What Happens in High School

Chapter Four

Can We Settle Up the Score?

Max’s POV

Bob and I had second period with Frank. The two boys met and seemed to hit it off well enough. We sat in class which was pretty uneventful. Well except… I was sitting next to Bob and, maybe I was imagining this but, I could swear Bob was looking at me. This made me kind of nervous which was weird considering I’d never been a self-conscious person before. I never really cared what others thought of me, I guess until now.

The bell rang and we all went our separate ways and I told the guys I’d see them under the tree later for lunch. When I got there Ray was already sitting under the big oak tree we had kind of claimed as our own over the years. No one else really ever tried to take it from us, I guess the other kids figured it had already been contaminated with our outcast-ness. The tree was tall and big and secluded from the rest of the outdoor tables and we liked the privacy. It must have been a hundred years old, but no one was really sure, not even the teachers.

I sat down next to Ray who turned to me and asked, “Hey, how’s the first day treating you so far?” I wasn’t going to tell him how excited I was that I had so many classes with the extremely attractive and ever so mysterious Bob Bryar. Instead I opted to tell him how I liked my US History class and how Chemistry was going to be way too hard to be even close to fun. He smiled and responded, “Yeah, my chem class seems pretty tough too and I’m not even in honors like you.” He nudged my arm a little as he said this. I took a lot of advanced classes and Ray was really proud of me for that. One of the things I loved about my and Ray’s friendship was how we shared our successes and accomplishments with each other and were proud of the other.

I saw Bob and Mikey come over and sit under the tree with me and Ray. We made small talk while we waited for Gerard and Frank. Ray started out the conversation; a skill neither Mikey nor myself possessed. We were shy and awkward and willing to accept that. “Hey Bob, how’s Belleville so far?”

“Not bad, it’s actually not that different from Chicago, just with different people.” We all let out a laugh, Bob was funny and he didn’t even have to try. “Oh and have you met Mikey yet?” Ray added as he presented the boy with sandy brown hair over his forehead and thick black and white rimmed glasses. “Yeah, we have Math together.” Mikey answered for him. Bob smiled his alluringly shy smile, which I couldn’t seem to get enough of, to confirm this.

The other two nimrods came a little later. We heard them before we saw them, like usual. Gerard and Frank walked over arguing about some lyrics or something. “I swear, he says it’s ‘held’.” Frank pleaded to Gerard who looked at him and retorted, “Go look it up, he says, ‘tied’.” I knew exactly what this disagreement was about, they’d been talking about it for days. I sighed and looked over at them. Sometimes I thought Frank was deaf, or never heard the song. “Gerard is right, it’s tied to the tightrope walker.” I was surprised to hear Bob say this, and he was right. Desolation Row by Bob Dylan, one of my favorite songs, a little slow though.

Frank didn’t seem to like the fact that he was wrong. He slumped down against the tree and said, “Fine, I’m wrong, just pick on the short one.” Everyone laughed at this, except for Bob; I guess he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to or not. Frank seemed to get over himself pretty quickly and snapped his attention to Bob. “So, Bob, let’s hear something. Tell us about yourself.”

He looked a little confused about where to start. “Well, I’m from Chicago, but you all know that already.” I could see he was kind of stuck. I tried to pull a ‘Ray’ and help him along. “You play the drums.” I reminded him, as if he needed reminding; you don’t forget skills like his.

“Oh yeah,” Gerard chimed in. “You’re gonna play with us on Saturday, right?”

“Yeah, should be fun.” Bob replied with that smile again. I swear, it was like a drug and I was addicted.