Element

✭ Chapter 47

My hands press against the cold window. I can’t believe we’re actually going to the memorial today! I did some more research on it yesterday. It really seems cool.

“Hey! Mind if I sit?” I hear a familiar voice ask.

“Payson! Sure!”

He smiles widely, showing off his white teeth.

“So… How’s it going? I haven’t seen you since I beat you in battle team.” He teases.

I laugh. “You mean the battle where Drexel crushed you? Yeah, I’ve been good.”

“Glad to hear it.” He says a little more sincerely. He sits back sort of uneasily, exhaling deeply.

“How have you been doing? I mean, I’ve been fine, but what about you?”

“Good… I guess. This storm just makes me feel… On edge. You know? Kader’s been telling me about it, with his parents being weather forecasters, and his dad the radio announcer and stuff.”

“Yeah. I get it. Alanna and I feel the same way.”

He smiles again, smaller this time, and looks out the window at the swirling snow. I suddenly notice something about the snow I haven’t given much thought to recently… Normally, when it snows in Dimicel, the snow is pure and really white. But this storm… With each day, the snow is getting more and more dull and grey. It’s not that pristine white anymore, like it’s all been polluted or something.

It just makes me hate this storm even more.

“I’m surprised the government, or the Queen, hasn’t given a public speech about Dimicel’s weather conditions. It seems like all of our information is coming from the school. What about our parents at home? How much have they been told?” Payson questions, but his voice seems angry, that type of frustrated angry you get when you can’t figure something out.

“I… I don’t know. I’ve never stopped to think about that,” I reply, and suddenly a stab of guilt rips through me. How could I have been so focused on myself that I haven’t even thought about how Mom and Dad are doing at home in this storm? Is the storm even affecting them all the way in the Air sector? I feel like I need to write them a note as soon as we get back from the field trip today.

We sit in silence for a moment, both of us brooding.

“So… Where’s Brooke? Where’s Rhodes and all those people you usually sit with?” He strangely emphasizes that one name-- Rhodes.

“I couldn’t find them anywhere on this bus. With the chaos of getting kids on the buses and all, they must have been corralled into another bus,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I wish they were here, but no, I have to sit alone.”

With the word “alone,” Payson’s expression changes into something unreadable.

“Alone? Ram, I’m here.”

My expression changes this time. It’s the first time he’s called me “Ram.” Typically, only very close friends call me Ram. Is that what we are now? Very close friends? I can’t help but stare at him, into his sapphire blue eyes. I haven’t really talked to him much after the Water and Air team battled, which I’m regretting more and more by the second.

The look of my face must be sending the wrong signal, because Payson leans in a bit and whispers, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be awkward.”

I shrug, smiling slightly. “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… Alone alone. You know, it’s just… And I was thinking about other things…” I trail off.