How to Save A Life (On Hold)

7. A New Rebel

She looks at me as she enters.
Her eyes say sorry, but her walk says screw you.
She struts past me and sits in an empty seat next to a boy named Jon.
I resist the urge to look at her, or pay any attention to her at all, but I will admit, it's hard.
I want so badly to turn around at look at her, tell her that she's not a good person, tell her not to speak to me ever again, but instead, I sit quietly and listen to the lesson being taught by the teacher that I respect. I don't make a scene.
Instead, I pretend that I don't know her, I pretend that she never kissed me and that I never had a crush on her because for now, it's easier to do.
I am the first to leave the class and make my way to my locker. I check to see if Drew followed me, she didn't.
I exchange my books and go to art, where she is again.
I sit in my regular seat which is somewhat away from her and start a sketch of Bane from Batman.
I like that movie, scratch that, I like all superhero movies, even green lantern, and I don't even know why.
Movies are just a way of escaping, I guess. Even though I don't really have anything I need to escape from. They are always there, and I know exactly what to watch to make me feel better. I guess you could say they're like therapy that you only have to pay six dollars at Walmart for.
For me, art is like therapy too.
I sketch Bane quickly, and then ask if I can go to the washroom.
I'm excused, so I leave and make my way to the washroom just down the hall from my class.
It's a pretty standard boys washroom for a school, urinals, sinks, even a few stalls for the shy guys.
I quickly pee, wash my hands and then make my way back to class.
Before I can make it there, I'm pulled into the janitors closet, by who else, but Drew.
She pushes me up against a wall and I make a thud sound against it. The door shuts and she flicks on the light. "What do you want Drew?" I ask annoyed.
"I want to explain," she frowns.
"OK, well I don't really want to hear it, so-" I start, but she cuts me off.
"He's not really my boyfriend," Drew whispers quietly, but aggressively at me.
"What?" I pause, "what the hell do you mean? What is he then?"
"Well, he's my boyfriend, but he's not my boyfriend," she tries to explain.
"I'm going to pretend like that makes sense," I say grabbing the door knob, trying to leave.
She stops me and says, "would you just listen to me?" I let go of the handle and look at her. "He's my boyfriend, but we aren't dating."
"Again, I don't follow."
"We're just..." She pauses again, "sleeping together," she finally gets out. Then the door opens and Xavier walks in, paintbrushes in hand. Drew looks at him and then me and then says, "get out!"
He exits immediately, dropping his paintbrushes.
Drew calms herself and I say, "I didn't think you were the type. "
"What type?" She puts her hands on her hips.
"Friends with benefits, type," I frown, "I didn't think you were like that."
"I'm not," she frowns back.
"'We're just sleeping together'," I throw her words back at her. "That's is the literally definition of friends with benefits."
"Yes, but-" she starts.
"I don't care Drew," I cut her off, "I'm done."
"Luke-" she says, and this time I grab the door knob and open it.
The first thing I see is Xavier listening outside the door. I push past him and walk back to class like I intended to in the first place. 
Drew doesn't come back to class.
I don't have to work today, so I go and visit my uncle in the hospital. He looks much better than he did yesterday. Everyone else is at work, so it's just me and him.
He asks me about school and my day, and all I want to do is tell him about Drew, so that he can give me a life lesson on how to better understand her and how to deal with her.
But I don't tell him, I just sit there and talk to him because right now she isn't important, he is. 
I leave the hospital and head home at about supper time.
My family is eating Tacos when I get home, so I dish myself up some and eat with them.
They ask how my uncle is and I say good. I also add that they will be releasing him tomorrow.
The doctor said he will have to take a lot better care of himself, which he already knew, but I appreciated someone else saying it.
"Oh yeah, someone called for you earlier," my dad adds.
"Who?" I ask.
"I don't know, they didn't leave a name." He replies and I already know who it is.
After supper I go up to my room and watch a movie, and when it finishes I decide to go for a walk.
I walk for about an hours and stop when I realize where I am. I see the light of a single street lamp. I'm past the industrial side of town, and very close to the spot where Drew took me and spent five hours together in the silence. I walk closer toward the rock and see that it is vacant, so I take a seat and think.
I think about Drew, and the way that I treated her.
Maybe I was wrong to have been so rude to her. I mean, she probably has her reasons for that type of relationship .
Maybe she had her heart broken before and doesn't want to get involved with anyone?
Maybe she doesn't believe in romantic relationships?
Maybe there's something below the surface of what I can see. 
I wish I understood her.
And then it clicked.
I'm not going to understand her if I'm away from her.
I need to make this right.
So, I pull out my phone and text her.
I don't like to text people, I feel like so many things are lost when you text. I mean, to text someone "I love you," and to say it out loud gives of a completely different feel, but how would I know?  I've never done that.
