Artwork [h.s]

thirty-four

I was sitting on the steps during my free period, leaning against the wall with my notepad in my hands, but not being able to calm down my racing mind enough to start drawing.

After a while I turned to look at Harry, that was sitting in front of me, looking towards the street in silence. "Harry?" I called him, and he turned his head to look at me, silently waiting for me to say what I wanted to say. I pressed my lips together, letting my gaze fall on the pavement a couple of steps away from us, trying to find a good way to ask what I'd been wondering for the past few days. I sighed, realising that there truly wasn't a better way to ask something like that, and started playing nervously with the hem of my shirt, not daring to look up as I spoke. "Why did you take drugs?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye, imperceptibly turning my head in his direction.

He looked down, pursing his lips, not saying anything for a few seconds, and I started playing with the corner of my notepad, briefly wondering if he would've replied at all.

All of sudden he stood up, going down the couple of steps that separated us from the pavement. "Come with me" he said in a faint sigh, and I looked up at him.

"Where?" I asked him curiously, the realisation of how willingly I was considering the idea of skipping the rest of the school day striking me and concerning me to no end. Just a few months before I would've never done such a thing, but it was quite clear that I no longer was the person I used to be.

He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "Do you really need to know?"

I bit my lower lip, a hint of mischievousness washing through me, just enough for me to take my decision, fast so that I wouldn't have had time to rethink it. "Not really" I replied, standing up and swinging the strap of my bag over my shoulder, putting my notepad and the small pencil back into the pocket of my warm coat.

"Good" he said lowly, the corners of his lips turning up almost imperceptibly. "Let's go."

I followed him, furrowing my eyebrows when we surpassed the car park. "I thought we were gonna use your car?" I asked, fastening my pace to keep up with Harry's fast step.

He shook his head. "Not today" he replied, a hint of something I didn't quite catch in his voice as he gave me an apprehensive look.

I silenced myself for a while, looking down as I often did while walking, wondering what was going through Harry's mind in that moment. Was it his way not to answer to my question without making it obvious? And where did he want to go? From how fast he was walking, it was obvious that he had a very clear idea of where he wanted to go, which confused me even more. Had he planned it beforehand, or was it a last minute decision? And if he'd decided what to do in those twenty seconds of silence, where did it come from?

I was that distracted that I didn't even notice he'd stopped walking until I almost crashed against him. I managed to catch myself in the last second, moving to stand next to him instead. I looked up, realising that we were at a bus stop. "Why are we here?" I asked curiously, a little frown on my face.

"We're taking a bus" he just replied, giving me a side glance. "Are you cold?"

I shook my head, burying my hands in the depths of my pockets, wrapping my fingers around the pencil I found, lightly pressing its tip against my thumb to prove myself that situation was truly happening.

A bus arrived, and we stepped in, Harry's hand finding its way on my lower back almost automatically.

"Go find somewhere to sit" he whispered into my ear, slightly pushing me forward.

I walked forward, spotting a couple of free seats next to each other and sitting on the one next to the window, looking at Harry and widening my eyes when I realised he was paying for the bus tickets. Before I could even think of standing up and going to him, he thanked the driver and walked towards me, sitting down next to me and giving me a ticket.