Another one, my prince charming.
It's the first day of school. I have wax in my hands and it's sticky. I am in the crowd of teachers and students and am trying to make my way to the washroom. "Ramya," I hear someone say. I know who it is, and it makes me euphoric to hear him say it.
I turn around and there he is smiling beside me in the sea of people - he's wearing the white long sleeve Bayview shirt. He holds out his hand for me to give him five. I decide to give him my sticky hand because it's funny. As I do so and leave in the opposite direction as him, he feels his hand and laughs in a way that tells me he'll get me back.
In the meanwhile, I go to the washroom and wash my hands. There's a huge line for the toilets, whose stalls are all broken in between - so everyone can see everyone pee. This guy Sergei, who was in my GRADE 5 class, is beside me, staring. Ew. Then I hear a voice unlike any other - it's his.
"Ramya, Ramya, Ramya!" he sings, each syllable a triplet in rhythm. "I know you're here!"
I then realize he is my philosophy teacher, as in, he will be teaching my favourite subject. Gosh, and I'm late for class - on the FIRST day! I hope and pray inside the stall that he'll eventually leave, but he's counting on the same thing from me. Finally, when I hear his voice on the opposite end of the bathroom, I get out, cover the side of my face casually in a type of visor with my hand and try to quickly wash my hands and get out. [I also notice Thulasi sitting on the counter with all the sinks, how odd.]
Just as I get to the first door [you know how washrooms have two doors to enter?] he puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "not so fast!" We leave the washroom and are now between the two doors. I turn around and look at him for the first time. We smile and give each other an ENORMOUS hug. Just then, a lady enters and we let go and just joke around and leave.
For some reason, I run away from him - may be still wanting to be in class before he gets back. As I run, I see Ms. Walker. She tells me I'm late and missed the beginning of class, where I should have learned that I'd be taking care of the kayak paddles, which are stored over there and every morning must be counted.
I tell her "I was the president of the athletic council! I know how to put away the paddles! Besides, I'm not late yet! I just have to get back before he does!"
As I'm talking to her, I hear a big red helicopter above us - one of those military ones. Out of it, I see his head sticking out looking for me. It lands, he gets out and tells Ms. Walker he'll take care of the rest. She leaves and so does the helicopter. The two of us are alone again, in the middle of nowhere, between the washrooms and class - outside in the beautiful sunshine [it made sense when it happened].
He holds on to me tight to show Ms. Walker he won't let me get away, but really he's holding on to me tight to show ME he won't let me get away - even though he knows I don't want to get away. We hold hands and walk for a bit towards class, only to let go now and then. It's really hot so I pull off my grey shirt. He grabs it from me and runs a bit further away - back in the opposite direction. I run back towards him and he whips the shirt at me, I whip it back and we continue like this - away from the class.
He then pulls out a football to toss to me. He tells me to run a square out. I do and catch the ball. He then says he'll run and I should throw him a huck. BUT A HUCK IS NOT IN FOOTBALL, is it?, IT'S IN ULTIMATE FRISBEE! Ok whatever, he runs and turns and I throw it to him.
"Way to take my head off, that was so quick!"
"Well, I'm spontaneous, you always gotta be ready!"
He laughs that beautiful laugh of his and we walk hand in hand, or his arm around my waist and my hand on his heart. I can't remember but I'm sure it was poetic. As we walk away from the class - I know it's because he wants us to be alone - I start to think may be it's a wee bit irresponsible to leave for so long. He then kisses my forehead affectionately and I melt into his arms for a while.
"So you think we should get back to class?" he asks reading my mind.
"I was trying to run away and beat you to it."
"You think I don't know you better than you know you?"
"Do you remember when we were in the bathroom - I knew you could hear me thinking 'please don't let him stay, please don't let him stay!'"
"And I could have easily stepped inside a stall and found you, but I didn't."
"I..." I smile.
"love you too," he finishes.
I hold his hand tighter, our fingers intertwined. He kisses my lips and I turn towards him. La-la-la-love. As we walk on, we notice a bar.
He asks "you want to get two Mooseheads?"
"But we'll be around them," I say pointing to the group sitting on the patio with Stella [much better than Moosehead, I think], most of them are recognizable teachers and such.
"Alright I'll get them to go," he says laughing and lets go of my hand.
He walks towards the bar's double doors, looks at it for a while, and then turns back around and walks slowly towards me. As he descends the ramp that leads to the place, time slows down and all I remember myself thinking is "come faster, faster, no, don't! Come faster!" As he reaches me, it starts to fade.
Then, it ended.