Chapter twenty four

She never expected such a "romantic guy" response that he wants her to fall in love. This situation seems so surreal to her; she feels that she flies too high and can reach dangerous heights. That's why, before she gets used to this ephemeral happiness and is hurt by the fall, she prefers to lay her cards clearly on the table. To get used to it and for the dream not to last would be an additional burden for her.

"Why here, why in the dark you talk to me like before and in the daylight you don't even greet me, don't you think you have a rather bipolar attitude with me, why?"

Alexis purses his lip and decides to act as he always does when someone presses him on a question that makes him shudder.

"Can't you just live in the moment. Light life is about feeling life run through your senses not your head. Stop thinking all the time, it hasn't done you any good. In the end everything in your mind is just dreams."

"I feel more of..."

"No, you don't"- Luz almost had a fit when she felt strong hands holding her elbows-"You can't feel half of what I feel because I..."

He starts to pull away, but Luz doesn't let him and places her hands around his neck; as if she could see him even in the darkest darkness.

"Answer me at least some of what I ask you."

Then, Alexis thinks that on this occasion it is better to give in or the intensity of the circumstance could grow to unsuspected levels.

"You can't feel half of what I feel because I'm used to the temporary reality and you to the eternal imagination."

He doesn't realize it but his hands rest on Luz's waist. She can't stop a tear from rolling down her cheek. She decides to listen to him and live this instant; so she brings her cheek close to Alexis' and kisses him.

He feels Luz's tear on his skin and it is as if he was getting a golden and burning tattoo.

Alexis murmurs without thinking, just letting herself be carried away by the sensations of the moment. "Kissing your tear on my skin is as if you want to live all your life the vices of love with me, the worst thing is that I do too. I don't want to think with my mind or my heart".

Luz decides not to ask him any more questions because with tonight's expressions she is already collapsing her emotional intelligence (if she really has it) and something else...much more.

They embraced each other and did not cry because they tried not to think either with reason or with their hearts. After all, we cry because we think of memories, don't we?

The night accompanies them as a silent witness of their romantic philosophy.

But, getting back to my cat plans, I have to point out that the devil is jealous but not that jealous. I guess it's because he is Alexis even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Now that I can see things from Alexis' perspective, I can tell you about the mosquito bite, not the mosquito bite, but yes in general terms. So I will tell you that a picket is nothing more than a low passion that helps you keep a dream hidden. Some say that it would not be a dream exactly, but I have not come to complicate our existence; so whether it is a dream or not, it will be seen according to the facts that this little girl with raven curls carries out.

Why didn't I say before that she has black curls?

Because that is too much flattery for her. Luz brings out the negative in her, and in those moments she was narrating only from her point of view.

What can I do?

Alexis is the one who is thinking about her curls because he was wrapping them around her finger while she was sleeping. Well, after their embrace, they talked or, rather, teased each other some more. Then they fell asleep together on the bed he had left for her to rest on. Perhaps he knew deep down that Luz would not let him sleep on the floor.

"Maybe he just treated me right so I wouldn't let him sleep on the floor."

Well, what do you eat you guess my little girl?

Luz just woke up and not because of the sun rays pouring in, but because of the jets of water Flavia throws at her through the window.

"What are you doing here? This is the punishment room for boys who behave like asses. They told me the one punished was Alexis, and from there they say I'll jump the fence first?"

Flavia mocks at the top of her lungs using her exaggerated laughter as a satirical supplement against Luz.

"What are you doing here?"

Flavia goes around the house until she gets to the door knocking very loudly. Luz jumps out of bed immediately and opens the door for her.

"You see the boy's money put my daddy in a good mood and he let me and Mr. Skeletor Bastían come to the camp."

Luz, while trying to dry her face with paper towel, listens to her and cannot believe that dollars possess such power. Although she knows how well her father takes care of his money, every morning she sees him at the kitchen table counting dollar by dollar, she never believed that he would be able to break a decision he made with such determination.

"Not that someone is stalking us and that's why we should stay together?"

Flavia shrugs and surveys the room with the look of a kindergarten inspector.

"We didn't do anything like you think. He only helped me because he didn't know how to handle the equipment."

"Hey I wouldn't be the least bit interested even if you lived under a bridge; but you know money is money and I'm not going back to sleeping like a sardine in the same bed. Now that's super unnatural for the age the world is living in today."

Flavia hugs herself and even trembles to some extent. She seems to remember things that are not very pleasant and the look she gives him is full of resentment and uncertainty.

"Flavia we are not in the house for you to come to me with these little numbers, please. Tell me what my grade is doing and why are you wearing sports clothes? Now that I think about it, it's even more unnatural for you to be out of bed without daddy splashing water in your face."

The most striking thing for Luz is to see that she is wearing a light blue sports outfit. You know, a short skirt, knee socks and a polo shirt with the number 10 printed on it.

Is there going to be a sports championship?

"I am as I should be according to the place. This is not the house, I am not animal like you who has the attitude of a monga everywhere or so you show right?"

Flavia throws him a mischievous smile as she circles around her and leaves without saying anything else to him.

