Handle With Care

04

Greyson was nowhere to be found the next morning. I waited by his locker for ten minutes, anxiously glancing at a nearby clock as it grew closer and closer to first bell.

The hallway was becoming sparce as students parted ways with their friends and headed to homeroom. I could see Alice out of the corner of my eye. She was standing in the center of a group of kids - all of them gazing at her every move. It didn't even cross my mind that I should go say hi. Popularity and attention was her thing, while I preferred to lay low. It had always been this way.

As I leaned back against the locker beside Greyson's, I felt a sense of regret as I looked to my right. There was no lock on his locker. A lot of people didn't use locks because they were time consuming and we were given a ridiculous two minutes to get from one class to another, but a lot of people weren't Greyson. If the way he acted yesterday when we met in the office was any indication of who he was now, then I had a feeling he would lock his locker. If it was an option, he would probably lock his life.

Think, I told myself. You're a mysterious loner who returned to your old school after two years spent doing God knows what. Where do you go?

Suddenly the answer seemed so clear, like it was handed to me on a silver platter. I took off instantly in a half-run down the hallway as the time remaining before homeroom continued to decrease through tiny movements on a clock.

• • •

My town was so divided that there might as well be a line through the middle with "Rich" written on one side and "Poor" on the other, and while my family wasn't drowning in cash, we lived on the wealthier side. Parkenson High, however, was on the run down side of town - the same side where Greyson's old group home was.

I went to a private elementary school that was a block away from my house, but come middle school, I begged my parents to let me switch to public school. The daughter of a man who owned a mini supermarket didn't exactly fit in with the children of CEOs and lawyers. I was glad I made the switch, too, because on the first day of middle school, I met Alice, and we've stuck together ever since. My mother, however, had her doubts. She's lived in this town her whole life, and she attended private school all twelve years. She didn't want me attending Parkenson, especially since it's desperately in need of construction. Between graffiti in the bathroom stalls and the broken heat, my mother accused me of "going through a rebellious phase" and "wanting to slum it" when we toured the school. What they didn't show us on the tour, though, because most of the staff prefers to pretend it doesn't even exist, was the backup gym.

Over ten years ago, there was a major flood in the gymnasium, and the damage took months to repair. In the mean time, the school had converted one of the bathrooms into a backup gym. Even then, it was crowded and had multiple holes in the floor from where sinks and stalls were torn out. Now, though, it looked like something out of a horror movie. Most students avoided it at all costs, aside from a few who went there to smoke or ditch class. Somehow I knew Greyson would be there.

As I pushed the door open, I noticed a black T shirt stuffed in an open locker in the makeshift "locker room" (which was really just about five lockers in the front section of the room). I scoffed, wondering who came in here with a shirt and left without one. This thought was soon abandoned when I heard heavy breathing coming from the back section of the room.

"Greyson," I called out, turning the corner. I was shocked to find him shirtless, doing push ups on the torn up tile floor. "What are you doing?"

He collapsed back on his knees, whipping his head towards me as if he just now noticed I was here. "Jesus, Rosalie," He muttered as the first bell rang. I huffed. Now I was most likely going to be late again, and this time I wouldn't even have a pass. "What are you doing?"

"I was looking for you," I said slowly, wondering what the hell else he thought I was doing here. "I take my babysitting responsibilities very seriously."

"Well, you scared the shit out of me," He rolled his eyes, jumping to his feet. I must have looked as frustrated as I felt, because he decided to explain himself. "I just...I was feeling overwhelmed, alright? I wanted to unwind."

"By doing pushups," I echoed, but my heart wasn't in it, because I was just now noticing his bare stomach. His muscles were prominent, with veins bulging from his tan arms. I would have been gaping at his six pack, but as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I realized he was covered in bruises. Various shades of purple contoured his shoulder, with a scar slicing through the middle. Another bruise coated his side, although this one was yellowing, like it wasn't as recent. What looked like a faded scar from stitches sat about an inch below his collarbone. "Oh my God."

"What?" He asked, before following my stare with his own eyes. "Fuck."

"What," I sputtered, not even sure what to say. The image of the black eye he had on the night we met flashed in my mind, and I wondered why he was always injured. At the time I figured it was just a result of living with over six other guys. "Are you...Are you back in the group home?"

"No," Greyson shook his head. "Hell no. When I left, I got emancipated. I've been living alone for two years."

"Then what happened to you? You look like you just got jumped by the football team. I mean, God, your shoulder looks like something out of an action movie, or one of those gross pictures that were always attached to chain messages. You're like -"

He sighed, cutting me off. "Rose."

"Sorry," I flushed. "I just...wow."

The corner of his mouth tilted up slightly, and I felt relieved that he wasn't annoyed or mad. Without offering any more explanation, he brushed past me. I followed him, watching as he grabbed the black T shirt from the locker and tugged it over his scarred body. It occurred to me then that whatever he was going through was much bigger than a group home, or the coldness he had shown towards me yesterday, or even the black eye he had when we met. Somehow I knew that since that night, whatever was going on had gotten much worse - so bad that he couldn't let anyone in or let his guard down, but I wasn't going to quit. I might not have been able to save Nathan, but Greyson was not yet broken beyond repair. I wasn't giving up, not now.

"You coming?" Greyson asked, snapping me out of my trance. I looked up to see him standing in the doorway, his expression blank but not cold. I nodded, trailing behind him out into the hallway.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I fished it out to see a text from Alice. "Where are you? Please don't make me suffer through Calculus alone!! " it read, and I grimaced, realizing homeroom was about to end.

"My class is on the third floor," I told Greyson reluctantly as we neared the stairs. Because of my assignment from Mr. Quinn and Ms. Emberly, I knew he was staying on the first floor. "I'll see you later."

Greyson nodded dismissively, and I took off up the stairs. The halls were mostly deserted, aside from a few kids who obviously weren't planning on attending class. I headed towards my Calculus classroom, knowing it was too late to bother going to homeroom. I was taken by surprise when I saw Alice standing by the classroom door.

"Homeroom hasn't ended yet," I said, skipping a greeting.

She shrugged. "I slipped out when I realized you weren't coming. Where were you, anyway?"

I inhaled sharply, figuring I might as well tell her now. I had bailed on the phone call I promised myself to make her last night, worried about what she would say when I told her what I volunteered to do. Alice wasn't like me - she didn't get attached to people easily. They needed her, but she barely ever needed anyone. Aside from her mom and myself, Alice kept everyone at arm's length. She never understood my preoccupation with Greyson.

"He's back," I sighed, glancing down at my feet. "Greyson's back."