In Another Universe

Tuesday 8:10 Waving Through a Window

 Stepping down from his bike, Charlie locked it and put the key in his jacket's pocket. He put his earphones in, pressing play on his Spotify playlist, tuning down the world around. He had no interest in knowing what it had to say to him, or about him.

He arranged the hood of his grey sweatshirt and walked towards his classroom, head down, shoulders slumped, trying to be as small as he could. If nobody realised he was here, if nobody remembered he existed, maybe no one would feel the need to gossip. The music was already tuning out any possible whispers he could have been hearing, and he refused to check if people noticed him. If he stayed in his little bubble, he wouldn't have to care. He cared, of course. At least cared enough to put this plan in place, to wear darkish colours to avoid standing out, to walk in the shade provided by the walls on the building. He cared enough to pretend not to care.

He passed by the window covering the wall of the study room and made the mistake to look inside. He caught a glimpse of his friends, talking over open books, but probably not about them. They were laughing, and Charlie couldn't do anything but hope he wasn't the butt of joke. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, his mind kept telling him that he probably was.

He came to realise he had stopped in his track and was staring at them when William spotted him. The other two turned towards him, not a trace of their previous laughs on their lips. William stood up, probably in the hopes of catching Charlie outside but the later made a move really quickly and was gone by the time he stepped out.

Fleeing the courtyard, Charlie noticed Isaac, on the other side, peacefully floating in the opposite direction. He didn't seem to notice Charlie, which he was thankful for. On one hand.

On the other hand, he wished Isaac had paid attention to him; had noticed. Because if you're crashing and no one was there to see it, did you really make a sound?