by Rute Canhoto
CHAPTER TEN
Confusion reigned in Marina’s head when she entered the sports pavilion. Ana pulled her close to their classmates, to hear the teacher's instructions; she let herself be dragged as she tried to unravel the cacophony on her mind.
“Let’s start by ten turns around the field and then we’ll do the warm up,” ordered the coach.
Everyone began to run and Ana rushed to push Marina for her to awake and jog. Marina did it mechanically. While she was running, she didn’t stop wondering how she hadn’t realized that the mark on her back was gone. It looked like a burn and it couldn’t have vanished from one day to the next, just like that.
Immersed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the audible gasp of Ana when she saw Joshua passing by them, wearing a sleeveless shirt and long shorts that rested perfectly on his butt. Ana’s excitement increased the very next second; this time, the gasp gave place to a little cry of amazement when she noticed Lucas also passing by them very fast, wearing pants-for-training and a tight shirt that allowed one to guess his well delineated abdominals. “Uh, scandalous! The bad boy isn’t that bad at all, and in truth he has a nice body. I wasn’t expecting that”, she confessed.
Marina thought that she should really be on the moon, because she missed both Joshua and Lucas passing by her. On one hand, it was a good thing, as it meant that she was putting aside the problems with boys by censoring their presence in the space they shared. However, if she was ignoring them, it was just because she was busy weaving conspiracy theories and crazy assumptions alike.
After ten turns around the field, the teacher guided the warm-up and announced that, from then on, a different student in each class would be chosen to take his place. Next, he went to the gym’s private room, came out with a bag full of basketballs and announced, “I’ve already decided what will be the first sport that we’ll approach. Yes, you see basket balls, but they are only for this class, as the material for the other modality wasn’t available.”
“What modality is that?” one of the students asked.
“Canoeing. We’re going to do some canoeing in the river Sado.”
“No!” screamed Marina all of a sudden, stunning her colleagues.
Everyone turned to her and found her with a panic stricken face. Just the idea of wetting a single finger in the river made her sweat profusely. It was truth that she would be in a canoe, but it could turn around and she would fall to the water. She wouldn’t do canoeing; no way. When she learnt that all eyes were on her, Marina grabbed Ana's arm and gestured the teacher to continue, something he did almost straight away.
“On Wednesday you must present properly equipped down town, on the pier along the river, near the Fisherman's Park. Since you still have classes after that and you have to walk back to school and take a shower, we’ll meet on the pier half an hour before class and I’ll let you out half an hour earlier. Okay?”
The students nodded in agreement. In the end, they didn’t have much of a choice: if the lesson was in the river, they had to be there when the teacher ordered them to.
Marina said nothing, although she was extremely distressed and as pale as if she hadn’t one drop of blood in her body. How could he ask her to enter the river? Maybe one day she would do it, but at the moment it was too early. She had to avoid it.
Before she could make up an excuse that would save her from the canoeing, the teacher added, “Let's divide into two teams. Joana, you choose a team and Patricia chooses another. The team of Joana wears the yellow jackets and the other remains as it is.”
Both girls put themselves in front of the class and started calling the names of the colleagues alternately. After this selection, Ana and Joshua were in Joana’s team and Marina and Lucas played in Patricia’s. The teacher sent each team to their side of the field and threw the ball in the air, starting the game.
With her classmates entertained, Marina took a chance to slip away from the field to go to the coach, who was busy refereeing the game. When he noticed her close to him, he gave her a stern look and told her to return to the field.
“I’ll be right back, sir, but I have something very important to talk to you about,” said Marina in a low voice, too hard to hear with all the screams from the match.
The teacher responded in a harsh way, “And it couldn’t wait until later? Must you talk to me now, during the game?”
“It’s just that… I cannot do canoeing,” muttered Marina with her hands behind her back and looking down.
“Why? Do you have a broken arm that makes it impossible for you to paddle?”
Marina stared at her elbows and showed him the bandages, in saying that she had no broken arms, but they weren’t at one hundred percent. She sighed and tried to explain herself fast, to return to the game before the teacher would destroy her with just his will. “A week ago someone pushed me from the bridge and I nearly drowned. I can’t go back to the river, I just can’t do it.”
Scowling, the professor responded back, “I heard about it, but I'm not going to treat you differently from the other students. What we’re going to do is not dangerous; everyone will be using life vests.”
