Chapter 3

The lulling patter of falling droplets enchanted the room like a hallucinogenic drug. The room was quiet, with a virtuous chill spread from window to wall board and back again. Near tears Celena burrowed herself into the most obscure corner and closed her eyes. Mind games seemed the only weapon to her sanity, so she quietly mumbled to herself. From the corner of her eye she was aware the he was doing the same, in his own fashion. His strong lips were clamped, and stern, as he gazed firmly at his ceiling. Celena transferred her soft rambling to a mental protest.

"You don't need them. They're so pathetic, besides you're your own person. They'd be nothing without people like you. For that reason you'll always be better than them. You are prettier than most of them anyway, you got class. You're just too good to waste your time on them. They all know it too."

At that point in her monologued argument she knew she was spitting out falsehoods. She could tell herself whatever she wanted, within her mind. But they could spit the words back to her face and there would be no question it sounded better from them.

The shower continued to roar from within the connecting washroom of Christoph's room. Despite her ramblings, Celena wished nothing more than to be excepted. She wanted the fair shot at life she was never offered. It was a grand statement trying to play the part of a dominant anti-social, a personality trait she had picked up solely to excuse her shyness. Yet it was lonely. Shannon was washing herself off and in spite of Christoph's flirtatious suggestions and attempts, she was doing it alone, with the door locked. Upon discovering the architectonical arrangement of Christoph's washroom, Celena knew there would be no comfort zone to hide in. How could she relax, waiting for Shannon in the boy's bedroom. The long anticipation of Shannon's return from the shower was unusual torture. Celena had watched in anguish as Christoph playfully flirted with Shannon as she manoeuvred her thin body passed his grasp and locked the door behind her. Aside from his nonchalant fling of an aged towel to Celena's corner, he had not acknowledged her presence at all. The towel was to prevent her from soiling Christoph's hardwood floor. She felt like a dog as she layed it out before sitting down.

His eyes, though in hard gaze, fluttered slightly in rapid pace. In strong concentration he seemed distant from his actual surroundings. Yet focusing on his image, solely from the side of her vision, Celena could swear he glanced at he

Outstretched upon his currently royal blue twin bed, every limb attached to his body looked dead. On his part, contemplating things to say did not take much initiative, it was how to say it and when. He had yet to unveil what Shannon wanted from him. Did she like macho men and jocks or rebels and delinquents? He couldn't quite discern the hints she was droppin

Forgetting the dangers of being caught Celena stole another long glimpse at him. The satin sheets beneath him crinkled as he turned over, acquiring the proper form to suit his body. He was long and thin but beneath his baggy clothes hid a typically muscular body. The fingers on his right hand glided in sleek motions towards the radio situated on the floor. Her heart twisted while he unknowingly taunted in eloquent movements, reminding her of just how unattainable he was. Eye brows crinkled and lips, once again, in the desirable purse, he played thoughtfully with the unresponsive CD player. Now rolled on his stomach his eyes seemed to glisten with deep application. Celena felt herself being drawn in and fought the urge to gently soften his expression with her fingers or touch his perfectly masculine hands. He looked up and for the first time since they met she actually saw him, all of him. Forced into his intoxicating glare, it was futile to look away. Vaguely her eyes noticed his hand move from the radio. He pulled himself up until he was sitting erect, never once wavering his stare. Shrunk to the size of a mustard grain, Celena felt, ugly and frightened. His expression held the same amount of concentration as his lips, which moved slightly. She vibrated with her sporadically paced heart but ignored it. In a trance he looked as if he were about to speak. A solitary note of the word spoken to her escaped his lips but was cut off, with Shannon's entrance, wearing nothing but a towel.

In composed gestures he redirected his body to Shannon. His figure gave the idea of a cool confidence yet his eyes were anxious. Shannon stared at him and giggled innocently. Celena was disgusted.

"I just wondered if I could throw these in the drier." She held her rinsed clothing out in front of her creating a puddle which seeped into the floor cracks.

"Na, it's broken." Christoph spoke with exaggerated indifference. Shannon looked put out.

"So what am I supposed to wear now?" She demanded.

