The Lost Son | Ferry's Tale # 2

The lake house

May returned to school once the spring arrived. Ferry met her in the corridor during the big recreation. When she saw him, the girl warmly smiled at him the way she always did. Her smile swept Ferry off his feet.

"How are you, May?" he asked.

"Much better," she simply said.

"I'm glad," he said, then went quiet. He didn't know what to say. He joined her, and walked across the corridor together, smiling at one another. Other students were passing by, but to Ferry it seemed they were the only ones in the world, at that moment. Just because she was smiling at him.

"I think we have the same class," he finally said.

"Yes, literature," she replied. "The team reading project is next. I'm curious who I'm going tobe paired with, this time."

Ferry remembered. The team project in the literature class meant that those who had the highest grade at the latest essay could choose a partner to read a book together and then present it together in front of the class.

Ferry was not among the best in that particular subject. For some reason, he found books boring. Not stories, but rather reading. He liked it more when someone was reading to him. It felt like the stories came to life; the characters became real people when their names were read out loud. He could spend hours in a row to hear someone telling stories. His mother had done this for years. Even now, he loved to listen to Lavender's stories about fairies as if he wasn't one of them but a mere spectator.

But this time he wished he would have a good grade so he could choose May.

"Can I carry your schoolbag?" he asked her, not knowing what else to say.

May smiled and handed the schoolbag to him which Ferry took with a clumsy gesture, not knowing how a girl bag should be carried. Finally, he held it in his arms as the most precious thing. May looked at him with her big eyes as if she had read the puzzlement in his head, but said nothing. This was always the case when they were not seeing each other for a while. The words somehow disappeared. But maybe there was no need for them at all.

They arrived at the literature class faster than Ferry would have wanted. She reached for her bag, and their hands touched. May smiled again, then entered the classroom, and headed to the empty seat next to her friend, Rebecca. The two girls began to whisper, casting their gaze towards Ferry meaningfully. Ferry headed to the last desk where Matilda was waiting for him.

"I hate this class," she muttered as soon as she saw him. "I bet I have a bad grade again and I'll have to team up with a nerd. At least I hope it's Ben. But he always chooses Steph. And those with lower grades don't even have the right to choose their partner. I hate this dictatorship," she snorted.

Ferry only heard fragments of her monologue. He continued to watch May as she carefully took out her notebooks and placed them on the desk.

Matilda's sharp elbow in his ribs woke him from the daydream. "Andrew is here," she whispered.Ferry discovered Andrew sitting in the last desk by the window. He looked better than the last time he saw him. Billy was with a few desks in front of him, and he was laughing with the boys in the football team. Andrew didn't lose him out of his sight. Just as Ferry did with May a few moments earlier.