by Sofia Vargas
“Bye. See you then,” I pulled the phone away from my ear and moved my thumb toward the end button.
“Wait, Emma?” Viper said, before I turned off the phone.
I put the phone back to my ear. “Yes? I’m still here,” I said, a little louder than intended.
“I was wondering if you were planning on attending the Winter Dance?” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a jumble.
“Oh,” I said. I could feel the temperature rise in my cheeks. “I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought, I guess.”
“Okay,” he said. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining things or if he really sounded a little disappointed about my answer. “Well, see you later then.”
“Yeah,” I said, disappointed in myself. “Bye.”
I hung up the phone.
That was a total lie. The truth was that I had been thinking about the Winter Dance quite a bit. He might have wanted to ask me to it and like the dummy I was, I had lied to him. Sometimes I hated myself. Now that he thought I didn’t want to go to it he was going to ask someone else. I knew I was going to drive myself crazy over the next week wondering who he would end up asking instead.
III
A routine
He is within reach. I push out my arms as far as they can possibly go. I am sure that any more strain on them will cause my shoulder joints to be pulled right out of their sockets.
But he is there. My fingertips brush against his shoulders. I cup my hands under his arms and bring him toward me.
At last, I sigh. Though the relief didn’t last long. I hold onto him tightly. I have no idea where to go from here. If the weight of his body is any indication, I know the only option I have is back down.
* * *
Viper smiled when he saw me walking toward him. I had known him for only a short time, but his smile had become a staple in my life. The moment I saw it I realized how much I had missed it.
“Hey, you’re back,” he said.
“I am,” I said. “A day late, but I’m here nonetheless.”
“I was wondering why I didn’t see you yesterday.”
“My mom figured she’d schedule a couple of appointments for me while I was off, but they only had openings at the dentist and eye doctor yesterday.”
“I see,” he said. “How was your vacation?”
“It was very refreshing, thank you for asking,” I said.
I thought the week I was out of school would go by slowly. I didn’t have anything to do aside from the make-up work my teachers sent me, but it flew by. Before I knew it, it was the week before winter break and I was back in school getting ready for finals. The teachers sent me notes on the lectures I’d missed so I was feeling all right about the exams.
“What’s been happening? Did I miss anything good?”
Viper heaved a sigh. “Things are crazy. Everyone is going insane over the Winter Dance.”
I laughed. “Happens every dance. Guys start panicking if they don’t have a date by now and the girls start doing things they wouldn’t normally do to catch a guy’s attention if they don’t have one either. You get to see it four times a year.”
“This school has four dances?”
I nodded. “There’s Homecoming, the Winter Dance, the Spring Formal, and Prom. Although, the Prom is only for the seniors so I suppose we underlings only care about three of them.”
A particular topic of conversation was still poking at the back of my mind.
“So…” I said. I thought about each word’s specific but nonchalant, I hoped, placement. “Do you have a date yet?” I tried to sound as casual as possible, but I still couldn’t help my voice cracking slightly.
“Oh, man,” he said, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Don’t even get me started on the way Emily, Hannah, and Madison are acting around me. They’re dropping so many hints that they want me to ask one of them to the dance, it’s ridiculous. Thank God, you’re back; I’ve had to sit with them every lunch period for the past week.”
I smiled. “You have third lunch today?”
“I do, right after art.”
“I have art before lunch, too,” I said in that louder than intended voice again.
“Great,” he said. “Now I really have a reason to get away from those three.”
We walked through the front doors of the school. I was a little surprised to see that there was a small Christmas tree in the middle of the main hall. They put it up every year, but the rest of the school remained without decorations so it was strange whenever the small burst of color was present. Every inch of it was covered in decorations. There were pictures of all the different school teams hanging from the branches along with ornaments and garland with the school crest and “Saint George High School” printed on them. The very top of the tree sported the dragon mascot. Very little green could be seen beneath the red and white lights in the school’s colors and the tinsel.
“The tree is nice, huh?” he said when he saw me looking at it.
“It’s always unusual to see it, but yes, it is,” I said.
“This place could use some color.”
The morning’s warning bell sounded.
“Well, I’ll catch you later in art.”
“Okay, bye,” I said.
He turned down a hallway to his first class. I turned down the opposite hall and hurried to English.
* * *
“Well, well. Look who they finally let out of her cage,” Emily said.
The sneer on her face found me the moment I walked into Mr. Helbis’ classroom.
“What did they decide, Larnex? I vote on giving you a tranquilizer in the morning to suppress your rage.”
I sat down at my desk without so much as looking at Emily. I didn’t need another mark on my permanent record, though my grades kept me afloat whenever I did get into trouble.
She sat in the desk next to me.
“Listen, Larnex,” Emily said, leaning toward me. A huge wave of perfume hit me in the face and I coughed. “I don’t know how you’re doing it, but stop. You’re probably brainwashing Viper to like you, so lay off.”
