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FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS WEEK, I sat in Martin's class actually focused, attention on his every word. After spending the past few days half asleep or stressed in his class, it was nice to be able to sit up and stay awake. Even Ander noticed my behavior, smiling when he saw me taking notes, finally feeling like things were back to normal. Of course, there were things to be stressed about, but I was trying not to think about that.
I looked around the classroom, noticing Samuel turn in his chair, leaning over to use his phone, which was the most obvious move he could have done. I knew instantly he'd get caught, and I tried to get his attention, attempting to signal to him to stop but his eyes were focused on whatever was on the phone in front of him. All I could do was pray it wasn't nudes or something on his screen as Martin began walking up the row, still continuing his speech as he approached us, staring between Samu and I. I tried to make a discreet noise as the last chance to get Samuel's attention, which, if course, failed. Martin reached Samuel's desk and I groaned, facepalming as I realized my friend really was stupid sometimes.
"Samuel, el teléfono." He says, holding his hand out to Samuel, waiting for him to place the phone in his hand. "Perdonad, era mi madre." He quickly turns around, sitting properly at his desk but Martin is persistent; he isn't going to resume the class until Samuel gives him the phone. "No, podemos compartir con la clase..." He says, asking for the phone once more, not caring if it was Samuel's mum as he kept saying. Martin snatches the phone from Samuel's hand, and Samuel looks terrified as Martin passes the phone to Nadia, instructing her to read. "Marina no tiene SIDA, imbécil. Es VIH..." Guzman jumps up, shouting at Nadia to stop reading, but it's too late. She had read enough.
The class erupts into little chatter, whilst Samu and Guzman both argue Martins 'right to read the messages' and gradually the class gets louder and louder, whispers turning into casual conversations until Marina stands up, shocking everyone as she begins to talk. "I got infected a year and a half ago, more or less. And, well... I guess this will be a trending topic for a while. To make sure you're informed about what you'll be talking about, I'll tell you, really, you don't need to worry about me. I take my medication. I take tests every four months and the virus I have is undetectable in the blood, so that means you can't get infected." She sits down, and even from my seat at the back of the class I can see her shaking, and I just want to get up and give her a hug, she's so brave for standing up and admitting it. I am so focused on Marina that I don't notice the looks Nadia is giving Marina, but I manage to hear her say that 'she'd rather not comment' in a clearly rude and quite ignorant way that almost makes me want to slap her. The bell rings, and we all leave, with Marina being the first to storm out the classroom, rushing past me as I call her name.
I rush after to her, following her to the bathroom where she locks herself in the cubicle, hiding from everyone- from the world. I tap lightly on the door, whispering her name through the wood. "Marina, it's Jada. Look, I'm not going to pretend like I have a clue what you're going through, or more what you have been through, but I'm here if you need me. I consider you a friend and I hope you see me the same. Even if you don't want to talk, we can just sit, listen to music, whatever." I say, in the hopes that she'd open the door, and she did, slowly, revealing her sitting on the floor, not crying like I expected, but instead just sitting their looking tired, exhausted even. "Marina, you okay?" I asked, slumping down beside her as she leaned her head on my shoulder. "I can't believe it came out like this. I had never planned on telling these people, never wanted to. But I guess it was bound to come out at some point." She says, twiddling her thumbs as she spoke. My phone vibrates a few times but I ignore it as we sit in silence, with her still resting on my shoulder, until she releases a faint laugh. "What is it?" I ask, and she smiles up at me before responding, "You know that's probably Samuel, right? Asking if you know where I am." She pauses for a second, thinking, before continuing, "I should probably speak to him before he runs around like a headless chicken." She says, pulling herself off the floor, extending her hand to me once she was standing. I take her hand, and she pulls me up with such an unexpected strength that she almost pulled us on the floor, causing us both to laugh. "Thank you." Once we've stopped laughing she pulls me into a hug, before leaving the bathroom, heading off to find Samu.
My phone vibrates once more, except this time it's constant, indicating someone was ringing me. I grab the phone from my blazer inside pocket, smiling as I see Nano's face appear on the screen. I slide to accept the call, immediately hearing his voice boom through the phone. "Hey, Little Italia." I can practically hear him smiling through the phone and I roll my eyes, although he can't see that. "What do you want Nano?" I ask, anticipating a stupid reply. "Aside from you?" He said, and I could hear the smirk present on his face. I shook my head as I left the bathroom, walking around outside as the bell rang, indicating it was time to go home. "Seriously though, I'm picking Samuel up, want me to pick you up to?" As I'm standing on the stairway, I spot his red car in the distance. Smiling to myself, I tell him that I'd love a lift, before hanging up, walking over to the grassy area. As I'm standing there, I'm joined by Christian, who walks over to me with a spring in his step, clearly happy about something. "Jada, you okay?" He asks as I turn to face him, my back now towards where Nano would be coming from. "Estoy bien. Cómo estás?" I asked back, and he smiled, smugly, meaning I knew some sort of stupid comment was coming. "Estoy genial ahora que estoy contigo." He responded, causing me to giggle slightly before rolling my eyes. "Quieres pasar el rato esta noche? Podemos fumar juntos." He said, and I thought about it for a second, before I heard a beep behind me, and a distinct voice calling my name, causing me to turn around, hair swishing behind me almost sassily.
"Jada! Come on, let's go." He said, and I turned back to see Christian with a confused look on his face. "Sorry Christian," I said, and for a second there he looked sad, but he covered it quickly with a weak smile, embracing me in a hug before letting me walk over to Nano, who was leaning against his car smoking. Samuel was nowhere to be seen, and when I walked over, Nano answered my thoughts. "Samuel is going to see Omar so he didn't want a lift. Guess it's just us." He smirked, and I hit his arm slightly, getting in the car next to him, as he lit up a joint, no shame at all.
