Judge by the Cover_High School, Drama & Deadly Vices

by Melissa Abigail

  "Oh, I get it," he said, stroking his chin. "You're scared to work with the guy, right? I don't blame you. Finding out that that kid is from that kind of place is a huge shocker. Well, Haruna, like I said don’t worry about it. If anything it only explains things.”

  “Huh?”

  “I looked it up. You know, my uncle's a cop, so it's easy to get that info. There's no record of a wealthy 'Debiru' family or any kind of 'Debiru' family in the province. He’s just a basic orphan, and I'm sure he's a total charity case. The old man who runs the place probably pays his tuition from donations. We really should feel sorry for him. He never knew love. Probably abandoned by hardcore drug addicts or alcoholics if you ask me.”

  Haruna wasn't at all ready for everything he had just said. "Bothered" didn't even begin to describe how she felt about it.

  “Mani. What are you saying? How can you assume all that from nothing?" She frowned just thinking about all he'd spewed, and her voice dropped to an angry whisper, "And by the way, I’m an orphan. Remember?”

  “Well, yeah but, not like him. I mean, obviously, you’re different. You were raised in a real home. You’re in a completely different class from people like him.”

  “I’m different?”

  “Of course! That kid? Ryu—or whatever—his future is prison. You on the other hand? Guaranteed valedictorian off to UBC. You've got everything it takes. Honestly, take it from me. I’m dating you, right? Me. A Vangelis. So naturally—”

  “Okay, just stop talking, please.”

  Haruna crossed her arms. His sudden surge of arrogance was beginning to be more than she could stand. Mani didn't seem to detect it, for he continued his banter with an unabashed run of a hand through his curly black hair.

  “Anyway, all I’m saying is he’s got the signs—can’t relate to normal people, behavioural problems, doesn’t pay attention in school… you said so yourself. And he’s sorta weird-looking too. I mean, his face is weird. My opinion? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Haruna, you need to stay away from his type. He’s probably loads dangerous and violent.”

  Haruna paused, not even hearing the rest. Weird-looking? Why? Because he was different? Mixed, just like she was? She remembered the discussion she'd had with her friends just the other day, and the girls that stared her down out of jealousy. She turned to face Mani fully, her lips pursed, her mind flooding with choice words—

  “What’s weird about my face?”

  That voice!

  Haruna thought for a moment that her heart would leap from her chest. She swivelled, eyes bulging as she saw Ryu's hunched frame a few feet away, just behind them, arms crossed as he leaned lazily against a post.

  He heard?

  "How did you get in here?" Mani sneered, spinning around in his seat. His clear grey eyes betrayed the shock that he refused to show in his tone.

  Ryu smirked. "Came through the door like everyone else. That's what it's for, isn’t it?"

  Mani didn't respond right away. He looked quite agitated having not yet recovered from the unexpected interruption. From the way his jaw locked and he nodded, it was obvious that the gears were turning in his head, trying to process what was happening.

  “So you were eavesdropping?”

  Ryu rolled his shoulders.

  “I’ve been here long enough to hear about where my future's at. Didn’t have to listen hard. Your voice carries like a whale.”

  Haruna gawked, stunned to silence. In spite of Ryu's diss, Mani smiled. The look of pure loathing between them was plain to see.

  “Well what, then? You’re gonna deny what I said? Your type couldn't be more obvious,” Mani snarled.

  “I don’t know about denying anything, but maybe you ought to think twice before spewing crap about things you haven’t a clue about.”

  “Oh yeah? Then who are your parents then? Do you even know?"

  “Never mind my parents 'cause I know plenty about yours. And people who live in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing stones. You know how the saying goes.”

  Mani snorted, folding his arms as he propped back against the table's edge.

  “What exactly are you trying to say?” he challenged.

  “It’s fine if you wanna play dumb, but at least try not to spread lies about me to make yourself feel important. As legendary as I am and as interesting as I may be to you, I'm just about one of the last people you want to be insulting.”

  "So now you’re threatening me, you little shit?"

