Rubber

Chapter Three

I've been standing outside of Mr. Schmidt's room for almost seven minutes before Sky makes a loud appearance.

She flings herself at my shoulders and grasps them, "You did what?!"

I don't understand what she is referring to so I stay quiet. "Don't give me that look! You showed up Mr. Schmidt every chance you got! You told him his teaching skills were...um...inadequate. Yeah, that's the word everyone's using!" She hangs her head and shakes it. I continue to stand silent, waiting for her to realize she's still touching me.

She sighs and steps back, "You already made enemies with Miss Chaw. Don't piss Mr. Schmidt off." She shakes herself and smiles brightly at me, "Well, off to your social studies!"

I don't understand how she can go from gloomy to gay in that short amount of time, but then again I haven't understood one thing about this girl. We walk down the hall together, people skipping class give us dirty looks when we pass.

I ignore them, but Sky makes it perfectly clear that she is allowed to be out of class. The looks get dirtier as we go deeper into the school. So do the students.

"Where are we going?" She smiles as she turns around yet another corner.

"You know those are the first words you've said to me." I look at her, confused. "Don't say anything then. We are going to my favorite room." She looks at me over her shoulder. I must have looked even more confused because the next thing she said shocked me, "It's not the social studies room."

The farther we get from the front of the building, the more the people begin to resemble Sky.

This part of the building doesn't seem to be taken care of very well: graffiti on the walls, paint splatters all over the floor, bits of crumbled wall pushed off to the side.

I keep my pace steady as my heartbeat picks up, my face and eyes empty.

Sky finally stops near a room with a red bulb above it. She leans her back against the wood and stares at me. The light leaves a red halo about her, her bright smile. Her eyes seem to be brighter and her shoulders and head higher. She grasps the knob with one hand and knocks gently with the other without turning away from me.

As she waits, a young boy prances over to her and begins staring at me as well. I match his gaze and a smile slowly breaks out. He turns to Sky and taps her shoulder. She bends down, not taking her hand from the knob. He giggles and she laughs heartily as she nods. He takes a quick glance at me and dashes off.

I blink unfazed after the boy then turn back to Sky. The red light is off above her and the door is partially opened.

I stare into the darkroom and feel Sky buzz with excitement as she enters.

She wraps an arm around a broad boy holding a picture up with tweezers. He kisses her head and goes back to examining the photograph.

A girl raises her head to stare at me. Her eyes are milky brown and it dawns on me that she is blind. She turns away and mumbles something to the girl beside her. The other one looks over the blind's head and scans my small frame. She smirks and says something to the blind girl.

Sky has made her way over to me without my noticing. Her long fingers wrap around my upper arm and she leads me deeper into the room. The door closes silently behind me, drowning the room in darkness. A quiet click sounds and a red haze settles over the bodies in the room.

I blink to acclimate faster to the absence of light as she stops walking.

She turns around, her eyes glowing pink in the light, as a childish grin causes her thin lips to expand and show her teeth.