Here I am one week away from my 17th birthday and I'm sitting in a funeral home waiting for them to take my father's body away for burial. Yes, my father died a week before his daughter's birthday; not that it was his fault, he was killed in a hit and run accident. I am now helping carry my father to the hearse, I'm fighting back tears as the casket slides into stretched car of the dead. I crawl in the 67 Chevy Impala that my father bought me for my birthday because it's like the one with my favorite tv show, and I start to follow the hearse to the Cresent Grove Cemetery. Now I am crying as they lower my father's body into the freshly dug up ground. What was in reality only 10 minutes seemed to take 3 hours, the white and gold casket is lowering into the ground as I weep... I'm on my own now.
•••
Leaning against the lockers at Madison High Preparatory School, all I can think about is the funeral I attended just two days ago, the funeral of my best friend since birth. I have one issue though; I can only remember bits and pieces of it. I'm all alone against the lockers until my best friend Lucy comes along and snaps me out of my trance. She begins jabbering about a new boy that just arrived, apparently fresh off a plane from London. She is going on and on about how cute and handsome he is, but I don't listen much I'm too busy thinking about my father and how my aunt is arriving today with her foster son, to live in MY house. I manage to zone back into what Lucy is saying, now she has moved on to talking about what his name could be.
"Maybe his name is James or Jerome or Elton or..." She's never going to finish this sentence.
"I don't know." I cut her off before she can continue.
"Oh, come on Riles, lighten up" Lucy says waving her hand through the air.
"Fine I'll be a freaking feather" I say agitated knowing the retort I'll get.
"Why won't you say the word? It's not that hard, fuck! See not that hard" Lucy says but I shudder at how harshly she dropped the F-Bomb.
"Because I don't want to!" I turn to make my angered get away, but I bump into something or someone and fall to floor. I'm sitting on the floor terrified to look at who might be standing before me knowing my luck. Suddenly I see a masculine hand extended down to me, I look up to see a handsome boy as I take the hand that I now know is connected to this handsome boy. I'm standing now and Lucy stands behind me starting to whisper in my ear.
"It's him! It's the new boy! You bumped into the new boy!"
"Hi, my name is Alexander" the new boy says still holding my hand in the warmth of his, I feel as though I should pull away but something about it just seems too right.
"I... I'm Riley" I finally muster up the courage to say. We are still holding hands looking into each other's eyes and it just feels so right, warmth and calmness washes over me, like water washes over the shore. Why does he have this effect on me? Suddenly it is no longer the pulling up sort of hand hold, it is now the fingers intertwined locking together kind of hand holding.
"Ummm Riley?" Lucy says slightly worried
"What Lucy?" I say expecting to get some smart alec comment about me and Alexander still holding hands.
"The bell just rang, and we have 1 minute to get to room 410... on the 4th floor... we're on the 1st floor on the opposite side of the building." Lucy says worried.
"Oh Crap" I say realizing the urgency of the situation our teacher is a major witch.
"Wait you guys are going to room 410 too?" Alexander in his eloquent sounding British accent.
"Yeah!" Lucy and I say at almost the same time.
"Will you take me there?" He says with a sweet sound of inquiry in his voice. At least now we have a valid excuse for being late to class.
"Yes of course!" I say maybe sounding a little too excited, I hope he doesn't notice. He smiles and bites his lip which makes me melt right in my place. However, we have to get to class so we start walking.
When we arrive in Mrs. Parker's room we explain why we are late, that we were helping Alexander find his classes for the day and lost track of time. Mrs. Parker understood but didn't like it. She directed all three of us to our seats so she could continue her lesson on AP Art History, this week we are learning about Vincent van Gogh at the end of his life. I steal a glance at Alexander only to find that he is looking back at me. For the rest of class I can't help but let my eyes drift to where he is seated.
I have English next and Alexander happens to have it too, but Lucy doesn't so we go our separate ways. We arrive at Mrs. Fontaine's English class and I sit in my seat and watch as Alexander receives his assigned seat. Alexander starts heading towards me, he bites his lip and takes the empty seat in front of me. I can feel the warmth of his body, it's a warmth I've never felt before. I've been really cold lately, and Alexandeseems to be the only one who can break through the chill that I have felt lately. Alexander soon passes me a note that says
"Do you want to get frozen yogurt after school? - Alexander "
How did he know I am craving froyo? I write my answer on the same ripped lined notebook paper that Alexander had wrote his question on and pass it back up to him. He smiles at me and we get to our schoolwork. Pretty soon the bell rings and its lunch time, Alexander grasps my hand and pulls me into a hug. Once again, the warmth washes over me as if I was sunbathing in the Bahamas. This is weird.
"Why did you hug me?" I pull away as confused as ever at the words that are coming out of my mouth. I mean I want to hug him, but we just met.
"Because no one has ever accepted my invitation to froyo before" Alexander says so blunt, and now I'm really confused I mean he is hot why would anyone say no. We walk to room 217 to get Lucy. Then we go to the cafeteria. "Lunch today is loaded mystery meat on a bun" we hear over the loudspeaker.
"Gross!" Lucy says with a scrunched-up face.
"Can I share with you?" She says already Knowing the answer, because she knows I'm too weak to say no.
"I guess, but when will you finally bring your own lunch?" Lucy shrugs and we look at Alexander as he dares to enter the lunch line, unknowing the horrid slop that he is about to face.
When Alexander is through the line sits down at the table looking at the slop that is on his tray. He looks like he is about to throw up.
"What is this rubbish?" Alexander asks gagging.
"Some say that it is horse meat, others say it isn't even meat at all." Lucy says in a lowered conspiracy theory voice.
"Yea I think I'll pass." Alexander says pushing the tray away from his body. I hand him a quarter of my sandwich and he takes it savoring every bite. The bell rings signaling the end of lunch. There are three more classes left, Alexander and Lucy are in every one of them along with Lucy's boyfriend Myles. Lucy and Myles have known each other since they were five and they've been dating for three years now. They are so in love, it is actually quite annoying, but at least she is happy.
"Hey, babe who is the new guy?" Myles whispers to Lucy but I manage to hear him.
"His name is Alexander and he just moved here from London with his foster mom." Lucy says back to Myles and again I hear, and this surprises me because I had no idea that Alexander is a foster child. I keep my mouth shut about it though because maybe Alexander didn't want me to know.
•••
YOU ARE READING
English 253: Intro to Creative Writing
PoesíaAnything I wrote for my English 253 Class will be published here once the class has ended.
