Teacher | Ashton Irwin

Four

I stood at my bus stop. Waiting for the 7.50 bus to arrive. There was another boy from my school in my year who got on the same bus and stood at the same bus stop as me.
He had brown-black long hair and piercing blue eyes. He was tall and thin. He always stood on the outside, no matter how empty the shelter was. He just stood there, staring at nothing in particular as he listened to music through his earphones. He was really quiet and mysterious but that's the part of him that I was fascinated by.
Today wasn't a normal day. Today it was freezing. We had the tail end of a huge storm so that meant gail force winds and pouring with rain. I stood in the shelter.
The boy, Jack, walked up from his house and stood outside the shelter in the rain. I hesitated for a moment before walking a couple of short metres over to him. I tapped him on the shoulder. He took his earphones out and half smiled. I asked, "jack right? Do you not want to stand in here out of the rain and stuff?"
"Yeah, it's Jack. Um, no thank you. I'm quite alright out here," he muttered.
"But it's like a storm. Come on, just take one step to the right and you'll be more sheltered," I tried persuading him.
"I like the rain and wind," he blandly stated.
I sighed, "Just stand inside." I took his arm and pulled him into the bus shelter. "wAs that so hard?"
"Yeah," he chuckled, "I actually do like the rain."
I smiled, "Me too but not when it's like this. You're strange."
"Excuse me?" His eyebrows furrowed.
"No, I didn't mean in a bad way," I said, "I should've worded it better. Your mysterious. I mean, you stand alone at the bus stop and block everyone out by putting your earphones in. You sit on the bus alone, once again you're listening to music. And even in class, I can see that you have one ear of your earphones in that you try to hide."
He sighed, "There's one quote I kind of live by. Once my mother told me 'sometimes blocking the world out makes you hear things you never thought that you would hear'. Just like if you close your eyes, you can see things clearer-"
I interrupted him, "No you can't."
"What I'm trying to say is that sometimes we're completely oblivious to the situation around us. We just need to freeze for a moment to pinpoint it all," he stated.
I decided to be forward and say what I wanted to, "I'm going to be honest. I want to know you better because you seem like a really intelligent and lovely person. Do you want to sit beside me on the bus and we can talk?"
"I'd like that," he smiled shyly.
I looked around awkwardly, waiting for the bus. I looked down at his earphone that was now dangling near his belt to his black, skinny jeans. I picked it up and put it in my ear. Once I realised what song it was, excitement bubbled up inside of me. I looked at him as he was already smiling. I whispered, "Ed Sheeran's my favourite singer and this is my favourite song by him."
His face lit up and he smiled, "You like Give Me Love?"
"Yes," I smiled, "I'm going to be very forward once again. I think that we could be very good friends in time. It might sound stupid but-"
"It doesn't sound stupid," he smiled, "I can see it too. I'm just warning you though, I'm not forward. If we become close, you might uncover things that you'll never forget."
I opened my mouth to say something but I saw the bus in the corner in my eye. It pulled up to our stop. I walked with him as we listened to Give Me Love on repeat.
I took a seat near the middle. I sat at the window seat as Jack sat in the seat beside the aisle. I looked over and saw him staring at the seat in front of us as he started shaking. I asked, "Jack? Are you okay?"
"I can't," he whispered breathlessly, "I can't sit on the outside. Please swap with me."
"Sure." I stood up and he slid beneath me as I sat on the other seat. He reached up to my ear and took my earphone out, replacing it with the left ear so it was both our inside ears.

He looked out the window. I noticed that he was trying to stop himself from shaking, I saw his hand fighting it but it couldn't. I placed my hand on top of his and within three seconds, he had stopped shaking. I asked, "Whats with the window seat?"

"I don't like it when I can't see the outside. If I can't see the outside world, I feel trapped," he looked at me with glossy eyes as he whispered, "It's a childhood memory."

"You can trust me," I whispered.

He chuckled, "You probably don't even know my last name."

"Moore, Jack Moore. Do you know mine?" I asked.

"Everyone does. Well, everyone knows your twin brother Ryan; he's co-captain of the football team and captain of the lacrosse. Everyone knows you too because of him," he chuckled.

I smiled, "How about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

He stayed quiet for a moment as he looked out the window. He couldn't look at me as he said, "Not anymore."

I suddenly remembered the whole story. It was all over the news two years ago. There was a fire at the Moore house and him and his mother and sister are the only survivors. His father and brother died. I was completely confused. I asked, "what about your sister?"

He looked me in the eye and said, "Suicide."

I wave of guilt flooded through my body and through my veins. I took my hand off him and set it on my lap. I whispered, "I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he reached over to my lap and put his hand on top of mine, "You didn't know."

"You said you weren't foreword," I whispered, "And now you just told me about your sister."

"That's not even scratching the surface," he mumbled, "Nobody knows anything more about me than that. I don't mean to sound rude but until I fully trust you, I can't fully open up to you."

I nodded and flashed him a smile, "it's okay," i looked outside and said, "Uhh, why do we live so close to the school. What was that? Like a ten minute drive?"

He chuckled and laced his fingers with mine and said, "Fifteen or twenty minute walk. We should walk together so we aren't stuck in this death trap. Plus, we could walk to classes if you like since I'm in most of your classes."

"I would like that," I smiled. The bus stopped at our stop and we made our way off the bus. I stepped onto the footpath with him and said, "we have art first. Do you like it?"

"Yeah," he smiled to himself as he looked foreword, "Drawing things that fascinate and interest us. It's my favourite type of drawing."

I raised one eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"It's like... Drawing your mind. Whenever she sits a fruit bowl in front of us, it takes no imagination to draw that fruit bowl. But when we have subtle guidelines like 'draw whatever interests you' then it's completely different. Your mind has the freedom to spill whatever it wants onto a blank canvas. I always draw what words can't say or describe."

"You're fascinating," I smiled up at him. He looked down at me and smiled as we entered the school gates.