Colors

Chapter 8

The weekend went by fast and was over before they knew it. It seemed that in the blink of an eye it was Monday and Stacie was getting ready for school. She got ready and went to the bus stop. She read her book while the street corner quickly filled up until there were about seventeen people there. No one tried to talk to her and she was content with reading her book, so she ignored everyone. The bus came and she found a seat. She ended up sitting near Kaitlyn again but this time she didn't say anything to them.

When she got off of the bus she met up with Victoria and discussed the new episode of their show that came on last night until the bell rang.

She went through the day normally but was excited for in between periods three and four (Victoria tried to come up with a name for them but couldn't think of any). When it was finally there Stacie walked slowly through the group of boys and waited until the culprit came through. She had almost given up when the person in the hoodie came by and bumped into her. The colors flashed in front of her eyes and she reached out her hand and touched his arm. He stopped and looked at her. This was the first time she had ever seen his face. She knew his name but had never talked to him before. He stared at her. "I-" he began. Before he could say anything else though, a teacher shouted out thirty seconds indicating that they only had thirty seconds to get to class. They got pulled away from each other in the following tidal wave of students. Stacie ducked into her classroom (it wasn't that far away) and sat down quietly, unable to quite process what had happened. She knew though that Victoria would be able to help with comprehending what had happened and waited until they went to lunch.

When she got to the cafeteria she got her food and waited for Victoria. She didn't really feel like eating but forced herself to nibble on a piece of bread. When Victoria came over Stacie immediately told her everything about the event. "Wow" said Victoria, "so it was Jared." "Yeah" said Stacie. Stacie had seen Jared around school and even had the slightest of crushes on him many years ago but had never talked to him or had any interaction with him before now. "Well we know who it is now!" said Victoria excitedly. "Yeah" said Stacie. Victoria's enthusiasm was contagious and soon Stacie began to feel as happy as her.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Stacie with a smile. "I think you should try to find him and talk to him" said Victoria. "That means that you have to find out if he is any of your classes or anywhere like the bus. That might take a couple days though," she continued "If he isn't anywhere then tell me and we'll figure something out." "Well even if I find him, what would I even say 'oh hello I saw the colors when you bumped into me and I know you saw them too'" said Stacie. "Well first off your not going to say that" laughed Victoria. "I think you shouldn't have a plan for talking to him" she said. "What! Well then what would I say, I'm not as good with words as you are" Stacie protested. "Hear me out" said Victoria, "If you have something planned it will feel forced and I don't think it would make a good impression if you sound like you're reciting a lecture." Okay," said Stacie, "yeah, that makes sense." "Good" said Victoria with a smile, "So we have a plan?" "We have a plan" said Stacie.

Lunch was over by then so they said goodbye and went back to class. The day went on and Stacie didn't keep an eye out for Jared, she was going to do that tomorrow for the whole day.

When school ended and she had gotten her stuff she went out to the parking lot. She walked through the current of people and got on the bus.

The bus was unusually packed and there was only one open seat. It was in the far back too so she had to step over people's legs to get there. She sat down and brushed up against the person sitting there. The bus lit up. She gasped and turned her head to look at the other person. She saw Jared sitting there, staring at her. She tried to speak but found that she couldn't get any words out. Even if she could've spoken she couldn't think of anything to say. He just stared at her. She looked down at her lap and moved her leg so that they weren't touching. The world returned to grey. Suddenly Jared reached out his hand and touched her arm slightly. The world lit up again. She looked up at his face and saw that he was still just staring at her, but now had a hint of a smile on his face. "What were you going to say,...earlier in the hallway" Stacie blurted out, looking back down at her lap. "I don't know, I just thought I should've said something" said Jared quietly.

