Strike of Knowledge (Part 6)

Chapter 6: Play (one more time)

“Josh, are you in there?” A faint voice and a knock on a door woke me up. I rubbed the goo from my eyes and rolled out of bed. I walked into the small hallway and opened the door. To my surprise, Catlin was standing there, looking gorgeous as ever. This time, she wore dark skinny jeans, tall boots and a black tank top with a red widow spider in the center. Her leather jacket completed her look. “Hi Cat,” I said, giving her a hug. “What are you doing here?” “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me tomorrow?” “I would love that,” I said. “I don’t want to think about all the work I have to do.” “Understandable,” she said.  “Well, I will let you get back to your work. I was just checking to make sure you were alright.” I winced as she said it. “You knew about today?” Confusion briefly crossed her face. “The only thing I know is that I saw you running down the hall to English and you looked like someone was chasing you or something.” My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “I suppose I need to tell you what happened.”

Fear flooded my mind as another thought came to me. “Catlin, can we hang out tonight instead? I am worried about getting suspended any moment. I don’t want to go back home and face father’s wrath.” Catlin nodded and waited for me as I ran back to get some of my stuff. Catlin took my hand and we looked back and forth. Then we walked down the hall as casually as we could. “I’m worried that Mrs. Stonewall sent some assistants up to find me and suspend me.” No sooner had I said that, when I heard someone knock on my door in the distance. “Josh, can you come out? We need to talk about your actions in your sociology class.” I was frozen in fear, but Catlin pulled me along and whispered “This way.”

She led me to the elevator and I pushed the button. I waited for a moment, but Catlin slapped me on the shoulders. “Not the elevator dumbass,” she chided. She pointed to the door that led to the stairs. Looking confused, I said, “Why would we want to…” The sounds of footsteps coming their way gave him his answer. “Stairs it is,” I said as Catlin rolled her eyes. We opened the door and took the stairs two at a time. “I think he went this way,” said a voice. Catlin burst out the exit and I followed suit.

As we went outside, Catlin crept behind a concrete pole and looked around. She spotted a large bush and pointed at it. Getting the message, I ran and dove behind it. Catlin stood as still as she could as the assistants came outside. “Where did he go?” one of them asked. “No idea,” replied another. “That kid is going to be in some serious trouble.” “At least according to Stonewall,” countered the first. “Josh will be fine if he writes a letter of apology to her.” “Stonewall is a prominent figure for this university,” warned the second. “Look how wealthy she is; she donated thousands of Canadian dollars to the school!” “Not if the other teachers have anything to say about it,” the other one said. “Today or tomorrow, the officials will decide what do to about Josh.” The assistants scanned the area some more, then wondered off. Catlin breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go,” she said to me. I got up, brushed some twigs out of my hair and followed.

We hurried over to the parking garage where her black truck was parked. Orange flames were painted down the sides. “Sweet ride,” I said. “Is that your friends’ truck?” “It is actually mine,” she said with a grin. “Although I did want to get a motorcycle, but mom wouldn’t let me.” She got in the driver’s seat and I sat next to her. “So where to?” I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot. “The movies? Tim Hortans? Out to some fancy restaurant?” “I have something better in mind,” she said with a wink.

I was wondering what she was talking about when we pulled up and parked by a building. The sign read “Maple Leaf Arcade” in red and white letters. “How original,” she joked as she got out of the truck. “Wasn’t expecting a bad girl like you to choose a place like this,” I stated. “Isn’t this for little kids though?” I asked. Catlin playfully scoffed, “One is never too old to play some fun games.” She then slowly swung her hips from side to side. “Unless you are too scared that I will beat you in Mortal Kombat.” A smirk appeared on my face as I stared some more. “Challenge accepted,” I said.

Before we got to the building, Catlin stopped short. “Is it alright if I take a quick smoke out here? I haven’t had one all day.”  “You know that smoking is bad for your lungs, right?’ I asked. However, she didn’t seem to care and just kept looking at me with big eyes and pouted her red lips. “Alright, go ahead, Cat. I’ll get our tickets and wait for you inside.” Catlin smiled at me and walked over to the smoking area nearby. I sighed and walked in.

“Two adults please,” I said to the man at the counter. “That will be ten Canadian dollars,” he said. I handed him the money and he returned with a small plastic bag of tokens. I took the bag and sat down to wait.

Five minutes passed. I texted Ashley for a while and she said that for the most part, she was doing fine. Her grades at school were the best so far and she told me that she helped mom speak up for herself. She also gradually let our dad back into her life, perhaps to make amends. I was not sure whether that was a good thing or not. What was taking my girlfriend so long?

