Necromancer

Visions

。O  。

I kissed Simon Chernosky. Simon and I shared a kiss behind the trees that bordered our school oval. And what was even better – Simon probably didn't hate me for it. Last class of the day I was still humming with feeling. Maybe glowing. The butterflies were more like worms or maggots, eating their way through my belly. I didn't care, it was a good feeling.

I remember slowly developing my crush on Simon the first time he'd moved here. We didn't talk, because he didn't talk to anyone. But he was intriguing, and his looks grew on me. Then I started wondering about the signs, could he be gay. Then I had a full-blown secret crush, my own imagination getting ahead of me. And if it hadn't been for the graverobber encouraging me to seize the day we might still not be talking. I found that fact a little awry.

When class finished I all but flung myself from the room. I knew Simon moved fast, so I wanted to be sure I beat him to the school gates. There was always the chance he had a free last period and had gone home early, maybe he only stayed last lunch for his meeting with the councillor. I was prepared to wait for him regardless. Jogging the pathway I made it in time to see the first of the crowd scattering down the road, and no Simon.

I buried my hands into the pocket of my blue jumper. The curls of my hair stuck out from the beanie I wore to keep my pink ears warm. It was the hottest part of the day, and so cold. I watched my schoolmates leave, and it wasn't long until Simon came into view. I'd almost missed him, he wasn't heading toward the parking lot but the main gate. I guessed he didn't drive. Even better, that's something I could work with.

"Simon!" he was already outside school property, walking right beside the tall security fencing. I ran over until I was next to him, on the other side of the metal bars. "Simon, what's up? You walking?"

His dark eyes were softer as he studied me. For the first time he looked nervous, or was it just embarrassment? He slowed mid-step but continued walking, I kept pace. Ahead was the driveway opening to the student parking lot.

"Mmhm." he was slow to answer my question.

"Why don't you let me drive you?"

"...you don't need to do that."

"I want to. We could hang out." We trudged along, I saw Simon's face lowered through the passing bars of the fence. "I can tell you the crazy thing Jane told me about Friday night..." I tried to sound tempting and watched him think. "Come on, it's cold. You going to walk to Roberts Road from here?"

"For the record, I like walking." Simon raised his head and gave me that obstinate smile "But sure, lets hang out."

"Great." I was elated, and it clearly showed on my face.

We passed the opening and Simon turned with me, arcing back into school and over to my green eco car. I caught sight of Erin by her Toyota Prius, she looked over as Simon climbed into the passenger seat of my car and dropped her keys. I gave her a jerky head-twist, a sort of shrug before ducking in and taking my seat beside Simon. He strapped himself in and I turned the ignition, the heater quickly choking to life as it fought to warm the space.

"How come you don't drive?" I asked, watching his tense posture.

"Don't have a car." He answered back.

I nodded and buckled myself in before getting the car into gear and swerving out of the lot. We went down the street in silence and I watched my crush gazing out the window. My normal reaction to the silence would be to put on the scratchy radio, but I didn't want that. I wanted to talk to Simon, just unsure of what was safe to talk about. I didn't want to bring on his twitchy moods.