The Midnight Moment | An Anderperry Short Story

A Midnight Moment

It was a regular autumn afternoon, and sixteen-year-old Todd Anderson had just finished his heavy coursework and figured he was long due a walk. The sun shone brightly despite Christmas being only a couple of weeks away, and he shed his blazer, already feeling quite warm.

He'd only been at Welton for a couple of months, but already he thought of it as home. The large green lawn stretching out as far as the eye could see, the glittering lake where generations of boys had rowed, and the imposing building itself, which looked much warmer when painted by the sunset than in the monochrome photos his parents had shown him.

"That's where I'll be going?" he'd confirmed, his hopes dropping like a stone in water. He knew Welton was going to be tough, but that seemed more than he could handle.

"Of course. Jeffrey went and excelled, and so should you," his father said, gruff pride in his eyes. But he hadn't looked at Todd, rather straight through him. Sometimes Todd wondered whether his father noticed him as his individual self, or just considered him a Jeffrey Junior. Who clearly didn't match up.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he refocused on the school and its familiarity. How welcoming it seemed. Although his mother always ironically said that people made a place home rather than the place itself.

As if on cue, Todd's best friend Neil Perry bounded up behind him silently, and then abruptly grabbed his shoulders. "Boo!"

"Jesus!" Todd muttered, clutching his chest and smiling. He always smiled around Neil; it was hard not to. The boy practically oozed perfection, with his crooked smile and affable personality. Father would like him. No, he corrected himself. Father would love him. People were already calling him the next Jeffrey. But to Todd, he was just... Neil.

"So, any particular reason for scaring the living daylights out of me, or was it a random impulse?"

Neil shrugged, jostling him as they walked together. "Just a random impulse, I guess." He was normally a joyful person, but today he was positively beaming, his eyes shining and feet bouncing as he walked, like he had too much energy to contain himself. Todd caught him discreetly glancing toward him and sighed affectionately.

"Okay, I'll bite. What happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?" So he was playing the long game.

"Neil, if you were any happier, you would be floating instead of walking. Practically are already."

"The Welton Chronicle!" The words came in an excited burst. "Keating got me a spot working on it!"

Todd grinned, but then frowned again. "But didn't your father forbid it?"

"Screw my father," Neil said. His neck flushed, but he didn't relent. "Screw my father. He couldn't give a damn about what I truly want, and this is part of it." When Todd didn't reply, he threw his hands up. "Come on, isn't this the whole point of it? Of the club? Sucking all the marrow out of life, remember?"

Todd relented. "Okay, okay. How did he do it?"

At this, Neil launched into a descriptive story of how they fooled Headmaster Nolan, involving some fudged papers and a rearranged schedule.

Todd focused less on what he was saying and more on his face, every part animated and alive, his hands gesturing wildly. Excitement and satisfaction gilded every word, and he knew that this was what his friend had been born to do: perform. It was too bad his parents didn't seem to think so.

"That's incredible," he admitted when the story was over.

"I'm glad you think so. Want me to show you the room? It's really impressive."