When Luz is alone she fixes her chignon looking at herself through the water in the bucket. Maybe it's a little dirty but there are no mirrors in this room. Everything is made of wood, from the bed to the lamp on the desk.

Making the bed is something new for Luz; since before moving in she slept with all 5 people in the same bed, her mother was the one who made the bed and... the mother always did almost everything to almost everyone.

Anyway, whatever Alexis' reason was for having a conversation with her last night, she doubts that with any other girl she's ever had a midnight dialogue as deep as the one they had a few hours ago.

She is surprised when she lifts her pillow to find a white sheet of paper written in his handwriting. It would be impossible for Luz not to recognize his handwriting so she sits on the edge of the bed to read:

"I'm supposed to be sleeping alone and you're supposed to be in the senior ladies' cabin. A certain person is going to go through all the cabins at 6 a.m. and warned that the last ones would be first. There is no alarm clock here and I can't risk them coming to my cell to take me to cut down trees. You know I'm so proactive with the things I love so much. I hope you wake up early.

Annotation: When you finish reading this note, burn it.

And remember you owe me your life."

Luz smiles because she has never felt so much like the protagonist of a teenage romance as she does now. Although it only lasts a few seconds because she remembers that the moments of happiness go very fast. Besides, if she doesn't hurry she will be reprimanded and punished if they discover that she hasn't slept in the girls' cabin.

On the other hand, how could the others not notice that a cubicle is empty?

What have you done Alexis?

She finishes grooming in a matter of seconds, if there is no mirror at least a dressing table, and runs as fast as she can.

On her way she observes the electric fence that surrounds the camp and separates it from the forest that Luz has not yet explored. Many questions arise but she cannot be distracted if she does not want to be punished.

The sky is full of clouds where a few rays of sunlight escape the supervision of whoever is the king of the skies.

When she is a meter away from the hut she notices that the boy with the golden mole and an older woman are heading to the same place as her.

Luz runs behind other huts, which I don't know what they are for, and climbs through the open window of the girls' hut. She falls on the door of a cubicle that is opening; so, when the door is completely bent to open the cubicle, Luz hits the floor on her back.

Can you guess whose cubicle it is?

Yes, it belongs to Luz's former high school friend and the most popular girl in school. He laughs as soon as he sees her on the floor, laughing to endure the pain.

"Some things never change like the clumsiness of squirrel teeth with elephant legs. Sure they're justified because they're animals but yours is already a scavenging alien."

Both of them like all the rest of the girls just waking up hear the door open and a woman's deep voice: "Well lazy bums, ready to get rid of your laziness?"

I don't know about Luz but if I were her I would pray to all the saints, MAMA MIA.

Is that my kind of kitty, the ones with that "don't touch me because I'll bite" touch?

Luz looks pleadingly at the girl she once talked to in a friendly way. Though I wonder what a girl who has no influence in this camp can do.

Does Luz think all places are like school?

That's what happens when you don't outgrow teenage drama. She's at that age but you don't have to take the role so seriously, for God's sake if there is such a thing.

All the girls are ready to be cheerleaders for a sports championship.

Could it be that the cubicle doubles as a beauty salon?

"What our discipline coordinator means is that the camp's beauty salon is seen to have enhanced the beauty of each girl even more."

The voice of the boy with the golden mole gives Luz some hope. At that instant the blonde standing next to her, moves her foot to indicate her to hide behind her cubicle. And just when one of Luz's close friends was about to tell on her.

"To be honest, it seems to me that make-up as well as all activities will never be as efficient if they are done by a robot instead of a human. Makeup is an art and art is only a matter of humans."

The coordinator walks with an imposing step to the cubicle of Luz's lifeguard.

"You intend to judge our technology, who are you? Just a schoolgirl with pure neuroglias in her head. In truth every one of you is a neuroglia in this camp. You are just pawns of the system to be used and then discarded. The only thing that matters to the system about you is one thing and one thing only, but we'll have time to talk about that."

The woman's eyes of hard and defined features, what stands out the most are her bushy and well straight eyebrows. Her gaze is penetrating, popular girls have experience with different types of looks.

"Ma'am with all due respect, I have only given my opinion regarding your beauty staff. There is no justification for your aggressive tone. I know that to you I am just a blonde with my money and no brain cells..."

The woman laughs and doesn't let her finish.

"Don't get confused miss. For me you mean nothing; but as I defend the interests of a capitalist system I have to correct misguided people like you, miss, you will understand. This is the kind of indiscipline that I enjoy crushing because it is the plague that retards the development of a nation."

The woman turns around and is about to leave but the guy with the mole stops her to point to the cubicle where Luz is already. Of course, she is wearing the polo shirt of Alexis' favorite soccer team because her blouse was scorched after the teleportation. Sorry if I didn't mention it, it's just that this girl gets on my nerves again and again... dear reader, you'll understand if you want to become a father.

"She just walked in and asked me with signs not to give her away but I don't break the rules."

And what did Luz think?

That the boy with the golden mole wouldn't be a snitch?

As the saying goes:

"Deliver me from the still waters, for I run from the rough waters".