Let Me Love Him

XXII.

"I think she's overreacting right now." 

Mandy Wiles is dazzling in her blue training outfit. Mandy Wiles is a gust of autumn wind and burning cold when she's in the gym. She breaks out in the dance, waving her arms and smiling brightly, though she doesn't want to smile. Mandy flies to the bottom. Metaphorically. Mandy scowls like she's mad. She stays put, looks for a long time.

"What are you doing, Constantinos, oh my God, you have to lift Pinky up! L-i-f-t her!" she's angry.  

Constantinos's chest collapses, bursts at the seams and falls to pieces, when along with Mandy Wiles all the cheerleaders start looking at him very reproachfully. Christy Martin rolls her eyes — she's the one who told him not to agree to help Mandy with her performance, but of course he agreed. Pinky Gauthier will be there. Pinky Gauthier, who looks at him with such degrading eyes that Christy even gets embarrassed.

He turns his head, swings from side to side, and hides his hands in his pockets.

"Okay," Mandy exhales when Christy decides to put her hand on her shoulder in support. "One more try." 

And then she turns around, making the two girls almost jump up.

"Mandy, what about..."

"And you two can't even hit the beat," she throws in their direction. "If you are late this time, consider this your last training with the Bullworth team and your last week as my assistants. That's it. Go on. Christy," she calls, "stop making eyes at me and help Angie."

Christy touches her red hair, freezing for an instant as the cheerleading practice resumes. She exhales through her lips. Heavily. She's tired. 

Mandy gesticulates, dispensing her commands, but the door opens abruptly and lets the draught into the gym. The draught touches their hair, the fabric of their blue outfits.

Mandy looks at the entering prefect and how "attentively" the greasers listen to his indignation. Ricky Puccino, Norton Williams and Johnny Vincent. Well, of course.  

Mandy nods only to him, but she better not doing that.

Her cheerleader uniform and his sweater are the same colour.  

Constantinos grabs Pinky into his arms and lifts her up — quickly, even too easily, he's not even shaking. Pinky sees the gym in the smallest details. It's blue. And only a little dark.

In Johnny Vincent. 

She doesn't notice anything else. 

And even at first she doesn't hear what Constantinos has just said:  

"Bullworth Day is soon."

Pinky doesn't respond. Only then, after a few moments, asks half-turned:

"So?"

Constantinos seems to be numb, like motionless statue, and at first it even hurts to move. He thinks he might be saying too much right now, and thoughts like that are kicking him. But the guys were cheering him up, especially Christy. Probably to laugh later. 

It's good that Constantinos doesn't care about Christy Martin.  

"Do you want to come with me?" he's literally breathless.

Pinky turns to him and says:

"You're asking me now?"  

Seriously?  

He suddenly wants to run away. Once again. However, this is already becoming the norm for him. 

"You're so funny," Pinky says with her cute-charming-expensive laugh.