CHAPTER 8

Silly Specimen

♧

The sign against the front door of the library was written in bold letters, saying they would have to renovate the place for some time. Of course, this was a cheap way to say it since they weren't foolish to buy that and they knew some time would take a long time for them.

This brought a cloud of disappointments for the students and especially the book lovers.

However, they were aware of it and knew they had no choice. Thus, the members from the book club unanimously agreed to change their location.

"Let's just make this place temporary for now—" groaned Olivia, not entirely pleased by this new arrangement.

When all was fixed and settled, they got up and didn't make a fuss over it since they knew situations like these would happen eventually.

"Thank God our club is full of patient people. I am honestly glad we don't have to deal with classy bitches—" Olivia threw a blunt remark. Too blunt. "I tell you, they make a lot of complaints and I can't imagine how horrid that might've been if they were in our group. Bless our members! If only we can find a way for us to do something useful." she sighed and felt helpless.

"I have an idea." Lena began after an idea crossed her mind. "We'll just start by raising money for charity. Let's make it specific. Just for some of the disabled ones who are in need. I am talking about those who make low income and barely able to survive off a meal a day. I do think it's time for us to do something about it," she suggested, taking a short pause. "Now that we have a club of our own, we will start off by collecting our old books and donate them afterwards. I can sell a few goods around the neighbourhood and we can encourage them to buy for a good cause. Do you think it's a good idea?"

For a brief moment, Olivia held out her finger and pressed it against her chin. "It might be a good idea, actually—" Olivia reflected thoughtfully. "Fundraising for the disabled is a decent start to build a good community for our club. How did I not think of that sooner?"

"I mean, it might take a long time. But it's all I can think about." Lena responded plainly as she sat upon the bench with her legs crossed.

"It's a brilliant idea, Lena. This will mean a lot for our fellow members here," Olivia beamed at this sudden prospect.

"You don't need to worry. I'll tell the group myself. We'll just sell things in school and outside of school depending on our schedule. We will need sponsorship, of course. Family, friends, teachers, and students. I'll try to make a few posters for our very own club, and we can hang them up around the school building. Our members will be glad I am sure of it."

Lena smiled at her ardent reply.

"That sounds nice."

"Yea, yea. Thanks to you," Olivia drew a long breath of relief.

"Well, now," she announced in a dramatic tone.

"We're going to do this together."

In the evening that rolled by, Lena was dropped off by the bus instead of James because he had to be somewhere else with his cronies for a while. It took little effort for him to give an excuse and clearly she didn't mind about it. In spite of the romantic scene they had encountered before, it wasn't a big deal after all. At least that's what Lena thought.

It was only a kiss

She had told herself about this countless times. Oh, but she couldn't avoid her feelings. If she was full of incessant thoughts about James, Lena knew in the back of her mind, she would have to brazenly accept her feelings for him. No matter how embarrassing it might be to her.

"Focus, Lena," she muttered herself.

Without realizing she was already at home after she sauntered across the pavement, Lena found out her friend or babysitter, Betty, was currently busy with her duties. A sudden idea crossed her mind if it would be better to cast herself away for a while to Amelia's house.

It took only a few minutes for her to reach the front porch and there she stood near the threshold.

Knocking on the door twice, she heard a woman's voice behind. Once Lena answered her inquiry, the old lady recognized who it was, and the door gave an opening welcome. Radiant as a sunflower, Amelia appeared upon the threshold with her cane.

"Why, Lena! I didn't know you were going to visit today." greeted Amelia, bright as ever in her floral dress.

"Yes. I wanted to come by just to see how you are doing." Lena smiled sweetly at the old lady before her.

"Oh, how sweet of you to come! Now come in, come in." and they both came in.

Something like this made the old lady grateful. The visitor paid so much respect for her being, and it was enough for the old woman to acknowledge that not all folks in society would isolate and shun her. Unfortunately, people of her kind wouldn't even get the slightest attention from her neighbours let alone the society itself. Only a few would care to accompany, but no one would have given so much attention the same way as Lena did.

