Second Place (Safia)

[Safia Chatterjee]

Heat rose to Safia’s cheeks, hearing Marc’s praise, and a big, stupid smile crossed her lips. “Th… Thanks,” she stammered, rubbing one arm with the opposite hand self-consciously. “I, um…. I just, honestly, have a lot of pent-up energy and, uh, anger, so training usually helps….” She liked to imagine the bags she punched were guys that had done her some personal wrong; it was a great motivator. “It can be hard to stay focused on one thing,” she replied with a half-shrug. “I’m not always so good at keeping up with other things.” Learning how to defend herself (and be on the offense as well) was just important to her.

“Y-yeah, a date,” Safia repeated, cursing herself for stammering. Stupid. She tried not to think too much about the connotations behind it, because it was probably just a casual thing. Yeah.

“Dragons are pretty damn awesome,” she said with a firm nod. At the mention of Marc’s pet, Safia’s eyes lit up a little. “A bearded dragon? Really? That’s cool,” she said. “I’d love to meet him. I actually have a green anole… His name is Smaug.” Safia grinned, hoping Marc knew the reference. “I’d say they could be play mates… But depending on how big your dragon is, I’m afraid he might eat mine.” Smaug had always been small; it was just how he was.

She had a hard time believing this was nothing, given the reaction that Marc had from her asking her about it. “Are you sure….?” Safia asked, concern clear in her voice. “Your mom? What’s wrong? Is she okay?” Safia stood up and scooted her chair over so she was sitting beside her friend, and rested a hand on the girl’s arm. “No, it’s alright, I’m just concerned,” she murmured. “Do you want to tell me about it?” If she didn’t, Safia wouldn’t push, but that wouldn’t keep her from worrying.

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She nodded. “Yeah, I hear that working out like that is effective for anger issues and stuff….not that I think you have anger issues, but I know that sometimes it’s just…you know…frustrating.” She dipped her head, thinking about a lot of her own experiences with “frustrations”, especially surrounding her mother, grandfather, teachers… “I usually just throw myself into art projects and stuff.” It ended up with some pretty awesome results though.

“Uh…Sidney’s only about this big,” she said, holding up her hands to indicate the lizard’s size. He could probably get bigger, but…even if he did… “He’s lazy as balls though, I doubt he’d do much trying to eat another lizard. Plus he usually only eats crickets and mealworms.” Mostly the worms though.

After the message from her mother….all the energy that Marcus had earlier had completely left her. No, she wasn’t okay. But she didn’t know how to say it. But as soon as Safia’s hand touched her arm….she felt like everything in her just fell apart. The tears came streaming down and her face twisted into something ugly, no doubt. “M-m-my mom…” she started, her voice quivering with every word. “w-w-was supposed to m-meet me today…..” She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. “F-for my b…b-birthday…..and she j-just canceled….so she could…go fuck some guy I never met…..w-why does she always do this to me!?” Her shoulders shook as she told her story.

[Safia Chatterjee]

“Yeah… It does seem to help,” Safia replied, fiddling with her fork in her food. She smiled as Marc explained further. “It’s alright. I do have anger issues.” Safia knew she did, she just… Didn’t like to talk about it all that much. She would rather just put her words into actions… Through her fists. “Oh yeah?” she asked curiously, intrigued. “I’d really like to see those sometime… You know, if they’re not too personal or anything,” she added after.

Safia chuckled as she took another bite of her food. “Well, then, maybe they could be friends,” she mused. “Smaug might run laps over him though, he’s got endless energy like me.” Could lizards be friends? Especially those of different species? She didn’t know, but it might not hurt to try. “I’ve been thinking about getting him a lady friend though. I think he’s lonely.” And getting two males alone together didn’t seem like it would end well.

The subject grew more serious then, though, so Safia’s expression sobered, and the lizards were forgotten. Especially when Marc started crying. “Oh…” she gasped involuntarily; she hadn’t expected that. She listened quietly as the girl explained the situation, and Safia’s heart just dropped. “Oh sweetie…” The Indian girl pulled the blonde in for a hug, rubbing her back as she murmured soothing sounds. “I’m so sorry she did that to you, that was so inconsiderate of her,” she said softly. “… You know what we should do?” Safia paused dramatically. “We should have a damn good time together for your birthday so you won’t even think about it anymore.” That sounded like a good idea, right? “What was it that you were wanting to do? We can do anything you’d like. Anything at all.”

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“Sorry…! I didn’t mean to…even if you do, it’s not really nice of me to point them out like that or suggesting it or…” Marcus should stop talking now, before she made a complete fool of herself. Well, she’d already done that several times, so what was one more? NO! Marcus didn’t want Safia to think badly of her, so of course it mattered!

“You would?” Marcus’s blue eyes brightened in excitement. If there was one thing she liked to do, it was show off her completed projects. Heck, sometimes she didn’t even wait for them to be completed, she just got so excited about seeing someone else’s amazement with them. It was selfish, she knew, but she couldn’t help it!

Marcus giggled at the image Safia gave her, of one lizard running circles around the other, bigger one. It was absolutely adorable! “Sydney’s the exact opposite of me. He just kind of sits there and stares at you, like he’s a wise old toad judging you.” Marcus thought it made him even more endearing though. “Yeah? But then you’d get a bunch of baby lizards, wouldn’t you?” Because…unless you could get lizards fixed, but she didn’t think so.

Marcus didn’t know what to to think of the current situation, though, crying so hard in front of Safia. Good god, she was probably creating a scene with her blubbering! But still, Marcus couldn’t stop the tears from coming. Her touches were comforting, though, and Marcus quickly turned into the other girl without a thought, clutching onto her shirt with tiny little hands. She realized it probably was too invasive of her to do, but Marcus just…needed someone to tell her it was going to be all right. And, thankfully, that’s just what Safia did. Marcus looked up to the dragon-girl, her face and eyes still red from crying. “I…I don’t know….we didn’t really plan anything except for dinner…” Her mother was so random sometimes, Marcus assumed that she had some surprise ready to drop on her once they'd finished supper.