Hello, World

Chapter one              hello, world

The sun beat down on the sidewalk and I kept my head tilted down, my eyes trained on the imperfections of the concrete. Mom walked ahead of me, her posture straight and her head held high. I felt the blush creep onto my face as I trailed just behind her, hoping no one that would recognize me was around.

            I don’t need another reason for them to call me a prude.

            In the city of grays and blacks, she was an eye full of pastel colors. Her pencil, light blue skirt didn’t even shift as she quickly weaved through the streets. People chatted on cell phones but it fell on my deaf ears as she reached back, grabbed my arm and pulled me along after her.

            A man stumbled into us, sending my mother in a quick halt.

            The way she assessed him reminded me of the calm before the storm. It was well hidden, but danced just beyond her eyes.

            The man smiled at us slightly and as opened his mouth to speak, Mom reached into her small purse and handed him a wrinkled dollar bill.

            “That should suffice, right?” she said, business like. My eyes washed over his features and the expression that fawned on his face as he looked down at the dollar. His mass of brown hair fell just to the base of his throat and his wide blue eyes squinted after a moment.

            “We must have a misunderstanding,” he replied quietly.

            “I’m sure not,” Mother answered him. The edge in her voice sent a slight shiver down my spine and she pressed her lips into a thin line.

            “I just need �"”

            “Come along, Danica,” she said passively, tugging me along after her. I craned my head around to see him, still standing in our wake as if he hadn’t processed that we had left.

            “You don’t have to be so rude,” I muttered under my breath and she yanked me so I was standing beside her.

            “He was just another lost, street urchin.”

            I rolled my eyes, but kept my head down. My anger pulsed inside me and I shook my head.

            No wonder I only have one friend, I thought as I threw a quick glance at her.

            Mom could be simply described as the captain that had sunk many ships, but had never gone down with one.

            We slowed to a halt at the edge of the street and she released her grip on my arm. I turned my head away from her, my jaw tightening.

            “You jumped to that conclusion without even letting him talk.”

            “For him to ask for money?” she scoffed.

            I pressed my eyes closed for a moment, trying to change my state of mind but instead, I just shook my head at her.

            “Never mind,” I replied quietly. You just don’t get it.

            “Oh, don’t be like that,” she said, rolling her eyes as we started across the street. We slowed down in front of the building in front of me and she ran her eyes over me, brushing my hair to the wrong side and nodded once.

            “I’ll be back for you later?”

            “I can walk myself,” I replied, turning to go inside.

            “I’ll be back,” she reiterated and then, in a puff of blue evil, she disappeared into the crowd.

            I looked after her for a moment, looking toward the building and then down the street.

            I’ve been taught the simple truths.

            Don’t cheat.

            Don’t steal.

            Don’t lie.

            No one said I didn’t have to go to ballet lessons. I tossed another look at the front doors of the studio, the more I stared at it, the worse it looked before I turned my back on it, and walked away.

            Sitting on a bench in the subway was apparently the first thing that came to mind. People rushed by, onto speeding trains and off of them. Smoke breathed out from each stalled train, encircling me in gray clouds. The words passed from each individual were grabbled as everyone moved past, running in constant fast forward.

            I rested my head on my fist, my eyes skirting around each person even though they blurred together in blobs of black.

            “Hello, world,” I said, the words clear even though no one stopped at them.

            “Hello,” I heard from behind. The voice caused me to jump and I craned my neck around.

            “Huh?” I asked, staggering off the bench and standing up in front of him. The dark hair and bright blue eyes �" the same from before.

            “You said, ‘Hello, World,’” he told me, a dark eye brow arching. “I’m World.”

            My mouth fell open slightly before I felt my face turn red. “Oh. That makes this awkward then.”

            He shrugged as if to say, not really.

            Silence clouded us and I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Oh! I’m Danica,” after he said nothing, but waited for me to speak.  “And uh, I’m sorry �" about earlier.”

            “It’s fine,” he said, then glanced around me, like he was checking to make sure she wasn’t near me. I smiled slightly and looked down at my feet.

            After another quiet moment, he smiled slightly. “Make it up to me,” he suggested.

            “How?” I asked, my inner alert going off in my brain. The constant beep beep beep danger! almost fogged my whole brain, but I managed to keep my posture and ignore all the cautioning.

            “Walk with me,” he said simply.

            He brushed past me in one fluid motion and I stood, clutching my ballet bag, my back to him.

            I pressed my eyes closed, imagining it for a minute. I could go to ballet and apologize for being late, or I could follow World.

            Opening my eyes to the still busling subway, I slung my heavy ballet bag over my shoulder before taking off after him, calling, “Wait!”

