Dear Simon,

Chapter Four

     It's Thursday morning. I spent the last two days cleaning and organizing my room for when Harry comes over for tutoring at five. I asked my mom to buy snacks earlier and I spend the morning organizing them in my snack drawer. There's Double Stuffed Oreos, Barbeque potato chips, Debbie Zebra Cakes, and more. I want an assortment because I don't know what he would want to eat. I check the time. Shit. I grab my bookbag and rush out of my room. Claira and Abreala are already at the bus stop when I get there. I need air in my lungs but it feels like I'll never get it. I need more exercise. We wait for a few minutes until the bus pulls to the bus stop and opens its doors. Alisa isn't with us, which is kind of odd. She usually texts me to update her on her missing assignments.

     The bus is bumpy and uncomfortable like always. I sit in a seat towards the back and put my bookbag on my left on the outside of the seat. Like every weekday morning, I put on my headphones and stare through the window at nothing in particular. When the bus arrives at the school I see that Alisa is already here - and she's with Aaron. They're making out against a wall in the cafeteria. Ew. I can feel myself cringing. Something yanks me buy my arm - it hurts - and pulls me back. "Hey, what the hell?"

     It's Harry and his right eye is twitching. I feel my confidence falter.

     "My dad can't drive me to your house tonight. I need to ride with you."

     "I ride the bus. I can't take you either," I go to walk away but he still has my arm. His grip tightens.

     "He signed a bus note." I search his face. His jaw is locked and his eyes are hard. His right eye stops twitching and he visibly swallows. It's almost like he's pleading with me. I don't know why.

     "Fine," I roll my eyes and take my arm out of his grip, "you can ride the bus with me." He looks like he wants to grin and hug me but instead, he just nods and walks away. What the fuck just happened? I brush it off and hurry to Literature class. I have an essay due tomorrow and I haven't even started it. My tutoring session isn't going to help with getting it done any quicker. I sit down and glance around the room. Aaron and Alisa are in deep conversation. She throws her head back when she laughs hard; it causes Aaron to laugh too. They're a cute couple. Mrs. Miller starts her lecture after calming the class. When class ends I steal my stuff off my desk and the floor so I could be early for Geography class with Ms. Wright. It's a slow day, I can sense it already. Ms. Wright is passing around grades tests and half of the class goes silent. The other half is filled with groans. I'm guessing we all failed.

     A boy pipes up. "Ms. Wright, this can't be right."

     "Oh but it is, Kalum." Ms. Wright corrects him pointedly. "You might want to start studying."

     Ms. Wright spends the next forty-five minutes chewing us out. We all failed the test and I am no exception.

     I can't wait for the school day to end but at the same time, I want it to drag on as long as possible. Harry is going to ride the bus next to me and I'll be forced to hold my bookbag in my lap. I spend the rest of the day dreading the end.

                                                                                (0.0)

     The final bell rings. My guts are churning and I've spent the final hour of the school day wiping my hands on my jeans repetitively. I lag slowly to my bus and place my bag on my lap.  I feel the bus seat shift, "hey." Without looking, I know it's Harry.

     "Hey." I put my headphones on and stare through the window at nothing in particular. After forty-five minutes of silent, awkward sitting we finally stop at my house. Harry gets off before me because he was on the aisle side of the seat. Abreala and Claira get off with us as well. The door is locked and Mom's car isn't in the driveway. She's at work. We invite ourselves in and Harry and I immediately rush to my room to put our bookbags away.

     "Do y'all want pizza?" Abreala calls to us. I look at Harry and he nods.

     "Yeah," I yell back to Abreala, "thanks!" She yells something and I hear her shuffling in the kitchenware for pizza pans. She hates putting bare pizza on the oven rack for some reason. I start unloading my bookbag and I notice that Harry follows. Soon binders, notebooks, and paper are sprawled all over my floor and my bed. I'm sitting cross-legged on my comforter reviewing Algebra homework problems. Abreala stands in the doorway with two plates of pizza in her hands. Harry extends his arm for the pizza and I notice something on his arm. It almost looks like a bruise. Maybe it's a trick of the light. Yeah, that's surely it.
"Thanks. . . ."
"Abreala," my sister finishes his sentence for him.
Harry nods. "Thanks, Abreala."
She's all smiles when she leaves. My breath hitches. I want to ask him about his arm but something inside me is telling me not to. I'm hesitating. I don't do it. He continues writing equations into his notes. We take a pizza break and watch some Adventure Time. It's one of my favorite shows on Cartoon Network and I watch it whenever I can make time for it. "Can we get back to studying?" Harry sounds like a child who just got told that he isn't having dinosaur chicken nuggets for dinner.

I sigh, "sure." We spend the next hour and a half doing homework. When Harry leaves, I walk him out. There isn't a vehicle waiting for him. He said his dad was going to pick him up. He surely couldn't have been lying? I close the front door and tread back to my room. There's a note on my bed.

Thank Abreala for dinner. I smile.

That's really sweet of him to remember her. I rush out of my room with the note and knock on Abreala's door. I hear shuffling and a "hold on, I'm coming." She swings the door open revealing her The Nightmare Before Christmas pajamas.

"Harry left this on my bed for you." I pass her the note and she scans it.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," I go to turn around but then I don't. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight to you too, Sierra."