Chapter 18

The lessons on Monday started just like always. She and Sandra exchanged whispers behind the desk. Maija couldn"t understand Sandra"s cheerfullness when she heard the story of Friday night.
   "No, it"s not like I don"t understand, Mai," - said Sandra, trying to fight an attack of giggles. - "I know that it probably wasn"t very pleasant, after all, an encounter like that was exactly what you tried to avoid - but when I think of Tommy"s face - but hey, why don"t you just let him think whatever he wants to think? You don"t owe him anything after all. And if you hide everything from him, you will only make him develop false hopes."
   "I only wanted to avoid conflicts," - Maija replied, - "to say the truth I don"t understand myself how I got into so much trouble."
   The teacher threw a menacing glance at them, and since they didn"t want to get another detention, they preferred to bury their heads in their books and continued taking notes through the entire lesson.
    Days and weeks went by. Christmas was coming closer. The city in winter was pretty like a picture, like a cake covered with sparkling white vanilla-and-sugar cream. The atmosphere of celebration took over everyone. Vlad spent extra hours decorating the house. The streets were becoming cleaner than usual, and even the most gloomy, the most sour faces were becoming, step by step, kinder and prettier. The students, and even the teachers, didn"t study so hard anymore - everyone were thinking only about the Christmas vacation that was coming soon.
   "We won"t go to the movies today, Will," - said Sandra, - "I"m going to do some Christmas shopping together with Maija."
   "Can"t I join you?" - he asked.
   "I can"t let you see your own present before Christmas, can I?" - said Sandra. - "hey, it"s not that bad," - she added, seeing his disappointed face. - "we"ll go shopping for Maija"s present together."
   The girls got into Vlad"s car. The car was polished and sparkling clean, and Vlad himself looked incredibly cheerful. Looking at him, one could have said that he had won the lottery.
   "Oh, you want to do your Christmas shopping today, girls?" - he asked. - "sure, I"ll drive you anywhere you want. Where do you want me to take you, to the nearest shopping center? Mai, you can leave your schoolbooks in the car, I"ll take them home."
   The shopping center was crowded. The people were much more talkactive and energetic than the quiet Northerns usually are. Maija and Sandra made their way through the crowd with great difficulty.
   "Now, there"s lots to do," - Sandra said. - "so many presents to buy - for Will, for mom, and dad, and having two older brothers and two younger ones doesn"t help either."
   "I wish I knew what Martin would like to get as a present," - Maija replied thoughtfully.
   The search for presents took over three hours, and when they finally went out of the shopping center, with their hands full of colorful paper bags, the girls were completely exhausted. Feeling that they deserve a break from walking, they sat down in a small quiet cafeteria and ordered two large pieces of hot chocolate cake.
   "Well, the biggest share of work is already done." - concluded Sandra with her mouth full of chocolate. - "now there"s only your present left. Tomorrow I"m going shopping with Will - I sure hope he already has an idea about what he"s going to give me for Christmas, I deserve some effort from his side - after all the time I have spend in order to find exactly the CD that he wanted."
   "You know, something was very strange - in papa"s behavior. I didn"t pay attention to it when he drove us here, but now when I think of it - "
   "What do you mean?" - Sandra raised her eyebrows.
   "It"s very surprising that he didn"t ask if he could join us. He loves Christmas shopping, and as far as I know, he didn"t do any yet."
   "He probably went to do his shopping in another place, and he didn"t want to join us because he intends to surprise you."
   "No, he was going home." - Maija shook her head. - "I don"t recognize papa anymore - he"s either out there somewhere, or in his working room, writing his new book about the behavior of Northern forest birds. And when I see him, he"s so happy that he bumps into walls."
   "The best thing is the vacation." - said Sandra dreamily. - "imagine - not having to get up early and go to school, for wonderful two weeks. No homework, no nasty teachers, no detentions - and I could spend the entire time with Will."
   "Yes - and not having the entire school, for a change, speculating about Tommy and me." - agreed Maija. - "and I won"t have to pass by Martin in the hallway, without saying hello."
   Their conversation was stopped by the sound of broken glass that came from the table nearby. It sounded as if a whole pile of plates, glasses and bottles rolled onto the floor.
   "We"re so sorry," - they heard a voice which was almost as uncertain as of Adrian in his worst moments. - "I just accidentally pushed the table - I"ll pay, of course - how much would that be?"
   Maija and Sandra turned around. The mess was really incredible. Apparently, the waiter rolled a table with plates full of cakes, ice-creams and drinks, in the direction of the opposite end of the cafeteria. A clumsy young boy who was sitting right behind Maija and Sandra pushed it by accident and now the floor was covered with chunks of chocolate, cream, vanilla and bits of broken glass. A half-destroyed chocolate cake covered the waiter"s clothes with hazelnut filling and cherries. The young man looked extremely embarrassed, but even more so was his company - a stunningly pretty blonde girl whose eyes sparkled with fury.
   "No," - said Sandra in a low voice, turning around. - "this just can"t be true - Helena was sitting behind us all the time."
   "Exactly what I needed," - Maija said bitterly. - "I wonder how much she overheard. If she heard something about Martin, it means that the whole school will be gossipping about us in no time - if there is anything she"s good at, it"s spreading rumours."
