FALL (DIMENSION Series #1)

CHAPTER 5

Julia was on a mission during lunch. She couldn't let the Derek-Nash-in-the-hallway conversation go. She brought it up right away and dramatized it even more for Mary Rose's benefit.

      "But what exactly did Derek Nash say?" Julia asked.

      I shrugged.

      "He talked about his class schedule." It was partially true. Although, strictly speaking, physics wasn't on his class schedule. Or on mine. But I didn't want to talk about the physics thing—it would sound strange to Julia and Mary Rose.

      "I can't believe Derek Nash actually talked to you," Mary Rose said, looking up from the salad she was constructing. "I thought he only hung out with the in-crowd."

      "Well," I replied. "We talked in the hallway. It's not exactly like we were hanging out." But despite my protestations, I was giddy. It felt amazing to be singled out by Derek like that. Like he had chosen me, or something. At least for a quick hallway conversation.

     "You look kind of flushed," Julia said, looking at my face. "And flustered too."

      "Really?" I said, hearing the edge in my voice.

     My thoughts about Derek, and my interactions with him, were private. I didn't want Julia or anyone to know about my obsession.

      "This pizza is decent," I said, even though it was merely passable. I lifted my slice of pizza and took another bite.

     "Do you think Clay likes redheads?" Julia asked, looking from Mary Rose to me as she twirled a strand of her auburn hair around her finger.

     "I'm sure he does," I said with more enthusiasm, now that we were off the topic of Derek.

      I let Julia and Mary Rose do most of the talking for the rest of lunch. I felt like I was in some kind of haze that had me replaying my earlier encounter with Derek. But nothing got any clearer, and that hazy feeling stayed with me after we finished eating.

     I was disappointed when Derek didn't appear in calculus. I stared at his empty desk and thought about his green eyes and how they'd changed so dramatically. And the way they seemed to signal a change in him too. And I wondered why he'd talked to me. And about my dad and physics, no less. It made no sense.

      I was relieved when the school day was over. I replayed our hallway encounter as I walked home.

      "Hey," a voice said and startled me out of my reverie. It was Neal Bernardi. He was my neighbor and friend. Sometimes he ate lunch with Julia, Mary Rose and me, but mostly he and I talked outside school hours.

      "Hey," I replied weakly. Feeling slightly disappointed that I wouldn't have the luxury of continuing to see Derek in my mind's eye. Of reliving the way he'd looked in his black jeans and black t-shirt as he'd leaned toward me.

     I'd known Neal Bernardi for as long as I could remember. Our lives were intertwined. We had just had calculus together. And it appeared today would be one of those days he'd walk home with me, pushing his bike beside us.

     When we were younger, Neal and I used to read comic books in his bedroom. We demolished hordes of them. My mother didn't care for comic books. She taught English at the local community college and had an aversion to less than proper English. So, Neal used to secretly lend me some of his comic books. And I'd read them in the dark with a flashlight. Trying to block the traces of light by pulling the bedsheets over my head.