Marina was becoming irritated. Would it be so hard for him to understand that the river scared her? Still, she decided to make one last attempt. “What if I bring a note from my mother saying that she doesn’t want me to do that class? Or what if I get a certificate from a doctor or a psychologist?”
“Miss, if you fail the lesson, you'll get a negative grade in that sport. It’s as simple as that. Notes from your mommy don’t work nor psychologists notes. Now, go back to the game.”
There was no way to argue against the stubbornness and intransigence. Marina thought that, who needed to be thrown off the bridge, was him. When she got home, she would talk to her mother to work out a solution. She couldn’t go into the river, but it wasn’t her fault, therefore she shouldn’t have a zero just because of that. She had to think of a way out. Meantime, her team was losing, so she decided to concentrate on the match.
The ball was in possession of her team captain, Patricia. Marked by Ana, Patricia passed the ball to a team-mate, who was surprised by Joana, who took the ball. Joana came straight at Marina - it was her turn to intervene. The hag turned her back to her to defend the sphere, while Marina tried to take it from her. Without Marina predicting it, Joana backed her leg slightly further and threw herself back with strength, pushing her to the ground and slipping to run. There she was, butt on the floor, but it was fine; it was just a game and her opponent had been smarter.
Lucas was able to retrieve the ball for their team and passed it to someone, until it was sent to her. With room for progress almost at the basket, Marina took the opportunity and began to dribble. However, she didn’t get far: Joana came out of nowhere, nailed a pothole and made her sprawl on the floor, as the ball ran away from her.
“Fault,” shouted the professor.
Once was okay, but twice was provoking. Teased, Marina stood up and headed toward Joanna. Both leaned in shoulder to shoulder, stared at each other with fiery eyes and Marina stated, “If this is how you want to play, so it shall be.”
The teams ran towards Joana’s basket and Marina followed their example. Again a team-mate passed her the ball to shoot, and she decided not to miss the chance. At the moment she was throwing the sphere, Joana gave her a shove and she fell sideways to the ground, injuring her elbow, which made her cry out in pain. The ball went in anyway and the teams quickly left in the opposite direction, except Marina, who remained on the floor trying to glue back one of the bandages.
The game went on the same way, until the teacher thought it was time to end it. “Marina and Joana, I want you both on the bench immediately. On second thoughts, Marina, go to the changing room and treat your arm, that’s in pretty bad shape.”
Marina didn’t understand what he meant, so she looked at her left arm: half of the bandage had come off and the blood ran down her arm. The adrenaline rush was such, that she tho
ught only of defeating Joana’s team and had no pain. She wrinkled her nose to what she saw and left the field.
As she headed to the locker room, she heard Joshua asking her softly, “Are you okay?” The boy was near the line marking the edge of the field and tried to watch the game, while talking with her.
After all that had happened that day, he had the nerve to ask her how she was doing? Marina snapped, “As if you cared!” She turned her back on Joshua and walked fast to the changing room, closing the door behind her. She went to her bag, took the phone and found that there were ten minutes to the end of class. She had to wait for Ana to go to the esoteric store, nonetheless it was good to have the place all to herself. She got undressed and headed for the shower.
The hot water falling upon her body provided a strange contrast: on one hand her muscles relaxed, but, on the other, it made the wounds on her elbows’ burn, especially the one that she had hurt when she fell during the basketball challenge. After leaving the shower, she got dressed and put her laundry inside her backpack. She would take that shopping afternoon with Ana to buy a new sports bag to carry her Physical Education material. The one she had last year had lost its zip and, when she grabbed it a few days ago, she found an enormous hole that forced her to discard it.
The classmates begun to arrive in the room, stumbling into each other, until it was filled with an infernal cackle. When Ana went to get her things close to her, Marina took the chance to tell her that she would wait outside. She knew that once everyone got into the bath, the place would become a steaming sauna.
Marina left the locker-room and went to sit at the school’s door. She was tired. There were too many dramas to deal with at the same time that day. Exhausted, she put her head between her knees, closed her eyes and pretended to be somewhere else, in a place more fun. Lost in her imagination, she would have missed Joshua passing by, if it wasn’t for the group of five girls who followed after him, squealing. Joshua stopped ten feet away from her and put on his shirt that he had taken off with the heat. Marina studied him: he was in excellent shape, and looked like a Greek God with his ethereal beauty. Those girls were right to follow him. Hey! What the heck was she thinking? They were upset, she couldn’t praise him not even in thoughts.