  The bar stool grazed painfully against the slick chequered floors as Mani clambered to his feet. His right hand was balled into a veiny fist as he leered at Ryu. Mani was nearly a whole head taller than him. Haruna was feeling the full magnitude of her panic now. She leapt to her feet.

  "Mani…"

  "Don’t worry, I can take him," Mani grunted before raising his fists.

  Haruna threw her head back. Right.

  Like that was the issue, whether or not she thought he could win. She didn't want anyone to fight at all!

  Haruna glanced nervously at the front counter to see if the employees would do anything. She strained to hear them muttering something to each other in Greek, but none looked anywhere near ready to step in. Mani's father was the owner and their boss. As far as they were concerned, if Mani beat up someone on his own property, they weren't going to be witnesses to anything. A few of the restaurant patrons were either pretending not to notice or keenly observing what they thought would be a promising fight.

  "You see this guy? What are you—five foot two?” Mani jeered, his white teeth gleaming.

  “Six," Ryu corrected, not at all flinching at their glaring height difference. "And don’t even bother. I’m not interested in fighting you—not now or ever.”

  Mani grew more irritated. His war hormones were officially spiralling out of control.

  “Yeah, ‘cause you’d be dead—am I right, Tiny Tim?"

  "Mani! Stop it!" Haruna cried, clutching her hands, hating the sound of desperation in her voice.

  "… just another drain on the system—won’t amount to anything—no one would even miss you when you’re gone.”

  Haruna was stunned to silence. Her gaze shifted to Ryu, her hands clutched over her trembling lips. How? How could Mani say such things? She turned back to look at Mani who still had a sick grin on his face and a fierceness in his eyes. He still hadn't noticed anything wrong at all about what he had said. Ryu, by the same token, appeared unaffected.

  "Hm. Maybe they wouldn’t," Ryu said with a snort. His eyes then met Haruna's and she felt unease at the coldness in them as he continued, "He’s right about one thing, though. I’m definitely someone you should stay away from. We'd both be glad."

  Ryu pivoted away sharply and shuffled out of the restaurant, a small bell dinging above the door in his wake. Haruna snatched her phone from the table and moved off. Mani's voice boomed after her.

  "Haruna! Hey! Are you seriously going after that guy?"

  Haruna froze. She let out a deep breath and turned to face her boyfriend, tears welled in her eyes. He'd been following—he halted upon the sight of her face.

  "You went too far, Mani." Shaking her head, she turned away. "Way too far."

  Haruna lingered at the dead end of a dead street, partially out of breath. She had strayed at least two blocks from Vangelis Diner hunting down Ryu until she had finally lost track of him. She'd been sure he had turned onto this corner, but clearly he was gone. Just like he had evaded her at school, he had done so again. It was a frustrating exercise, like tracking a leprechaun minus any of the promise of luck.

  She couldn't do it anymore.

  The air had become dry and tested the limits of her lungs. She neglected to bring her inhaler. Feeling defeated, Haruna idly regarded her phone. Two missed calls from Mani. She had refused to answer it and how could she? After his insensitive remarks and trying to irrationally start a fight for no reason? A side of him she never knew he had, never sa
w in such magnitude, had taken over. It was a side of him she didn't like. At the same time, some wild accusations had been volleyed from both sides. She wondered what any of it meant.

  "Yo… what is this?"

  Haruna tore her eyes from her phone, grimacing as Ryu skulked out from the inside of a convenience store, arms in his pockets and a fresh cigarette wedged between his teeth. He removed a hand from his pocket and gradually withdrew the cigarette.

  "How are you able to go in there like that? You're underage," Haruna remarked disapprovingly, saying the first thought to come to mind.

  Ryu spoke shortly, "I've got the proper ID. Not your business though, is it?"

  Haruna snorted in response. Proper ID? More like fake ID.

  "So like, are you stalking me now or something?" he muttered, his gloveless hands sinking into the depths of an oversized, zippered sweatshirt.

  "Pardon?"

