BIG SIS

10.3 Waiting for Godot Ain't So Much Fun

Third and fourth passed with Collin staring resolutely at the teacher or his books. He caught one word out of five from the teachers' babble, distracted by his thoughts and Iris' increasingly bold attempts to get his attention. At one point, she kicked the back of his chair hard enough to send Collin smacking into the desk. Collin ground his teeth and feigned indifference.

They walked together between classes in frosty silence. Collin felt Iris' eyes on him, the coiled energy of her at his side. It pissed him off, being so aware of her. He wanted to tell her to fuck off but knew that he wouldn't stop there if he opened his mouth. Words choked him, bitter and hot, like bile. Iris got on his last damn nerve without trying, and then played rope with it.

Lunch rolled around. Collin didn't think he could eat, his stomach tight in a way it got right before a fight. His feet slowed on their own until he was entirely still, right by the lunchroom entrance. He saw Kira and Derek on their usual table. Kira had her head bent over a book. Derek sat two chairs away from her, staring at his phone with the kind of concentration that screamed of desperation. Collin'd almost forgotten that Derek could look that way – uncomfortable in his own skin, unwilling to lift his eyes in case he caught someone else's by accident. The knot in Collin's stomach tightened.

Iris'd leaned against the wall next to him, in his shadow. "Is this what being friends means to you?" Collin snarled. It was he first thing he'd said to her since leaving the principal's office.

Iris looked at him without saying anything. Her eyes were cold; Collin was boiling inside, so wound up it hurt to breathe.

Iris pushed off the wall and walked away. Collin would've turned right around had it not been for Kira and the stubborn, childish refusal to be the first one to back down, the first one to blink. So he walked inside and sat next to Iris and somehow managed to go the entire period without loosing his shit.

Playing tutor helped, as did Kira's no-nonsense manner. She'd obviously guessed something was up and prudently decided to keep things civil without meddling in herself.

"We're holding sign-ups tomorrow after school," Kira said in parting. She darted a furtive glance at Iris, who was amusing herself by shredding her practice papers into confetti. "You should come, if you're interested in joining."

Collin wasn't. "Where?" he asked.

"The music room on the fourth floor. We start at three-fifteen. See you there?"

"Yeah," Collin sighed. It figured that the Student Council met in the most inconvenient spot in school. Nobody else'd reserve that room. Even band kids chose to practice in the football field over the music room when they could.

The rest of the day passed as days without Iris had, once upon a time Collin couldn't quite remember. Collin'd never gotten around to making friends in class, and used to spend his school days shuffling between classes, relatively happy in his bubble of solitude. The silence didn't bother him. Now that he'd had some time to cool off, neither did Iris. It was his own fault. He'd know Iris was bad news from the start. If he'd gotten burned, it was all on him.

Mrs. Weaver was running late. Traffic seemed to be moving slower than usual, a line of cars snaking up to get into the parking lot around the block, the main street backed up as far as Collin could see.

Collin's phone buzzed. Mrs. Weaver, right on cue. He picked up with a glance Iris' way. She was playing on her phone, crouched by the parking lot fence. "Hello?"

"Collin, where is Iris?" Mrs. Weaver demanded.

Collin frowned, caught off-guard by the vehemence of the question. "She's here."