His comment stirred my stomach, and I bolted upright from the comfort of the grass. “I need to get up there,” I pointed to her window.
“No,” he asserted. “Just wait until she’s discovered the gift I left her. Besides, didn’t Sickle say not to touch her, bro? You don’twant to piss off your older brother. Has your mom contacted him yet for the charity ball?”
“Fuck, bro, you’ve smoked too much,” I proclaimed, sniggering. “There’s like more in that comment than my brain can handle.”
“Wait,” he pointed to her room. “She flicked the light off.”
“What? It’s early. Why is she going to bed so early?” Then I wondered if she was going to masturbate because that’s all I could think about these days. I really need to get there and fuck her in secret.
“It’s coming,” Lev warned, pointing his finger at her window, as I was still in the dark as to what he was referring to. “So close now.”
“Bro, what-”
A scream belted out from Adina’s room, followed by the light flicking back on, and a whole lotta swearing came after.
“Bingo,” Lev chimed proudly, then cracked up laughing, and I was still none the wiser.
“C’mon, bro, don’t keep me waiting. What did you do?” I insisted, but he didn’t need to answer, as she opened the window and stuck her head out.
“Is this yours?” she bellowed at us, swinging what looked like a rope.
“Eh?” Lev played dumb because we couldn’t let on that we had a key to her room.
“What the fuck is that?” I whispered.
“Snake,” he replied proudly.
“Real or fake?”
“Fake. I wouldn’t be that mean to leave a real one in her sheets,” he answered smoothly.
“In her sheets,” I parroted, proud of my boy.
“You can have it back, you assholes,” she screamed across the park, then threw the snake, aiming it at us, but it veered to the left and landed somewhere in the darkness.
Adina slammed shut her window before I could speak, blinds shut tightly, and we waited a moment to see if she would come back.
“Well,” Lev rose to his feet, “another job well done. I need a feed. Is the dining hall still open?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I followed him as he pushed his bike along the grass. “Are you going to retrieve the snake?”
“Nah,” he quipped. “Leave it for someone else to find.”
21
As soon as I flung the rubber snake out of the window,I fished for my knife and stopped dead to cool my anger. I stormed down to his room to jimmy the lock as I’ve done a few times before, a technique my mother taught me. Oh yes, my mother was a small-time thief before she met my father, and some habits die hard. Anyway, I lost my head because the lock wasn’t a keyhole; it was a swipe card lock.
So I stood there staring at his door, and in my pent-up rage, I slammed the blade into the wood and wrote,Die Fucker!!
Two can play this game.
I returned to my room, locked the door, put my knife under my pillow, and, feeling very tired after a meal of beef casserole, I quickly fell asleep.
I had an early class and took a shower, and it was only after I got out that I remembered what I did to Lev’s door. I slept very soundly and deeply, so I didn’t hear his footsteps on the stairs; maybe he didn’t come home at all.
On the first day of classes, I arrived early to secure a good seat. I packed my bag with my laptop, textbooks, pencil case, and other essentials. When I checked my phone, I saw the last message from Dad asking me to find old school photos of my stepmother, but I dismissed it since I wasn’t interested in making the effort for her. I’ll handle it another time.
I’ll head down to the dining hall for toast, then buy a coffee from the café because I didn’t like the mass-produced coffee they had in the dining hall. I had already mapped out where my Digital Transformation class was, but it’s a fifteen-minute walk, rather than taking the bus.
