I'd give you a life

Fallen Tree

The bus pulls out of town as Zac wipes the rain off his phone with his sleeve. his wide blue eyes seem steeped in sadness as he talks.

"What school do you go to Zac?" i ask lightly. he shrugs and fiddles with his emo fringe. 

"Um, The Hallow School" He mutters, embarrassed. i blink then hastily cover my surprise. Hallow is the posh private school on the more upmarket side of town, it's where everyone swans around in smart blazers and knee length kilts and do "prep" instead of homework and all say their Ts and Hs correctly. this boy is a misfit, he doesn't look like he belongs in the poshest school in east London, he doesn't look like he belongs to any school. i think back to the boys that were chasing him, i always thought that Hallows boys were smart nerdy toffs, i didn't realize they could be bullies too. 

"What about you?" He asks, raising his head slightly to look me in the eye. I feel myself going red.

"St Peters..." I say tugging at my tie. He nods and his eyes flit away from mine. 

"How come you go to Hallow?" I ask nervously. He looks at me for a long moment.

"My parents." He says finally. I blink, to me it is not a sufficient answer. I open my mouth to continue our rather stilted conversation when the bus gives a judder and grinds to a halt. 

"What the...?" I peer out the window. we're in a quiet road called Wookey Crescent. we're about a mile away from my house. a large poplar tree is down in the centre of the road. I frown.

"What's happening?" Asks Zac. He looks worried like a scared rabbit and i want to hug him. 

"Just a tree." I say with a sigh. "Maybe we'll have to walk." he sighs and tugs his pack onto his back. 

"Where d'you live?" He asks. 

"bout a mile away... just up St Marks road, you?" 

"I live on St Monicas street, it's right next to St Marks road." He says softly. I look at him and he looks back.

"Guess we should go together then." I say.

"Yeah," He replies. "guess we should."