Perfect Species

2. Carelessness

The next time I saw the boy again was in a free lesson the following week.

He was lying in the shadow of a willow tree, sleeping. For once, the bullies weren't targeting him; he looked peaceful, like he didn't have anything in the world to worry about. His shades were still on, and he was slumped against the tree. The boy looked young and vulnerable.

I strolled around the nearby river, admiring the fish swimming alongside the current. It was a beautiful day, and my classmates were gathered in the field, playing a ball game. Everything seemed perfect-so good, in fact, that I wouldn't mind if time were stopped and things remained this way forever.

I stopped to admire an elegant purple butterfly when suddenly I heard a scream coming from the meadow.

The scream in question came from the boy. Before approaching him, I checked to see if anyone else heard-they hadn't. Good. Running over to him, I realised that he was awake and his breathing was heavy. He didn't look hurt from where I stood.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes," he muttered. "I'm fine."

"Nightmare?" I sympathised with the boy. I'd had plenty of those in the past. He hesitated, then nodded his head.

To my surprise, he spoke. "Anyway, do I know you? Your voice sounds kind of familiar..." he trailed off, deep in thought.

"Yes. I gave you your pencil in maths last week, remember? By the way, I never learned your name!" I reminded him.

Realisation struck his face. "Yes, I remember now! Oh, and I'm Luke." He seemed a lot less nervous now.

"My name's Callie. Nice to meet you! Should we start making our way to next lesson?" I heard the sound of a bell chime in the distance, signalling the end of the hour. No doubt Luke heard it too.

"Sure." We walked together, heading towards the tennis courts. There were some awkward silences, but overall he made good conversation. We shared tales about ourselves, and I quickly realised that our lives were the exact opposite of each other.

I began to tell him about my family, but stopped halfway through. Seeing the look on his face, I remembered that Luke's family probably didn't treat him very well. He looked melancholy. Still, he attempted to keep up a happy demeanour.

We arrived at the tennis courts, ready for our next lesson. Physical Education. The teacher told us to pair up, and I immediately saw that everyone was already in twos. They were all 'friends' with each other, because they had the exact same robotic personalities.

That left Luke and I.

Most people laughed at my position, and a few gave me sympathetic glances. But for once in my life, I found confidence. I tapped him on the shoulder to let him know it was me and then stuck by his side.

"Are you sure you want to pair up with me? I wouldn't mind if you said no. I'm awful at tennis, for obvious reasons..." he whispered.

"Yes," I assured him. "I'm completely sure."

The next half hour was as unsuccessful as you would expect. People laughed, I glared at them and Luke stood there apologising. After 30 minutes, we had both given up; we stood chatting while I bounced a tennis ball. Eventually, I mentioned something I read a while back.

"Hey Luke, have you ever heard of echolocation?"

"Isn't that where bats and other animals locate things using sound waves?" he asked.

"Yes, I was wondering if-"

The sound of the bell chiming again cut me off.

We had a creative lesson. We got two creative lessons a week, so we both had art. Today was not Luke's day. He didn't say much as we took our seats in the studio.

Our task was to draw a person. I started to draw my role model, Lei Wen. She is a Chinese woman who stood up for the disabled and disadvantaged, and got locked up in jail for 14 years because of it. I painted her in jail with a smile on her face.

Luke was sitting there with a blank sheet of paper.

"Uh, Callie," he mumbled after a while. "I've been thinking, and I was wondering if I could draw you? Well, the idea of you that I have in my head. Would that be okay?"

I agreed, pleasantly surprised. "Do you need any help?" I enquired.

"Yes please." He let me guide his hand and the pencil, drawing a basic face shape. "I think that...you're small but strong, with short blonde hair and green eyes. No wait, blue. I also think you're skinny. Can you help me draw that?"

Following his instructions exactly, I guided his hand around the paper, drawing his description. When the hour was up, his drawing looked pristine. We both smiled, pleased with ourselves. I'd been so focused on helping Luke that my drawing lay abandoned, so I snatched it up to complete later.

At lunch, I found myself talking to him again. "So Luke, now that we're friends, I reckon you should know what I actually look like."

I saw him mouth the word 'friends' before speaking again. "So, do you look like my drawing?"

"Hate to disappoint you, but not at all. I have mid-length auburn hair, and brown eyes. I am strong, like you said, but I'm tall!" I explained.

Suddenly something occurred to me. "Uh, Luke? This is really personal, so you don't have to answer, but how do you know colours? You seemed familiar with them back in art. I was just wondering, but could you see at birth, maybe? I don't know, I just..." I trailed off at the look on his face.

He looked pained and dejected. His head was turned to one side-he was trying not to let me see his face. It looked like he held all the sadness in the world.

"I'm so sorry. I should probably just leave you alone..." I muttered.

With that, I shuffled away, leaving behind the boy that sat forlorn and sad. And it was me who caused it.

Why did I never think before I spoke?