Surrounded by girls, Joshua didn’t see that she was sitting there. He just picked up his things and walked away with the flock of turkeys behind him. He hadn’t waited for her as he had said. That saddened her a bit, because it showed that he was mad at her for real. Marina thought that it might be for the best. If he hadn’t waited for her that day, they wouldn’t go to school together the next morning for sure.
“Ready to go, honey?” asked Ana, suddenly appearing at her side.
Marina was startled and almost climbed up the door with the shock, which made her friend laugh. There was no joke in scaring her like that! She admonished herself. In fact, she couldn’t lose herself that much in her inner world or she would always be surprised. Recomposed from the fright, she took her bag and headed with Ana to the gate. After crossing it, she found Lucas sitting on the fence across the road. It was the first time she saw him over there after classes and that didn’t go unnoticed. Marina avoided looking at him, and asked Ana, “Where’s this store we’re going?”
“Not far from here. We just have to keep walking along this street. It's a funny place and it has the name of the castle’s Moorish.”
“Oh, yeah? I'm not seeing where it is.”
“You’ll soon see,” assured Ana.
They followed the indicated route, and in less than fifteen minutes, they were at the store’s entrance.
The way the letters were painted on the sign suggested something mystical, as well as the articles in the showrooms. When crossing the doorway, Marina became aware that the interior of the store resembled… a bazaar? She didn’t know what name to give it, but she could see that a lot of things were sold there, from clothes to accessories, such as necklaces, earrings and purses. And they all looked very exotic. Ana ran straight to a pole that had several pieces of clothing hanging on it. She passed them one by one, until she picked up a yellow Oriental-style blouse, with small bright circles decorations, like the clothes of the belly dancers. It was beautiful. Ana turned the price tag and, noting it wasn’t expensive, became very happy – she would not leave the store without it.
A woman, who would be aged around her early fifties, came from behind a curtain. Her hair, dyed in ‘cashew’, fell onto her shoulders. Here and there, she had some gray locks, which gave her an unusual look. She wore her eyes painted with a black outline, very flashy, and wore a purple tunic and long skirt that reached her feet.
The woman went to the small balcony of the store and greeted them. “Good-afternoon, ladies. Can I help you?”
Ana was so amused choosing clothes that she didn’t see anyone else there beyond them. Marina approached the counter. Honestly, she had no idea what she was looking for, so she thought it was best to tell the situation to the shopkeeper. “Hi. My name is Marina and I’m looking for... I don’t even know what I’m searching for. I want an amulet or a stone, something that provides me with some kind of protection.”
“I see... You came to the right place, miss. There are several types of protective stones, so you have to tell me a little more about your problem in order to determine the most appropriate ones.”
Marina thought a little on how to explain the situation, since she didn’t want to tell the woman her whole life story. After some thought, she just told the old woman that she had had two accidents in recent days, and that she felt that there was something evil associated to them. That summary had to be sufficient.
“Talking about bad luck,” exclaimed the shopkeeper. “Looking at your problem, I suggest two stones that are my favorites. Don’t forget that I propose them according to my interpretation of the case, and if you go to another place, it’s possible that you’ll be recommended other ones. Do you understand what I mean?”
Marina assented and waited for the employee to go ahead with the speech. Ana joined them at last, holding in her hand the yellow blouse that she had seen before.
The clerk took a tiny box from underneath the counter and opened it in front of them. The interior was coated in what seemed to be red velvet, and it contained several stones, each its own color and brightness. The woman took two and showed them one by one.
“This is a black and white agate and it is associated with the element earth. Since it guards against physical dangers, it seems quite appropriate, given the physical injuries that you have suffered.” After putting the stone gently on the counter, the woman showed the following one that was purple and shiny, and said, “This is an amethyst. It’s considered very spiritual and it brings peace and harmony. It clears the connections between the Earth plane and other worlds, and dissipates the negative energy. As you told me that you feel a large negative energy around you, I recommended it.” And she placed it next to the other one, allowing the girls to contemplate them.
