A Rose Among Ashes

Chapter Four

             “I hate school. I hate it so much,” Ian complained, walking up the steps to the school.

            “I kind of like it, haha,” replied Ari.

          “*sigh* Of course you do… Lord only knows why. I mean, I guess this year might actually be worthwhile. It’s our senior year; our last year and then we’re done! I guess I can make it through. Plus, I am looking forward to prom, and all the senior’s only events…but especially prom. We should start planning that now!”

          “Uh, I think that can wait until at least after winter break. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, haha.”

          “Well, I figure at this rate it’s going to take a while to get you a girl lined up for prom…So I have to start working on this starting now; day one!”

           “Wow…You’re obsessed with the strangest things Ian…”

            “Pretty much! And you know how stubborn I am, so…you don’t stand a chance! You had better just sit back and watch the master at work.”

           “Heh, well, I guess we’ll see about that.  Though I do suggest actually focusing a little bit on school?”

           “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say… I suppose we should head to class now, huh?”

            “Yeah, good idea…Never thought I’d hear you say that,” Ari responded, with an air of suspicion.”

           “Alright, you caught me. I want to hurry up and see what kind of girls we have in our classes this year! You know, so I can start scouting one out for you, of course.”

           “How am I not surprised…? Alright, let’s go then.”

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            Ari always looked forward to the first day of school. It was something new, something unpredictable, and almost even exciting. It wasn’t just the academic aspect that he looked forward to, as Ian thought, but also the people aspect. He liked watching all the old faces return, the ones that he had known since elementary school. It was a familiarity that was almost comforting, in a strange way. He also liked identifying the new faces, the ones who he didn’t recognize. He liked to try and read them, figure out what kind of person they might be like. It was interesting, watching and seeing whether or not he was right, whether or not he would be surprised. It was fun to him. He liked to write, so he found joy in trying to understand others, to uncover their motives, their secrets, their personalities; it was like a hobby to him. Each day was a story waiting to happen. But even he couldn’t have written what was about to happen today.

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            It was lunch time now, and Ari and Ian made their way to the cafeteria. The place was swarming with students, mostly freshmen. The freshman class was always the biggest.

           “Argh, the whole place is swarming with freshman!”

           “Ian…You’d think by now you would be used to this. It does happen every year after all.”

           “Yeah, I know. But it’s still annoying. At least they give us an extended lunch period for the first week to compensate. Well, do you just want to hang out here until things calm down a bit?” Ian motioned to a table outside the lunch room.

           “Sure. That works. At least then we’ll have a table after we get our food.”

           “There are some pretty cute girls, mostly freshmen I bet… see any you like?” He was looking around, perhaps a little too eagerly. Ari ignored him, preferring not to feed his obsession. The swarm of freshman began to dissipate, and the two got up and began to walk into the cafeteria.

           “Damn, this place is packed! Haha, try not to get lost Ari.”

           “Very funny! You know that only happened once…” he responded, unamused.

           “Well, at least the food looks good…or maybe it’s just because I’m so hungry, haha.”

           “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t look too bad, all things considered. I’m just glad there’s food left. I think this year’s freshman class is one of the biggest I’ve seen so far.”

            “Hm, I think you’re right. Let’s get out of here; I don’t want anyone thinking we’re freshmen. Could you imagine how horrible that would be?”

           “Haha alright, let’s go. I hope no one took our—” Ari stopped suddenly, and Ian, who was following behind him, nearly crashed into him.

            “Hey, Ari! What’s the deal? You nearly made me drop my lunch! Hey, are you alright?” Ari didn’t seem to hear him; he was looking frantically through the crowd of people. She’s…here? How? How can she be here…?

            “Ari, what are you looking for?”

           “She’s here…” he whispered, which was almost inaudible among the cacophony of the cafeteria.

           “She? OH! Have you found a girl? Where is she? Wow you work fast…”

            “What? No, you have it all wrong…it’s not a girl, it’s the girl.”

           “Oh, well that’s even better!”

           “Huh, no, you still don’t get it. I saw the girl from my dreams! The one I’ve been telling you about all this time. I caught a glimpse of her through the crowd. She’s here, at this school.”

           “What? Ari, are you serious. This isn’t a joke is it?”

           “Seriously Ian, do you think I would joke about something like this?”

           “…no, I suppose you wouldn’t,” he responded, thinking over the matter, and concluding that this is not something that Ari would take lightly. “Well, where did she go huh? Let’s go find her. Sounds like the logical next step, doesn’t it?”

           “I don’t know about that…I mean, what would I even say? I don’t want to sound like a creep or a stalker. And what if she doesn’t recognize me? It’s not like I can just go up to her and say, ‘hi, I’ve been dating you for five months now in my dreams, how about we go out in real life?’ She’ll think I have mental problems or something—don’t even go there, save your sarcasm for another time.”

           “Sometimes it sucks that you know me so well, I had a good joke lined up for that one too! Oh well, so what do you want to do, huh?”

           “I’m not sure, let me think about it for a while, okay?”

            “Yeah, okay. We have plenty of time anyway. Can we eat our lunch now? We’re almost out of time you know.”

           “Oh, yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”