"I beg your pardon for my absence in our recent occasion, Lena. Last time I was fully exhausted during the night of James' birthday party. The headache seems to overwhelm me and I didn't have a choice except to take a rest," Amelia fell back in her armchair as she began to explain.

"It is a good thing this stick rather handled it fine when I went all the way upstairs to my room. Or if not, then I have no choice but to let my grandson carry me which is highly inappropriate for the guests." Amelia chuckled when she tapped her walking stick upon the floor.

"No worries, ma'am. I can understand. It looks like your grandson would do anything for you." Lena said as the sweet picture came into her mind.

The old lady knitted her brow. "Did I ever tell you not to call me ma'am, my dear?" in a mild tone.

"Right, you did," Lena promptly replied in a start. "I'm kind of forgetful, Amelia."

"Ah, like a grandma?" bantered Amelia with a smirk.

"I'm afraid I'm turning like one." and this caused them a momentary laugh for the two.

"Ha, you funny girl. You've got lots of years ahead of you. Try not to be so stuck in that place of yours and look around outside for once, my dear." advised Amelia sagely, but her tone never insinuated it was a bad thing.

"Young ladies like you at your age are quite rare, but you know it's much better for you if you wouldn't shy away from the world. Let them know who you truly are,"

As she spoke this so eloquently, Lena Foster felt the old lady read her heart. Deep within her soul, she was struck by the truth. For a moment, Lena could barely recall any of the time when she was full of youth. All she had done was hid behind herself from any kind of pain. The world wasn't made like that, she noticed. Ever since Lena had dealt with the loss of her beloved mother, she avoided every of her worth and turned to focus on her little sister entirely.

"I'm an old woman myself and for God knows how long I'll be here in this world," Amelia proceeded along.

"But one thing for certain is don't be ashamed of yourself. Don't hide it and don't grow too old to think your duty is everything in your hands. You should take care of yourself once in a while. Try not to let these problems burden you all the time," Amelia felt as if the depths of her conscience urged her to speak up in front of the young girl.

"I can tell you are a fine young lady with a good heart, but your life is worth not to throw them away." The old lady spoke with a light that showed hope as she touched Lena's hands while her kind eyes were staring into her green ones for a moment.

"I'm sure you understand what I mean."

"I do, really. But do you think loving someone more than yourself is bad?" Lena wondered.

"Of course. It isn't bad. I know what you mean since I do love my grandson more than any living being in this world. But that doesn't put me into a situation where I should care less about myself. Everything in your life should be fairly balanced." Amelia advised and pulled back a pillow on the armchair.

"Did James tell you about my little girl?" Lena managed to ask. Somehow, she was not abashed to utter from her lips my little sister into my little girl.

"You call your sister your little girl? My, my, you are an odd creature!" chuckled Amelia.

"Yes, he did. He told me about it because he had to accompany your family in the hospital. He said your sister was sick if I am not mistaken—oh, speaking of that! Is the poor dear alright by now?"

"Yes, she is getting better," Lena smiled lightly then faded. "It was my fault anyway. I should have known better to close the window in her room." she sighed after she realized how utterly careless she must've been.

"Sometimes I just feel like it's better if I die while my mother is here, I am sure she'll do better than me."

"Oh, don't talk ludicrous nonsense. I am very sure that your mom will be proud of what a woman you have become." With that, Amelia gave her a kind loving smile.

When the following days passed by, a sound from the loud speakers in the halls announced there would be an upcoming baseball game in Lena's school. This was a great opportunity for Olivia and Lena to sell one of their goodies around the bleachers. They found the area was crowded, but the sky was sunlit clear.

Halfway through the game, they gained enough money to satisfy themselves. Which in time lots of their goodies were sold.

Both girls were doing well until another two girls among the crowd were calling Lena. She was vaguely surprised at first, but she knew they were offering her to join them.

"Come sit here, I feel bad for you," said a girl with mahogany locks. "Are you the new girl in our grade?"

"Yes, I am." Lena smiled.

"What are you selling?"

"Goodies," she answered, mechanically. "We're trying to raise money for the disabled charities."