As much as she looked at them, Marina couldn’t settle for any. She had a problem with bad energies, which translated into physical problems. Finally, she asked, “Can I take them both?”
“Sure! By the way, if you want, I can make you a nice bracelet with both stones. I know that girls prefer to use those instead of having two stones hanging around their necks. The bracelet is more discreet.”
“Great! Better yet,” answered Marina with a radiant smile.
Grabbing the box from the counter, the clerk asked, “Can you wait just five minutes?”
“Okay, we’ll wait here. We’ll take that time to see if there’s anything else we want to buy.”
The two friends walked through the store once more and they especially viewed the earrings and rings, which were accessories that they both appreciated.
As the woman had said, five minutes later she returned. She motioned for Marina to approach and stretched her arm so that she could put the bracelet on her right wr
ist. The girl watched her attentively while she moved. When the bracelet was put on, Marina felt lighter straight away. She hoped that the stones would work and protect her. With the object placed on her wrist, Marina asked the clerk how much it cost, to which she replied, “This is on the house. Something tells me that you’re in serious trouble and that will help, you’ll come back here often.”
“Thanks, but I sincerely hope that I don’t have to come back here to ask for more protection. That would be a bad sign,” murmured Marina.
The woman smiled and nodded her head in understanding.
Marina studied the bracelet, while Ana paid for the yellow blouse. As they left the shop, the employee said “Fell free to come back.”
Along the street, Ana asked to see Marina’s bracelet. She said that it was cute, but she wouldn’t trade it her beautiful shirt that was so her. She would show it to her mother as soon as she arrived at the accounting firm.
“You’re going to the office? I still have two purchases to get,” interrupted Marina.
“I told my mom that I would be late, but she already sent me a text not to linger. It seems that my brother’s teacher wants to talk to her. I can only guess what Carlinhos has done this time.”
So much for her company. But that was the way life was, so Marina made a sign with her hand for Ana to forget about that and replied, “No sweat. What I still have to buy is nothing special; I can do it alone.”
The friends walked together to Marina's place, each one praising openly the objects they had just acquired. When they arrived in front of the old building, Ana said goodbye and went to her mother’s office, while Marina entered home just to leave the backpack in the bedroom, before going to the store where she intended to make the last purchases.
Luckily, only two people were at store, which meant she wouldn’t take long. She had no difficulty in finding a cute sports bag, suited to her needs. She searched some more and also found an umbrella that reminded her of the one she had before. It was so similar that her mother may not even notice that it wasn’t the same. That would be great – it represented one less lecture.
With every purchase made, Marina returned home. Once again she was greeted by an empty space,. She went to her bedroom, threw the sports bag under the bed and put the umbrella in the rucksack. Next, she dressed in her pajamas and applied some healing ointment to the wounds on her elbows. As she had no homework, she grabbed the authorization to attend the Art Workshops and took it with her into the kitchen, where she dedicated herself to cooking dinner.
When her mother got home, she toasted Marina with an exclamation, “Yum! That smells good. Dinner must be delicious.”
Marina smiled. She hoped that the dinner was good and that it had the right seasonings. It was a new recipe, therefore she wasn’t used to do it. While mom went to her room to get rid of the working clothes, Marina took a spoon and served both plates.
Luísa returned and sat across the table, facing Marina. She looked at her plate and nodded her head in approval. Both got their forks and started to eat dinner. Yum-Yum! If Marina knew it was that good, she would have tried that recipe before. Her mother, who usually ate very little, even had seconds.
After supper, they cleaned the kitchen and sat on the couch for a while. Marina remembered then about the authorization that the teacher had given her, and went to get it. After taking a pen from the cabinet drawer, she sat on the couch and passed the sheet and pen to her mother.
“What’s this?” asked Luísa.
“I think it's an authorization. The Class Director said that we’ll have art workshops on Tuesday afternoons after school, and this paper tells parents about it. You have to sign it to prove that you have knowledge of where I am on Tuesdays after classes.”
“Art workshops? That's interesting. And which one will you attend?”
“I chose Photography, but I’ll know which one I’m placed in tomorrow. From what I understood, it depends on the number of vacancies,” elucidated Marina.
Her mother began to read what the paper said without rushing. When she finished, she signed her name and returned the sheet to her so that she could deliver it back to the Class Director.
