Captain Pluto

02. WHAT IS LACTOSE INTOLERANCE ANYWAY?

02. WHAT IS LACTOSE INTOLERANCE, ANYWAY?

TOBY COULDN'T CONCENTRATE IN CLASS the next day. His brain felt like it was clawing it way out of his forehead and his eyelids kept drooping. The (mostly) usual hunger for learning was absent.

Professor Howland keeps droning on and usually, Toby hangs on to every word but right now, his words sound nothing more than bees humming together in a chaotic buzz.

Toby and Charlie barely slept for forty minutes. They stayed up, talking about their bizarre experience and formulating theories which included everything from a bombing attempt to secretly opening the Chamber of Secrets. Toby just had to wait for the building to explode or one of the kids to get petrified by a giant serpent for their theories to be proven true.

Charlie on the other hand, was a man possessed. He was convinced that what they witnessed was part of something big. He refused to listen to anything else. Right now, Charlie was attending a lecture on gothic arches or something. (Toby didn't get architecture- to him; all that mattered was that his building shouldn't collapse on him.)

Toby yawns behind his hand, trying to stay out of Professor Howland's gaze. He tries to rub the sleep from his eyes when someone passes him a chit.

He sits up suddenly and accidently pokes himself in the eye. He curses inwardly.

The girl who just passes him a folded piece of notebook paper giggles. Toby recalls her from Subway a few days ago when he accidentally squirted mayonnaise on her shirt while preparing a salad for her (usually not recommended if one wants to make an impression) and then offering the salad for free.

Her eyes twinkle with unhidden amusement as she taps the pieces of paper with an impeccably manicured fingernail.

Toby offers her a forced smile as he unfolds the paper. He reads a neatly scrawled HEY YOU REMEMBER ME?

Toby nods at her, confused. She shakes her head and points to the paper.

Toby tries not to roll his eyes. He does not want to pass chits with her. Still he just scribbles YEAH on the paper and slides it back to her. She reads it and smiles, showing off a set of uneven teeth. She scribbles something on it before passing it back to Toby.

Professor Howland is taking about why one doesn't laugh when they tickle oneself and Toby really wants to know why one doesn't laugh when they tickle oneself and so he quietly slides his books a few feet away from the girl and follows suit. Out of the corner of his eye, he looks at the girl. She is staring at him, open mouthed and incredulous. Toby has to admit what he did was rude but he doesn't really give a damn one way or the other. Sue him. He probably just declined a potential hook up or something.

Professor Howland keeps talking as though not even a tempestuous sea could stop him.

*

"Maybe it was a druggie." Charlie suggests.

Toby doesn't bother looking up. His fingers are hovering over the keys of Charlie's laptop. His mind is irritatingly blank and this sort of hollowness makes Toby feel frustrated. He knows what to write; it's clear in his mind, and yet he feels blank as though he has forgotten the English alphabet. "Uh huh."

"Let's check it out again."

"I'm working."

"Come on."

Toby ignores him. He clicks CTRL+S even though his Word document contains nothing but the topic ('A Brief History of Psychology') and walks to the shelf of books shared by Charlie and himself. He looks at Charlie through the corner of his eye. The other boy is sprawled on his bed, with headphones plugged in. He is going through his music library on his Ipod with the far-away look in his eyes which Toby associates with someone who is floating in his music quite literally, as though his conversation with Toby never happened. Toby isn't surprised, really. Charlie has a surprisingly short attention span.