"Ah, alright," The girl with locks nodded. "My name is Stella if you don't know, and over here is my friend, Clara." she introduced the other girl that was seated next beside her.

"New girl, nice to meet you! What's your name?" this time, the girl with thin black hair asked in an unusual passion.

"It's Lena."

"Lena! I love your name," she cried in a cheery voice.

"My name is Clarissa, but everyone in here calls me Clara," she said half aloud while she shook Lena's outstretched hand. "Please, join us." she smiled so widely until her teeth were exposed, but the sincerity did not reach her eyes and there was something queer about her. It was so different from Olivia's first approach.

However, it did not matter to Lena.

"Thank you, really." Lena took this as a good thing.

Wild it was, the noise covered all over the place and not far away, she saw him in the background. She knew it was him without an inkling of doubt. Her eyes did not betray her since she would've noticed his face anywhere with eyes that were probably even sharper than the eagle in the sky.

He was finishing off the home-run when mountains of people in the crowd started to cheer frantically. He raced around the field and zinged the area. It was this when Lena's eyes were suddenly following every one of his movements throughout the game. Nobody was aware of it except Clarissa who caught her gaze and suspected there was something amiss.

"You know him?" there was a tone in hers that Lena couldn't comprehend.

"Yes, I do." Lena nodded, but her eyes were still on James.

"Really? Are you guys close?" interposed Stella with full of interest.

"Yes," Lena responded tersely, her cheeks were now pink.

"Ooh, I see that someone is blushing. I don't blame you if you have a crush on him. If you want to know, my friend here had a history with-" but when Stella wanted to continue, Clarissa nudged her with all her might.

"Don't you dare." she mouthed, glaring over at her. "So, how close are you two?" Clarissa managed to ask after the little scene with her friend.

"We're close enough, but I am more close with his grandmother." Lena replied just as the crowd rose into a fit of cheers.

"Woah, they won." Stella said in awe as the girls turned to look at the baseball players who are in victory.

"I am proud of you, James," Lena said when they were both in the car.

"You saw me there?" James asked in a bright mood. "How did I look?"

"You look handsome." Lena smiled. In truth, he did look handsome almost in anything.

"Ha, thanks."

He stopped the car by the time they reached Lena's house. None of them really spoke that much after the ride, and when both were on their way to the verandah, James finally broke the silence.

"Lena," he grabbed her arm. "I'd like to ask you something about that night we encountered," he took his time to pause. "Did you have any feelings for me when I kissed you that night?"

"I'm not sure, at least I think I did," Lena stammered, and she felt the heat kindled her cheeks when his hand was still on her arm.

"What about you, James?" she couldn't handle the sight of him staring at her too much.

"I thought about you a lot after that night. You have no idea," He muttered. "I wanted to tell it to you sooner, but I was still a coward to even try."

"Probably you just needed time to think about it, James." Lena assumed.

"I guess. But I never expected that I would fall for another girl until you came along. It just made the whole situation fast, but I can tell you the truth, Lena. I trust my feelings and I know that I am falling for you." his silvery eyes were now honest, and she could tell that he was not playing around.

"You should know that I am not good at dating." Lena confessed, sheepishly.

"Bah! Who cares, I am not much of an expert either." He grinned and he suddenly kissed her in that spot.

"What will your grandmother think when she knows about us?" Lena hoped her relationship with James wouldn't disrupt his relationship with Amelia.

"I don't think she'll find any problem. Besides, gran is very fond of you." and he was sure of that.

After they both bade a farewell, Lena closed the door behind her and left herself leaning against it for a while. All done with the sighing, she walked on and sang in girlish content.

Lena hastily went into the kitchen room and prepared herself for dinner.

The sky was starting to get dark and the evening sun was drowning on the horizon. In the sky, the strong hues of purple, blue, orange and crimson colours blended together. The night sky was becoming an enchanting view above.

Alone, she carried on her cooking while singing along. Lena couldn't help but smile and blush like a school-girl while pouring some milk into the pan. Her mood fluttered throughout the entire cooking process, and she was getting these types of feelings lately. She thought to herself that she must be a silly girl when her mind was carried away by the sudden picture of James.