Separate But Not Equal

Chapter XXXIV

it's midnight right now so... not really the best chapter I've written but, I'll probably (not) edit it.

"Evan," I retort.

He laughs and I smile slightly missing the noise of his laughter and hearing the noise of somebodies body heaving down next to me.

Jones.

The name sounds so fluent out of his mouth. At this point, I can't even remember When the last time he even called me by my actual first name was.

It's silent for a while and I only realise that he's looking at me once I turn to face him.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

Before responding to his question, I notice his usual deep, brown, wavy locks of hair looking ten times lighter, than it normally does, as though changing in the sun, slowly turning a unique kind of dirty blonde.

His eyes are the same though swirling storms like thunder, or an earthquake of steel, or maybe just diamonds, sharp yet smooth.

"You're hair?"

"Oh, my hairs wrong?" he begins to stand up laughing.

"NO, no, I meant, why is your hair going blonde, dark blonde."

The sudden grin that spreads on his face instantenously causes me to smile back.

"I don't know. Is it really blonde? I always imagined what it would feel like to have blonde hair."

"You've got long to wait until you can call yourself blonde."

"True, maybe I just look better with brown hair."

"I don't mind it blonde."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Tilting my head back, I think about everything that has happened in the past year.

Actually everything that happened in the past eighteen years of life

"I mean I was thinking about how strange and conflicting everything is right now, especially in school. How many people I see everyday that I hate strongly. Maybe how much better life would be if I was slightly different."

"Trust me, things wouldn't be better if you became someone else."

"Debatable."

"Seriously, Jones. What happened to you?" I watch his shadow slowly shift closer to mine.

"Who said anything happened to me?"

There's no response for a few minutes, just quiet, relaxing breathing.

"I mean you- you've been sat here for the past half hour alone and you look really upset about something."

"Only half an hour, Ay me, sad hours seem long," Christopher stares at me as I drift off into another world. "Sorry, I do this thing sometimes where I whisper-"

"Shakespeare?" He responds without missing a beat.

I grin at him.

"Wait, have you just been stood here for the past thirty minutes?"

Again, no response.

"I mean, technically no, that would be a bit... strange if I actually did, I didn't just stay there."

"Mmmkay."

"Listen, I wasn't just watching you or anything," he begins mumbling while taking his bag off his back and getting something out of it. "I saw that you looked really sad, and you were crying so I, uh, I went to the store down there."