Chapter 33


    Without greeting Mr. Thomson, I enter the science room and ce my bag on a table and sit in silence,


    avoiding eye contact with Mr. Thompson and Nina.


    ‘Late again, Magnus,’ he huffs with his hands-on hip.


    I shrug my shoulders and look away. Nina is sitting four tables away. It’s obvious she also isn’t happy to


    be here.


    Well, if you two think you are both going to sit here in silence, then you have another thinging,’


    Nina and I turn our attention back to Mr. Thomson.


    ‘I have borrowed some tools and a spare tabletop from the woodwork room. You will both spend


    detention fixing the table you broke,


    ‘What! But I never broke it,’ Nina protests.


    “Do not care, Nina, nowe and take this hammer,’ he growls.


    I abruptly step down from my chair and march up to the teacher’s desk, muttering and mumbling in


    dissatisfaction. Nina takes the nails and hammer and I carry the tabletop. Nina kneels next to the


    broken table and assesses it closely. I kneel opposite her and ce the tabletop down.


    Mr. Thomson walks towards the ss doorway. ‘I will be back in thirty minutes. I expect the table to be


    fixed.’


    ‘Yeah, yeah,’ I say, waving him off.


    Nina clears her throat. ‘Take the legs off the broken table, then we can nail them into the new tabletop.’


    Without saying a word, I take hold of the legs and go to pull it off, but Nina interrupts me, tapping me on


    the shoulder with a screwdriver


    ‘Just unscrew them like a normal person. Otherwise, you will either bend the legs or break them like


    you did the table,’


    Ignoring her suggestion, I pull the leg, ripping it off, but the leg is bent and crooked as she foretold


    would happen…


    ‘Great one, Magnus, a broken table and a bent leg, just great,’ she huffs.


    ‘Well, if you think you can do a better job, then you fix it.’


    ‘If you didn’t break it in the first ce, Magnus, I wouldn’t have to fix it.’


    Our hands are on our hips as we re at each other, grizzling in silence.


    “Unbelievable,’ she says and kneels by the other leg and unscrews the good leg with the screwdriver,


    as I should have done.


    As she unscrews thest nail, the metal leg falls towards her. I grab it just before it hits her head. She


    looks up in shock, but I’m not sure if it’s because she was about to be hit across the head or if it’s


    because I caught the leg before it knocked her out. I take the leg over to the new tabletop and hold it in


    ce. She is still silent; her mind ys over what just happened.


    ‘Well, are you going toe 10 screw this in while I hold it or not?|I growl.


    She shakes her head at her thoughts and kneels right beside me. Qur legs touch and I want to smile,


    but I don’t. Her dainty hands twirl the screwdriver in circles until the four screws are in. I lean across her


    candy. Her lips have a clear coat of lip-gloss, I guess the strawberry


    vour. Try to bend the leg back in ce, but I seem to make it worse. Nina lets out a giggle, then


    quickly ces her hand over her mouth to hide her smile. Something flutters inside my stomach at the


    thought that I just made herugh like that. It’s a pleasant feeling, unlike the one I have had for years


    that carries a sense of doom.


    She finishes screwing the bent leg in and we stand back to look at the table that is on a nt. I ce a


    book on it and we watch as it slides off and burst intoughter,


    “What do you think Mr. Thompsons is going to say?’ Nina sniggers


    “Eh, who cares? It was fun making it, but then again I don’t want another detention,’ I say, picking up


    All content is ? N0velDrama.Org.


    the fallen book and cing ”


    under the foot of the bent leg. The table is now leveled out.


    We burst intoughter again and the fluttering I feel inside grows. Mr. Thomson walks into the


    ssroom. I hope the table is… finished,’ he trails off, looking at the bent leg propped up on a bodk.


    ‘Magnus and Nina, detention again next Wednesday.’


    “But we both try to argue with him.


    I told you both to fix it, not mangle it more! Now go home before decide to call your parents,’ he yells.


    Nina and I both gulp and run out the door together. Seeing as we both live at the Packhouse, we both


    walked towards home together in silence, but it was a nice silence though.


    Walking along the grass, she sees a baby bird chirping near a tree and rushes over to it. I follow her


    and watch as she scoops it up.


    The poor thing has fallen from its nest,’ she says as she stares up at the extremely tall tree. I’m going


    to put it back in its nest.’


    You can’t climb up there Nina, this tree is even taller than what I would even climb,’ the bird chirps in


    her hands. It’s quite cute to look at. I gently scratch its little head to reassure it. It rxes and snuggles


    further into Nina’s hand. I can feel our bodies radiating warmth and realise how close I’m standing to


    Nina. I take a step back, giving her space.


    Well, I can’t leave it here, Magnus. I’m going up there with or without your permission,’ she says and


    grabs onto the first branch.


    Fine, but I’ming with you, only because if something happens to you, I will get the me for it.’


    Ninaughs. You won’t get the me for my actions, Magnus,’ she says, now on the third branch.


    I climb below her in case she identally falls. I don’t want her to get hurt.


    Uh, yeah I will. I always get med for anything you pull.’


    Herugh echoed through the trees as she grabs the tenth branch. It was like beautiful music to my


    ears.


    ‘Don’t be so absurd Magnus, you think too highly of yourself. I get into plenty of trouble myself each


    day, although once upon a time we used to get into trouble together and we had so much fun doing so,’


    Iugh, ‘Fun? Anything we did as a child was far from fun, from what I remember,’


    ‘Well, you remember wrong,’ she says.


    I look down at the ground. We must be at least forty branches high.


    ‘Enlighten me then,’


    Okay, remember the time theundry overflowed with bubbles and we would y hide and seek to find


    each other?’


    “Yeah,’


    ‘Well, Magnus, that was your idea to fill the washing machine up with bubble bath and turn it on, and if


    you remember, I took the me for it’


    I forgot she had taken the me for it. She had to mop it all up and went to bed without supper. I snuck


    into her room and gave her a sandwich that night


    “And then there was the night we wanted to watch the moon from the roof. We went climbing through


    May’s bedroom window, but when you tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. You used such force that the


    whole window fell out and crashed onto the pavers outs de You went and hid in May’s wardrobe and I


    took the me,


    She saght, I remember now. My parents would have been so mad at me for wanting to climb onto the


    roof in the first ce, let alone breaking a window in the process of it all. I had run straight to the


    wardrobe and hid inside and watched through the crack as May decided not to tude and look the me


    instead


    Well, I got ? so much vouble because I wanted to protect you, you were my best friend. I thought it


    would be fun to y a couple of nts on you in return for a bit of fun, and so we would be even I


    heard the warriors say the next morning they will need to felease some water from the dam You were


    refusing to have your bath the day before anyway, so I thought it would be funny to have you stand


    more oleek while the water washed over you I know you were twice the size of most kids, so the water


    would only reach your waist, but you acted so dramatically that day as if you were going to drown when


    you could have just stood up and watched a flow past you and you never spoke to me again until now


    she says giving me a sad look for a moment before looking away