“You’ll go to the library straight after your last class ends,” Iter told me, “Arrive too late, and you’ll miss her, so go as soon as you can. I told her to borrow a book without context, so she won’t be expecting you.”

Following his advice, I asked my teacher if I could leave his class early. Luckily for me, my teacher felt lenient enough to let me go. Miss Chroma did look at me weirdly, but I think my desperation got to her. The rest of the hallways blurred to me, as I hurried through.

Before I could reach the library, crowds already started exploding from the classroom doors. Many people were in a hurry to reach their locker, and the timer to reach the library ticked a lot faster. Weaving through crowds, I continued as fast as I could to the library, within a speed that wouldn’t get me pulled back by a teacher.

Once I reached the library door, I bursted through. My breath shook, as if I had just ran a marathon. I couldn’t bear the thought of missing Itra. Despite being something as small as meeting Itra, I felt missing this opportunity with her would plague me later.

I saw her back first. She stood, parsing the non-fiction books, with her hand in front of her. I couldn’t see the expression she was making, but just from her posture, I could tell she was very focused on finding whatever book Iter told her to borrow for him. All I needed to do was greet her.

Every day I used to meet her, I don’t think we really got into small talk. Rather, Itra brought me straight down to business and we went on from there. With all the time I spent going with her flow, I didn’t know how to create a flow. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn’t know what to say. I knew where I needed the conversation to go, but the conversation didn’t even exist.

She turned around.

I saw her face. Her eyes widened in shock, just for a brief moment. I felt a pang in my chest, just as brief.

“Illate! Hey,” she greeted, “it’s been a while…”

Why did she ever leave? Did she really need to delegate teaching me to Iter?

“Hey,” I returned her greeting, but still frozen at the library door.

The room stayed quiet for a bit. Almost too quiet. I remembered we’re in a library, and I opted against wishing for noise.

“Have you been doing well?” Itra broke the silence again, “I hope your lessons have been going better with Iter.”

“I guess,” I replied, “how…about you? I heard from Iter that you were moving…”

“Oh…I guess Iter told you?” Itra assumed, “I was planning on telling you…but I never really, well, I guess you’d think it’s kind of silly, but I didn’t really…know how to approach you outside of our little study sessions, you know?”

“...Yeah, I know,” I responded, “I was kind of the same.”

Another wave of silence almost came over us, before Itra blurted, “One week.”

“Huh? One week?”

“That’s how long before I leave,” Itra clarified, “I’m sorry it’s so sudden, but…I didn’t know when to tell you.”

In one week, Itra will be gone.

“I don’t know about you, but,” Itra continued, “I’ll miss the times we spent here.”

My silence enabled her to continue, as I couldn’t find my words to deliver fast enough.

“I really liked looking at your stories,'' Itra told me, “I…had fun. I don’t know if I’ll always be available to help, but if you ever want me to look over your stories, feel free to email me, okay?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There was something I had to tell her. At least once, before she left. No, maybe more than once. I wanted to tell Itra…

“Itra,” I worked out my words, “I’ll miss you too.”

“I’m sorry I had to leave so abruptly,” Itra apologized, “I hope you continue to do well.”

“Thank you,” I said, “I’m glad I had you there to guide me. If I lived in the past, I would ask nobody else.”

The atmosphere between us began to enter another silence, one that I was sure would end in a goodbye. I wished I could have said something, but I didn’t know what to say…

Something to say…oh, I did have something. In fact, I had a lot of things.

“Hey…” I began, “Itra, do you think you could meet me after school?”

“After school?” Itra questioned, “School already ended though.”

“Well, you’re right, then, after this,” I corrected, “there’s something I’d like to give to you. Will you be available anywhere after dinner?”

I needed a bit of time to prepare my little gift, so I scheduled our meeting time a little late.

“After dinner…?” Itra thought for a moment, “I don’t think my parents would be completely comfortable sending me off to meet a boy that late…”

“Just before dinner then?” I revised, hoping I could find a time where I could safely give her the gift I was thinking of.

“How about tomorrow?” Itra suggested, “I don’t want you straining too much, and I think we can visit the park in between our places.”

“I’ll settle with that then,” I agreed, “Let’s meet there.”

----------------------------------------

I spent the rest of my day at my computer before eating dinner and preparing to sleep. Waking up early wasn’t exactly a requirement, but I wanted to be awake as long as possible for the next day. I compiled everything I needed for my gift, and even set aside a binder for the papers I printed. My sister Elliot asked me what I was doing, but I opted to keep quiet. I didn’t want anyone but Itra to know what was going on before she did.

The next day, I sped through my daily routine and focused on organizing the binder I made. I made a few extra pages to add context, and I gave some silly titles to some papers before packing up and leaving. I needed to get to the park to meet Itra.

Being outside, the air hurt. I breathed in moistless air only to breathe out a breath that would freeze. The snow-white-actually-snowy ground stuck to the wheels of my bike, making it dangerous to ride. To keep safe, I ended up having to walk my bike in the snow.

Walking into the park, the once dark depths of the forested area became bleak. When the trees got closer together, I began to feel watched. If it weren’t for the pavement I walked on, I would have felt lost without seeing the grass.

Once I reached the picnic table Itra and I first had our outside study session in, I went to rest my bike at the side of the table. Properly dressed up, I waited for Itra to show up. Because she would normally arrive early, I decided to come earlier as well. I didn’t want to have her wait in the frozen park for too long.

Beyond the trees, I caught sight of a giant walking coat coming my way. On second glance, I realized the giant coat had Itra inside. She must have been almost completely eaten by the coat monster, because I could barely see anything but her face.

“You sure fixed your habit of coming late.” I saw Itra’s mouth curl into a smile before hiding it behind her scarf, “what did you want to show me?”

I wordlessly gave her the binder.

“Chapter One: The Sleeping Tutor.”

“Chapter Two: Detailed Sentences.”

“Chapter Three: Library Lunch TIme.”

“Chapter Eleven: Creating the Ultimate Duo”

And so on.

“Illate, this is…” Itra mumbled as she read, “is all of this…”

“It’s a collection,” I confirmed, “of me and you.”

“So…every day,” Itra mumbled.

“That’s right,” I told her, “every day, what started off as practicing the writing you told me became almost a little journal about all the fun times I had.”

“I…I see a redundant word,” she noted, “and this scene gets a little off-topic, and…”

Itra paused for a moment.

She chuckles to herself, “Illate, thank you. I think I’m going to have a fun time reading this. I’m probably going to make some tiny little suggestions here and there…would you like a copy of it?”

“...I think that would be great,” I replied, “It’s just…a little ode to my time in high school so far…”

“All right, be sure to watch out for that email later, okay?”

“Of course, and,” I began another topic, “in the future…if you like…and I become an author…would you like to be my editor?”

“An editor? For you?” Itra questioned, “...I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”

“Really? Well,” I said, “thank you.”