OS # 7 Physics Lesson (Wmatsui OS)Rena POV”Tell me about geostationary orbit.” she asked.
I stared at her wide-eyed. It’s not like it’ll ever be a testing point in the exam. I bet it’s out of syllabus.
”The orbit when the satellite remains stationary relative to the planet.” I muttered.
A month before our final, the final that symbolizes the end of high school. And we were sitting in my balcony, having our study session which she insisted on.
“Today we were doing Physics.” she suggested.
”How do you know about this?” I let my eyes meet hers. She had those beautiful black eyes that made my heart flutter most of the time. It’s like she didn’t know, but she did this always to make me feel good about myself.
”You know, do you.” I signed. We were best friends since kindergarten. She knew better than anyone that I was totally heads over heels about Physics. And her too, I secretly added. Perhaps it was the one and only thing that she didn’t know about me. She smiled, and for the slightest moment I saw her face blush.
~~~
Jurina POVThe first day I saw her was the first day I was transferred to a new kindergarten at my new neighborhood. The whole class was in a mess, swarmed with laughters and cries, screams and chatters. Anyway, I saw a girl standing alone at the back of the classroom, preoccupied by little stones and feathers and stuff like that floating in a tank of water. It’s like she had this invisible mist of air surrounding her that prevented people from reaching her. It said,
‘Science Corner’.
”Hey. I’m Jurina. I’m new here. What’re you doing?” I flashed her a big grin. I wasn’t the kind of kid who cried and pulled at her mom’s sleeves not to go to school. I had no clue what’s the evil behind because I was more than ecstatic about that, especially when I could make lots of friends and play and have so much fun.
She turned and gave me a look that had me wonder if it was a smile, even the slightest one. "Hi. I’m Rena." She had a chubby face and big black eyes, and cheeks that glowed like roses. She smelt like apple. She turned back to the water tank as soon as we greeted, the tank of magic that captured her soul.
”Some of these float, and some of those sink. Some linger at the middle. Isn’t that amazing?” She said, sticking her eyes on it.
I placed a bunch of colored beads-light and heavy- into the water, and was amazed by its splendor under the rays of sunlight. She suddenly giggled, following me. We placed the beads until the water glowed with colors like those created by elegant angels across the sky with a magic wand.
Then I noticed she was kind of cute.
Later we talked through kindergarten and grade school about science and dreams for our future, though it barely sounded like the stuff we should be doing as small, innocent kids.
~~~
Rena POVI let the summer breeze brush through my hair and cheek, like a hand of the blind gently touching my face to feel who I was. That was too beautiful a night to be spent on revision, though the pressure of the final exam was also closing in on us. We let silence slip in between us, while we were just sitting inches away, our shoulders at the tip of brushing each other. It was not the kind of awkward moments that made people’s nerves clutch their stomach, their heads furiously working out what to say next. I was most comfortable when I was with Jurina, I always had been, even if no words went through us. I reckoned what they said was right, sometimes silence spoke the loudest.
I slouched into the couch further, gazing at the sky. The milky stars looked incredible floating in the black sea of night. OK, I admitted, I was thinking about Physics, again. It was my life, me, Rena. So now I started to have the numbers running through my head again-the radius of these beautiful planets, the gravitational field strength on these twinkling eyes, again. I couldn’t help it. Every so often I wondered how long it spent if I could really fly in those fancy spacecrafts and land on them, spend my entire life there with someone I love, and forget all about those stupid exams and getting into university.
“What’re you thinking?” Jurina, like me, was clearly mesmerized by the remarkable beauty of the night.
”You guess. You’re best at mind-reading.” I smiled slightly.
”Don’t tell me that you’re calculating the distance between the stars and the Earth, again!” She emphasized the last word, and playfully looked over the top of my head, tilting her head higher and higher.
“Well, isn’t that the Newton’s law of gravitation popping out of your head right there?” We both laughed.
How many more nights we could spend like this? Not many, for sure, I just knew. Adulthood always daunted me. And Jurina was planning to go to the States to further her studies. I simply couldn’t picture how I could go on without my best friend to give comfort when I was down in the dumps, to share private thoughts with, or even to laugh at me.
”Nope. You get me wrong this time. I wasn’t thinking about anything.” I didn’t know why I lied, and I blinked at her.