I text Drew and ask if we can talk, and almost immediately, she replies, asking a location and a time.
I meet her at a pizza shop that's open until midnight, so we only have a few minutes to talk, but that's all I need.
"Do you want anything to eat?" I ask Drew as she takes a seat at the booth I'm sitting at.
"Yes," she replies. I order us just a regular pepperoni pizza to share because that will be the quickest for them to make. That way we won't be an inconvenience to them.
While we wait for our food, I try to start a conversation. "Look Drew," I start, "I'm really sorry about earlier, I uh- shouldn't have said that- any of that to you."
"I accept your apology," then she pauses for a moment and folds her hands on the table top. "Now let's discuss what I really brought you here for."
I look at her confused and say, "I called you."
"Doesn't matter, anyways," she flips her hair out of her eyes and continues speaking,"I need a new, 'boyfriend'." She does air quotations with her hands around boyfriend when she says it.
"What? What about Benson?"
"I had to let Benson go, he wasn't following the rules," Drew sighs.
"The rules?"
"Yes, the rules. I'll get into that later. Now-" she starts again.
"Whoa whoa whoa, I can't do that." I cut her off.
"Do what?" She asks, and the waitress brings us our pizza. She's a woman in her thirties, with brown hair and pale blue eyes. I think I go to school with her son.
I lower my voice so that she cannot hear us and whisper, "the friends with benefits thing." 
"Why not?" She asks in her normal voice and then takes a slice of pizza and takes a bite.
"I don't know, I just can't." I say grabbing a slice for myself.
"Well," she swallows, "the way I look at it is, you want to date me and I need a boyfriend, it's a win win situation."
"Don't you want a real connection with someone?" I ask quietly.
"No," she answers shortly.
"Well, why not?" I push.
"I just don't," she says throwing my words back at me. I don't say anything to her. After a few minutes of silence the waitress comes over. It's closing time," the waitress says nicely and then, "do you want to take that to go?"
"Yes, thank you," I say handing her the pizza to box up for us.
I leave the table to pay for the pizza, and then walk with Drew out the door with the pizza in my hand.
We get out to her bike which is right out in front of the pizza shop. I think about her offer and contemplate the pros and cons like I do with every decision I have ever made.
I think about how every decision I have ever made has been carefully thought out and planned down to the letter.
I think about what my uncle said, that I 'never do anything fun'.
Come to think of it he's right, I've never done anything fun or exciting or even a little bad.
I think it's about time that I do.
"Here," I say handing her the pizza. "This is yours."
"You paid for it," she says denying the pizza.
"Yeah, well you can get the next one," I smile. 
"Next one?" She half smiles. "Does that mean you're agreeing?"
"What are the rules?" I grin.
"I'll tell you tomorrow," she winks and places her helmet on her head. She's then starts her bike, and drives off. I watch her drive off for a while, then I make my way to my car and drive home.
No one is awake when I get home, probably because  both of my parents  have to work in the morning, or because it's half past midnight, all I really know is neither of them are awake to see me sneak back into the house.
I shouldn't be out this late even though it's the weekend because I didn't tell my parents where I was going, which I always do and I know I should've done that.
Maybe this is the start of my new self, of my rebellion against my old self. Maybe this will aid my effort in becoming a new person, one who fights authority and has reckless fun.
I walk into the kitchen quietly, just as my mom flicks on the light. She's sitting at the kitchen table in her pink polka dot pyjamas. I can tell she hasn't been to bed yet. She smiles at me, "did you have fun?"
"What?" I ask grabbing the milk from the fridge and pouring myself a glass. I can feel her eyes watching my every move. This is it, my first rebellious situation.
"I said, 'did you have fun?'." She repeats again, this time slower.
"Uh, I guess so?" I say taking a drink.
"So, were you going to call, or were you just going to let me sit here and worry all night?"
"Ah mom," I start.
"Don't 'ah mom' me! I didn't know where you were Lucas! You could have been murdered in a ditch for all I know!"
"It's half past midnight! It's not even that late!" I shout in my defence.
"What about the other night, hmm? Two in the morning! I just don't know what's going on with you."
"What do you mean?"
"You're staying out late, getting sent to study hall, falling asleep in class!" She pauses, "that's just not like you Luke," her tone is softer now. "Is this because of Alexia?"
"No," I reply with a defensive tone.
"Are you sure? I mean, it seems like a lot of this started after you guys broke up." She walks over to me.
"I'm sure, and you have nothing to worry about, I was just working on a school project and lost track of time." I lie, "I promise it won't happen again."
She sighs and nods, "I hope not."
She heads up to bed, leaving me alone in the kitchen. 
So much for my first rebellious situation. It's probably not the best idea to disobey my parents anyway. I climb up the stairs to my room and go to sleep.