Fix It

Chance Encounter

 It had been six weeks since they had seen each other, and Thanksgiving Break had just ended. He hadn't called her at all, or texted her, even to make sure she got home safe. They hadn't spoken since the night she ran. Kate was unbelievably grateful that they had split right before Break because at least she didn't have to go through the agony of seeing him at school.  Their school routine as a couple had been down to a science, and not doing it just felt.. unnatural. They'd meet each other by his car in the morning and they'd walk, hand in hand, inside the building. As they stepped through the halls, their mutual friends would greet them with smiles and waves. They'd sometimes stop to talk to people, but usually not. The morning was their time. Porter would lead her out to the gazebo in the middle of the tennis courts and they'd sit under the green roof, telling each other anything they could think of. It really didn't matter what was said, as long as they were together. He'd snake his arm around her shoulders and she'd snuggle up next to him as they mumbled about nonsense. 

They would part ways for their first two classes of the day, him in the Science hall and her in the English. At lunch they'd go back out to the gazebo with a few of their friends and enjoy the company. Kate could usually be found sitting on the worn wood floor of the gazebo, her nose buried in a ratty old Stephen King paperback, munching on a salad. Porter would stuff his face with a burger whilst rattling off some information he'd learned in Astrophysics. Sometimes Kate would pretend to listen, but mostly not. They knew this about each other. In hindsight she could see this as a red flag, a possible cause of their falling out. He was all about the logical order of things, how they were meant to fit together. She loved to think outside the proverbial box, making up alternate routes to get around a problem instead of directly solving it. His feet were glued to the ground. Her head was lost in the clouds. 

They'd part ways again after lunch, Porter headed to the Math hall and Kate to the History. They grew to cherish the time spent apart, they used it to socialize with their friends, a rare commodity those days because they usually filled their weekends with date nights. At the end of the day they'd reconvene, usually driving to his house or hers. He'd help her with her homework, or proofread a section of her newest novel. She'd help him construct experiments. Although they had completely different interests, they'd always participate in each others'. After an afternoon of homework, cheesy 80's rom coms and dinner, they would say goodnight. Then the routine would repeat itself the next day. Most people would grow tired of this same routine day after day, but Kate loved it. She felt like she belonged to the school. Felt like she had a place; like she was worth something. She knew Porter did, too. So the first day back to school after Break was going to be a hard one. 

Kate pulled up into the student parking lot at 7:00, blaring Beyonce to try and get her mind off things. This was a little early for her, but she'd hoped she could try to locate some of her friends this morning in hopes to avoid sitting out in the gazebo by herself. That was the last thing she wanted to do. She ventured a quick check into her pull-down mirror, making sure her dark hair looked at least halfway presentable. Then, she reached over to the passenger seat to grab her long brown cardigan. Tossing the cardigan over her dark red dress, she jerked her backpack from its gconfines in the back seat. She adjusted her shoulder straps, took a deep breath, and approached the school.

As Kate approached the school, she could literally feel her heartbeat in her mouth. Her hands were trembling as she hurled open the heavy iron door, and she was literally shaking in her brown leather boots. She attempted to shrug off her anxiety, there's no way Porter would be here this early. He usually trudged half-heartedly in the school at about 7:40. She desperately tried to reassure herself as she climbed the stairs. She was so concentrated in this, in fact, that she wasn't paying attention when she rounded the corner and ran right smack into Porter himself.