Climb Out Of The Abyss

Always bickering.

"I know you didn't want to offend me, but don't you think you went a little too far when talking to Angela, though I won't deny she also crossed all boundaries as well. "I want you and Angela to make friends and stop arguing," Jeffrey smiled sadly.

"Pearl for you, I can do whatever you want, but not that. We never were and won't be friends. It's the same as asking birds and fish to become friends. We're from different worlds, so we can't understand each other," I smiled, understanding what he has a mind. Angela’s constant pride in her parents ’wealth and power, but I decided to tease him a little.

"Then you and I are from different worlds too," he just smiled sadly again. I didn’t expect such a reaction, so I felt very guilty. And his response only increased that sense of guilt.

"Yes, it's an undeniable fact. You have no idea how I would like us to belong to the same world, maybe then ..." he suddenly fell silent.

“Then what?” His sudden silence made me curious. I wanted to hear what he was going to say but didn’t say.

"Nothing. Don't pay attention," he turned his eyes as always when he wanted to hide something from me.

Suddenly his face changed, tightened, I turned to see what caught his attention. When I realized what he was looking at, I even gasped. Angela was coming towards us. Although I will admit at first glance, I certainly wouldn’t have said it. The high heels of ten centimeters were replaced by flat shoes, the hair tied in a ponytail, the long piercings were replaced by barely visible diamonds, the red lipstick was nowhere to be found, instead, there was a gentle pink lip gloss, and the uniform was perfectly tidy, with no shortened skirt or a lot of unbuttoned blouse buttons, of course, the nails were still quite long and red, but everything else impressed especially how she was able to change so much in a few minutes. Jeffrey and I looked at each other, but neither said anything because we were both speechless. Of course, Angela noticed our glances.

"What's wrong this time?" her voice was harsh with a note of dissatisfaction.

“Nothing, I just can’t yet understand how you were able to change so quickly” she smiled contentedly and raised her head even higher.

"It's not hard. I had everything I needed in the school locker, and I'm not going to let anyone call me a p********e," I smiled so Angela didn't notice. It turns out Jeffrey’s comments came out in her favor. Other girls in our class also noticed Angela’s change, and one of them even blurt out.

"Angela is wearing a uniform decently. Maybe someone promised the end of the world today?" and as might be expected, Angela flared.

I covered my eyes with the palm of my hand, unable to believe either my eyes or my ears. After all, less than ten minutes had passed since the dispute with Jeffrey, and she had already found a new target for the quarrels. Angela arguing with someone was as common as breathing. I shook my head and sighed deeply as Jeffrey stood beside me and giggled quietly with all his might trying not to start laughing out loud. I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. The question came from my eyes: "what are you laughing at here" which he easily understood, while still giggling as he was trying to talk.

"She will never change. Her interest in brawling grows stronger with each passing year. It doesn't matter what she looks like: as a perfect student or as a p********e around the corner, this part of her won't change in a million years." after hearing Jeffrey's words, I looked at Angela, who was still enthusiastically involved in the dispute. I didn’t feel it when I started giggling.

There was a great deal of truth in Jeffrey’s words even though he knew Angela much less than I did. I was already about to agree with him when we heard a gentle and friendly voice telling everyone to calm down and go to class. Mr. Bert, a history teacher, is working in our school for only the second year. I had heard rumors that he had come here to work right after university, so he could have been no more than twenty-four or five. Plus, he’s a man of extraordinary beauty. As a result, half of the senior class girls lost their heads because of him, including our class. Seen from the side, it reminds me more of a model than a teacher: tall, broad shoulders, obviously never miss the opportunity to go to the gym, gentle but masculine traits with brown-gold, slightly wavy hair. No matter how you look at it, you must admit that he is a man of rare beauty, Angela has been trying to seduce him since last year. As she describes it, "from the outside he is a gentle and friendly, but inside truly insurmountable fortress." This phrase of her kept making me laugh. I stared at Mr. Bert in confusion until I heard someone call me.

"Ms. Ruben do you need an extra invitation to go to class?" Mr. Bert looked a little annoyed, and the whole class giggled at me. I dived into the classroom as fast as I could feeling like my cheeks were burning. As soon as I could, I sat down in my seat next to Jeffrey. To him alone, this situation didn’t seem fun, I could even say he looked angry I just didn’t understand why. I wanted to ask, but he turned away, clearly showing that he didn’t want to talk. Sighing, I lay down at the table, and meanwhile, the teacher started calling us by surname. After the incident in the hallway, my last name was no longer called, he immediately moved to Angela’s.

"Miss Ruiz isn't in class again?" looking around, he was already going to point out that she wasn’t there when Angela shouted.

"Teacher I'm Here," Mr. Bert looked up at the voice, his eyebrows jumped up.

“Forgive me, Ms. Ruiz you look like a decent student today, so I didn’t notice you,” the whole class started laughing out loud, and Angela turned red like a cherry.

“Enough, calm down” the teacher started screaming when the class fell silent, he continued to call us by surnames, then moved on to the lesson topic. As we left the lesson, Angela began to whine.

"How dare he say that to a student. And what he meant by that I always look like a decent student." I was silent, I didn’t want to tease her anymore, and Jeffrey, as always, didn’t refrain from commenting.

"What do you wonder? It turns out the teacher's opinion coincides with mine, which is quite understandable. Your usual appearance is far from matching the look of a fifteen-year-old. It usually reminds me of a real moth, not a student." I couldn't believe my ears he doesn't know when to shut up. 'Shut up, I know better what I need to look like” That was her only sentence, which was completely unexpected. This time she didn't argue whether it was like seeing a comet with the naked eye - a one-time thing. I and Jeffrey just glanced at each other. Angela just went completely unresponsive to the world around her. Probably the words the teacher said affected her a lot. We silently followed her.

The rest of the day was without major adventures. Angela walked as if someone had hit her with a brick in her head, Jeffrey was frowning at something, and I was just trying to leave them alone. So, I was very happy when the lessons were finally over. After school, I had dived quietly and quickly out of class so no one would notice. Lucy, as always, was already waiting for me leaning to the side of the car. I hurried a step toward her when I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Jeffrey. His face was still gloomy. I looked at him in surprise but said nothing. Finally, he could not stand the silence:

"Pearl, I want to talk to you if you can give me some time," one of my eyebrows jumped up in surprise. I do not understand why he uses such an official language, because we have been friends for many years.

"I'm nothing before, I'll tell Lucy that I get back home by myself," he nodded. When I turned towards Lucy, he didn’t lag.

"Lucy isn't angry, I still want to be with friends. I'll be back later," she didn't look impressed with my decision but didn't argue. Lucy knew better than anyone else how hard-headed I could be. Just told to come back by ten o'clock in the evening because otherwise, mom would be very unhappy. Of course, I nodded without arguing. She was happy with my answer, got in the car, and drove off. As soon as her car disappeared from my eyes, I felt an awkward silence lurking between me and Jeffrey, pressing more than a bag of stones. I tried to fix my usual smiling face, I turned to Jeffrey:

"What happened so important that you wanted to talk right away? I hope something good," he turned his eyes and smiled sadly.

"Maybe you'd like to walk to a nearby park?" I will admit that his behavior was of great concern to me. It was the first time he had behaved so strangely. He is usually full of good mood and energy. Without saying anything, he turned toward a park near the school, and I quietly followed. Park was quite small with maybe twenty trees and four benches. As Jeffry sat down on one of them, I stood in front of him and looked at him with a worried but at the same time curious look, but I would not have thought that the words he said would cause me such a shock.