I turned toward her to say something, but it took all of my energy to keep myself from collapsing in a fit of hysterical laughter. I held back quickly enough for it to escape as a single snort. There was a big bruise across the top of her nose and both her eyes were brown and purple.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’m sorry, Emily,” I said when I was able to gather myself again, “but isn’t there a separate area in the zoo for raccoons?”
A few people around us laughed, too. Emily turned red, either with embarrassment or anger, I didn’t particularly care which. But she exploded nonetheless.
“You think this is funny, do you? You think the way you’ve made me look is hilarious?” she said.
My eyes were tearing from holding back my laughter. “No, not at all.”
“You’ve ruined my face,” she got out of her desk. “I’m going to look like this until New Year’s if not longer.”
“Miss Lynch,” Mr. Helbis said across the classroom. “Please sit down and stop yelling. Class is about to begin.”
Emily sat back down, but she was visibly shaking. The bell rang and everyone else sat down, too.
“Okay, class, please take out your copies of Huck Finn,” Mr. Helbis started.
“I am going to make sure Viper sees you for who you really are, Larnex,” Emily said out of the corner of her mouth. “Just a big, outcast freak.”
To keep from hitting her again I busied my hands by crumpling a few pieces of paper. Mr. Helbis started writing on the board.
“So I’d let up on hanging around him, before things he doesn’t know about you start slipping…”
My hand flew in the air of its own accord, but I was able to keep it from flying at her. It seemed content with throwing the paper I had clenched in my fist at her face with as much force as possible. The paper sailed the short distance through the air be
tween us and collided with the bridge of her nose.
“Ow!”
“Very well, Miss Lynch,” Mr. Helbis said with forced calm. “You may answer the first question.”
I smiled when Emily shot me a nasty look. She turned to Mr. Helbis and tried to explain why she didn’t have her book.
* * *
I couldn’t wait to get out of English. The time dragged by slower than usual. Finally, the bell rang and Mr. Helbis assigned the last chapters to read before we started reviewing for the final. I collected my things and dragged myself out of the room. Mr. Kerrigan’s theology class was in the next hallway so even taking my time I got there early.
“Ah, Miss Larnex, how nice to have you back in class,” Mr. Kerrigan said when I walked into the room.
“Thank you, sir. It’s great to be back.”
I went to my usual back left corner desk and sat down. You could see the town’s horse stables from the theology windows. I couldn’t count how many times I’d ditched class to spend time in the stables. The people there were really friendly and let me ride and tend some of the horses owned by the stable. I was not an expert at horse riding by any means, but I had grown quite proficient at it.
A voice pulled me back from my daydream. “Well, I guess we’re meeting up a little earlier than anticipated.”
I looked away from the windows to see Viper standing next to my desk.
“Hey, Viper,” I said. “I didn’t know you had this theology class.”
“I do,” he said, sitting next to me, “I heard what happened in your English class.”
“Oh,” I said, looking down at my notebook. “Yeah, well, believe me, she deserved it.”
“Deserved what? You calling her a raccoon or you throwing a wad of paper at her broken nose?”
“Both. It’s really not in my nature to take that kind of crap from people.”
“And what, may I ask, did she do?”
“She didn’t do anything,” I said. “It’s just some things she said.”
“Take a seat, class,” Mr. Kerrigan said, walking into the room. “The bell is about to ring.”
The last few students took their seats.
“Hi, Viper,” Hannah said, bounding toward us.
She looked to the right of Viper and shot a threatening look at poor Michael Ragno. He promptly vacated the desk for her.
“Last week it was so nice to have this class with just the two of us,” she said, shooting me the dirty look this time.
I shook my head and opened my notebook.
“Okay, today we will jump right into reviews,” Mr. Kerrigan said to the class. “We have covered everything for the semester so Matthew is going to hand out review sheets and we’ll get right to it.”
He turned to the dry erase board and started jotting down notes.
“Hey,” Viper said. “Do you want to do something tonight?”
I wasn’t completely sure he was talking to me so I looked at him. He smiled.
“Sure, like what?”
“Viper,” Hannah said through her teeth.
“Shhh,” Mr. Kerrigan looked at our corner of the room.
I looked down at the review sheet sitting on my desk. I was reading down the list of historical dates when I felt a familiar warmth seep into my mind.
How about I meet you at your house around seven?
I turned my head to look at Viper, but he was writing in his workbook.
Are you in my head?
Yes.
You can hold conversations through your thoughts? I was trying to make sense of the situation.
Of course I can.
You said you could only read minds.
No, I said I could read minds. You didn’t ask if there was anything else I could do.
I see. Can I talk to you whenever I want? As long as you can see me?
A small smile turned up the corner of his lip. Unfortunately, no. I can talk to you, but there isn’t a way for you to be the one to start the conversation.
Oh.
