Burnouts

Tender Age in Bloom

Scene 1: Madison Street

Leo Rylin

"Can we take a break?" I sit up on my bed, "I can't even focus on what you're saying anymore."

"Leo, we're almost done," Heather sighs. "After we go over this chapter, you'll retake last week's quiz, and I can score you on it to see what you need to work on."

I narrow my eyes at her, "Is this fun for you? Are you a part of that weird sub-human group that finds math exciting?"

"It's not fun, it's important," she states, "and that's your problem, physics has a lot of math, and you're not good at it."

"That's why you're here, butterfly." I lay back down on my bed.

"I can't take the class for you, Leo." She closes her textbook. "You have a five-minute break, that's it, okay?"

"Great, I'm going to go get a drink, you want something?"

"No, thank you," Heather says plainly, not even bothering to look at me. I think she has a habit of pretending she's alone, I've seen her do it a lot. She zones out and starts sketching random things, drawing over them until they're even more random than before. There are weird creatures on half of the assignments she makes me do.

She zones out like that in class too, I guess that's how she copes with boredom.

I grab two cream sodas from the fridge before returning to her.

"Here you go," I slide it across the desk.

That's where I used to have my TV, but my mom made me move it to the top of my dresser, instead, so that Heather would have a surface to work on. We poor mindlessly accommodate for the rich.

"But I said I didn't want-"

"You say 'no' to everything I offer you, Heather. I'm not going to poison you, I swear." I put my hands up in surrender.

She nods and sends me a small smile before grasping the can in her hands.

"Thanks, Leo."

"You're welcome," I mutter.

I subtly glance over and smirk in amusement as she tries to open the can without scratching the polish on her nails. I would've done it for her, but this is more fun.

I walk over to my cassettes and scan through them to find an album to listen to. I need to relax as much as possible in these five minutes if I'm going to deal with Heather and more studying afterward.

I get stressed out so easily lately. It probably has something to do with me laying off the cigarettes. I only allow myself two a day because quitting cold turkey didn't work out for me. Being at school with the centrals makes me want to smoke a whole pack, so bringing school home with me makes me want to smoke ten.

I settle on Nirvana's Nevermind because there's something about the guitar distortion that just alleviates all the tension in my body. I don't want to be that guy who adds to the over-hyping of a band, but grunge will live on longer than me, and Nirvana will still be iconic.

Heather looks over at me when the music starts to play, and I can't read her look of judgment.

"You're not allowed to complain about it. This is my room, sorry I'm not into Madonna," I roll my eyes.

She scoffs in response, "no Madonna? What a pity," Heather says sarcastically before taking a sip of the soda.

"Well, what do you listen to then?" I pretend to be less curious than I actually am.