"Well I hope she was busy with that boy - I have never seen him before, he"s not from our school - and look at his clothes, they seem to be very expensive. He probably has rich parents."
   "But look at the mess he has made," - Maija couldn"t help but laugh, - "Helena is so angry."
   That was true. Helena was looking at the embarrassed boy who was counting off money from his thick wallet with extreme disgust. When he paid, she got up, threw her golden hair over her shoulders and walked out the cafeteria proudly, followed by the boy who ran after her, looking very much like a beaten puppy.
   When Maija returned home, she found Vlad cooking in the kitchen and singing along to a happy song that was played on the radio.
   "Oh hi dear," - he said, tickling her cheek with his moustache. - "you"re right on time - I"m making an apple pie and it smells great, doesn"t it? How did your shopping go? Make sure you hide my present well, you don"t want me to find out what it is before Christmas, do you?"
   "Be sure of it, Papa," - said Maija, smiling. - "how is your book about the Northern birds coming along?"
   "Wonderful, dear, simply wonderful," - he replied absent-mindedly. - "oh, and by the way, Tommy was here."
   "Tommy was here?" - Maija repeated his words with horror. - "what did he say? Did he leave any message for me?"
   "No, not really - I told him you"ve gone out shopping for Christmas presents and he left pretty quickly. Ah and yes, Sandra called you about half an hour ago, too."
   "Sandra?" - Maija raised an eyebrow. - "half an hour ago? It"s impossible, twenty minutes ago we were still on our way home, together."
   "Yes, you probably were, now that I think of that," - said Vlad, looking at her with surprise. - "but I didn"t think of that at the moment. You see, I wasn"t the one who answered the phone - Tommy was here and he picked it up. He said that it was Sandra who called."
   With a heavy, bitter feeling in her heart Maija went up the stairs to her room. She was sure it was Martin who called - otherwise, why would Tommy lie? The question was, what did Tommy tell to Martin?
   It was pretty late but she felt she couldn"t close her eyes. Quickly, she pulled her coat on and slipped out her room, closing the door carefully behind her so that it wouldn"t screech. She ran down the stairs and went out of the front door. It was very cold on the street. She didn"t stop running until she reached the hill. Then, she stopped running and started walking. Old ladies and middle-aged men were walking slowly and respectably up and down the narrow paths of the park. Maija kept on walking. Soon she saw the graffiti-colored bench. From afar, she could see four dark figures - boys in torn jeans, leather jackets and army boots. Four motorbikes stood behind the bench, despite all the rules of safety in the park.
   Maija approached. About a dozen of empty beer bottles stood under the bench. The Rippers were sitting on the bench, and quite a big group of other boys from school were standing around them. All of them were holding beer bottles in their hands and sipped their drinks slowly, trying to hide the expression of disgust that appeared on their faces.
   "Mai!" - Tommy exclaimed as he got up and put his bottle on the bench. He opened his arms wide, as to hug her, - "What a surprise - so nice to see you here with us, would you like to have a drink?"
   "To say the truth, I only wanted to talk to you," - she said quietly.
   "Sure," - he nodded. - "be right back, guys," - he threw to his friends and stepped aside with Maija. They walked a couple of meters together when she stopped.
   "Papa told me that you came overtoday when I wasn"t home," - she started.
   "Well, yes," - he said. - "I didn"t have a chance to go home together with you "cause I got another detention - and, well, I wanted to ask how you feel. But you weren"t home - your dad said you went out shopping for Christmas presents."
   "That"s true," - Maija nodded. - "Papa told me that Sandra called while I was gone."
   "Ah, yes," - said Tommy. - "I told her you"re out shopping. Didn"t she call again?"
   "No, she didn"t," - Maija replied, her voice trembling. - "and now, would you please tell me who really called? Because Sandra was with me at the shopping center."
   "Oh, I see," - Tommy said angrily, - "you came all the way here just to accuse me!"
   "I"m not accusing you, Tommy!" - Maija began to lose her temper, - "I do want you as a friend and I appreciate a lot everything that you have done for me, but - see, I just have to say this straight - it doesn"t give you the right to get involved in my personal life. Why don"t you tell me the truth? I"ll talk to Martin anyway, and I"ll find out what you told him."
   "You just don"t know," - Tommy whispered, and for a moment Maija thought she heard a tremble in his voice, - "I might not have the words to say what I should say - but it"s not fair, I"m ready to do anything for you, and since you came here I have been doing nothing but trying to prove you that I care about you - and I don"t mean that I want you to be grateful, I just want to know - have I treated you bad, Maija? What have I done so that I don"t deserve even a bit of affection?"
   "Now you accuse me!" - Maija exclaimed, - "This isn"t fair - you know I like you a lot, but it still doesn"t give you the right to interfere with things I want to do!"
   "You want to spend the entire holidays with Costello, don"t you?" - he asked bitterly.
   "What?" - she was left with her mouth open. - "Helena ran straight to you, didn"t she?"
   "Helena is my friend and she thought I should know what I should know!"
   "Friend?! Oh come on, Tommy, you can"t stand her and we both know it"s true - she only told you this in order to spread fresh gossip and to start a new scandal!"
   Maija turned around and walked away. The boy in the leather jacket slowly took his eyes off her and returned to his friends.