After lunch for the next two periods William heard more rumors about Shane and Luke and he was tempted to correct them somehow but he felt strangely guilty in the very notion that he might know Shane so he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to have to defend himself. He was headed to seventh period, World History, when he saw Mrs. Gallagher in the hall and she signaled to him with a look of her eyes then a wave of her hand that she wanted to talk. He looked up and down the hallway before making his way to her where she led him inside her classroom. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it was empty.
“Hi William,” she said. “Did you hear about what happened?”
She moved into the room then leaned casually against her desk causing William to turn on the spot. He felt lie he was giving a performance as he stood before the classroom of empty desks.
“Actually, uh, I went to see him,” he said. William felt tense in the throat and tried to massage it away.
“How’s he doing?”
“Shane-” William’s voice cracked and he tried to clear his throat, “he’s fine I guess. His face is pretty bruised and his jaw is wired shut.”
“Oh my,” she said, “that bad?”
William felt uncomfortable trying to assess someone else’s situation, let alone Shane but he forced himself to speak.
“He’s a survivor. He didn’t seem too down. He was supposed to get out last night but I haven’t heard from him since. He has my phone number though.”
“His mother got in contact with you then?”
“No, I just went to the hospital. Actually Brittany told me about what happened so he must have contacted her. She told me the hospital and where he ended up. I just decided to go.”
She nodded.
“So you don’t have his phone number? I just want to check up on him if it’s really as bad as you say.”
“No, I don’t have it,” William said, “I mean, I gave him my number but he hasn’t texted me yet or anything. I don’t think he can talk.”
“Well, do you mind if I give you my number so that if you hear from him you can call me?”
“Um, no, that would be fine,” he said.
She moved around her desk and wrote out on a piece of paper her phone number then handed it over to him.
“That’s my cell phone number so, you know, discretion,” she said.
He held up the paper and said, “no problem”, before he began to walk away. He heard the second bell for the beginning of class and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“Wait,” Mrs. Gallagher said, “I can give you a note.”
He thought about telling her not to worry about it but then he remembered the teacher’s policy and decided to take her up on the offer. She was quick to write a note and sign it for him. She stood and walked him to the door then took his elbow as he handed over the note.
“You be careful out there,” she said.
He smiled to her and shook his head as if to dismiss her concern but as he stepped into the hallway and heard the door close behind him he felt more alone than usual as he walked to class. Before he had looked forward to seeing his friends and teammates, sure he didn’t get along with them all of the time but he wanted to see them, but things had changed. He had a secret not many people knew about and it was something dangerous.
He sat through the next two classes in a fog, barely paying attention though that better than most even on good days. He had long ago perfected the act of looking curious and interested while thinking about something else, though he couldn’t focus on anyone thing in particular.
When the day ended he walked to his car and sat in the driver’s seat for a long time as he waited for the rest of the cars to leave. They had nearly all gone when his phone buzzed to life frightening him. He pulled it from his pocket and looked to the display where he saw a text from a number not in his phonebook. It had to be Shane. He smiled and opened the message.
Figured you’d be out of school. Has that nightmare ended?
William opened a response and quickly typed with two thumbs.
It ended. Too slow of course.
Anyone talking about me?
William looked up from the phone to the nearly empty parking lot and over to the school building where he saw only a few students hanging around after the buses had left. He thought about telling Shane what he had heard but he didn’t know how he would take it so he decided to be vague.
Rumors. Nothing 2 bad.
Good. Want to come over?
No comments:
Post a Comment