The anxiety in his eyes had been spreading into his body language as his eyes wandered about the room. He fidgeted his fingers and nervously chuckled while mumbling, "I d' know"

Shannon was not amused, her eyes fell on the chestnut dresser to Celena's left. Christoph was suddenly too timid to look her in the eye.

"Well I guess I'll just put these stained, wet, clothes back on and walk myself home." A spark of annoyance contained itself behind her words. She gestured to his dresser.

Obviously not getting the jest Christoph shrugged slightly looking at Shannon's pedicured toe nails. "Ya, ok." He mumbled again with an insouciance.

With an exasperated groan Shannon waved her hand at the dresser. He didn't get it. Left dumb founded, she stared at Christoph in resenting awe.

"Well then," She paused unable to understand his stupidity. "I guess I'll just go and put my clothes back on." Her words were harsh, waving emphatically at the innocent dresser.

Christoph looked hurt by her tone. Unsure of the problem he turned to Celena for guidance. But by the time Celena realized who he was looking at he had already turned away forced to make peace, without a clue. "You don't need to put your clothes back on." He said more in a question than an unconscious suggestion.

A short cackle of irritation squeaked from her between her tight lips. "Well ," she quirked her neck and lead the rest of her body in a heel turn, "thanx for nothing." The door locked behind her.

His face went blank then puzzled. A dead stillness draped over the room. Uncomfortably it smothered. In an apparent shy struggle, Celena spoke to butcher the quiet. "She's always like that."

"Really?" Christoph sounded distantly shocked, "I wouldn't have thought she was such a spaze." Shannon's tone had not seemed to have damaged his pride but maybe shifted it a little. He turned back to the radio. Patients running thin he smacked the play button with increasing force. The glint of annoyance from his golden eyes was mesmerizing. She felt more uncomfortable now than she had before. "Breath heart stop suffocating me." She leaned on the corner wall for embrace.

She smirked at the tingly feeling in her stomach, glad to be in on the joke. So sad, she felt, were all the seemingly headless youths being governed by the quirks of lustful puberty. Celena was content to finally be able to empathize, but was more grateful to know the truth that lust spawns prior to love, and stomach butterflies are hormones provoking frayed nerves. So this was not love.

"What's so funny?" Switching his attention to the smirking Celena, Christoph flashed a charming half-smile. "Is my stupidity with common place appliances amusing to you?"

"No, I was just thinking of something." She smiled at her twisted and tangled shoelaces while tangling them farther to escape his visible closeness.

"Ah," he slid from the sheets to occupy the space to the left of the radio. "One of those mysterious chicks eh?

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you are speaking."

"You think things, but don't say 'em."

Attention caught, Celena watched as mere moments of idle conversation created a descending sensation around the boy's formerly royal exterior.

"Why does that make me a mysterious chic?"

"Because I'll never fully know what you're thinking. You could be over there plotting my imminent death or simply wondering what's for dinner, and I'd be none the wiser."

"True," Celena began to feel at ease. "I guess you'll just have to take your chances."

"I guess I will." His smile was to her direction and yet again he looked distant.

"What are you thinking?" Celena's curiosity governed control.

His skin wrinkled as his smile broadened from cheek to cheek. "Now if I told you that, you wouldn't build up the any initiative to find out."

Eye to eye Celena was finally able to appreciate the brain power this school flunky was capable of. She got the eerie feeling she was being studied. Her body language, her reflexes, the way she spoke and what she said. He was studying the way her brain worked. All the while he had an answer for her every response and most likely would be prepared for anything she might say. "I like to be somewhat mysterious myself."

"I see." Celena could think of nothing more to say. She felt like she was rotating in a display cabinet for Christoph's observations. An air of annoyance poked at her, as though her privacy were being invaded and yet he sat clear across the room. "What are you doing?" She accused the glare.

Christoph shrugged at her inquiry. "Not quite sure." He smiled at her carefully perplexed tone. "What are you doing? We seem to have adopted the same habit."

Startled Celena realized in her newly found comfort she had neglected to turn away from the boy. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare." She quietly cursed herself for admitting to the offence so quickly.

Christoph shrugged once more. "I'm a guy with a lot to stare at."

Disgusted at his excessive display of pride, Celena remembered the size of head this boy had on his shoulders. She looked away careful not to roll her eyes.

"So do you."

