Blue Kisses

Chapter 3

September mornings are getting too cold to wear skirts. I hate skirts. I would've worn tights but I ripped a big hole in my last pair this morning getting ready. Why is Alice still not here? The bus is gonna arrive any minute now. I look down the sidewalk and there she is, her head is down and she's dragging her feet, normally she's running up to me shouting "Good Morning sunshine!" something must have happened, is she okay? The bus arrives at the same time she does, "Good morning," I say to her as we get on the bus.

"Good morning," She says back.

We sit  in our normal spot on the bus. Should I ask her if something is wrong? What if nothing is wrong, and she's just extra tired? Should I ask if she's tired or would that be offensive?

"Do you want to skip school with me today?" Alice asks.

I wait for her to say "I'm joking" but she doesn't. "No, I can't," I say.

"Why not?"

"Cause if my parents found out they would kill me, plus I don't want to fall behind on any homework," I reply.

"Okay, fair," Alice groans.

We sit in silence for a minute. I have the window seat so I'm staring outside wondering why Alice wants to skip school and why did she invite me? "What would you want to do? If we did skip school today?" I ask.

"Go swimming!" she says actually looking at me, a little too excited, Did I get her hopes up?

"Swimming? Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, we could lay out in the sun and work on a tan," she replies.

"It's too cold and plus I don't particularly enjoy being out in the sun," I say.

Alice scoffs, "yeah I can tell." She puts her hand up against my pale legs and compares our skin tones. Her hand is touching my thigh, why am I wearing a skirt? I hide my now flushed face.

"Oh no. Don't be embarrassed, there's nothing wrong with being pale." Alice says, "Just don't drink my blood." she adds with a laugh. 

During first period, in Mr. Fish's class, the image of Alice's hand touching my leg keeps replaying in my head. Maybe skirts aren't so bad, I would wear a skirt everyday if it meant Alice would put her hand on my thigh. Oh god, what am I thinking?

"Look," Alice shows me the paper she's been doodling on for the past twenty minutes. It's me and her at the beach, she's wearing a swimsuit with a big smile on her face, and I'm in a hoodie holding up an umbrella, blocking the sun from touching me. "This could have been us, if you didn't want to be at school so badly."

"Wow, I didn't know you were so good at drawing," I say.

"Thanks," she says with a proud smile. "Do you wanna keep it?"

"Yeah, I would love to." I smile at it again, "I'll frame it and save it for when you're famous just so I can say I have an original Alice Lane drawing."

Alice looks down and smiles bashfully.

"Why aren't you taking any art classes?" I asked.

"It's just a hobby, I only do it for fun."

"Couldn't you still take classes for fun?"

"I guess but my parents wouldn't see it like that, they would probably be scared I would pursue art as a career." Alice laughs.

I guess her parents aren't dead, that's a good thing, I think. "Would you not want it as your career?" I ask.

"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it." she replies.