She was obviously amused, stifling a burst of laughter. ”That’s really funny, Rena.”
”What?” I frowned.
”You not thinking about anything is like something that will never happen in another million years! That’s if you’re still alive after a million years...”
”Oh please.” I felt heat sizzling on my cheeks, and I started out laughing. “I can’t remember how many times I’ve said this, but you really have a natural sense of humor.”
”And that I am easy in flirting with the others with this.” She winked.
For a moment, I was foolishly happy. But then every cell in my body tried to hold me back and remind me that we were simply friends, and nothing more. Or best friends to be more precisely, which we had seriously declared when we were back in grade school. We even made a bow on it, under the sakura tree in my backyard. Indeed it’s really a big honor for me to have one who’s a genius in almost everything you could name of-science, sports, music, socializing, unlike me. I remembered how literally every girl on the bleachers screamed her name every time she’s leading the seasonal game; how she captivated me by playing her guitar on my bed with the lyrics she created especially for us while locking eyes the whole time with me; and how many eyes were stuck on her in admiration when she made her way through the cafeteria. She was one that many would kill to date, but for as long as I knew, she never was serious about anyone, though I always teased her for getting close to some girlfriends of mine and gave her free dating advice she didn’t exactly need. I couldn’t risk losing her if I didn’t strive to keep one vulnerable part of my feelings at bay.
But sometimes I still wondered if there’s anything romantic between us. Before he could read my mind, I started to change the conversation.
”Seriously, what do you think about college? I mean, I know you can definitely enter any one, like, with flying colors. But have you ever ever fear about it?”
Jurina paused a bit to digest my question. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I am just as puzzled about my future as you are. I’d love to go further into chemistry, like I said, to the States, but then my dad wants me to continue his fashion business here. I guess it’s the duty for the only child?” She smiled, but I felt a tonne of coal dropping on him when Jurina said this.
”But it’s really old-fashioned thinking, and it’ll be a waste of your talent and knowledge.” I squeezed her shoulder, gently, like she always did to tell me everything’s going to be fine.
“I’m sure you’d make a good scientist, and your dad would understand.” I continued.
”I hope so.” Jurina rose and leant over the edge of the rail, perhaps to take in some fresh air. Out there the air was just so sweet.
”But I couldn’t picture myself sitting in the air-conditioned office yet,” She added, staring at huge piles of document on garment shipping and making endless sketches of designs.
“Plus I still am not ready to have the whole office of grown-up people gossiping about me.” Jurina burst out laughing.
”You sound very flirty.”
~~~
Jurina POVI tried hard to get something out of her response but this time in vain. She’s been my closest friend for ages, and yet sometimes she’s a well of motionless water that wouldn’t show its waves easily.
”How about you? You haven’t told me about your plans.”
She hesitated, then gave an unconvincing shake of her head. “Plans? No, I don’t have any, and honestly I totally loathe this. Yes I’m interested in Physics, but getting good grades at this is another thing-You know how s-l-o-w I write and how messy my words are.” She started to play with her fingers. “So I don’t know if I can ever enter a good college, and let alone choose my own major.”
I saw her brows furrow in deep thought. “You know, it’s unhealthy for you to always think so low of yourself. Physics. Definitely not a problem for you. Remember how every time Mariko sensei praised you for your skillful fingers when we were having practical sessions? And how people get so jealous of you being the Physics representative every single semester? Plus you did a really great job being the Physics club president…”
”OK, OK, Jurina…” she giggled, showing casually her cute smile which I liked her for. “But English and Biology and Chemistry definitely are bad.”
I raised my brows. “How about this. I give you free tutorials for those, and you buy me free lunches for a month.”
”But you said it’s free!” Rena argued.
”I thought you’d be thinking how to thank me for this.”
”Just to make sure you still remember-the final is merely one month away.”
”Okay. So isn’t that I’m now trying to force you into this study session with me? I just want you to know-”
”Life is like a mirror. If you smile at it, it smiles back, but if you cry at it, it cries back. So I should be glad that I still have time to catch up, huh?” I continued Jurina’s sentence and caught her smiling at me.
”That’s good you don’t forget it. I’m thinking that maybe later you’d snatch the Physics Nobel Prize for creating some really great machine and then we can get to one of those fairytale planets and live happily ever after.”