She choked at his final comment, in sudden realization that their barren conversation had truly been flirting. No longer sure what to do with herself, she looked at her shoes with her hands folded. He smirked at her sudden abatement.

"I was just joking ya know." His tone was obscurely apologetic for her discomfort.

"About me?" She cursed herself again for acting so periodically vulnerable. She wasn't supposed to act as though his opinion mattered. Because it didn't, she told herself.

He half chuckled once more peeking at her with an obviously put-on bashfulness. "No, I was joking about me. I'm only about a nine-and-a-half out of ten, wouldn't ya say?" A chortle and cool grin showed he was joking yet again. Celena wished Shannon would appear once more. But the pretty, peacock green door persisted in remaining a barrier between her and her solace. He was prying into her personal space again, observing her actions like an eagle over it's pray. What would Shannon do? Celena had always dreaded the day pressure would being to push her into Shannon's skin. She was falling into the trap. Was a few moments with this boy worth it

The ringing telephone broke her thoughts and saved her from her guilty conscience. Calmly he pushed himself back on the bed, where he leaned over and picked up the receiver.

"'Lo?" With an apathetic tone he answered. Scrunching up his face he plunked his body on the bed, cross-legged with a look of bewilderment. "What?" He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, indicating his disinterest, a gesture unseen by the other speaker. He leaned back ready to hang up but his exasperated sigh established he was unable to shake loose the speaker. Again and rolled his eyes. "Look, I gotta go, call later tonight . . . I don't know . . . Bye!" In the short span of time it took to hang up the phone, the frantic speaker could still be heard loudly before the infamous click.

"Who was that?" Celena asked with concern.

"I don't know wasn't for me" He waved it off with complete disregard.

"I sounded urgent."

"Whatever."

Celena began to grow annoyed with his casual attitude toward's other's feelings.

He continued, in somewhat of an explanation, "I gotta weird family. I can't deal with all of their eccentric friends and problems."

"I see." Once again Celena could find nothing more to say.

The washroom door opened as a haughty Shannon burst in, looking like a crumple.

"Let's go Celena!" Nose in air, she ordered, without so much as a glimpse at the boy.

Ignoring the slight, he opened his door and gestured them out mocking a gentleman's manners, "After you."

Whipping damp hair over her shoulder as she exited, Shannon splattered the smile from his face and headed directly for the front door. Nevertheless he saw them to the porch where the sidewalk seemed suddenly alive with people.

"Bye." Celena waved, trying not to see the un-uniformed junior soccer team descending down the path.

"Bye." Christoph gave a small nod in her direction. "Hey!" Ear to ear his smile greeted his buddies. The team froze in their walk upon seeing the redheaded mop trying desperately to escape unnoticed.

"Looking great as always." The taunting voice sent viable nails down Shannon's neck as she cringed. Pride driven she turned to face Rich Colburn, Christoph's friend, the other boys jeered with playful cat calls.

"I wouldn't joke Richard. You're looking just as ugly as always." Shannon snapped as the home's telephone nagged dimly in the background.

"Just a sec'" Christoph reached in for a cordless phone and answered on the porch, gesturing the youths to hold their position

"So what honestly happened to you?" With apologetic eyes Richard assumed forgiveness asking Shannon to the side, giving Christoph a measure of privacy.

"A freak accident." She replied, nodding her head at her dripping friend, as if that were explanation enough. "And what happened to you guys? You look a little worn."

The five athlete's chuckled amongst themselves as if it were as inside joke. "We had to teach a loud mouth a lesson." Rich boasted.

"Who'd ya beat up?" She asked mildly amused.

"Well we couldn't quite get at the reject but we chased him a good 100 meters, not too far from here."

"You lost him after 100 meters!" Shannon was not impressed. Celena was horrified at what the five best athletes in the school could do to one outcast who didn't know when not to defend himself.

"The kid got on a bus. We didn't feel like following him on."

Speaking of buses reminded Shannon theirs was about to come at any moment so saying their goodbyes they headed for the bus stop. Celena turned to wave a final farewell to Christoph but he nodded a somewhat incoherent goodbye as he saw them leaving.

"Another freak caller." Celena thought as she walked and than ran to catch the bus.

Nearly anything would be more interesting than her to Christoph anyway.

Fourth

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