Boarding School (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 2

The day after, I saw him again while I was waiting in one of the two mile-long lines of students waiting to be registered. After finally making it to the desk after waiting for half an hour, I was handed my schedule and dorm room number, along with a calendar, important papers, blah, blah, blah. Once I received the items and thanked the lady, I was about to go find my dorm when I heard that deep familiar voice again.

"Thanks a lot," it said. I turned around only to find him walking away from the registration desk, squinting at his schedule through his glasses. I excitedly cut through the lines (along with murmurs of "crackhead" and some eyerolls). I run behind him and I stand on my toes to cover his eyes with my hands from the back.

"Guess who?" I whisper in his ear. He stops in his tracks and turns around confused, but once he recognizes me, he beams. I return the smile, and feel a new wave of adrenaline course through my body.

"Hey," he says casually.

"Hi Ben!" My smile grows. "Did you get your dorm number yet?" I say delightly.

"Yeah," he responds. "Wanna check them out?" I aggressively nod my head as we both walk to our dorms.

I separate from him as I enter my room. I was in shock to find that it contained a queen-size bed with brand-new sheets, a walk-in closet, and a beautiful crystal chandelier that sparkled in the evening sun. As I take in these wonderful pieces of furniture, I am pleased to find a small balcony with curtains that close off the inside. I walk over to the curtains and pull them back, inhaling deeply. Then I sigh, feeling safe and content for the first time in months. I also notice that there is another balcony across from mine, only a few feet away. I could jump that, I joke with myself. Then, I unexpectedly find a head poking out of the curtains from the balcony across from me.

No way!" I laugh. Ben's face emerged from the curtains, and he laughed, and then took a look at the distance between our balconies.

"Hey, I could jump that," he says.

I smiled and said, "You literally read my mind!"

Being the daring person he was, he took the challenge and leaped across the space between the balconies, barely making it onto mine.

He stood up, gasping for air and said, "I'm going to have to get more used to that!".

I laughed dryly, trying to cover up my near-heart attack that he wasn't going to make it. We laughed and joked together until sundown, when I noticed the time and ushered him off of my balcony. He jumped across the balconies again onto his, a little bit closer to landing on his feet this time, but not quite making it and landing on his knees. He stood up and turned around to look at me one last time before heading to bed. I smiled at him and he returned it. That wave of adrenaline coursed through my body again, and I've never felt so happy.

He is my everything.

I waved to him and turned to go to bed, looking over my shoulder at him through my now-closed curtains and whispering "Goodnight, Ben" under my breath.