Letters From Foxes Chapter 3.

 Chapter 3.

 

      Well, after that I felt like s**t, I really did. There were people in the hall this time, everyone was here for classes. I went to my locker, but it felt like it took forever to get there. The halls are pretty wide, and my locker was down the hall. The walk felt like it took forever. Like I was in slow motion. I looked down the whole time, examining my shoes and how they stepped all over the shiny, polished, white tile floor. Well more like tan. White with little tan specks all over.  I don't carry a bag with me to school, I mostly just keep everything here in my locker. Unless I need to bring books home or something. I usually don't do that even if I have to. I'm pretty organized actually, if you can believe it.

      8-25-18.

      All my books were stacked neatly just as I left them yesterday. It's Friday, Geometry first today. We have a rotating schedule, cause we have to take 8 classes. Some kids take 9 and stay for longer days. So every day we rotate, and just have 6 classes a day.

      Anyway, so I had math first today. I grabbed my math book and notebook, and I was about to close the door when I saw something. A little piece of paper. Tiny, really. Taped to the inside door. I peeled it away and looked, and it was this stupid little drawing. Of a fox.

      That made me real mad, I mean it. I got so mad, I ripped up the stupid little drawing and threw it on the floor. God, that Leaves girl is really a b***h.

      Sasha Peterson walked by. I didn't feel much like talking to her. For one, I was suddenly really tired. It was just hitting me, that extra hour of being awake. And for another thing, I just didn't wanna. She smiled, and walked over to me. I don't know why she keeps trying to talk to me.

      “Hey there, Topher,” she said, in the goofy girly way she does. It's almost coy. And really stupid.

      “Hi.”

      “What you doin' this weekend, stud?”

      Stud. God.

      “Uh. I think I'm going to a concert. I don't know.”

      I shouldn't have said I don't know, but I really didn't.

      “Well, my friends and I are going out to this party tonight. You should come, ya?” She was playing with her long blonde hair. Her skirt looked even shorter than usual today. I think the girls here sew them shorter or something. “You can bring some friends. Bring someone cute for my friend Shelley, kay?” She giggled, all girly, and walked off before I could say anything.

      Going out. It's a big city. How the hell am I supposed to know where “out” is? I guess that's good though, then she can't get mad when I don't go.

      Grace walked by. She doesn't try to talk to me.

      Grace Kimberly. We dated once, when we were like twelve. You know how those kind of kid romances go. Nowhere.

      Last year we both went to this beach party in East Hampton. Jenny Rider was having a big party thing on the beach. I guess her parents own beach-land property or something. Everyone from the school was there, pretty much, and for the whole night Grace and I ended up talking by the bonfire. I think maybe her best friend was sick or something, cause otherwise she'd have been with her. I just know it. Her eyes were kinda pretty by the fire. I wanted to kiss her like crazy, but then she ran off with some other guys she knew, and we haven't talked much since. She kinda stays away from me. It pisses me off, if you wanna know the truth.

      I didn't find anyone else I wanted to talk to til English. That's the one class I have with Will and Bean. Mostly we just sit in the back corner and goof off. Well, as much as we can. Our school's pretty strict mostly. But the teachers are kinda dumb. Or maybe cause it's college prep they just assume if we don't wanna learn, we don't have'ta. Thank God, cause I mostly hate English.

      I sat down in the back. The second Will came in I laughed. He was wearing a leather jacket, and had his hair all puffed up like Bean's usually is. I couldn't tell if he was doing it to make fun of him, or not. Either way, it was f*****g funny.

      “You're such a queer,” I laughed as Will sat next to me. He looked dead serious for a second, and I stopped laughing. Then he punched me really hard in the shoulder, and smiled. I'm kind of a wuss, I think he left a bruise.

      “Like my new do?” He put his hands up to his hair, like he was primping or something faggy like that, and he spoke in this high pitched voice. What's really funny is lots of guys actually wear their hair like that. Lots of guys in rock bands and s**t. Fashion is bullshit. He must have done it to make Bean mad.

      Actually, Will didn't look too bad with his hair all fearthered up, what with the jacket to go with it and all. I was surprised he hadn't been taken out of class wearin' it, too, cause they're definitely not allowed. We have special uniform winter coats. Or at least they gotta be red. But like I said. The teachers here are dumb as doorknobs.

      Bean walked in, all silent and serious lookin', and sat up front. I didn't even care. If he's mad at us, at least we don't have to go to that stupid club he was talking about. Problem solved.

      Will was just joking anyway.

      What a baby.