  "Well, you're here. And I'm here. But I was here first… so that only leaves one to conclude—"

  "I can go wherever I want—doesn't make it stalking."

  "And you showed up at my house too—twice. Can't catch a break from you, can I?"

  "Oh, shut up. The last thing I want is to…" Haruna folded her arms across her chest, drawing her jacket closer. Why was she even arguing with him again? It was just so, so draining. Haruna had one purpose in mind and she needed to get it over with. "Back at the restaurant, you said some stuff to Mani about his family or whatever—"

  Ryu snickered. "He goes by Mani? Wow, that's just bad."

  Haruna pursed her lips, counting to ten in her mind and throwing her arms in frustration before continuing.

  "Was any of that really necessary?"

  "Was it necessary to talk about me behind my back? Like his crooked politician father doesn't have any dirty secrets?"

  "Right, about that. You claim to know plenty of things about the Vangelis'? Like what?"

  "You wanna know? Ask that peacock, 'what.'" Ryu made brazen air quotes with his fingers.

  "That so-called peacock is my boyfriend!"

  "I don't give a flying fuck who he is! And let me tell you something—straight-up—don't ask me anything about Tengoku or my life. It's no one's business and has nothing to do with you."

  Tengoku? Was that the orphanage? Why was he bringing that up all of a sudden? Sure, Haruna had thought about asking him, but she hadn't. So why be so defensive? Haruna was on the verge of snapping at him when a wicked thought came over her. So he hated people talking about him? She smiled impishly, preparing for her most convincing performance yet.

  "Then it's too late. I told my friends about last Friday when I brought the stuff. Who knows who else might have heard?" A smug feeling came over her at noticing his brows shoot up and the hint of alarm in his eyes. She gazed off to the side. "I bet the whole school knows by now that you live on the East Side, at an orphanage at that."

  It was anyone's guess which part of Haruna's lie had set him off, but it definitely did the trick. Haruna shrieked and ducked as Ryu lunged at her. He stopped short of doing anything, though she could have sworn he was about to hit her. She breathed deeply, gasping. He had tried to scare her, and it worked. Haruna dared to stare back at him, frightened, conscious of the fact that he was close, so close she could make out individual eyelash hairs and could smell stale tobacco wafting from his breath. She felt a sudden queasiness overwhelm her, maybe even a bout of claustrophobia as she thought back to her last asthma attack.

  She wanted to throw up.

  "Are you messing with me?" Ryu growled, teeth bared and eyes wide with ire. "Listen up, you annoying bitch…"

  Just like that, all the fear was lost.

  Haruna drew back, slowly, bringing her hands from her face to her sides. The five-letter word was a pin-prick in her ear.

  "Don't you dare call me that!" Hands clenched into fists, Haruna swung her foot at full force, striking right between his legs. He doubled-over and slumped to the ground. It was like everything was happening in slow-motion, like a video stream on a bad Internet connection, audio out of sync from all movement—his eyes clamped shut and his mouth gaped open. The sound came after in the form of an unearthly howl.

  Haruna gasped.

  "I'm so… so sorry—"

  "Why would you do that?"

  Ryu had half-roared, half-wheezed.

  Haruna held her hands out, maybe meaning to touch his shoulder, help him up… something, but they only remained hovering awkwardly in midair until she retracted them. She looked up to see if anyone had seen. A couple passersby exchanged looks, another was stifling a giggle, but most hurriedly carried on about their way. She looked back to see Ryu bite his lip as he attempted to stand, only to crumple to the ground once more.

  Now even she had gone too far.

  They had decided early on that they would be spending some small part of their Saturday together.

  But not like this.

  Ryu sat in the corner, hunched over a small table, apathetic to the one-off scrutinizing glance of a laptop-toting hipster. Returned from the counter, Haruna joined him at the table for two. She carefully slid a cup across to him while reserving the other for herself. Though he muttered a gruff "thanks," he studied the cup and its steaming contents suspiciously, probably debating whether it was safe to drink. After a few seconds passed, he took a cautious sip.

