Connor My Dear Boy (FINISHED)

27

Near by Connor's old neighborhood, there was a small community of Native Americans living within the city. His mother told him that that was where she lived before she met his father. The people living there were all from different tribes, including Wolastoqiyik and Pennacook, but there were a few members of the Kanien'kehá:ka tribe, including one of Connor's best friends, Kanen'tó:kon, despite the fact that their tribe was originally near New York.

Due to the proximity between the two neighborhoods, they were part of the same school district. On Monday, Connor began to walk to his old school, hoping to see Kanen'tó:kon. Unfortunately, Connor happened to arrive in the middle of the day, while classes were in session.

It did not look at all like Haytham's school, in Connor's opinion. The walls were brick and each of the school's three levels certainly seemed to have more windows than the other school. There was a basketball court directly next to the building, but it was fenced in. The school was just for middle school students, and did not combine middle and high school, unlike the other school. As such, there was one level for each grade level; the sixth graders were on the first floor, the seventh graders on the second, and eighth graders on the third level.

He stood outside of the main building for a minute or so, shifting his feet as he weighed his options. He could stick around, waiting outside of the school until class was over, but that meant the possibility of a teacher or another adult that worked for the school coming and accusing him of skipping class. Connor also supposed that he could leave and come back, but then there was the possibility that Kanen'tó:kon would get onto the bus and would miss him.

Connor moved around the side of the building. He quickly counted the windows that were not open and had the blinds closed. Connor took a deep breath and began to climb. He felt a twinge of amusement as he scaled the building, remembering when he had climbed to the roof back home while he was playing with Desmond. He remembered Haytham's face when he came home and saw him up there.

Home, Connor thought with a jolt, the idea making his hand slip on the brick slightly.

He continued to climb, avoiding the windows without curtains or blinds, until he was able to hoist himself onto the rooftop.

Although Kanen'tó:kon's schedule has likely changed since the last time they saw each other (he and Connor had always had many of the same classes before, but now that they went to different schools, he had no idea what classes he was in now), but Connor figured that classes would end at the same time, around three forty-five. Connor would wait until then before coming down to the third floor to join the other eighth graders; there were enough of them there that they were unlikely to notice one more, but few enough at the same time that it shouldn't take him too long to find Kanen'tó:kon. He hoped that none of his old teachers would recognize him.

Connor laid down on the roof, folding his arms behind his head as he looked up at the overcast sky. He briefly wondered if it was going to start raining before his mind was drawn back to Haytham. Connor was sure that he was frantic by now and once again the teenager felt a little bit regretful, but he needed to do this. He couldn't go back, though, not now.

Around noon he dug another can of food out of his bag and began to eat. He was running low on food, Connor noted; he would likely run out soon. He also didn't have very much money either, but Connor tried not to think about what would happen when he ran out of both.

The day stretched on. A little before three forty, Connor opened the door to the roof and climbed into the stairwell. He spotted a couple of seventh graders near the second floor door who were clearly skipping class. Connor didn't acknowledge them, nor did they acknowledge him as he snuck into the third floor.