However, matters related to school weren’t over yet and the next one was quite delicate. With care, she started, “Mom, do you think you can go to the school tomorrow to talk to someone of the Executive Board?”
“Why? Don’t tell me you got into trouble.”
Marina lifted an eyebrow and groaned, “Geez, such suspicion! As if I’m always getting into troubles in school... I did nothing wrong. It's the Gym teacher. He said that we're going to do canoeing on the river on Wednesday.”
Mom jumped up from the couch when she heard that. She could not believe her daughter would have to enter the mean river that had almost stolen her, so she shouted, “No way! I don’t want you in the river. Just a week ago you barely escaped alive from there, so they’re not putting you in a canoe. Didn’t you explain to your teacher what happened?”
“I did,” confirmed Marina. “But he said he wouldn’t treat me any different from my colleagues. He also claimed that I could paddle, since I have no broken arms, and that it was safe, because we’ll use life jackets.”
In a nervous tone, her mother inquired, “And do you want to go canoeing?”
“Hell, no! I don’t even want to go to the beach in the near future.”
Luísa walked briefly from one side to another to put her mind in order. When she stopped, she turned to Marina and affirmed, “In that case, tomorrow I’ll pass by your school. I will try to sort things out.”
It was a relief to hear that. Marina had to confess that she feared that her mother would tell her that she had to do what the teacher ordered, even to overcome the fear related to the river. Hearing her saying that she would help her was comforting. Marina got up from the couch, hugged her and went to her bedroom.
After choosing the clothing to the next and getting her rucksack ready, Marina lay down in bed and picked up her phone. She had agreed with Joshua that they would go to school together the next morning and, after school, they were supposed to visit his home. As they had got mad at each other, she had no idea if they were sticking to the plans, even because, despite their fight, there was now the workshops issue. As a word to the wise was enough, Marina figured out that no plans remained, yet it seemed polite to say something to the boy. She began writing a message. The words seemed tangled at her fingertips, until she wrote at last, ‘Hi! Do you think that we can leave for another day our plans regarding the journey to school and also the visit to your house? Thanks.’ Joshua's response arrived twenty minutes later and just said ‘OK’. Marina threw the phone onto the bedside table, settled down between the sheets, and went on zapping until she found a series that pleased her. Sleep didn’t take long coming.
The alarm went off before 9a.m, startling her awake. Sleepy, she muttered something unpleasant, rubbed her eyes and stretched, forcing herself to wake up. She jumped out of bed and turned on the radio. She needed to start the day well and nothing better to cheer her up than good music.
She got dressed and looked in the mirror. Not bad, but she wanted to look better, so she applied some make-up; next, she moved onto her hair, picking up two skeins on both sides of her head and holding them with a hook behind the nape. To finish, Marina chose a pair of large earrings in Indian style. She had breakfast and started on her way to school.
This time, she arrived at the campus fresh as a daisy, as opposed to the previous day when she had got there all drenched in sweat. The weather also helped: it was sunny, but the temperature was low. After passing the gate, Marina found Ana waiting for her. She was wearing the yellow blouse that she had bought at the same store as the bracelet, and it suited her really well. Seeing Marina dressed up, Ana gasped, put two fingers to her mouth and gave a sounding whistle that echoed across the campus. Before everyone could turn to them, Marina moved fast till near to her friend, while making her a sign to
be quiet.
As soon as Marina approached her, Ana exclaimed, “Whoa, girlfriend! Look who’s all hot today. Eh, eh! I haven’t seen you this good-looking for a long time, baby.”
“Hush, Ana!” begged Marina. “You're making everybody look at me and I don’t like it. It embarrasses me.”
“It’s rare for you to dress up, so it’s a happening when you do it. So tell me, what special occasion deserves an outfit that sexy?” questioned Ana, all insinuating smiles.
“The occasion is related to a certain bracelet, remember? I figured that, if I want it to change my bad luck, I should start by making a small symbolic change myself.”
“Good point. But that means that tomorrow you're back to jeans, right?”
“You bet,” certified Marina. And both burst out laughing. Marina would never give up on her comfy jeans. They were part of her and of her identity.
When there was five minutes before the bell, Ana remembered that the information related to the Workshops should be posted in the lobby. She invited Marina to go check which one they got into, so they got to the entrance. Five sheets A4 size were posted on the board with a highlighted title ‘Artistic Workshops’. Ana consulted the list and gave a little cry of happiness when she noticed that she had managed to get in Performing Arts as she wanted.
