your city gave me asthma // Wilbur Soot

thirteen

"Oh my God," Olivia laughs. "I would've died."

"What, it's never happened to you two before?" I ask, taking the awful goggles off and pulling my hair out of its bun. We grab our bags and make our way to the quad for lunch. "Especially since you guys are, like, way worse?"

"Hell no, we're smarter than that." Olivia says. "No offense."

Last night, Lydia slept over in our room, so I decided to stay with Wilbur and Matt. We woke up to a random room inspection, and got in some trouble since I was in his bed overnight. Fully clothed, which made our punishment better, but still embarrassing.

"So, gotta clean up some rubbish or something?" Matt asks, walking ahead of us.

"We both got a 'strike'." Wilbur says with a laugh. "And we're not allowed in each other's rooms at all anymore. But fuck that,"

"It's not funny!" I tell him. "I'll get kicked out if I get two more strikes."

"Oh, so you're gonna enforce their rule?" Wilbur says, laughing again at me.

"Yes!" I groan. "We see each other every other hour of the day. It'll be fine,"

"Or, loophole," Matt says. "Just go to Olivia's room. She doesn't have a roommate and you're not going to each other's dorms."

Wilbur smiles at him. "You're so smart, I could kiss you!"

Matt blows him a playful kiss as we sit down, making them and Olivia laugh, but I'm still frustrated. "I'm not taking any chances. I want to stay here as long as possible."

"Sky," Wilbur sighs, grinning as he leans against me. "I promise that you won't get two more strikes. It's not like they ever do those inspections but once a year. And you're not the trouble type. I wouldn't worry."

"Whatever," I mumble, opening up my lunch.

I feel much happier as I walk with Wilbur to art, ready to see his painting. They've been left to dry overnight, and we're presenting them all today. I still have no clue why he's left his as a mystery, but I finally get to find out why.

I ignore Lacy as she presents, instead whispering with Wilbur. This teacher doesn't really care, and especially doesn't care about Lacy, so we don't get shushed. I'm called up for my turn and grab my painting, setting it on the easel in the front of the class. It's obviously not too complex, just a painting of Claire and I from when we were younger. It's one of my favorite pictures, but I didn't paint it as well as I wanted to. It's still decent, yet I earn a chuckle from Lacy. Of course, I want to yell at her for spreading rumors about me before and still being just plain rude. But I hold my tongue and just go back to my seat, smiling at Wilbur when I realize it's his turn.

I raise my hand to my mouth, shocked at his painting. Of course, it's not amazing to anyone else, but it is to me. Because it's a portrait of me. You can barely tell, but I know. It's me. He painted me.

"The person who I love and who inspires me is my girlfriend." Wilbur says, proudly smiling.

Love.

He said he loves me.

We've been together for a month, right? Little more than a month? And he loves me. And I think I love him too. How could I not?

I listen as he explains his process for the painting. He thought of who he loves and is inspired by. He got his favorite picture of me. He painted it, happy to have gotten to stare at it for hours. And now he's gonna hang it up in his room.

I could marry him right now.

But of course, we can't have a perfect moment. Lacy scoffs for some reason, and like me, Wilbur ignores it, although he looks annoyed. The teachers dismissed us once Wilbur is finished.