doing so well!"
Vasil avoided her gaze. "I can't help it. Studying is boring!"
"I know, but if you want a good job in the future, you have to study!"
"Hmmm, okay, I'll try my best."
"I know you will."
***
« Now »
Stefan poured the last drop from the bottle into his glass. How many glasses had it been?
He didn't know.
Was it helping? No.
He wanted to forget. The headache, his face, the blood on his hands…
But it seemed drinking didn't erase anything. Instead, it made the images vivid, repeating on loop.
And if only that were all.
He couldn't stop thinking about how, to forget someone he loved, he was doing something they despised. This made him feel even guiltier, increasing his need to forget.
He hated Vasil for how his memory of him was becoming painful. For seeing him everywhere, in everything, even when he wasn't looking at a billboard or the news. For hearing him in every song he'd ever listened to.
Vasil was so woven into his life that he didn't know how to live without him.
But more than anything, he hated that he hadn't been able to save him.
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