The weather was a bit cooler than it had been yesterday. Sineas and Clarissa decided to change a table. They relocated to a table a few paces beside The Thinker.‘Are you coming to Justin’s…what did the principal call it again? The Justin’s “Get home safe” gathering?’ she asked him whilst unpacking her lunch bag.‘Is it mandatory?’ he asked opening his lunchbox.‘Of course it isn’t but…’ she shrugged, ‘I’m sure the whole world will be there.’‘I don’t know...I...’She laughed. ‘Don’t worry, Sin. Everyone knows Justin was probably your least favourite person, especially after that crazy lunch on Tuesday.’He took a bite from his sandwich. ‘I’m not going to this gathering but…that doesn’t mean I don’t consider Justin’s safety. Yeah, the guy is boring but in the end, he’s still a human being.’‘Boring?’ she laughed as she peeled a banana. ‘You call what he did to you, boring?‘ She smiled, slightly. ‘I admire your poise, Sin. Seriously, I do.’ They ate for a while i

‘Sorry about…what happened back there,’ Sineas said to Clarissa when he opened his bedroom door. She followed closely behind him as he stepped into the darkness. Her eyes surveyed the nothingness. She clutched her books tighter to her chest. She could only make out the bed and the wide open window which let in gusts of cold wind at five second intervals. ‘Lights?’ she asked him as he dusted the bed with his hands.He paused. ‘Oh, yeah, of course…the lights.’ He sat on the foot of the bed. ‘This room doesn’t have any.’‘Why?’ she asked curiously, standing in the middle of the room.‘It’s a long story,’ he replied.‘Then…’ her eyes surveyed the darkness again, ‘How do we work on the assignment without the light?’‘I’ve got a flashlight?’ he suggested. He looked intently at her black figure from the bed.

Sineas woke up ten minutes earlier than his alarm. He hurriedly took a shower, put on a black t-shirt, blue jeans and his white Nikes. He rushed downstairs and went straight for the kitchen. Aunt Janice had beaten him to it.‘Your breakfast and lunch is ready, son,’ she told him as she stood by the sink wearing her running tracksuit. She had obviously woken up and taken a shower before him. Her hands were clasped neatly underneath her chin, a grin flashed across her face. ‘Sliced bread with avocado spread and left over Coca-Cola for lunch,’ she added. ‘And I threw in an extra slice just in case it wasn’t enough.’He smiled awkwardly and dismounted his bag, one band at a time. ‘Thank you, Aunt Janice.’ He snatched the lunchbox from the table and headed for the door.‘And breakfast?’ her grin asked him before he had made it past the kitchen exit. ‘Rotto Pop cereal,’ she added.He looked over his shoulder. His favourite cereal had been poured into a bowl and a tumbler of mi

Miss bale lowered her head. She began to march slowly towards their desk, her hands still behind her back. It looked like she was on her way to a closed casket funeral. She had stopped with the notes. The only sound in the class was her stilettos clapping on the floor. The echoes they made were like a warning of an approaching catastrophe. An unavoidable destruction.She stopped right in front of their desk. Sineas could feel her gaze upon him. He did not look up, however. All he could feel in that moment was the smell of her perfume. It would have been nauseating on anyone else, he thought, but on her, it was like a heavenly scent. But still, that did not stop him from feeling uneasy.She cleared her throat in authority. She placed her hands on the desk and lowered her head to his eye level. ‘Funny enough to share with us?’ she said.He looked aside, eager to avoid her knife-like gaze. She was close enough to kiss him. Or close enough to chew him up

Aunt Janice opened the door for Clarissa. ‘Clarissa! How good of you to make it!’ she greeted her rather spectacularly. She opened the door even wider for her and she stepped in. Aunt Janice was wearing a black sweater and blue jeans, a mini afro on her head. Clarissa on the other hand was wearing her white turtleneck sweater, jeans and pumps. Her hair, as always, had been pinned into a rabbit’s tail at the back of her head. Her hands were loosely clasped just in front of her waist. ‘Good morning, Miss Murphy, and please, call me Claire.’‘In that case, you can call me Janice.’She gave her a half nod, grinning broadly.‘You can take a seat in the kitchen. Sineas is still in the shower.’‘Thank you, Miss…Janice.’ Janice’s half stern look had corrected her just in time.A few minutes later, Janice had placed a bowl of peanut butter porridge in front of Clarissa.She th