*

“How long have you been here?” he asked as we roamed the streets of the Mile together. My bag slapped against my upper thigh rhythmically and I followed him along as he glanced from store to store.

            “All my life,” I answered as he stopped in front of one window, then kept walking. “How about you?”

            “All your life,” he said under his breath, shaking his head. Then, louder, he answered, “A week or so.”

            “Oh,” I replied quietly. “Where are you from, then?”

            World shrugged. “As of now, I’m from Chicago.”

            I opened my mouth to ask something else, but he turned into a store so quickly that I had to backtrack to follow him.

            The bell chimed overhead as I pushed the heavy door open and slid inside. My eyes widened as I took in every inch of the store. The smell of incense hung around crowded little store, lined up in jars to my side. Curtains fell over the dressing rooms, and a smoky smell mixed with the incense, but I couldn’t place it. I took another weary step, my eyes playing over the signs that were all over the walls.

            Hippies welcome!

            If you remember the 60’s, you weren’t there.

            “I had this dream last night, dude. Maybe it was, like, a premonition, but the guy was like, ‘We decided to run your paper. We get that it’s not about where to drink, but how drinking can affect the soul.’ Oh, hey. Can I help you? Not you, dude. I call you back in five, we’ve got costumers.”

            A girl popped out from behind the desk, her brown eyes on World. He gave her a smile and they started to talk lowly as I ran my fingers over the silver jewelry that littered the counters. I lifted a pair of feather earrings into my hand, running my thumb over the soft blue and green colors. They hung on long chains and I tried to imagine myself wearing them.

            Mom would kill me.

            “You don’t need to wear anything but diamonds,” she would say. “Everything else is just trashy; you want to be classy.”

            I came around to the counter just in time for World to unzip his backpack and hand the girl a dream catcher.

            “Dude, this is rad. You make these?”

            “It’s a hobby,” he replied and she turned it over in her hands. Her glasses slide down her the bridge of her nose and clinked with the little ring.

            World caught sight of me and gave me a small smile. “You see anything you like?”

            I shrugged. “There’s a lot.”

            The girl laughed. “That’s an understatement. Dude, I think these would totally sell. How about when they do, I’ll give you a call and you can pick up the profits?”

            “Cool,” he answered. He dug through his bag, pulling out several more. The girl looked over each with a smile alight on her face.

            “These are so rad. In fact, I’d like to buy this one. How much?”

            He shrugged. “Seven dollars?”

            “Seven?” she snorted. “You can sell it to me for seven, but for everyone else I’m upping it to ten to fifteen. Deal?”

            “Deal,” he agreed and she popped open the cash register, pulling out a five and two ones. She handed them across the counter and winked.

            “You saw nothing,” she said, looking between us. “Nice doing business with you.”

            “That’s my number,” World answered, sliding a piece of paper across to her.

            “I’ll be in touch,” she chirped.

World gestured to the door by tilting his head in the direction, and we headed back through the door and onto the sidewalks.

“I’ve never seen that store,” I said as we started walking.

“Lived here all your life and never saw this store,” he shook his head. “We need to open your eyes.”

I laughed and glanced down at my watch on impulse.

“Oh, Gosh,” I said when my eyes fell over the time. “I’ve got to get to the studio or I’m so dead.”

World frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. “We also have to make you more dangerous,” he commented as I started off in a jog toward the direction of the studio.

“Wait,” I said, coming to a halt and turning back around. “Will I see you around?”

He gave me a wide grin and nodded. “Tomorrow. Same time. Subway.”

I smiled at him and nodded, “Okay.”

I ignored the beep beep beep danger! that pounded inside me as I ran toward the ballet studio and told me that it was dumb that I even hang out with a stranger today.

He could’ve killed me.

But the moment the thought even came into focus, I shook past it.

No, definitely not. He makes dream catchers; I don’t think that’s the making of a serial killer.

I ran past all the blobs of gray and black, to the studio. I made it to the doors winded, my legs shaking. I let out an airy laugh as I leaned against the building and checked my reflection. My bun was coming undone and the diamonds caught the darkening sunlight.

I checked my watch again, before unzipping my bag and pulling out my hair brush. I untangled it, and twisted it back up, my hands shaking from nerves.

There’s no way she’ll know, I lectured myself as I dropped to my knees to shove my brush back into the bag. A glint of silver caught my eyes and I found myself pulling out the feather earrings from the store.

My jaw dropped open slightly, my eyes blinking repeatedly to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. When I glanced up, I saw Mother walking through the crowd in the burst of blue and shoved the earrings back into the bag, zipping it up. I shot to my feet and smiled as she approached me.

“Hello,” I greeted her.

“Danica,” she smiled at me and my hearted thudded in my chest, a new panic setting in. I had gotten away with it, and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty.