Inside The House

XIX

Wednesday. I have to admit that I was already feeling tired by the middle of the week. Rehearsing with Rayan and practicing with Apolonia at night was wearing me out. I managed to persuade the old lady to practice with some more modern music. I even chose the song to which I will dance in the competition that was to take place already next week. There are interesting and a bit stressful days coming up. On Friday I have to perform a scene from "In the Midnight Night", on Saturday my 18th birthday party and on Monday the competition. Currently I started to stress the most on Friday. Rehearsals were going great, but today was to be our last one because Rayan was going to be very busy with something on Thursday. The problem was that the boy didn't come to school today and gave no sign of life. I mean he was available on Messenger, but he didn't write anything. I decided to wait until the end of the last lesson and then ask him what he was doing. After all, we had an appointment and I think both he and I cared about passing this stupid project on cultural knowledge.

Of the more surprising things that happened was Elizabeth's acquisition of affection for Randal. The tiger had clearly not been idle and was making good use of the time to get close to my friend, since she had gone from being disgusted with him to having neutral or perhaps quite positive feelings. Of course Elizabeth wouldn't admit it. She'd hated Randal ever since she'd met him, so such a change in attitude toward him perhaps frightened her? I, on the other hand, was horrified by how quickly Alex and Roxana "fell for each other". Their flaunting of the fact that they were together disgusted me immensely. Our class was divided on the subject, with some saying, and I quote, "you're a cute couple" and others saying nothing. Randal, on the other hand, acted...strangely on the subject of Alex. He didn't take sides in the conflict, but he clearly started avoiding the kangaroo. Rayan on the other hand was... basically I don't know how to say this. In my opinion, he acted like it was flowing over him, like he didn't care about Alex and Roxana's relationship. As if what happened with a teenage girl at a party was a vague memory of some distant past, which one remembers but does not dwell on. They did not talk to each other, did not pay attention on trainings and did not participate in group conversations. What was more strange, the three of them still sat in the last bench. The difference was that there was always Randal already sitting between Alex and Rayan.

The students also took on a different attitude towards me. Random people in the corridor either looked at me or said "Hi Max" even though I did not know them. Because of this, Aurelia started to walk next to me in the corridor when we were going in and out of the school. I'm not sure that the fame after Roxana's treacly party was something I wanted. So far, leaning out wasn't having the effect I wanted, and it had only been a month. So many things had happened in that time that I was just hoping things would settle down now.

The lesson was coming to an end when my phone in my pants pocket vibrated. I discreetly pulled it out and looked under the bench at the screen. Rayan was texting:

"13:55 - Sorry, I can't make it today."

"13:55 - Rayan, this is our last attempt. We were supposed to work it out."

"13:56 - I know. But I won't be able to come to you"

At that moment, an idea was born in my head that I wouldn't have suspected myself. But I wanted to pass this project.

"13:57 - Give me your address and I'll come to you"

"13:57 - No."

"13:57 - Because?"

"13:58 - Because no."

"13:58 - Come on. You've always been with me, so now it's my turn to come to you."