Look what we got here. Who is she?"
All three pairs of eyes flew on Jasmine. Their gazes were questioning. Jasmine looked back at them, getting the papers lying on the cemented ground back to the black leather satchel.
"Hi--hi."
Jasmine's thin pale-pink lips deliberately pierced an uncomfortable sneer, showing her straight white teeth. Several pages were stocked in her right hand as her left hand gripped the handle of the bag which made it ajar.
Jasmine saw the man with jersey number 4 scratched the back of his head. The awkward sensation left among them.
"Geez, I almost forgot. Guys, please meet—"
Jessica drew nearer on Jasmine. She grabbed Jasmine's left arm with her right hand, aiding Jasmine to stand up.
"Jasmine," Jasmine shortly replied.
Her eyes made several movements, looking at and away from them. Her short thin lashes shook. She draw a comical smile, although awkwardness was currently consuming her.
"Oh, hi?"
Both guys offered a half-grin.
"I'm Jessica."
Jessica offered a handshake. Jasmine took it.
"Mike."
The guy wearing jersey number 4 offered his left hand.
"Steven."
The other guy wearing jersey number 7 introduced himself.
Jasmine made a quick registration of their complexions in mind. Mike was tall— 6 footer, she bet, and had a medium build. He had a face looking very strong and was in perfect size and shape. His chiseled face was soaked with deep lines. Every time he moved his gaze, he was always looking serious, with a clean-shaven, prominent nose, dark almond eyes, thin eyebrows, medium lashes, and thin reddish-brown lips, whereas Steven was semi-opposite.
He was lighter and taller than Mike, about 2 inches, maybe. His oval-shaped unlined face meddled with deep dimples on both cheeks that sank every time he speaks, a slightly-rounded jaw that unconsciously drops when he laughs, big mouth enclosed with heart-shaped thin dull-red moisty lips, thick black eyebrows that almost meet and big rounded black eyes resembling an egg made him alluring.
He had this unexplainable humorous aura that'll make you laugh in silence if he'll grimace. He was nine in ten even more attractive than Mike who was constantly looking serious, solid, and deep, which would make anyone anxious to approach him. Both had tanned skin resulting from training and made their designated skin contour undistinguishable. Mike looked more athletic than Steven.
Mike was a typical athletic contender in Olympic games, while Steven was a plot twist. Jasmine imagined him in her mind, removing those baseball garments off, and replaced by a white polo, black trousers, and shiny black school shoes vested by a black blazer, crested with AMU initials on his right chest.
His cap removed, hair was crew cut, cleaned-shaven, eyes enveloped with transparent glasses, and books embraced on hand. He could be a picture of a flawless class wizard, Jasmine muttered inside. Mike stood in his athletic composure, while Steven was in his wide sense of sarcasm that when you meet him, you would never deduce that he's an athlete. He was more like an artist, idol, or politician that could attract those free-flowing teenagers on city streets.
"So, what do we do now?" Jessica broke the silence. Mike chuckled.
"Let's go somewhere else peaceful and quiet," Mike said.
"Aren't we peaceful here yet?"
Steven crossed his arms.
"Of course, we are not for there's—," Steven continued and about to point Jessica, but stopped when Mike interrupted.
"I told you to stop that immaturity."
"Yes boss," Steven dropped his masculine voice and made a salute sign.
"Steven and I haven't eaten breakfast yet."
Mike signaled an eye to Steven for confirmation, Steven nodded, he continued, "Let's go to the cafeteria for breakfast. But first, let's go to the field. We'll just be taking our things."
Jasmine nodded. Jessica left no utterance. She neared Jasmine helping her pick up the papers, putting them inside the bag. In an instant, Jasmine forgot her idea of why she was in the place.
"Thanks," Jasmine said.
Jessica replied to me with a sweet smile.
The sun continually raised higher. The blue sky neatly mirrored the oceans. The floating white cotton was firm. The air was relatively calm. Jasmine ventured her eyes everywhere. Several dried leaves from the Mango Tree were forming a mattress on the ground. She eyed the ground where dried leaves laid. She spotted a cemented pathway. She allowed her gazes to walk into the pathway leading to the towering wide school buildings— four-story towering buildings were forming a semi-circle, like the Roman architecture, painted in gray with multiple structural columns and floors, and subfloors, having cube-like glass window panes. In front of the school, the building was a flagpole— about 20 ft high, a rectangular flag colored green on top, yellow in the middle, and blue at the bottom swayed as the passing Northern wind hurled on it. AMU initials were stitched at the center in a papyrus font jungled with a two-dimensional circle. The Northern winds passed on them.
"Cold," Jessica reacted when it hit her. She hugged her body, while the wind continued swirling.
The pressured air traveled towards the huge Mango Tree, making it creak. Scorching frosty air kept on rotating, twisting towards the center forming a cone— a massive twisting air dangling around each other. It picked up the dried lying leaves on the ground weightless. Dust pavements were whipped into the thin air and flee. A strong centripetal force was created with circular motion. The four of them stood still on our feet horrified, curious, and frozen. Nobody spoke. They felt like they were in a horror spooky scene, rather than in a disaster movie. At this moment, Jasmine knew that each saliva drought, only four mouths unconsciously flung open.
The whirling winds continued, accumulating a giant force. Jasmine was more questioning in mind than in horror. A minute passed— it stamped all the dried leaves back to the ground including the dust and sediments, leaving a silent massive shook. The wind was gone. They remained safe and sound.
"What just happened?"
Steven was the first to go back to reality. Others stationary laid their eyes on the enormous Mango Tree. Its rough trunk stood still as if nothing had happened. Jasmine gaped at the entire occurrence and took a depth breadth.
"Never mind it. Let's go," Jessica said, staring blankly at the leftover phenomenon.
"Mike? Hey, Mike?" called Steven.
Mike's eyes were surreal— lashes were frozen; eyes unmovable. His throat was jerking upside-down, revealing the movement of his Adam's apple. He was left clueless. He blinked before directing his attention to the people along with him. Mike looked at them. He uttered no words and led his feet towards the baseball field. The three of them exchanged undecipherable gazes and raised eyebrows. Steven was the first to follow Mike. Then, both Jasmine and Jessica followed them approaching the baseball field.
The weather went back. No traces of the tornado were left. The cotton and feathered clouds diverged to give way to the sun. The round hot burning lantern fully formed its shape spreading its rays across the blue horizon. The Bermuda grasses that blanketed the ground below gleamed as the green light reflected.
Four pairs of shoes strode towards the square field with the rhythms. From the distance, Jasmine saw glints of white lines that fenced the diamond. Sand, silt, and clay gave its complexion. Reaching closer, Mike shifted a direction away from the baseball field. Later did Jasmine know that their backpacks were not on the baseball field but on the right side of the pathway beside the arena.
Jessica was humming an unpredictable melody as they strode their shoes to the cafeteria. Silence fell upon their ways.
"I have so much to tell the entire day. I couldn't yarn the hours away, but to imagine myself in the middle of a social group. The day was way more fun than I ever experienced. It ended remarkably, where we smiled, laughed like no havoc had hit. I'm starting to love my existence."
—04.14.01