Stuck at the Galleria

Act 1: The Fall (part 2)

"Hello? Tre? Trevor Listman?" a voice asked.

I snapped out of my trance and saw a large brown-haired guy decked out in a white shirt with a smiling green lump on it and huge glasses waving his hand in front of me, seemingly to check if I was still responsive.

"Oh, hey, Cale."

"How did you... do that?" He was in awe, almost as if I'd slain a legendary dragon or some mythological thing like that, I dunno.

"What?" I was still in a bit of a daze.

"Court the one and only Lilly E.?"

"Wait, I wasn't dreaming? Whoa."

"Dude, she's unattainable!"

"Well, it seems she was the one who 'attained' me. Or vice versa, I don't know. Wait, what?" I was confusing myself. Cale tended to make me do that. Maybe it's just his presence that does that, he's quite the person to take in.

"Don't hurt yourself, kid, you might blow a gasket. Anyway, there's gotta be some kind of catch or something with this, man."

"I was thinking that, too, but I hope not."

"Have either of you ever actually thought that a girl might like you for real?" a third voice to the left of us asked. We turned to see a girl with a huge blue and blonde ponytail walking with us.

"And there she is," Cale said.

"Hey, Allie."

"You know, I have a bit of a bad feeling about this chick, but still. At least now you have an excuse to go out and be social."

"And what, you're implying that I'm not quote-unquote "social"?" I asked.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Come on, Allison. Let little Listman have this jovial feeling of exhilaration, if only for one period of darkness." Cale said.

Allie and I had no response.

"What? I wasn't even all that polysyllabic that time!"

"Smaller words, Cale." Allie said, patting his shoulder. He groaned.

The loud braaaaaaap of the bell filled the speakers all around us. Break over, boring old school time was back.

"Well, I guess I better head off to class. It's not exactly an easy procedure getting to the other side of this labyrinth." I said, heading off toward the nearest stairwell.

"See you later, then!" the two of them replied in the distance.

----

my apartment.

(after school.)

Three hours of boring lectures and irritating barks from teachers for kids to quit writing on their desks later, the final bell rang and everyone went nuts while going out, as usual.

As for me, all I did was got my bike from the rack and left. That place has bad effects on my psyche, I swear.

Anyway, it was a strangely warm winter afternoon, and I pedaled down the long strip of concrete next to Alderney Drive. Alderney's what most people call "the heart" of Downtown Greyson, and that claim comes with merit. In fact, it's super true: that street is crowded.

Usually, anyway. All that was there that day was a few people with briefcases and dogs and stuff. It was weird.

But hey, a day that Alderney isn't crowded is usually a good day.