Crimson

Chapter 2

Crim could feel his eyes slowly close as Mr. Broon talked. He leaned on his right hand as the man droned on about how clouds worked, even though Crim already knew how they worked. Crim yawned, mentally cursing himself for staying up so late with Rudy. It also didn't help that it was the monday before winter break. Everyone in the class looked like they were just about to fall asleep, along with the teacher. The teacher had made a deal with the class that if they were quiet and payed attention they could use the last 15 minutes to lay down and take a little nap. Crim tried very hard to stay Quiet. It was his last class of the day, and he just wanted to go home. He looked slightly to the left to look out the window next to the door to see a spiky haired boy staring blankly at Crim. As soon as Crim made eye contact the boy smiled. Crim raised his eyebrows at Rudy. The boy copied his actions. Crim rolled his eyes and looked back to the teacher. But his attention was once again brought to the window when he heard a large thud as Rudy pressed his face up to the glass, smooshing it into the window for all to see.

"Rudy!" Crim yelled. Some people in the class started laughing as Rudy opened the door and walked in.

"Sup dude!" He said to Crim. He walked over to Crim's desk, and sat on it looking forward at the teacher. "Continue Mr. B."

Some more kids chuckled as the teacher looked disappointedly at Rudy. Crim just looked at him wide eyed as Rudy sat on his desk. He leaned on his hands that he had supporting him from behind.

Mr. Broon sighed, and turned to the board continuing his lecture. Rudy gave Crim a sneaky smile as Crim tried to pay attention to the board. Crim smiled back at Rudy as if to say, "You're an idiot."

dRudy winked, "I know."

The rest of the class went uninterrupted, Rudy sat quietly making funny faces at Crim while Crim tried to ignore him but to no avail. Finally they got to the last 15 minutes of class.

"Ok, you can either take a nap, or, head out into the hall early, your choice. I don't wanna hear a word from anyone, understand?" The class agreed with some positive murmurs and then proceeded to make their choice. Around 75% of the class lay their heads down while the rest of the tired students gathered their stuff and walked out the door. Crim watched Rudy walk out the door, and sighed, grabbing his backpack and following the annoying boy out of the room.

As soon as they were out of earshot of Mr. Broons science lab, Crim hit Rudy in the arm. "Hey! What was that for??"

"You're such an idiot!"

"What did I do??"

Crim laughed. "You seriously are just asking to get in trouble! Your mum seriously must love you a lot to put up with your shit for this long."

"Ey! My mum thinks I'm amazing and you know it!"

"Delusional woman," Crim smiled.

"Don't talk about my mum like that, you moron!" he said hitting Crim in the shoulder.

"You're the moron!" Crim shouted laughing at him. Rudy just laughed.

"True."

They made their way down the hallway to the south exit of the school. Right there was a bench next to a window, and was the only place in school that they hung out at. Usually their two best friends would join them, but Heather wanted to sleep in the room, and Joseph was in another class. Rudy always sat as close to the window as possible, to help with the cigarette smoke around his break periods. The window was great because it was perfectly place between two security cameras and couldn't catch any of the trouble that Rudy would get into. Crim would sit on the floor, away from the smoke. And as if like clockwork, Rudy pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting up the cancer stick and putting it in his mouth.

"Aw, Rudy, c'mon man! Right now?"

"I'll do it whenever I want Crim, you're not my mum."

"Yeah, but I could tell your mum."

A look of fear flickered in Rudy's eyes as he heard the threat, but a cool smirk spread onto his face. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, asshole."

Rudy shut up after that, but didn't put out the cigarette. Crim pulled his phone out of his pocket seeing a text from Heather.

heatherchandler: did you guys go to the smoking window

crimsonletter: Yeah, you still in the room?

heatherchandler: nah me and jayla are in the art room 

Crim smiled.

crimsonletter: Oooh... you guys smooching?"

heatherchandler: oh fuck off

crimsonletter: Heather and Jayla sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

heatherchandler has signed off.

Crim snickered. "What?" Rudy asked as he took the cigarette out of his mouth and slipped it through the open window. 

"Heather and Jayla are in the art room," Crim smiled, showing the texts to Rudy who smiled and chuckled. 

"Jesus, when are they just gonna get together already, seriously, it's been years."

"I know, I wish they'd just take a hint," Crim said looking at the texts.

"Yeah, well I can see Heather's side of thinking, Jayla is super hot, and Heather would see that as out of her league."

Crim frowned as Rudy said this, "But Heather is amazing, she should understand that she is in her league, may even be in a higher league."

"I agree," Rudy looked at Crim with a strange expression. 

Crim raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Rudy seemed to bounce out of it, "Oh, nothing."

Crim watched as Rudy turned to look out the window, putting the cig back in his mouth. Crim sighed and leaned against the bench, turning his back to Rudy. 

He started to look through Instagram as the minutes sped by in silence. Suddenly a loud jarring sound came over the speakers, announcing the end of the school day. Rudy put out his cigarette against the outside building wall through the window, and flicked the butt into the garbage can next to the bench. The exit was very close to the bench so we quickly walked outside. Rudy fished through his pockets and brought out an Altoids box, popping two of them into his mouth. I looked at him expectantly as he offered the box to him. Crim placed one in his mouth, remembering that he hates altoids. He sucked on the mint before chewing it up and spitting it into the snow. 

"Is smoking really worth the terrible taste of altoids?"

"I like altoids. They're refreshing," He said putting the tin back into his hoodie pocket. 

"Even in winter? That's a bit over kill if you ask me."

"I'm not cold!" Rudy said laughing. 

"How?? It's freezing!!"

Rudy shrugged. "I don't know, if I did, I would tell you."

They kept walking till they were at the front of the school. There stood a group of familiar children, all waiting for the bus. Billy was playing with the twins while Janine was braiding Kate's hair. Cathy was skating around on a skateboard as Ryan and Jack were looking at bugs. All of them looked in the two boy's direction as they walked towards them. It was a very strange situation they were all in, being a family of misunderstood kids all trying to survive until they were 18. 

"Hey kiddos, you ready to head to the cafe?"

"Yeah!" They all cheered, heading down the road to the Deja Vu bakery, the closest business to the school. As soon as we walked in, the Filipino woman smiled at us and went to grab the cookies that the younger kids liked so much. 

Crim put his backpack against the tiny table leg and sat down, pulling out his math book and getting to work. As Rudy sat across from him playing something on his phone, Crim couldn't help but smile. Everything was as it should be.