Ataxia

twenty-three

The next morning I woke up early due to an awful dream about what happened last night. I didn't want to have another nightmare so I changed into my clothes and left the dorm to get used to the property.

Of course most of the staff was up. So when I marched into the cafeteria, most of the people there were grown-ups. There were a few kids here and there but I knew none of them except for Wynn. So after snatching a tray of food I sat down across from him. He looked up from his novel and quickly glanced back down to see what weirdo sat next to him.

"Most people avoid me," he said, reaching for his orange juice and sipping from the straw. "So why are you sitting here?"

He wasn't ignoring me, but he certainly was rude. I tried to get a glance at his face but it was impossible with the book covering his entire face. All I could see were pale hands and quirky platinum blonde hair. "Uh, hi, the non-social-type," I said, picking at my food subconsciously. "Are you going to say hello?"

"No."

"O-kay," I shrugged, taking a bite of the blueberry muffin in the corner of my plate. "I see why people take an interest in you so much." I couldn't see his face, but I'm pretty sure Wynn rose a sarcastic brow. There was a few more silence between us until Wynn put his book down and crossed his arms. He was still avoiding my eye contact.

"I heard you yelling at Orion last night," he said, staring at the space above his tray.

"Oh, you heard that?" I wasn't completely surprised. I probably yelled so loud that New Mexico could hear me. "What did you hear?"

Wynn didn't reply.

"Was she close to you? The girl that was kidnapped?"

"Sami."

"Whatever."

He nodded, taking a deep breath. "Sami is my older sister."

It was like a light dawning on me. It made sense. The nightmares. Going to Mr. Kabadi for help. Constantly avoiding eye contact and people. Wynn basically broke after his sister was kidnapped. That had to be why he acted this way.

A bunch more kids started trailing into the cafeteria. It was about time for breakfast. The room's volume raised up a couple notches and I could barely hear myself think. Wynn got up and threw his tray away, his book under his arm. I quickly gobbled my muffin and followed him. I kept my distance, though. I didn't want him to think I was a stalker or anything. Just curious.

"What are you doing?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. I sighed. "Good morning, August," I said, trying to get past her. "I have to be somewhere."

"I'm sure you're not going to the library to study for school, Des, if you're thinking about lying to go follow Wynn."

I groaned. It was officially official: August can read minds. "Look, Aug, I know you must be concerned. But don't worry. I got this."

"I'm not concerned about Wynn," she pointed to me. "I'm concerned about you. Because you keep obsessing over this. Why can't you just get over this whole thing of Wynn and Orion and Sami and Mr. Kabadi?"

"You know I went to Mr. Kabadi's room last night?" I said as if the words were like knives.

"Of course I do. Seriously, Des, just leave it be. All you need to do is just stay in line and lay low." And she pushed past me to get a spot in the cafeteria line. That girl can be a brat and really bossy for a little ten-year-old, but she is persistent, I'll give her that.

***

The next day school started. I went to school at noon, right before the free hour. I pretty much had no idea where I was going so I asked Orion for help, even though he seemed really uneasy around me.

"Since you have no school supplies, I suggest going to Miss Stacey and asking for some. She'll give you all the stuff you need. The freshmen classroom is 103." And he left to go to lunch. After I finished eating, I went to the library to go get stuff for school.

"Of course I have supplies for you, dear," she said very mother-like. I followed her to the storage closet where a bunch of textbooks and pencils and pens and crayons and plenty of other things lay in heaping stacks.

"Whoa, it looks like a mall in here."

She laughed. It sounded like church bells. "It's an old storage closet, nothing fancy in here." She took a couple notebooks and textbooks and writing utensils and put the heavy load in my arms. "There, that's all you need. Do you need anything else?"

"A backpack? This stuff is really heavy," I said, the supplies slipping from my arms and crashing to the floor. "Sorry," I squeaked.

"It's all right." She picked up the mess and put it on the table and handed me a fire engine-red backpack. "This'll do. Now run along and get to class. Mr. Gonzalez doesn't like his students to be late."

"Thanks," I said and exited the library.

The walk wasn't all bad. I took the door that led outside and saw piles of children playing everywhere. I smiled a little bit, beginning to think I was going to like staying here. After taking the shortcut outside and leading myself back into the building, I found my way to the first floor where all the classrooms were. Only two grades were being taught right now: eighth and ninth grade. So most of the doors were open and the sounds of soothing teacher's voices floated around me.

Arriving at room 103, I hesitated before knocking on the closed door. The lights were on so I knew someone was inside. But I also felt kind of scared for some reason. This was my first time being in a school for ataxias. What was it like?

After mustering enough courage, I pushed open the door. I saw about three kids sitting down. Wynn was there, reading (duh), and two other girls were sitting in chairs, scribbling notes. I shyly entered the room and the two girls looked over at me to analyze me and went back to writing. I sat down near Wynn for some normalcy. But oddly enough, I didn't see my new teacher anywhere.

"Uh, do you guys know where Mr. Gonzalez is?" I asked a little nervously.

One of the girls started chuckling like I just explained the most hilarious joke in the world.

"Tiffany!" The other girl said, nudging her. "Why are you laughing at the new girl like that?"

"I'm sorry," she said in between giggles. When she was done her face looked as red as a ripe cherry. "I'm so sorry, new girl. It's just that all the newbies say that and I crack up every time. They just don't know that Mr. G. is already here."

"Wait, what?"

Tiffany laughed again. "Sorry about Tiffany," the other girl said. "I'm Emmie, short for Emily. But, you see, Mr. Gonzalez is here. But no one can see him because he's invisible." She said flatly. "All the time."

At that moment my eyes widened. My teacher was basically Stephen King's the invisible boy? What the heck? "Wait, so he's listening in on our conversation, like, right now?"

"Yes," said another voice. I kind of yelped while Tiffany started laughing again at my reaction. I was guessing the other voice was Mr. Gonzalez. His voice kind of reminded me of Professor Snape's disappointed tone in Harry Potter.

"Is that voice Mr. Gonzalez?" I asked Emmie.

"Of course it is," said my teacher before she could answer. "Who else is camouflaged in this classroom?"

"How would we know?" Asked Wynn, folding his book and setting it down on his desk. "I don't mean to correct, sir, but we would have no idea if someone is invisible in this classroom if they didn't say anything."

"I don't need your opinion, Radcliffe," he said and Wynn's cheeks went bright pink and he stared at his desk. "Now the students should be filing in any moment now, Destine. So I suggest you take your correct seat."

I sighed heavily.

This was going to be the longest year ever.