  Haruna inhaled the sweet scent of her own latte and savoured the ambience, from the hum of indie music to the earth tones of the cafe's interior design. Her gaze shifted, noting the way Ryu looked off into the distance, his cup to his mouth more out of boredom than pleasure. Haruna sighed softly, feeling like buying him a coffee wasn't apology enough.

  "I'm really sorry about earlier."

  Haruna waited for him to look at her, but he wouldn't. She lowered her eyes. Well, might as well tell him.

  "Um, what I said about telling the others… it wasn't true. Actually, I haven't told anyone about where you live. I just said that to upset you."

  "Well, I probably deserved it," he said. "Besides, tons of people know I'm not from around here anyway."

  Haruna wrinkled her nose. "Really?"

  He regarded her sidelong, then turned so they fully faced each other. Haruna pulled her lips into an uneasy smile. He was looking at her, normally, not glaring. His hair was still unruly and long at its ends, sweeping his shoulders and his eyes. Both his ears were still multiply-pierced with shining silver studs and rings. Even with that fresh scratch on his face and faded scars, he wasn't weird-looking as Mani had said. But she couldn't see what the others did. He was too surly to be attractive.

  Ryu sighed. "Five years at the Academy and you think no one would know by now that I'm a kid from the East Side? Must be nice living in that little bubble of yours."

  Haruna's smile faded. Bubble?

  Suddenly Haruna felt the vibrating in her pocket, a vibrating that morphed into the chimes of her ringtone. Haruna vexingly reached for it and watched the name flash onto the screen. Ryu craned his neck slightly, taking a peek. The phone continued to ring.

  "You gonna answer already?"

  Haruna shot him a dirty look before accepting the call. As expected, Mani demanded to know where she was and why she had been ignoring his text messages. She responded with firm words, all the while maintaining her calm. They had a project to work on and she would see him later, she told him. Then she hung up, not giving him a chance to argue. She looked to see Ryu make a strange face before swiftly turning his head and taking another deep sip.

  She cleared her throat.

  "While you're showing so much interest in my calls, riddle me this—how did you even get my number?"

  Ryu scoffed. "Pretty obvious. My friend's dating yours, remember?"

  Haruna nodded slowly. He must have asked Seth to get it from Gabrielle. Somehow the reality of that just didn't sit right with her, though it appeared there was at least one benefit to the whole "frie
nds-dating-each-other" thing. They sat in silence for a bit longer. The questions she long harboured begged to be asked. She figured there was no better time than the present to resolve them.

  "I was wondering," she started, her voice soft amid the din of the cafe. "It's okay if people know you live on that side of town, right? Then why are you so secretive about where you live? Is it so bad for people to know?"

  Ryu stared at her for a moment, his mouth a line, a look that suggested that there was a lot more happening in his mind than he was willing to put into words.

  "Would you want anyone to know if it were you?"

  The question was heavy. If it weren't for Haruna's grandmother it very well could have been her. She had no other family, at least, of that she knew. As Mani had pointed out: she was lucky to be raised with a relative, but Ryu… Ryu must have been even lonelier than she was. She half-smiled, trying not to convey too much of the heartfelt sadness behind it. Maybe his parents hadn't even died as she had assumed. Was he unwanted? Abandoned? Surely, had that been the case for her, it would have been a secret she'd keep to herself.

  Ryu coughed lightly, placing his cup down so its logo faced her. "Fancy chairs and overpriced coffee. You go to places like this often? Pretty uptight if you ask me."

  "I guess it suits me then," Haruna muttered, undoubtedly taking Ryu by surprise having said just the kind of thing he would have.

  The air between them grew uncomfortable, and he looked elsewhere while she lowered her gaze, cup to her face. Somehow this parentless status, one they both shared, this unspoken pain that she knew he must have also felt, made total hatred impossible. They were different but then again maybe they weren't entirely. The person who she'd avoided for five long years might have been the one person who could understand. Even so, the words—I'm an orphan too—didn't come.