All Which Remains

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Arron

After what feels like forever, the bell rings and people begin to exit the cafeteria. I sort of remember how to get back to the classroom that I'd come from, but I'm scared that I'll get lost. I don't see Him around, so I can't follow him back to the classroom. Instead, I follow the masses.

Following some thorough searching, I find the classroom. The teacher yells at me for being late. I look up and see that Ramelan is sitting in the seat next to mine. Shoot. The teacher tells me to take my seat, and that I'll have to clean the classroom once school is over as my punishment. I nod and straighten my spine. I make my way to my desk with caution. I take my seat next to Ramelan. He doesn't look at me once for the rest of the day. I thought that he was going to "keep an eye on me"? It's not my business, anyway, and whatever my business is, it certainly isn't his. I sigh and put my chin on my hand. Why do I care? I turn to look out of the window into the courtyard. The sky is a beautiful blue and it shines down on the people out in the courtyard for P.E. I start to see weird shapes in the clouds. First, a bunny. Second, a hand, reaching out for me. I try to take it, but the window creates a barrier between us. So, I rest my head on the window and fall asleep.

Someone touches me on the shoulder. That's the second time today (what's with people and shoulder tapping?). I open my eyes, it's Ramelan. Of course, it's him. I look up at the clock above the teacher's podium and see the time. It's 15:45. Oops. I look back at Ramelan, who's smirking at me.

"What is it?" I ask him. Just looking at his face thrusts me into a bad mood.

"You drooled all over the desk. I can't believe you fell asleep again."

I quickly wipe my mouth and come up with a comeback. "Would you have preferred to have been the one drooled on, then?" I ask, smiling at him.

Ramelan blushes bright red and turns around. Facing away from me. Oh? Did I say something wrong? To be honest, I thought it was a pretty good comeback. I shrug. I don't care what he thinks. I jut my chin out in defiance.

Ramelan turns back around and hands me a broom. "Hurry up and do your job. We don't have all day to watch you mope around."

That's when I notice that there are other people in the classroom. Other people heard what I'd said to Ramelan. Ooh, that's not good. None of them are looking at us, though. They're in their own world. They had cleaned some of the room, but what they'd cleaned didn't look like it'd been cleaned. I sigh and stand up, broom in hand. I'm not going to leave this room until it's spotless.

I worked hard that night, and with Ramelan's help, we were able to finish before 19:00. After we finish, I lean against a wall, and high-five Ramelan, who sits down beside me. All of the other kids had left hours ago, but we'd stayed to make sure that we did the job perfectly. No demerits for me, yay. I'm so tired that I can't stop laughing. The laughter is contagious and Ramelan starts to laugh with me. Then it strikes me, I don't have any idea where I live. I stop laughing and start to panic again. How am I supposed to get home? How am I supposed to fool Arron's family into believing that I'm him? What am I going to do? Ramelan stops laughing, too, and turns his head towards me.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"I don't know where I live," I say, on the verge of tears.

Ramelan puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "You can stay with me. I'll tell your grandma that you're with me."

"If you know where I live, can't you just bring me there?"

"No. First, I'll need to teach you how to create a convincing story to trick your grandmother."

I put my head on Ramelan's shoulder and decide that he's right. "Fine, but you're going to have to feed me. I haven't eaten all day."

"That's not my fault," Ramelan says, with a hint of laughter.

It feels like I've known Ramelan for a long time. But the atmosphere between us is weird. Even though I'm sitting right beside him, it feels like I'm not here.