Whatever Happened... to Robot Jones? Continued

Chapter 2: The Man-Code

Shannon tapped her foot under her desk all the way through English class. When the bell finally rang, it felt like the day should have been half over. Socks was waiting for her by the trophy case like she'd asked him to, but he looked really confused. "So, what's up?" he asked, keeping his voice low. Though it wouldn't strike anybody else strange, since Socks and Shannon talked to each other a lot.

"Where's your next class?" Shannon said, eyes darting back and forth.

"Biology. Downstairs," Socks said.

"I'll walk you there," she said, heading for the stairwell before him. Socks hurried after her, creating a space cushion between themselves and the flood of people behind them.

Since they had known each other in elementary school, they'd had hundreds of casual conversations. Socks wasn't used to the idea of Shannon talking to him like a confidant. "What's all the secrecy about?" he said, slowly and uncertain.

"I needed to make sure Robot didn't hear us," Shannon said. "Because... you know..."

"I mean, yeah," Socks said. "Things got kinda weird back there."

"It's been weird for months," Shannon stressed, looking him in the eyes. "And I don't know what to do about it."

"Months. What are you talking about?"

She stopped, causing some students to swerve around him with narrowed eyes. "Hold on, you mean you're only noticing this now?" Shannon asked.

"Noticing what?" Socks asked, eyes wide.

"Noticing Robot, I mean, the way he's acting."

"What's different? I mean, yeah, I've never seen him snap at you like-"

"Not just that!" Shannon said, forgetting to whisper. A couple of kids standing at their lockers looked their way, so Shannon dropped her voice again. "You didn't notice how he just stood there when my locker fell apart?"

"I don't know," Socks said, scratching his head, "I just thought he was being shy-I swear, I had no idea there was anything going on."

Shannon didn't know how she had expected to be able to get help without busting out the details, but now it was obviously what she had to do. "Socks, that thing he said was the first time he's even acknowledged me since April."

"Whoa," he said with a sigh. "That's one heck of a grudge. What happened? Did you guys have a fight or something?"

She cringed, the memory of that day coming back in fluid detail. "It wasn't a fight, exactly. See, I asked him to sit next to me when nobody else would give him anywhere to sit, and Robot must have assumed that I was only being nice to him because I felt bad."

Socks's eyes darted left and right. "You assumed he thought that, or is that how you actually felt?"

"No! I mean... I don't think I was, entirely," Shannon said as she stared at her hands. She felt like she was defending a person she didn't know. "Oh, I don't know."

"Shannon," Socks interrupted, "Have you thought about just telling Robot you're sorry?"

"Haven't you been listening? Robot doesn't even acknowledge I'm THERE, anymore. How am I supposed to apologize when I'm dead to him?"

"So, what is it you want me to do about this?"

"You could TALK to him," Shannon said, her hair becoming visibly frizier as her stress level increased. "At least he's still talking to you."

"Ah-ah," Socks said, wagging his finger. "This is between you guys-I ain't getting in the middle of it."

"Why not?"