Love In The Rain(bad boy, good girl)

11-Not so sunshiney sunshine

TYLERS POV

I was sitting in algebra board out of my mind. 8 minutes left. All she is teaching is stupid fractions. I should be spending my time doing better things other than math.

Then my mind drifts to the thought that Cora owes me. I smile to myself. I still have to figure out what I want her to do for me. I want it to be good.

8 minutes past so fast after trying to think of something good and coming up with nothing, and the bell for class to end and I head to my last class. English. Even worse than math.

My ribs hurt. They are almost healed, but I need a few more weeks. Do you know how hard it is to make out with girls in the janitors closet when you have broken ribs. Ouch.

I make my way to the English hallway and enter the room. Britney is in this class. She winks at me. I don't do anything but do my signature sup nod, and walk to my seat. I sit behind Cora, where I am assigned to sit for the whole year. I hate classes that have assigned seats.

When I walk past Cora here is something different about her today.

I sat puzzled for a second when I finally recognized what was wrong. She didn't do her usual bubbly smile and wave when I passed her.

She had a frown on her face and she was lightly doodling on the side of her paper.

Maybe she didn't see me. Though she still normally has a smile on her face for no reason other than to smile.

I wish I could see her face now and see if it has changed but all I can see is the back of her head. I stand up and walk over to sharpen my already sharpened pencil just so, when I walk back I can see her face.

She still holds a frown and her doodles are of a tree. A willow tree. I know she normally doodles sunshine flowers and kittens, but today she is drawing a sad weeping willow.

I don't know. She loves willows. She draws them all the time. Maybe I'm worrying about nothing.

But what about her frown? She is the most cheerful person I have ever met. Sometimes it makes me wanna throw up rainbows.

She never never frowns without a good reason.

I wanna know what the good reason is.

Did she get a bad grade? Did a kitten die? Did Britney give her more trouble? Is she thinking too hard on the thing she owes me? Yeah, that must be it. She Is worried about what I am going to ask her to do.

Wait... What is the teacher talking about? Oh shoot. I wasn't paying attention. I need at least a C in every class.

What in the world is Hamlet? Is that some breakfast burrito?

***************

Finally school is over. I still hasn't come up of what to ask Cora to do for me. I don't really want anything at the moment. Maybe I will just wait until I have something good.

I start walking home when I see Cora walking on the other side of the sidewalk. Alone. She usually walks with her annoying friends until they make their turn to go home.

She still looks sad.

Letting curiosity take over me I cross the street. I tap on her shoulder. "Cora?" She looks at me. "Oh. Hi Tyler. I didn't see you there." She says and looks down.

"Hey. Is there something wrong." I ask, in a cool way where I don't sound so much like a care.

"What? Me? Nothing. Why do ask?" She is such a bad liar.

"Well usually you are a happy sunshine, 24/7, but today you sunshine isn't so sunshiney."

"Well I guess it is not a happy sunshine kind of a day." She shrugs.

"Since when has that stopped you from being the most cheerful person in the universe?" I laugh.

She didn't laugh."seriously, what's wrong?" I grab her by both shoulders so she is forced to look at me. "Noth-" I interrupt her. "Cora...what's wrong?" I eye her down so she has no choice but to confess.

She sighs. She doesn't say any thing. She just takes one of my arms and drags me along.

I don't ask anything I just follow. She takes me to a familiar street without sidewalks. The street of a willow tree.

She takes me to the empty lot with just nature growing with no limit. The one willow tree in the middle is there. And now I see why she has been down.

On the trunk of the tree is a big red X.

She stops in front of the tree trunk and traces the X with her finger. She lifts her finger and is now red from the paint.

"Somebody bought the lot. They are going to build a shoe factory here." She says so quietly I can barley hear her.

A tear runs down her cheek. "They're gonna kill willow." She sobs.

I don't know what to do. I have never comforted anyone before. I quickly think of all the sappy movies I watch. I think of a sappy movie I watched with my mom before she left me. That was the last chick flick I watched. In the movie they hugged it out.

I opened my arms. She looked up really surprised, but very great full and took the hug, resting her head on my shoulder.

I didn't know what to do next. I awkwardly patted her back.

"I don't want willow to die. Willow is too young." She pauses. "Okay. Willow is kind of old, but she deserves to live longer." She sobs into my shoulder.

"Uh. It's okay. You'll be fine." I say not knowing what to say.

She laughs. I pull back.

"Why are you laughing?" I look at her concerned. She has gone insane. "It's kind of funny. You trying to comfort me. I can tell your new at this. But I'm grateful that you tried. And honestly you did cheer me up." She smiles.

I am happy she is happy.

She looks at the X again. And looks away. I feel kind of bad. I don't want a shoe factory here either. Who wants to smell rubber all day long.

She tells me how 'Willow' has been there for her since she was 6 years old and she had a bully and she ran away and got lost. She found the tree and she claims the tree told her the way home.

She is kind of funny.

She tells me other stories of her times 'Willow' has been there for her.

We sit at the trunk of the tree and she tells me stories for hours.

---1147 words---