The Numbers on Our Arms

Chapter 38

Seraphina leaned up the wall outside the school gate and stared down at her watch. The cars flew by on the street off the edge of the pavement and she reached down to her phone in her pocket.

"Sera." She jumped in her skin and looked over to her right to see John having walked out the school gate in his home clothes. "Sorry if I kept you waiting. I went to drop off my bag in my room and decided to change my clothes too."

"It's fine. I wasn't waiting that long anyway." She pushed herself off the wall. "How is Blyke this year? Are you getting along fine?"

"I wouldn't know; I haven't seen him," he replied. "I don't think I share a room with him this year. Though, Isen was weird and asking about him on the day I moved in."

"You haven't seen him at all?" she questioned. "Don't you normally at least have one class together? Or more like the majority?"

"Don't remind me." He sighed. "Maybe it is slightly weird I haven't seen him yet, but it's only been one day. It could just be these classes and that they all happened to fall on the same day."

"At the end of the day, Isen could ask Remi about where Blyke is. I think they were going out at the end of the year," she replied.

"Oh, he was also looking for Remi."

She started choking on some of the saliva in her mouth. "Wh-what?! Have you not seen her either?"

"No." He shrugged. "I didn't think it was weird at the time."

"And the Safe House?"

"Isen was there." He glanced to the side. "They must be running out of the supervisors. I wonder if they would accept it if I volunteered."

"If they're running out, they won't have much of a choice," she replied. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Anyway, they like you now."

"I know." He sighed. "But you know what the rest of the school is like. I could decrease the other students coming back."

"You can work on that," she said. "Or it could be just temporary until I come back."

"With Blyke and Remi?"

"We don't know how long they will be gone, do we?"

"But we don't know why they are gone."

She paused and stared off away from him and to the tree beyond. A robin jumped out of a branch in the tree and flew down to the bush below on it's brown wings. "Do you want to go to Woaba Boaba? I haven't gone there yte this school year."

"Oh, I haven't either," he replied. "I guess this is my first full day here: what's your excuse?"

She smiled up at him. "I wanted to go with you."

"And you couldn't go by yourself or your sister?"

She giggled. "Why are you so insisted on this? I wanted to go with you, my boyfriend, to your favourite café."

"You should also go by yourself. And why didn't you introduce your sister to it?"

"I just haven't had time yet." She shuffled her hands. "And my sister would have even less time. Plus, she has lived her for a few years by now, she's probably been there before."

"She hasn't mention it to you then? It's one of the best cafes around."

"I've also been living here for the majority of the year for at least three years. She probably doesn't think she needs to tell me."

"Wait, you have been living in the same area for three years and didn't bump into each other. What's to say she hasn't gone to Woaba Boaba then?"

"Are you suggesting that in my time of high school here that I would have passed by everyone who lived here? That's slightly ridiculous John. On the other hand, with the café, there are a lot less of them about. She's probably been there." She laughed into her hand. "Anyway, how was your first day of school?"