For Everything

Smoke After The Flames

Felicity and I talked long after we were supposed to. She shared her life story, as did I. That morning, inside the abandoned janitor's closet, Felicity and I bonded. She told me about the first time she saw the woman with the turquoise hair. After we finished, we left the janitor's closet and made our way back to class. It was second period, math. It was astounding to me that Felicity talked an entire period and well into another. We get our books from our lockers and quickly slip into the classroom. The teacher was turned around writing on the whiteboard so Felicity and I could quietly slip into two desks next to each other. Felicity pulls out a notebook and starts writing, so I copy her. The math teacher turns around. He's a tall, lean man with eyes the size of peas. He had little hair and wrinkles on his face. His lips were thin and grey. What was holding this man together? He opens his mouth to speak but instead smiles when he gazes my direction. "Miss Lyone, how good it is to see you again. Thank you for joining the class again. May I ask where you were?"

"I'm sorry Mr. B," Felicity says, "I got a little hung up. I'll try to get here earlier next time." The boy in front of me starts laughing to himself and glancing at Felicity. She shoots him a death glare, which shuts him up. 

"I see. And who is this?" the teacher asks, gesturing towards me.

"His name is Hunter ThorneBerry. He moved here last week from California. He got lost today so I had to help him find his way."

"Ah, well, that was a very considerate thing to do Miss Lyone. Hello, Hunter. My name is Mr. Bartholomew. I am the geomerty teacher here at Blackburg Elementary. I know you might not want to have to say Mr. Bartholomew every time you have something to say so may call me Mr. B. Now I am in the middle of explaining how to find the square root of a triangle. It's really quite easy. You may take notes if you like but you are not required to. Now, back to the lesson." The next three periods were composed of more introductions, lesson explanations, and boredom. Finally when lunch came, I was out of the door as fast as I could manage. I raced to my locker and grabbed all the things I needed for the rest of the day and started to make my way to the lunch room when someone stops me. It's Gale. 

"Hey Hunter," he says, rubbing his neck. Today Gale is wearing black joggers and a grey shirt with the sleeves cut off. His arms are showing and I can't help but stare. 

"Oh, hey. Hey, um, Gale," I manage.

"Hey. Can we, um. Can we talk for a second?"

"Oh, sure," I say. His eyes are so beautiful, they way they look at me. His hair seems so perfect, even though it's messy. It looks good on Gale. And his lips... Oh my gosh! Felicity? I see her out of the corner of my eye, staring at me suspiciously. Did she see me staring at Gale? I make eye contact with her for a second before she turns away and walks to the lunch room.

"So, um," Gale starts, "Look Hunter. I'm really sorry for acting the way I did yesterday. I came off as a real jerk. I'm not usually like that. I was- We were just supposed to talk about something yesterday, and I couldn't with you there."

"I know. I'm sorry if I interrupted something important. I didn't know," I try but Gale cuts me off.

"No it's not your fault. You're right, you didn't know. Now that I think about it, it could have waited until some other time. I hope that one day I can tell you what it was, I'm just not ready yet."

"Okay. I would like that," I respond.

"Okay. Um, can we start over?"

"Oh, um, sure. Yeah! Yes, I mean yes. Totally," I can't stop talking.

"Okay," Gale says, "Hi. You're the new kid here, right?"

"Hi. Um, yeah. I moved here a week ago."