Finally, she came inside and greeted me. “Took you long enough,” I said. “Let’s just say that what I did was better than trying to get high on New Year’s Eve.” “You’re impossible, Cat” I remarked. Together, we walked over to the Mortal Kombat game. Catlin put the tokens in and introduction music played. I chose a dark haired Chinese fighter and Catlin chose a character dressed in a cheetah outfit. “Round one: fight!” boomed the announcer. My fingers rapidly hit the buttons in front of me. My character did flips in the air and slashed his swords. Catlin’s character dodged and landed swift punches. Before I knew it, I had lost the first round. “Fudgebuckets,” I muttered, while Catlin taunted “Ha ha, sucker!”

Round 2 began. The fight was almost the same as the last one, but this time, I launched a special power attack against her character. Catlin’s character did the same to mine. I then landed the final blows and won the round. “In your face!” I taunted her.

During the final round, we were evenly matched. Toward the end, however, it seemed like for every punch or kick I made, she made two more. Soon, both of us were running low on health. I took the opportunity to launch a special attack. My character jumped into the air about to land on her…only for her to back away at the last minute. Her character took mine down before I could blink. “Flawless victory!” said the announcer along with Catlin’s whoops. I let out a stream of four letter words and she cracked up. I also laughed, despite my loss.

Later on, we played more games and I got the satisfaction of winning car racing games. “I’ll get you for that,” she scowled, even though I knew she wasn’t really angry. I beat her in basketball, then she got me good in Pac Man. Afterwards, we bought ourselves pepperoni pizza and sat down to eat. We laughed and took turns feeding each other; not caring about the strange looks we got. We returned our tickets and walked outside with our prizes. Catlin held a Black Widow figurine proudly and I had a stuffed wolf in my hands for Ashley. I knew that Ashley was old for stuffed animals, but wolves were her favorite.

“What a blast!” I said happily. “I knew you would like it,” said Catlin as we got in the truck. Looking at the orange golden sky from the window, I concluded that things were finally looking up for me. The sky was indigo by the time we arrived back on campus. I held the door for Catlin and she led the way upstairs. We went to the second floor door that led to my room. I was about to grab the handle, when Catlin held me back. “Not that way! People might still be looking for you.” Even though, I would eventually have to face the consequences, she had a good point. “Follow me,” she said, disappearing into the shadows like a ninja.

After climbing more stairs and going down more hallways, we finally reached the door to her room. She took out her keys and opened it. We went into the living room and sat down on the living room couch. “Making the first move, huh?” I asked her. “Usually guys invite their girlfriends to their rooms.” “Who said anything about making the first move?” she asked. “We are just hanging out.” Brief disappointment crossed my face, but I held it in. “That’s fine. I’ll sleep on the couch then if I can’t go back to my room.” “Let’s watch some movies,” I suggested, an activity that sounded perfect for the situation. “Great idea.” Said Catlin. “I’ll make us some popcorn.” Scenes from the Matrix, flashed on the TV. I wrapped an arm around Catlin and she rested her head on my shoulder. Feeling her warmth and stroking her hair made me feel calmer than I had been in a while. After all that had endured, it was nice to be with a person who understood and accepted me. Today, we were rebels, but tomorrow, we could change the world.

As the credits rolled, Catlin turned to face me. “I love you, Josh.” “I love you too,” I said. I cupped her face with my hands and leaned in for a kiss. It started out soft, a quick peck on the lips. Catlin then deepened it and I accepted the gesture with equal passion. In this moment, nothing else mattered, but her sweet scent and the taste of her lips. The light switched on and a student walked toward the fridge. She stopped and looked at us, before we noticed her. We stared at her, frozen in place. She awkwardly retrieved a snack from the fridge and walked back to her room. “Ah, Wanda,” sighed Catlin regarding her roommate. “You always appear at strange times.” We both laughed until I felt her hand creep up to my belt. “Wait,” I said turning red in the face. “I thought you said…” “I lied,” she giggled. “After a year and a half or so, do you think we should be ready by now?” Instinct took over my usual aloofness and I said, “Yes.”  I looked around the room and mentioned, “I don’t think this would be a good place.” Catlin looked toward her bedroom door. “I think I know of a great place!” Catlin squealed as I picked her up and we entered her room. “Hey Catlin,” said Wanda coming out of her room. “I need to talk to you about my biology…” she was met with the door slamming shut. “…project.”