On the Fritz

Chapter 2 - Part 1

Fritz no longer had the social storage space to tolerate his old friends. Trying to talk to them was like running a split fingernail over a wool jumper – every word, every off glance, it all just snagged and pulled at the threads. Somebody would say words he wasn't really registering, and they'd finish their sentence with a "Right, Fritz?", and he'd have no idea how to say that he wasn't paying attention. Not to mention, every time he'd try to come up with an original comment, all he'd get back were awkward, "Haha, yeah"s. It wasn't really worth it.

And Fritz never thought he'd say it, but a much better use of his time turned out to be math.

He'd spent a weeks' worth of lunchtimes locking himself in his English class with the sole intention of getting down with differentiation. Fritz always knew what he wanted, and the English class was a calculated choice. It was on the edge of school grounds, there were no windows facing the hallway, and nobody ever went into the English block besides weird year 10s Fritz found easy to ignore. In any case, he was going about his lunch break completely unnoticed, and he couldn't be more thrilled.

So, with an armful of calculus textbooks, Fritz pushed open the door to the classroom and stepped in.

He immediately made eye contact with Vinny Anahera, who was sitting at the front of the class with an empty desk in front of him. Vinny grinned. Fritz, who had never seen his friend be inside an educational space when he was not obliged to, did not.

"Hey, man," Vinny said, leaning back in his chair. The phrase 'deer in the headlights' came to mind, but Fritz pushed this down and shut the door.

"What are you up to?" Fritz asked. "Class ended 10 minutes ago."

"I know," Vinny replied, Fritz sitting down two chairs across from where Vinny was now leaning back against the classroom wall. "This is detention, bro."

"Is it?" Fritz asked, dropping his books on the table. Vinny nodded. "Why are you in detention?"

"Todd Lock was at Will Taylor's locker in D block," Vinny said, before proceeding to go silent as Fritz waited for more.

"Did he do anything?" Fritz prodded. Vinny shrugged.

"Didn't need to," he said. "Gigi's locker's next to Will's as well, so I figured he was going to be cheeky to either one of them if they showed up. Just kind of sick him acting up, eh?"

"And you did what?"

"I did not punch him," Vinny said indignantly. "I pushed him into the wall. Softly. But he plays soccer so he exaggerated it. Dramatic shit, man." Vinny looked down, squinted at the books on the table in front of Fritz. "You studying for a test?"

"Yeah," Fritz lied. "It's next period, so."

"Don't we have chemistry next?" Vinny asked, and Fritz sat there, unblinking.

"Yes," he said eventually. "That's true, Vinny." Vinny grinned.

"Saving you some work there. Oi, when are you next coming over for a sesh? I miss you."

"You miss my weed," Fritz said, but admittedly, this made him smile.

"I miss you and your weed," Vinny clarified. "It's a win win."

Fritz scoffed, but he was still grinning. "You free next week?"

"Oh, you are so on for next week," Vinny said. "Hey, are you going to parent teacher interviews tonight?"

"Oh, yeah. Can't wait," Fritz said back, and Vinny gave him a cool snicker in agreement. "Hey, if we're hanging out, ask your friend Josie to come. I love Josie. How is she?"