I looked over at Hannah. She seemed content with the fact that Viper and I were no longer “talking” and was jotting down what Mr. Kerrigan was writing on the board. She cared about her grades a little more than the other two, I’d give her that.
So your place? Seven?
Yeah, sure. I could feel my cheeks turn pink.
Cool.
And the warmth left me. I frowned to myself in disappointment.
* * *
“So what are we doing in art this week?” The bell had rung to end second period so Viper and I walked down the stairs to the art rooms.
“Bye, Viper,” Hannah called down the hall.
He looked at her and gave her a small nod. I smirked at him. He looked at me and gave me a little shove with his shoulder.
“All of this week we are going to be drawing still lifes,” he said. “Today we’re just warming up with some ornaments. On Thursday we’re meeting in the main hall to take on the Christmas tree.”
“They can’t give us anything better to draw than the Christmas Tree of School Spirit?” I said, frowning.
“At least it’s an easy class,” he said.
“True.”
There really was no easier class than sitting around and drawing either what we were told to or whatever we wanted. As long as we drew or learned to draw relatively well it was pretty much a walk in the park.
We sat down at one of the tables surrounding a smaller table in the middle of the room. On the table there was a box draped in a white cloth. On top of the box there was a little pyramid of circular ornaments. There were also different shaped ornaments hanging off the cloth on the sides. On the surface of the table were a few more ornaments scattered around.
The bell rang and Ms. Sterling shot through the doorway, slamming the door shut behind her. A fraction of a second after she did so, there was a large slam against it from the other side.
“You are late, Mr. Vance,” she said through the door.
Joshua Vance’s face appeared in the little window on the door.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Sterling,” he said.
“I’d think a football player would be quick enough on his feet to make it to class on time. Go to the office, get a tardy slip, and then I will let you in.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Joshua. His face disappeared from the window.
“Okay, class, draw what is in front of you. Don’t make it too detailed, just a quick sketch to get everything. I will be rotating the table about a quarter turn every twenty minutes, and I want you to draw the next view you have on a blank page. Draw the same area you drew during the previous turn. I want to be able to flip through them and see movement. And please make sure your drawing is proportional to the real model.”
She spun the table around and waited for it to stop. “And … begin.”
Everyone picked up a charcoal pencil and started drawing on the papers in front of them. Ms. Sterling walked to her desk.
I started drawing the top of the pyramid when she called me to her desk. “Miss Larnex, may I speak with you for a moment?”
I put my pencil down and walked to her desk.
“I trust you received your drawing assignments while you were away.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
“Excellent. Please hand them to me before you leave the class for lunch.”
“I’ll make sure to.”
There was a knock on the door; Joshua was back from the office.
“Thank you, dear. You can sit back down.”
I went back to my seat. She walked to the door to let Joshua into the classroom.
I felt a warm fuzzy blanket wrap around my mind.
What happened? Viper said.
She was just reminding me to turn in the work I did while out of class, I said.
Art was one of my favorite classes. I found drawing to be relaxing. It also helped that I was pretty good at all the media we attempted. I looked over at Viper’s drawings. As it turne
d out, he was a pretty great artist, too.
That was what I had always wanted to do when I was done with school—become an artist. Just paint or draw all day. I was so sure that was the life for me. I knew it would be a little rocky at first until I got my artwork out there and recognized. All of that was before I found out there would be other plans for me. But at that point in my life I didn’t know what was coming. I let my mind wander while I drew the ornaments. Then I watched the table turn and drew them again.
Before I knew it: “Ready for lunch?”
I looked up from my drawing. Everyone was putting down their art supplies and getting out of their seats. I put my pencil down so I could pick it up and continue after lunch. My stomach was rumbling even though I hadn’t heard the bell ring.
“Yeah,” I said, pushing out my chair. “I’m starved.”
* * *
We had just walked into the cafeteria when Emily started calling for Viper. She waved him over to join her at the table where she was sitting with Madison and Hannah.
“No, thanks,” he said. “I’m going to sit with Emma today.”
Emily’s face turned a violent shade of red.
“Oh,” she said with a shaky smile.
I could tell it was forced.
“But we saved you a seat…”
“Thanks for the thought,” he said, urging me forward.
We walked to the line of people waiting for their lunch.
“The hints don’t seem as bad as you made them out to be,” I said once I knew they couldn’t hear us.
“That wasn’t one of the worst ones,” he said.
I took a slice of pizza and a bowl of salad. Viper took a chicken sandwich with some fries. We took a seat at a table as far away from Emily as possible. I had forgotten to prepare myself for the stares. Everyone stared at him because, well, it was Viper. Everyone stared at me while they tried to figure out why I got to sit with him.
I looked over at him. He seemed somewhat out of place, like he belonged somewhere else. There was something in his eyes that told me he was missing something.
“So, what’s your last class of the day?” he said.
“History,” I said. “Something I never really look forward to.”
Before I could say anything else Emily walked over to us. I should have known that at some point she was going to take matters into her own hands.