Our Tears In The Snow

Chapter 8 : Ridicule

Back to school, working in and out of class, taking the bus back to the house and then to the hospital. Daniel hadn't even tried to mumble a minimal hello to me. Our eyes almost connected but he instantly tugged them away, while we were leaving our lockers. Alone again, I sat in the cafe' staring off into nothing.

Thinking of Daniel. The morning sky was grey, and we were walking down the street. The Christmas decorations were being collected together by the local shops. Coffee in our hands, the winter snow melting away. February right around the corner. We were just talking. Then I realized something, and it wasn't just how beautiful his eyes were. We were holding hands, or he was holding mine it looked like. Our pale complexions mixing together like the milk poured into a freshly brewed morning coffee. It wasn't just that either, I could feel his warm breath against my face as he spoke -without a stutter - and going into my mouth, and the taste was so sweet, like cotton candy.

I shook my head and found myself back in the cafe. Staring at the table in the right corner beside the ice cold window, with another layer of snow thickening in.

***

"How's your girlfriend!" Laughed a kid down the school hallway, followed by the sound of force against metal lockers.

I had asked to retrieve a book from my locker, having finished a quiz, all my work for other classes, and got bored of drawing sad clouds. All the time cooped up in the Hospital leaves me with blank time slots, that I'd rather fill with school work and self taught art lessons than watching boring reality t.v. and soap-operas, which is literally the only thing that they stream on the Hospital t.v's. And I prefer coming to a place of sickness, death, and injury every night than going to a dead house all by myself.

Going to school was my only other escape, even though I had a get out free your Aunt is in a coma card. Not that she really would've cared in the first place.

"Come on, fight, pussie!" one of them said.

"You're girlfriends not here to protect you now!" Another barked, and I heard another body bang into a locker.

I peeked around the corner. Another body was shoved against the locker, Daniels.

"Come on fight! You're such a-"

My skin turned red, and my brain & common sense poured out of my ears in the form of steam.

"Get the hell away from him!" I growled.

***

We sat in the nurses office, completely still and silent. He hasn't even looked at me once. After I intercepted before, the boys pointed and laughed at him. Telling him how he had to be saved by a girl. I guess he felt like a pussy, and I really wasn't helping with his chances.

"I understand if you want me to leave you alone," I mumbled, as I handed him the ice pouch the nurse had supplied. She had already returned to her phone conversation about how Macy's wouldn't except her receipt when she tried to returning a dress for her wife or some bull shit story like that.

He finally looked up at me then, only to grab the ice pack though. Dan placed it on his bruised shoulder. They had really shoved him hard into those lockers. His staring contest with the floor continued. I turned away, and began walking out of the nurses room. I wanted to stop, but couldn't bring myself to do it. As I was leaving, I saw him in the tiny mirror on the wall, watching me walk away. Dan didn't look happy. So why hadn't he said something?

"I'm s-s-sorry I didn't s-s-s-stop you," Dan whispered to me, after he sat beside me on the bus.

"Their on this bus you know, why the hell are you sitting with me?" I asked, a little bit bitchier then I approved.

"I w-wanted to apologize." He couldn't even look at me, he was lost in concentration with the leather seat in front of him.

"It's not staring back I hope you know."

"Wha-what?" He asked.

"The seat. Stop staring at it. It's not having a staring contest back. Now go before they see you with me."

"I-I'm s-sorry you f-feel -"

I couldn't listen anymore, it wasn't cute now. When the hell was it ever cute?! "You don't embarrass me Daniel. I embarrass you."

He was looking at me now, but his fringe was covering his left eye. "A-again. I-I'm sorry you f-feel that way."

He reached for his bag, but the boys were already on the bus. I pulled up my hood, and scotched against the window, hoping they wouldn't notice I was sitting beside him. Luckily, for the both of us, they didn't notice he was there. Not even me. They were too busy talking about the Hockey game that night.

The bus started. Daniel didn't talk to me as we stopped at each stop. When it was his turn, I could feel his eyes bear onto me, asking me for one little grain of reassurance. But where was mine? I turned anyways, and even though I tried my hardest to refrain. My eyes were longing. They cried "I'm sorry."

He turned away and walked off the bus. As we drove off, I saw him pull his little Polaroid camera out of his bag. When he wasn't in my line of view anymore, all I saw was a flash.