Rafe remembered his first day in school like it was yesterday. His anger, the feeling of uselessness. He was in such a daze that he tripped over Nora without even realising. And it'd been the best thing that happened to him.
He now ran up the same stairs into the same school and saw the same students swarming from all directions. Three months ago, just the look, the feel, and even the smell of the place made him sick. But now, it was beginning to grow on him. He knew most of the students by name, most of them saying hello as he passed by and even Ernest the janitor greeted him like a long-lost friend.
He went for a run just before class since he was up at the crack of dawn. He barely recognised himself.
As he took his steps towards class, he felt more confident and even looked forward to being back from holiday. It was by far the most unexciting holiday he'd ever had, but the lonely week-long break was made bearable and productive by none other than his geeky tutor and
Alex's PlayStation. Unlike all the other students who got to go back to their parents or holiday, Rafe stayed in Berk, his father still refusing to soften.
In a month, they would submit their university applications, and he had limited time to impress his teachers and boost his personal reports. But more than ever, he was confident.
He walked into the classroom as Miss McGrath began taking down the register.
Nora was already seated, her back straight, her pens and pencils neatly in order.
She saw him and nodded. He acknowledged her with a nod, too. Taking the usual seat behind her and next to Luke, he also took out his homework, which he neatly folded in plastic wallets.
"Is that a Hello Kitty paperclip?" Luke said, pointing at the little Japanese mascot on the corner of the paper.
Nora pretended she didn't hear the comment as Rafe glared into the back of her head. She had placed Hello Kitties everywhere. He adamantly refused to use the tacky stationery, and yet her ninja-like fingers clipped the little creatures everywhere. It was a matter of days before Rafe would notice and grumble.
"Yes, but it's not mine," Rafe muttered before lightly kicking Nora's chair. She turned around with nonchalance. "Take this shit back before I throw it away."
"Fine. But there's a reason I gave it to you," she explained.
Rafe looked at her and waited for an explanation. Luke was interested to hear too.
"It brings luck. It's also one of my important superstitions."
Her face was always so severe and passive Rafe could never tell if she was joking or not. She looked innocent enough, and with a sigh, he took back the Hello Kitty paper clip and put it back on his homework. Her superstitions really intrigued him. Intrigued him enough that he was beginning to believe in them too, because perhaps those rituals were real, and they would indeed help him get back to good graces with his father.
"Oh my god," Luke said and laughed into his hand, "she has you by the balls, mate."
It's like teachers have eyes and ears at the back of their heads. At the word 'balls', Miss McGrath turned sharply to stare with a raised eyebrow at Luke.
"Who has who by what, Luke?" She stared so hard at him that it made even Rafe uncomfortable, especially with his balls being the topic of conversation.
"Nothing Miss, sorry Miss," Luke muttered as he shrank into his chair.
Rafe went past the point of caring. Nora could take his balls and put them in a pink Hello Kitty purse and carry them around with her like a war prize if it meant him getting into London Business School.
Hell, writing an application letter alone for that university was excruciating. He had never felt so unremarkable and ordinary as he did when Nora grilled him about his achievements and what makes him think he would stand out from the sea of students wanting to secure a place.
But he once heard his brother say, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. And that's exactly what he was doing half the time.
As Miss McGrath turned around to face the board again, Rafe whispered to Luke, "speaking of having your balls held hostage, what's up with you and Amber?"
Luke looked sheepish and a small smile formed on his lips. "I suppose we're kinda dating. Happened over half-term."
Rafe saw that coming from a mile away. He was just amazed it took Luke that long to make a move. Rafe would've been in her panties by the second week. He slapped himself mentally as his eyes moved to Nora with the thought of her panties dropping.
"So, the next question," Miss McGrath said, underlining her writing on the desk. "Anyone can answer this one?"
Her eyes scanned the room, hoping to pick her next victim. She ignored the raised hands of William and Nora who always knew the answer to any question. Some looked like they were still writing, avoiding eye contact with the teacher, the others silently prayed not to be picked on.
Her eyes found the next target. "Rafe, how about you? Explain how Milton presents complexity in the actions of the Devil?"
Instead of looking agitated or shrugging his shoulders, he cleared his throat and took a deep breath before answering. Miss McGrath looked at Rafe with surprise as he eloquently explained his answer. It was a nice look for a change instead of the usual scowl of disappointment. With relish, he had gone into detail to answer her question and commanded the attention of the whole class. Most were probably surprised that he knew the name of the author, let alone the symbolism in the epic poem.
"So you see, in the end, maybe Milton wants us to sympathise with the Devil when he seduces Eve to take a bite of the apple."
Miss McGrath nodded enthusiastically, her fingers on her chin. "Why is that? Milton wanted to 'justify the ways of God to men,' not the ways of the devil."
"Because we, the reader, are sympathising with the devil, and that shows that we are truly the fallen, weak men who are also easily tempted by the ways of the devil. In the end, we can never see the greatness of God because of our original sin," Rafe said, stealing a brief glance at Nora. She looked back with pride in her eyes and gave him an encouraging nod.
"In the end, we're all flawed, miss."
"I must say, Rafe, half-term does you wonders," his now rosy-cheeked teacher praised. "I'm impressed. Well done. Class, we'll continue with this on Wednesday," she said just as the school bell shrilled. "Rafe, keep up the good work."
Nora sorted through her papers into their wallets and closed her books, giving them a loving smooth over before tucking them all away into the bag, with the heavy books going in first, then the papers and lastly, the brown Muji pencil case. "Well done indeed, Rafe," she said from her desk, without turning towards him.
Whilst Nora wasn't looking, Rafe opened up his bag and, with one swipe of his arm, shoved the books, pencil case and plastic-covered papers inside. He promised to be neat, but he didn't promise to turn into a neat freak.
Rafe grinned. "Milton, piece of cake. I should teach him how to write epic poems."
"You can do that when you finally learn the difference between eternal providence and perdition."
"Hey, you said it yourself; Rome wasn't built in one day. Oh, by the way," he said, stopping her mid-way before she left her next lesson. "Can't do a lesson tomorrow, we have a match against Christchurch. Can we reschedule?"
"Sure. Wednesday then?"
"Yeah cool, sounds good... Do you want to come?"
Nora looked lost. "Come where?
"To the game. It's a home match." Rafe knew that Nora never went to football matches, or any matches... or anything that required socialising, but he couldn't help it. He wanted her to see him in action. He was tired of showing her the side of him that was full of his failures and weaknesses. Let her see him at the top of his game for once. He rubbed his jaw as she looked deep in thought and almost said 'nevermind' with disappointment swimming in his tongue.
"Yeah sure. I'll check it out."
Rafe grinned, perking up at her agreement. "Coolio, see you later then." Jesus, did he really just say 'coolio'? He gave her a short wave before heading to join his group of friends.
As Rafe exited the classroom, he was met by an extremely pissed-off-looking Hazel with her arms crossed.
"What are you two, best friends now?" she said, trying to make it sound light, but Rafe heard the acidity in her tone.
He shrugged. "She's cool."
"You know she's still a bitch, right? I mean, she's only helping you because she needs the money."
Looking back at how much effort and time Nora had invested into Rafe, going beyond just tutoring him on his subject, he knew that simply wasn't true. That girl was a perfectionist, and she gave 110% of herself no matter what it was. It was never about the money.
Rafe decided it was best to ignore Hazel, just like he did most of the time anyway.