Intertwined

Chapter Three

"We need to stop meeting like this," Lyall chuckled as he handed me several sheets of paper.

"We really do," I said, flustered, reaching for the rest of my pages.

While I was in a rush to leave the empty Science class, I didn't watch where I was walking and slammed right into Lyall's ever-present body; face first into his broad chest. My textbook, as well as a notebook and a few loose sheets of homework, had gone flying all over the hall. He was gentlemen enough to scoop up and hand me my notebook but propped the thick science book under his arm.

"You don't have to carry that," I said, reaching.

"Oh, but I want to," Lyall said, flashing a smile that had my chest squeezing again. I couldn't fight with that.

Lyall walked me to the only outbuilding on campus that housed all the Home Economics classes. Butterflies battered against my stomach. I kept catching his slight gazes in my direction, full of questions. He didn't ask anything when we pushed past the metal doors. I braced myself for winter winds, as I would back in Maine, but was greeted by a cool breeze. The sun had warmed the air just a bit. The weather was no longer a brisk cold but a warm autumn day.

I was awed by the forest that surrounded the back cropping of the school. The scent of maple and moss blew past the open doors; crisp and warm. It wasn't anything like the evergreens that crowded in Maine, but still had a beauty that left me feeling like I was close to home. The foliage was made up of thinner trees and almost grassless dirt. I could see the spaces between the thin trunks of the oak and maples. Most of the trees had changed color or lost their leaves for the season. But that didn't stop me from gawking. It was a sparse kind of beauty. The way they shrouded the football field had me, for the first time in my life, wanting to sit on the bleachers and see how the stadium would change at sunset. When the sky faded from blue to yellow, yellow to orange, before finally settling for the deep, endless purple. How the forest would look when the floodlights exaggerated the football players. No, I wouldn't watch the game for a second; just the trees.

Something about the trees—or maybe the guy that was walking next to me—had me feeling like I could manage this. I could manage living here. Wasn't that all anyone could ask for in my situation? The ability to find a footing, regardless of how unstable? Maybe I could.

Until I remembered Marie's casket.

I followed Lyall into the lunch room after our final period. He didn't tell me that our last class was together, which made for an awkward departure. I walked away from him, expecting for my farewell to carry me home, but he had been right behind me, lauging once again.

I wondered what he was up to until I had seen Marleen, Erica, Mike, and Jason standing around, waiting for Lyall.

"You made it!" Erica giggled. "Your first day: accomplished."

She lifted her hand for a high-five, and I lifted my hand and only placed it on hers before letting it drop to my side. A weak high-five, but it showed how much enthusiasm I had for the completion of one out of hundreds.

"So, Marleene's house, or are we going to bother Erica's parents?" Jason interjected.

Erica shoved a heavy elbow into Jason's side. Jason only laughed, but I remembered how strong Erica was, and I rubbed my own ribcage in symapathy.

"My house is always open, you guys know that," Lyall threw in and then looked at me, "Do you want to come over, too?"

My cheeks went up in flames, "I can't. Homework."

"Oh, come on," Jason threw in, and I was honestly shocked. I would have expected that from Erica or Lyall because they had taken interest in me today, but not Jason.