“And you, what did you chose?”
“Photography” remembered Marina.
Ana launched in pursuit of the list on the Photography workshop, but she found nothing. She read then aloud the small letters at the bottom of the sheets: “Please, be aware that not all proposed workshops will be active for lack of students wanting to attend them or for lack of a lecturer to teach them. Students who have applied to those workshops were randomly distributed to others, and so they must search their names in all lists to know which one they will attend.”
The two friends began searching for Marina’s name in the other papers and they found it at last.
“Painting and Drawing?” screamed Marina. “How did I get in Painting if I don’t even know how to draw?” As if it wasn’t enough not to be able to attend the option she had chosen, she had been placed in a workshop that was equivalent to learning Chinese; in fact, learning Chinese would be a lot easier. What was she going to do now?
The surprises didn’t stop there, however. Ana went again through the list and laughed in a disconcerted way, which made Marina uneasy. When she went quiet, she turned to Marina and gave her insinuating eyes while she said in a sing-song intonation, “Guess who’s in the same workshop as you...”
Before Marina could answer, she was surprised with a resounding “wow” that led her to turn around. Joshua was two feet away and looked at her from top to bottom, with his mouth wide open, leading her to blush. When he realized that Marina was staring at him, Joshua hurried to turn to his friends and pointed at the lists on the board, giving the impression that he was suggesting them to check them. While he and his pals approached the board, Ana and Marina moved away to give them more space. Although he tried to find his name on the papers, Joshua’s eyes peered at Marina occasionally. It was one of his friends who confirmed that he was indeed in Design. Unexpectedly, he turned to Ana and inquired, “Are you where you wanted?”
“Yes, thank goodness! Marina was the unlucky one. She chose Photography and was placed by force in Painting and Drawing, which she hates. Alas, I remember that her doodles in Visual Education classes were awful.”
Joshua gazed at Marina, who was pouting facing the criticism of her friend. He didn’t take long with Marina and turned to concentrate on the list. He travelled a finger by the names of those attending the same workshop as her and his phiz became more serious. He turned to Marina with a stern expression and retorted, “Well, at least you'll have the company of your protégé. Maybe he’s good at drawing and he’ll give you some tips.” Next he turned his back in a sudden and abrupt gesture, and began to move towards the classroom.
Marina shrugged and motioned to Ana that she didn’t understand a thing of what had just happened. Ana wondered how it was possible for her not to realize it, after all Joshua had been pretty clear. Thwarted, Ana let out a moan. She rolled her eyes and spoke to Marina slowly, as if she were a kid, “Lucas is in the same workshop as you.”
“Oh,” Marina let out on a low note. That explained everything. But she had not chosen Painting because she knew that was what Lucas wanted to attend; in fact, she didn’t even know that that had been his choice. She had been placed in Painting against her will, it was not her fault. Annoyed, she snorted and complained on the sly.
The bell rang, a warning them that they should head to the classroom, which they did. They found half of the classmates at the door, including Joshua who, upon seeing Marina, turned his back and promptly retreated further away.
Outraged, she confided to her friend, “Did you see that, Ana? And then you say it’s my fault. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be in Painting for sure.”
Ana agreed. Joshua was making her look bad. She had defended him enough and now he was behaving like a spoiled child. In the end, Ana only commented “Boys…” as if there was no cure.
The History teacher arrived meantime, opened the room door and the pupils began to enter. Marina crawled her way through her colleagues and pasted up behind Joshua. When he prepared to move in, she muttered at him between clenched teeth, “I chose PHOTOGRAPHY.”
Before he could reply, Marina went to her table and sat down in one movement filled with fury. Ana joined her shortly after, while Joshua sat once again near his new friend. Lucas was the last one to enter. Finding that the place behind the girls remained vacant, he began to move there. However, he stopped at the first step when his eyes met Marina and widened in amazement. He remained still for a moment, staring at her, enraptured. He soon hastened to cover it when she looked up and saw him. He retraced his steps to the desk behind hers and, passing by her, couldn’t resist smiling with irony and winking at her. Determined to restore the peace she felt when she was at home that morning, the girl preferred to ignore the wink and to pay attention to class.