The weekend was over but Chris didn’t mind. As long as he was occupied he would be, at least semi-fine, he thought as he trudged down the sidewalk toward school. School and everything that came with it was routine for most but for him, it was a distraction. A good distraction. Better than sitting at home with only his thoughts as company.
Later in the day, Chris was just shutting his locker door when he noticed his friend, Aaron walking up. “Chris, you’ve got to tell me what’s wrong!” Aaron blurted out. “What do you mean?” Chris asked, grabbing his backpack and starting to walk down the crowded hallways to his next class. Aaron ran to catch up. “You don’t talk to anyone anymore. You come to school, go to classes and leave for home right after. You’re not...you anymore. What happened? Was it something I did?” Aaron looked anxious.
“It wasn’t you, Aaron. And I don’t go home right after school. I can’t bear to go home. I just walk around the neighborhood.”
”What is it then? Trouble with your parents?”
”No.”
”Your other friends?”
Chris gave Aaron a sideways glance. “Sort of...” He stopped, turned away and continued walking. Aaron stood where he was for a second then followed Chris. “Well, what is it? You aren’t being specific enough” Aaron complained. “It’s not her fault really. It’s her parents fault. Her dad to be ‘specific enough’” Chris knew he sounded like he was just talking to himself but he didn’t care. Aaron looked thoughtful for a second. “So it’s a girl. The only person I can think of is Joy. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her around lately.” Aaron gave Chris a questioning look at the same time that Chris whirled around, looking surprised. “So you’re telling me that you don’t know what happened?!” Chris looked shocked now.
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“Should I know? Is she sick or something....worse?”
“No! Of course not! Why would I be in school right now? Listen. Meet me by the playground. I’ll tell you everything” Chris instructed, reached the door to his classroom. “Got it. See you after school.” Aaron waved and continued down the hallway. Chris sighed before entering the classroom. It was math. Chris remembered that he and Joy always had math class together in middle school so they always walked there together. He really missed her....”Chris! I’ve been asking you a question for the last five minutes! Could you please pay attention for once?” Chris looked up at an exasperated teacher.
“Huh? Oh sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it this time, young man. Hour of detention after school.”
Great, Chris thought to himself. If I keep this up I’ll be in detention for the rest of high school.
Aaron and Chris were sitting on the bench beside the playground. “So? What happened? Tell me everything.” “There really isn’t much to tell” Chris replied. “Just that Joy left more than a year ago for high school in Pennsylvania. And as I said before, I’m not blaming her. It wasn’t her fault. It was her dad’s.” Aaron was quite for a while. “So that’s it, huh?” Chris nodded. He didn’t feel like telling Aaron anything else even though he remembered in great detail, the exact day Joy had left.