      It sure was quieter back here without him though. I was actually facing the front most of class. My eyes were closed though. Suddenly, I felt another tear-jerking hit on my shoulder. I never told him how much it f*****g hurts. “What?” I snapped at him. Sometimes he's such an a*s.

      “I got the tickets.” It took me a second to get what he was saying.

      “Bitchin'.” Violent Femmes. Don't tell anyone, but they're my favorite.

      I kind of blacked out after that. I was really tired. Didn't even hear when the bell rang. Will's such a dick he didn't even wake me up, the classroom was empty when I opened my eyes. Mr. Rockwell was gone, even. What kind of school is this. I looked at the clock and it was almost lunch. I guess no one used this classroom after my class. You're not allowed to ditch classes, or you could get suspended. I decided to go find a phone and tell my mom to call me in sick, or something.

      But when I walked into the hallway, it was dead quiet. No one in the halls, but I figured they were all just in class. Not a single person. It was kind of eerie. There's a phone booth over by the bathrooms, so that's the direction I headed, listening to my feet scuff against the floor.

      What a terrible day.

      I thought about what I'd do tonight though, and realized I didn't really have any plans. I don't ever really make plans. I always just find s**t somehow, I guess.

      I was close to the phone booth. It was short, but silent walk. I could only hear my feet and my breath. It was kind of nice. I looked up, watching the windows of the classrooms as I walked. The first two I passed were empty. I figured maybe they just weren't being used right now. But as I kept walking, I noticed that all the rooms were empty… No students. No teachers. No anyone. I rubbed my eyes. Figured maybe I'm dreaming, or something. But opening them again, the rooms were still deserted. S**t. I could feel my pulse racing. I could feel the adrenaline leaking into my blood stream. I mean it, I could feel the little atoms or enzymes or whatever. I kind of panicked, to tell you the truth.

      Then I thought, maybe the clock I looked at was broken. Maybe it wasn't almost lunch, maybe school ended and I didn't even know. But teachers usually stay after hours, and at this school there are always girls prancing around trying to talk their way into a better grade. And then there's the nerdy kids who sit and study until they lock the doors.

      Maybe there was an emergency and everyone had to evacuate the school. S**t, that happened once in second grade. Some crazy guy, and I mean crazy, was drunk as hell and  walking through the hallways with a bottle of booze and a handgun. And they had to evacuate the school. We climbed through the windows, even. Like I said, there's a golf course behind the school, and all. We climbed out the window and had to walk across the green to get to one of the little golf shacks. You know, the ones where they sell golf balls and s**t. Apparently the guy didn't even have bullets or nothin', but we didn't know that til the cops came, and all.

      But someone would have definitely woken me up. No one's that heartless, to let me get killed here by some crazy drunken m**********r.

      Then I saw her. This girl, across the hallway. My heart was still pumping fast, but I felt relieved to see someone. I didn't recognize her. Maybe she was new, or something. Or one of those weirdo girls who sit in the shadows or whatever.

      Weird thing was, though, she was beautiful. Not in the way super models are, and all. But she was. Her hair was long and dark reddish brown, and she wasn't wearing a school uniform or anything. She wore this small gray dress, which looked pretty good cause her skin was so white.

      “Hey,” I shouted down the hall. “Where the hell'd everyone go?” I said it pretty aggressively too. I sound pretty mad when I'm scared.

      She didn't say anything for a while, just kinda stood there. Then she held out her hand, like she wanted to take me somewhere. I was starting to get pissed. I hate when people just don't answer you. I mean it, it really pisses me off. I wanted to hit her.

      “Hey!” I shouted again, louder. “Who the hell are ya anyway? I've never seen you before…” I started walking over to her, really fast and all. I was pretty mad and scared, but mostly mad. Why would everyone just leave the school with no warning? And I was pissed at Will for not waking me up.

      “Answer me!” I shouted, right in her face. I was maybe a foot away from her, but I didn't take her hand. Up close, I could see she had freckles. Not lots, they didn't make her look bad or anything. She was really gorgeous still, even up close. But I was too mad to care, really.

      “Temper,” she said, grinning. “You're going to have to work on that, I think.”

      I'm not proud of what I did next. I raised up my hand. I was going to smack her, I really was. I swung, aiming square for her pretty freckled face, but I didn't hit anything. She disappeared right from under me. She must have ducked or something, cause next thing I knew I was being punch real hard in the arm. Geez, who knew girls could hit like that.

      But I looked up, and I was back in Mr. Rockwell's room again. Mr. Rockwell was there. So was Will. So were all the other stupid kids. I must have woken up making some sort of horrid noise, cause everyone was looking right at me, and Will was laughing his a*s off. I could see Bean smirking up in the front. Dickbrains.