Before long, I was done with my classes for the day. I’d love to transform into the Salamander right now, jumping off trees and leaping tall buildings in a single bound all the way back home.
But the sun is shining and the birds are chirping: not easy for my unabashedly vantablack scales to hide in broad daylight. Besides, I love the bus ride home from school, gives me some downtime.
“Rosie! Ey! Here leh!” I heard as I walked through the foyer. Turning my head, I saw Zhen Rong and Ashen, changed into their PE attire. Their smiles were so radiant that I wish I had a pair of sunglasses. Side by side, they were quite the pair. The lean, toned Zhen Rong complementing the bigger, bulkier Ashen. Enthusiasm exuded from their body language, their body temperatures higher than normal.
“We gonna play tennis! You wanna play?” Zhen Rong yelled as Ashen waved to a few girls I recognised from the softball team. I shook my head and walked towards the two of them.
“No way. I’m going home. Have fun though!” I smiled, to which Zhen Rong pouted, pulling out his most powerful weapon: puppy-dog eyes.
“Come on, one round lah. Ashen’s been training so hard just to beat you.” He stage whispered that last part, leaving a Ashen with red cheeks. He smacked Zhen Rong on the back, eliciting a laugh from me. They laughed together, 'ha's alternating as if to fill up the silence in the air when the other had to breathe, they were like a well-oiled machine when it came to timing.
“I’ve been training! I wanna see if I can actually beat Rose, considering she magically shot up to the best player in PE randomly.” He threw his head back and laughed. Absurd as the claim may be, he wasn't wrong. When you have super strength, smashing the ball becomes a matter of holding back instead of putting in effort. The first time we played in class, I left a hole in the net. Well, more holes. It’s pretty lucky that the nets are older than I am, so I had some plausible deniability.
“Heh! What’s the secret, Rosie? Is it clothes shopping?” He teased. Annoyed, I delicately booped him on the nose. Any more force and it’d come clean off. And it’s such a cute face, why waste it?
“Never gonna tell,” I smiled in response. “Though yes, buying skirts from H&M helps. Maybe you should try it with me!” I lightly jabbed back.
“I’ll buy em’, if Ashen wears them.”
“I will not.” He opposed, with too much passion in his voice I might add. Oh men, never change.
‘I understand it is customary for women to wear skirts and dresses whereas men don’t, but his reaction seems over the top.’ Sol stated, amused. I mentally shrugged, as I never knew either. Come on, it’s a piece of fabric, you can’t be that afraid, can you?
“Come on Rose, one game against me. Just show me whatchu got.” Ashen smiled, a gleam in his eyes I could only guess was determination. Zhen Rong pat me on the back, sending tiny electrical shocks through my body. God, I’m pathetic.
Sighing, I finally relented. Whatever it takes to make them both happy and give up on harassing me. I changed out quickly and came back, practising my swing and mentally reminding myself to hold back. But not too much, it wouldn’t be fun otherwise.
The sun is relentless and the air ever so humid, so by the time we make it to the tennis court the two boys are sweating like dogs even before a game begins. Just heat isn’t enough to make me sweat anymore, a fact I’m eternally grateful for. Zhen Rong passes me a racket, then heads to sit down in the spectator bench. My hands hold the grip tightly, enjoying the fading heat of his hands on it.
“If I beat you, will you go out with me? Just once? I'll take you somewhere a little nicer than McDonalds.” Ashen asked, bouncing the ball to warm it up. He smirked, tilting his head at Zhen Rong knowingly.
"Not many places a secondary school student on an allowance can take a girlfriend out to!" He replied defensively, looking up from his phone.
“What about Joy? Or Jia Hui? You got so many girls, can fit me in your schedule meh?” The wind blew by, cooling everyone down a little. I swung hard, enjoying the sound of my racket hitting air.
“Well, they’re nothing like you.” He gestured to the ball and my racket, asking if I was ready. Deep down, I hoped Zhen Rong would be a little jealous of Ashen. But his smile betrays no emotion. Doesn’t matter though. It doesn’t bother me.
The game begins. He serves, I hit it back. He hits it back. I hit it back. The thwacking is monotonous, I’m not even remotely challenged. If I didn’t change something up, I’d genuinely fall asleep doing this rally. Ashen himself didn’t seem too challenged either, his swings sluggish and movements slow. Bored out of my mind, I wanted to spice it up.
With minimal effort, I jumped and smashed the ball right down, the sound of the ball hitting my racket reverberating through the school. The lime green ball becomes a meteor descending onto Earth as it flies towards Ashen at a speed I was not ready for.
“Oh shit!” I yell, the ball flying out of my reach. If it hits him, it’s going to hurt. A lot.
“Watch out!” Zhen Rong yelled, watching in abject horror as the bullet fired towards Ashen at breakneck pace. The world slows down for a bit, and I’m ready to run over and try to administer first aid.
Instead, with a bit of a struggle, he twists his body and strikes the ball back with a grunt, sweat flying everywhere with the swing. He huffs with effort, biting down on his lip as the ball flung back to me. It was disturbingly potent.
‘Rose! Watch it!’ Sol screams in my head as the ball flies back, snapping me out of my reverie. I dive for the ball, hitting it right back up, rolling forward to get back on my feet. From that angle, the ball goes high up, giving ample time to receive the ball. Sauntering over, the moment it was only slightly above the net, Ashen had already made it to where the ball was falling. Smiling deviously, he lightly tapped the ball back to my side.
From my position, I stretch my body as far as I can, using a very miniscule amount of strength to bounce the ball right back up over the net, angled towards the side of the court where Ashen isn’t. With a minimal swing, I can still get the ball over the net. Not realising it, I start smiling. This rush of adrenaline has become a rarity for me, and I’m relishing in the intensity of the game.
In shock, he doesn’t move, not ready for me to be able to respond to his swing. The ball bounces on the floor once, then twice. And that’s just the first point.
“Fuck!” Ashen screams viscerally, crumpling to the ground and burying his face in his knees. The racket falls to the ground with a clang, as he screams unintelligibly. He raises his head, eyes embodying terrifyingly cold hatred. Hatred of what, I can’t tell. Suddenly, he gags. Then gags again. Face going paler than usual, he dashes to the drains outside the court and I can hear the guttural vomiting. Both Zhen Rong and I aren’t far behind as he coughs out the remaining barf.
“Dude, you alright?” Zhen Rong asked, handing him his water bottle. Ashen reaffirmed that he was fine through incoherent mumbling, wiping the remnants of puke from his mouth. He looked up, staring at me. His eyes told a story in a language I couldn't begin to understand.
“You win.” He said bluntly, trying to force out a laugh. It came out as a cough. I didn’t exactly know what to say, I’m not sure what answer I can give him that won’t result in him feeling worse. I nodded and gave a pathetic smile. If he was discontent with that, he didn’t make it obvious. As much as I want to comfort him, say he’ll get me next time, I don’t know if that’s true. He definitely won’t accept if I go any easier on him from here on out - if he had his way, we’d be continuing our game.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“That was a crazy shot you received, dude. But don’t overdo it.” Zhen Rong advised softly, his hand’s comforting touch on Ashen’s back. The latter swatted him away like an irritating insect and began to walk away from us.
“Ugh, it’s annoying. How are- did you get so… good. At this kind of stuff. I’ve never… even seen you train….” He spat, his venom guilting me for putting in so much into a friendly game, just because I wanted to have fun. I should have held back.
“Hey, chill man. It’s alright. It’s okay. Don’t be such a dick. I’m sure she trains on her own. Like you do.” Zhen Rong said, eyeing me apologetically. Ashen waved us off and headed off on his own, saying an insincere ‘sorry’ at a hushed volume only I could hear. As if mimicking the angered boy, Zhen Rong apologised to me as well for leaving me behind, tailing after Ashen like a child following his mother as she storms out of the house. Dumbfounded, I forced myself to grab my bag and go home.
‘You have no desire to check in on Ashen?’ My calves tingled, Sol wanting to turn me around and find him.
‘Only Zhen Rong ever manages to reach him. And I just… I don’t know, beat him? He probably doesn’t want to hear from me.’ I replied. The sun won’t stop striking at me. Maybe to everyone else, it’d feel incredibly hot right now.
‘He seems upset about more than simply the sport.’
‘He’s a competitive guy. I think losing puts him in a real sour mood, no matter what. Hell, sometimes he doesn’t even enjoy winning. I should have held back a lot more. I got carried away.’
‘Is he ever content?’ They asked. I can feel them shuffle through my memories, finding out more about Ashen.
‘I don’t know. Because of how his parents are like, I don’t think he’s ever really felt good about himself.’ I couldn’t think of the exact words to say, but I know they felt my sentiments clearly.
‘He seems quite jubilant though. You think him a flirt, and he’s the best friend of your beloved.’
‘He’s not my beloved-’
‘I am literally in your thoughts. That is what he is.’
‘When people go through trauma,’ I chose not to respond to that accusation, ‘they develop a response to that. I guess he’s the type to smile through pain and act like life is okay. It probably keeps him sane.’
Sol took a moment to absorb that thought.
‘Poor child, never being content with himself.’ They concluded, another day of learning about the human condition.
‘Yeah.’ I meandered my way out of school, my mood completely soured. I shot Zhen Rong a text asking about Ashen, only to instantly be left on read. I sighed, unsure of what to do.
‘But did you see how he reacted to your attack? That was inhuman.’ They asked, trying to break me out of my sad hours.
‘It’s probably just lucky. Or like, spur of the moment kind of thing.’ The word ‘attack’ probably wasn’t completely far off, I could have hurt him.Still, the deftness at which he swung the ball back at me was unreal. I didn’t think a normal teenager would be able to react that fast.
‘That’s some training he put himself through.’ I thought to myself as I walked out of school.
‘I should train more myself, I’m still not used to how strong I am sometimes. It’s like I function on a different gravity than everyone else now- everything’s lighter, my body, the books in my hand, the racket. If I’m not careful, one day I’m really gonna hurt someone.’
My thoughts are interrupted by a motherly voice calling me from behind. With that voice and heat signature, I don’t even need to turn to know who it is. Ms.Tnee, with her pixie cut and tank top, stepped up to me, having a parental smile as she saw me deep in thought.
And that’s how I ended up leaving school late with my literature teacher.
“You’ve been off your game recently.” She said warmly, looking me in the eye. It’s weird being the same height as an adult, especially one I respect so dearly .
I looked up at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”
“Work comes in a little later than usual, small errors you never used to make… is everything okay, Rose?” Her eyes shifted to a concerned look. I could only squirm as we continued walking, thinking about the less than stellar work I’ve been handing in. Salamander-ing every night till late hours on top of my normal procrastination habits have had an effect on my work even I wasn’t conscious of, apparently.
“Oh, uh, sorry! Just, y’know, second year of junior college is stressful and um, I guess I’m slipping?” The response is hastily put together, sounding generic and screaming to her that I’m hiding something from her. Her eyes change again, now significantly more suspicious than before. I want to tell her that when no one’s looking, I’m fully covered head to toe in black scales and sticking on walls.
“But I promise it’ll get better!” I chime in before she can speak again, overcompensating.
She attempts to quietly chuckle, but it’s Ms Tnee so it comes out louder than she anticipates.
“I don’t doubt that. You’re one of the most participatory in class and you’re usually on task, I just wanted to check in and make sure everything’s okay. Everyone’s going through something, right?” She offers and I nod. If I could tell her what my ‘something’ was I’d do it, but as I’ve gotten better at doing, I bite down on my tongue and resist the urge to unravel myself before her.
When I got the powers of the Salamander in my life, I always assumed I was better than all those comic characters who could never balance both lives. But subtly, there’s been creeping neglect in my real life. I don’t have movie nights with Carrie, I do homework poorly and I definitely hide from my parents more than usual. When did it get this way?
“Did you check in on your friend?” She asked suddenly. I swallowed hard, not sure what to say. The red light on the other side of the street stopped us in our tracks, as cars drove right by us.
“You saw that?” Guilt crawls on my back like a little spider that hopped on.
“I see everything! But yes, I saw that game. You’re quite good at tennis, aren’t you?”
“Should I have held back?” I don’t want to correct her, or lie and say I just got lucky. It just leads to more questions.
“You don’t have to hold back if you’re good at something. It wouldn’t be fair to you or him.” Ms. Tnee clicks the button on the traffic light again, even though it’s already been pressed. She pushes a bit of hair out of her eyes.
“But! And this is just me being kaypoh, maybe you should still check in on him afterwards. He’s your friend, you still need to check in on him.”
“He was pretty upset with me. A-and his best friend was there, I couldn’t… couldn’t have helped.” I wasn’t being scolded nor chided, but the hairs on my skin stood up. A cold tingle runs down my spine,. When you’re told off so kindly by someone deservingly, you can’t help but feel awful. I felt horribly reprehensible for getting mercy when we should have been punished, the friction building beneath my skin told me Sol felt similarly, even when it wasn’t truly their fight..
“Maybe you could have helped. Maybe you couldn’t have. But you didn’t really try, did you?”
The light turns green and we walk off together, the sounds of other students chattering and our feet on the asphalt the only things I hear. If Ms Tnee has anything more to say, she uncharacteristically doesn’t say it. In that same vein, I’m not as chatty as I usually am either.
I open my mouth, my mind scrambling for a vague way to talk about my unique situation and to ask for advice, but I draw a blank.
“You have an essay due soon, yes?” She asks out of the blue.
“Yeah. A few days from now.”
“Any ideas on how you’ll write that?” As if she had already known I hadn't started.
“Um, nothing yet. I’ll figure something out. I-I’ll try.”
She doesn’t press the issue, nodding approvingly.
I wish I had something more to say, anything to add. An argument, a thank you, anything to answer the question she laid out. I wanted to tell her she was right, turn right around and run back to school and find Ashen. But I didn’t. Perhaps her words didn’t reach me the way she hoped it did. The way I wanted it to. My hands fiddled with the phone in its grasp, wanting to unlock it and send a message to Ashen. I do not.
My inaction manifested into a serpent, coiling around my body and keeping me from turning around and going back to find him. The traffic light behind turned red.