”Yeah.” Rena sounded totally unconvinced, and she turned her eyes back to the sky.I squeezed her shoulders, showing support. Then she buried her head in my arm, and my jaw automatically rested upon her head. I instantly knew she was upset again. Sometimes she ended up pouring her entire self out in front of me, or crying on my shirt, or quietly falling into sleep. But I must admit how I loved seeing her sleep, when she rested peacefully in my arms and looked like a 5-year-old girl, free of worries. If only life could be that simple, like what was seen from the eye of a 5-year-old.
But life was like this. Each and every one of us has our own problems. And I really wished to share hers as well as happy moments my entire life, forever. I didn’t how suddenly I had this little urge to kiss her on the forehead, how innocent I was to think that I could simply kiss away all her worries. I wanted very much to tell her I was here and all was well, but, I ended up playing with her smooth, black hair. But, it’s this word again, seemed like there’s one but in everyone’s life. I was probably getting away from here, when she’s going to stay. Long-distance relationship was always…intimidating, despite the advanced techonology which was practically nothing compared to day-to-day face-to-face contact. Honestly I just couldn’t stand those touchy movies scenes of friends or families or couples separating from each other and I might secretly shed a tear or so…OK, I knew, I knew, but just don’t laugh at me, alright?
~~~
Rena POV”We can get to one of those fairytale planets and live happily ever after.” My heart actually skipped a beat when the word slipped into my ears. Jurina had thought that we jumped onto one of those fairytale planets and lived happily ever after. It was as if my heart was being lifted up to the stars by thousands of angels who were fluttering their wings against its glimmering surface…and oh, was I going too far away again? Deep down, we both knew she just treated me as a best friend or perhaps a sister too, the end. As I slipped into her warm embrace, I felt this familiar and fresh smell of her, like rain. I wished I would never forget that, even if we had to go our different paths afterwards.
Sometimes I thought I was exaggerating things, or turning simple things into complexity, but I just couldn’t help it. At this, my mind wandered off to think about how large the gravitational force was between us was. Sure it was small, but you couldn’t deny that it still existed. Her fingers were playing with my hair, twisting it like she always did because, according to her, “It’s just so smooth and ‘twistable’. " My vision was suddenly blurred. Stupid tears. I curled myself into a small tight ball, and willed the breeze to blow stronger, to get them evaporated, and hoped Jurina couldn’t feel my shoulders slightly shaking. She suddenly straightened his back, and smiled. “Okay, two last questions for the night.”
Ouch, I completely forgot this was supposed to be a study session.
”Let me see…” She flipped through the Physics textbook, and finally got a clue. “What does g stand for?”
”Gravitational field strength. Formula is G M over r square.” I answered almost like a robot. Then I realized my tears had finally gained enough energy to break through my stupid eyes. I faked a smile so she wouldn't see.
”Spell gravitation.” Jurina asked.
”Hey, the exam doesn’t take off for spelling!” I protested and pinched her thigh.
”Just to check if you know. Now it seems like you don’t.” A funny smile spread across her face. Her eyes were clear and bright and watching me, waiting. It’s like magnet that kept drawing me into her, or sticky cotton candy, or honey, or was it gravitational field? Magnetic field? I had no idea what I was thinking, why everything in my head was swirling. And well, how did I spell gravitation?
”G.R.A.V.I.T.A.T.I.O.N.” I spelt them out dreamily.
”Correct. Final question before you win the big jackpot. What are the 3 big things when we need to consider the Newton’s law of gravitation?”
”Easy. One, it holds only for point masses. Two, the planet is uniform sphere. Three, r must be measured from the center of the planet.” I answered confidently.
”You sure of that?” She tiled her head, as if it really was a question.
”Most certain. Where’s my prize now?”
Jurina was letting me think twice on this, questioning me on something I was most confident about. I’d memorized it for, like, the millionth of times.
”Really?” She looked at me mysteriously.
”Why? What could the 3 big things be then?” I was bemused.
She paused for a while. Her stunningly beautiful eyes met mine. I was momentarily at rest. I meant, I momentarily forgot how to breathe.
”I, love, you” And she leant in to kiss me on my forehead.
OS # 7 - Physics lesson
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