Pulling Down Heaven

So many messages

"How was school?" Proctor always hoped in vain that he would somehow be able to avoid this conversation with his dad- but the front door was slightly too big for the frame, so had to be shoved open, creating an unignorably loud crashing noise.

"It was fine," he replied sullenly, dropping his bag in the study and walking through to the kitchen.

"Don't walk away from me young man,"

"I'm not," he opened the cupboard and pulled out a glass, "I'm getting a drink." He waved the glass in the air so his dad could see it from the study, where he'd left the door open.

"I got an email from Mr Danforth today," Proctor groaned inwardly, setting the now full glass on the counter, "would you like to explain your test score to me?"

"I was helping a friend- Mr Danforth was being a total-" he walked back towards the study to collect his bag; his phone was in the front pocket somewhere.

"I don't want any of your excuses- I want you to apologize to your teacher and buck up your ideas," Proctor didn't bother replying, his dad wouldn't listen to him anyway. He picked up his bag instead. "You are so arrogant-"

"I'll find someone to help me revise," Proctor conceded, already moving out of the door, "In fact, I'll do it right now." This seemed to startle his father into silence, which Proctor took advantage of to run upstairs to his room. He closed the door swiftly behind him, and leant against it to dig his phone out of his bag. He had 3 texts from Elizabeth. She never double-texted, so that was definitely a good sign. As he opened the messaging app he put his bag on the floor and fell into the chair that was turned away from his desk.

So, I found him.

Hello?

He has Instagram, but it's private

She had then attached a link to an account called j.hale, which Proctor clicked on after replying:

I'm investigating rn :)

He peered at the profile picture, attempting to ascertain whether it was the J Hale that he knew. Eventually he gave up and sent a follow request, figuring he could always unfollow if it turned out to be someone else. He opened his bag to begin his home work, but got distracted by a new Netflix show.

A couple of hours and four episodes later he checked his phone again- his request had been accepted. He immediately passed on the news to Elizabeth,

He accepted ...

Then he quickly switched back to check out the account. There were only 3 photos: one of a house plant, one of some sheet music and one selfie. He clicked on the selfie- it was definitely Hale from bible study. He wasn't the best judge of selfies, but it looked pretty enough, so he liked it and then opened his messages where he discovered a message from Hale's account.

Proctor?

He replied as soon as he'd read it.

Yeah it's me

Their conversation developed from there.

H: How are you?

P: My dad just yelled at me for that whole bible test thing

H: I'm sorry

H: I didn't mean to get you into trouble

P: It's not your fault

P: apparently I need to 'buck my ideas up'

H: I don't think my mum has read the email yet- she's always working

H: she's a nurse

Proctor wondered how he could introduce the subject of revision help into the conversation without it sounding weird. He was sure Hale knew enough about Christianity to pass any test Danforth could throw at him, and Proctor could help with Hale's anxiety, so it seemed logical that they should work together.

P: my dad does something business-ey idek

P: i was wondering if we could meet up sometime to revise? If not I'm gonna fail all Danforth's tests

H: sure, sounds fun :)

P: Are you free on Wednesday after school?

Proctor wondered for a second if that was to soon a time to suggest, but shrugged and pressed send anyway.

H: No sorry I have choir

H: but I'm free on Thursday after school if you are

Proctor briefly thought over his Thursday timetable and was pleased to conclude that he was also free.

P: im free then

P: do you want to come to my house or something

H: ok

H: what's your address?

Proctor sent his address, and then told Hale about the unexpected turn to his road that sat-navs seemed unable to navigate. They continued to talk until early morning, and Proctor fell asleep to the cold glow of his phone screen.