Chapter twenty six

Can someone tell me how I'm supposed to make this story appealing if I get, in my opinion, the most annoying cliché of all: Love at first sight?

If in and of itself the audience reads with it in mind that it's not real, this cliché makes it look even more unreal. The joke in a story is that it has to have verisimilitude, that's where the magic in books lies. Ultimately, I will have to work miracles to make this story appealing.

Anyway, he who complains does not advance, so let's go for it:

That kiss had literally left her frozen. It lasted only a short time but her soul was still moving her own lips. Although she felt strange, she didn't feel that ecstasy she thought she would feel in her first kiss. Of course she thought it would be with Alexis not a stranger. A part of her looked sideways at the brown wall, she wished there was a window and she could see the trees. Somehow nature had always given her solace and certain answers.

If she thought like the protagonist of a paranormal romance, she would be anxious for Alexis to be lurking near the cabin. And yes, she doesn't know it; but Alexis has watched the whole scene, including the kiss. Let's just say that her intelligence for technologies have given her the ability to create small gadgets like a small circular mirror that allows you to see through any object in any of the three states of matter.

I can't tell you that I know exactly what he thought at that instant. Apparently Alexis knows that there are narrators like me who can intrude through his mind, if he doesn't put up certain mental barriers. He has done so and that is why I can only half-read his thoughts. Here I give you an example of my reconstruction of his thought:

"How can she like that guy, what am I thinking? She doesn't want him, she's just confused and needs to hold on to what's most accessible. I do it, we all do it, I shouldn't feel pissed off or betrayed. All the time I feel the same way and I can't even talk about as much as I would like to. I'm really fucked up and like everyone else I want to fuck someone else up. I'm desperate and afraid to give in, what would you tell me if you knew, what?"

Then he ran off and I don't want to give myself the bother of trying to read his mind at such a distance. For now, that's enough of a dose of adolescence with Luz.

Alexis wasn't the only one who walked away from Luz. The boy with the mole stepped back for a few moments to bring a chair, a hand mirror and a comb.

Since the android Brabie can't do her job because of Luz's lack of her own scent, someone had to do her hair and makeup.

The cubicle was able to groom and dress her for the championship as soon as she got inside, before the mole boy put her on the spot. Yes, technology can save you several minutes of effort, but facial skin is very delicate and androids cannot yet possess sensitivity or empathy.

"How did you learn how to do makeup? You're a little box of mysteries."

Apart from the mole she also likes to play with powder and brushes. Undoubtedly, if Luz wanted Alexis to be jealous, now she cares more about knowing more about the boy who gave her her first kiss.

"Well, when I was a kid I liked to draw but there was a moment when my mom got fed up with buying pencils, tempera and brushes all the time. Besides my taste for painting I was too messy and that made me less worthy of having my tempera.

I wanted to do a portrait of Mom for her birthday.

One day my aunt came and took us to the beauty salon. That day, I don't know why, she was very sad, but you saw her smile when she saw her makeup in the mirror. Her beauty to me, as the child she was, was shocking to me..."

The look of the boy with the mole is filled with rejoicing and Luz feels really touched. To tell the truth it makes her think of her mom and how very good she is to her and her whole family.

"I guess your mom must suffer more than one headache with you. I'm sorry but you are too curious."

They both laugh again and he tells Luz that she can see herself in the mirror now. However, she refuses.

"I can't tell you that I totally trust you but I do trust your talent because with it you love the unknown without fear don't you?"

She puts her head sideways, on her right shoulder, like when she used to ask her father to buy her an ice cream. The boy with the mole inspires a lot of confidence in her... or could it be that she desperately wants a friendship or something else.

"Can I trust you to keep a personal secret?"

Luz nods her head very excitedly but tries to be serious and not look amused.

What would the guy with the mole say?

"My mother was afraid to provoke men, that's why she didn't wear makeup or dress the way she wanted to. But my aunt's talent for persuasion made her dare. That's what I look for when I do a person's makeup, that they see the beauty in those things they don't know about themselves."

Luz gets up from the chair and hugs him. The boy with the mole remains static which reminds her quite a bit of her when he kissed her.

"Life is a carousel and it's out there, are you ready?"

Luz distances herself to look at him; for the first time, after many years, she doesn't feel the need to think before she speaks.

"I always was."

Before leaving the cabin, Luz promises him that she will not tell anyone about the three clues he gave her.

"I don't believe you but I believe your look."

Luz doesn't answer him anything, she just walks beside him and admires how beautiful it is to wake up and have another chance to live.

She is anxious and nervous to perform at the championship before she begins her punishment tomorrow. Yes, unfortunately it will last a week so I was planning to enjoy today to the fullest. For that, in other times, she would have to be extremely careful to be more invisible than usual in front of her classmates.

It is precisely at events like this that the malcontents seek to make wood from the fallen tree.

Luz tries to keep such thoughts out of her head when she separates from the boy with the mole. He can only accompany her to the metal walls surrounding the field where the event will be held. Plus she has other occupations that steal her time for fun. For these two reasons she takes the path that is flanked by traffic cones and there is a sign that says: "Authorized personnel only. You are at risk if you attempt it without instructions from our staff. Having a good day will depend on your judgment. The camp is not responsible.

"I know you're curious, that's why I'm telling you the message on this sign is not a game."

Luz watches him walk away with more curiosity and reason to walk beside the polka dot boy. Then she realizes that she still does not know his real name; but, when she comes out of her ramblings, he has already crossed the green wall composed of bushes the size of a high wall.

She forces herself to follow the path and plan how she will react to the not-so-pleasant attitude of the group of bullies, boys and girls, at the school.

Well, I would call them the non-conformists but Luz calls them the "All without love". They may walk separately but it's as if they communicate telepathically to bully whoever gets their turn. They have a specific draw system. They all get together to decide the intensity with which they will fuck each of their, as they call it, "Gringo Plague".

You see I have to explain a little bit about what Luz knows about the history of this town, the first one founded in this island: It is said that the natives of this town were black people who managed to escape from white supremacy, they fled from slavery. Here the same thing happened as in the rest of the world at that time, only that the slaves were the white race were the new slaves. Most of the shipwrecks that arrived later to the island were from North America and the ones that were already there were black... you know what happened, the disease of the whole world or I think so: The need for revenge.

And I showed in Luz's dream that that alone, and it is not literal, kills the soul and poisons it.

After this little history lesson about Luz's province of residence, let's go back to where we stayed with Luz:

She wonders how they must have managed to meet this year with security cameras everywhere. Even though we don't have the latest technology, at school they force us to learn about it as if they were showing a baby the candy it will never have. In one class they made us do a project on all the latest security systems out there. Believe me it's the only class where even the laziest of students paid attention.

Still, Luz doubts that the little brains of the "All without love" could come up with something that would get them past the cameras and security team at this camp. If the discipline coordinator is so beautifully rude, what will the one in charge of scheduling the security teams be like?

Anyway Luz was very willing to be happy, she wants to show them that they have no power over her.

"It would be nice to know what they are planning so that the others will also stand up once and for all against so much injustice."