They didn't say anything while the bus began to crawl out of the parking lot. Jared lowered his hand and the world fell back into dull grey. Stacie looked up at him. "Sorry," he said "the world is just so beautiful when there's color." "I don't mind, it is beautiful with color" said Stacie with a small smile. Jared grinned but didn't do anything else. "I just don't know what to say" laughed Stacie after about a minute of awkward silence. "Me neither" replied Jared with a small smile. "What did you think that first day when, how do I put this" began Stacie. "When we first bumped into each other" Jared offered. "Yes. What were you thinking?" asked Stacie. "Um,... I dunno, I guess I was just shocked" said Jared. He scratched his nose and when he put his hand down, his arm just touched Stacie's. The colors came back. He didn't move his arm and Stacie didn't make any movement to break the connection. "Me too" said Stacie. "I hope you don't mind but my friend knows everything that has happened this past week" she said quickly. Jared laughed softly. "I don't mind" he said. "So what do we do now" asked Stacie. "I don't know" said Jared as he shrugged.

The whole situation was awkward. Stacie didn't know what to say and Jared didn't really say anything unless she asked him something. They were still touching so Stacie just looked around at all of the colors that she hadn't seen before. "The world is just so alive when there's color" said Jared when he saw Stacie looking around. She turned to look at him and found him looking at her. "Why do you just stare at me?" asked Stacie curiously. "I dunno," he began quietly, "I guess 'cuz you're eyes are this beautiful blue-green color and you're hair is a million different shades of brown and I...I just don't think anything or anyone else in here quite compares." Stacie didn't quite know what to say to that. Jared looked down at his lap and moved his arm. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Stacie put her hand on his shoulder and he looked at her. "You didn't" she said.

They sat there while people got off of the bus. Jared got off at the stop after Stacie and his was the last stop so they had a while to talk. Stacie moved her hand but Jared caught it. Neither of them were eager for the colors to disappear. They ended up with Jared's hand just touching Stacie's on the seat. Stacie began to think about what Jared had said about her. She wondered what exactly he meant by that. Before she could over analyze it though, Jared said something that almost drove the thought from her mind. "What does this mean now though, that we see the colors together?" he asked. "I don't quite know" said Stacie. They approached Stacie's bus stop and Stacie got her backpack on. When she had her backpack on she noticed the world had fallen back to grey and she looked back over at Jared. He just stared at her with a sort of happy sadness on his face. She didn't know what to think of it. The bus crawled to a stop and finally lurched into place at the corner. All seventeen of the people at her bus stop stood up and it was difficult to move with all of them but Stacie felt Jared looking at her until she got off of the bus.

Stacie crossed the street to her block and walked home. She felt happy but she also felt like she could cry. She was just confused by the whole thing. When she got home she didn't have any homework so she texted her parents to tell them she was home and then immediately called Victoria. Victoria was home by then so she picked up after the first ring. "Something happened on the bus and I need you to come over right now" Stacie said quickly. "What happened" asked Victoria, sounding concerned. 'I...I just, I just need you to come over right now" Stacie said, unable to talk about Jared. "Okay, yeah sure, I'll be over in five minutes' said Victoria and hung up. Stacie put her phone down and sat on the couch.

It felt like less than five minutes had passed when Victoria knocked on the door. Stacie got up and let her in. When Victoria entered she gave Stacie a hug and steered her over to the couch. "Now tell me what's wrong" said Victoria in a calm, soothing voice. She dealt with children often enough in her frequent babysitting jobs that she knew how to effectively calm someone down. Stacie told her everything that happened on the bus. "Well, I just don't know what to say" said Victoria. "Well that's a first" laughed Stacie quietly. "Yeah" said Victoria with a small grin. "Well you have to talk to him again" said Victoria. "Yeah well look how well that ended up" said Stacie. "Well it was just natural conversation from what I heard" said Victoria with a grin, "that's good." "It is?" asked Stacie. "Yes, and I want you to look for Jared in your classes" replied Victoria. "Okay but even if I do find him I still don't know what to say" said Stacie doubtfully. "You'll think of something" said Victoria confidently.

By this point Victoria had effectively calmed Stacie down so they talked a little more until Victoria got a text to come home for dinner. Stacie's parents were coming home now anyway so they said goodbye to each other and Victoria went home. Stacie decided not to tell her parents anything about Jared or the colors.