When You Are Gone

Chapter 4

I was thinking a fight? Really, me? What had gotten into me? This could mean suspension, or probably even expulsion if we are caught. And in my last high school year? Just before writing my final exams. But I couldn't back down now. I was already standing behind the buses in the parking lot, alone, it was dark and eerie, and the only sound I could hear was my irregular breathing pattern. I glanced at my wrist watch, 13:22. Ackley was twenty two minutes late, or maybe he had backed out and decided not to show up, but that didn't sound like Ackley, letting a good fight slide through?

"Roman! Roman are you here?" I could hear a voice, getting louder. But it wasn't Ackley, it was a girl's voice. I wanted to make a run for it but I didn't.

Rebecca, it was Rebecca Armstrong. She appeared from behind one of the busses.

"Rebecca, what are you doing here?"

"Good, I found you. We need to talk." She said.

"Maybe later, you can't be here right now." My eyes darted about the area.

It would kill me if Ackley and his gang were to catch us here, alone, or even worse, Rebecca could watch me getting beaten. There were only two types of girls at my school, the arrogant, too-hot-for-school ones, with the showy outfits and posh hairdos and then there were the focused, goal oriented ones who put their education first before anything else, the goody-goodies so to speak. Rebecca lay somewhere in the middle. She was the kind of girl you would find at a party on a Tuesday evening and when you write a test with her Wednesday morning, she would score almost everything, making everyone else look stupid. She hung around with the toughest kids on campus, the Chamberlain twins; Ethan and Nathan – they were big and rock hard. They were practically the cool kids, living life wildly, driving huge expensive trucks, hanging by a thread but with a comfy bouncy house to land on – they had it all figured out still.

"But it's really important," her voice was kind of course, yet smooth, I liked the sound of it.

"Can we talk some other time, I...?"

"He's not coming, Roman."

"What."

"Ackley. He isn't coming."

"He told you?"

"No," she said, "he never got the note. I saw you slipping it into his textbook and I got it out before he did."

"What? Why did you do that?"

"Because this isn't for you, Roman." Isn't for me? This is coming from a girl I thought hardly thought knew my name. "And if you really wanted him to get it, you wouldn't have put it in his Physics Insights. Maybe in his marijuana stash or something."

I didn't smile, I don't know why but I still felt like the beast could still jump up from behind anyone of these buses at any time.

"You know about the classifieds?"

"Yeah, I've only been to about a dozen." She smiled suddenly

"Really?"

"Roman, what were you doing calling a fight with Ackley."

"He provoked me."

"Provoked you?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

"Yeah, you right. How would you like to explain this to the principal instead?" she waved the small piece of paper in her hand. She had one of those asymmetrical faces, like a photoshopped image – startling brown eyes, chiseled cheekbones and plum, round full lips, I liked the sight of her, and probably every other boy who met her did too.