Learning to Fall

10: Finals Week

"...and then Jacob told me that he has all the Dragon Ball Z dvd's and we're going to start watching them over the weekend," Mikey was telling me.

I was sitting on the floor in his room. I was helping him study for his math test that he had the next day. I hadn't seen or checked on Mikey in a few days, so I was sitting here now, talking to him. Garret wasn't in the room, but Nick was. He was sitting at his desk on his computer, but I could tell that he was listening in on our conversation.

"Dragon Ball Z? He has all of them?" I asked.

"Yeah! Isn't that awesome?!" Mikey exclaimed, grinning toothily at me. I forced a smile back at him and felt my heart swell up a little in a momentary happiness. It was so great to see that Mikey was starting to forget. He was so young, after all. It was easier for him to move on. And he had nothing to feel guilty for.

"I might join you guys one day," I said.

"Yeah! I'll tell Jacob!" Mikey said. I faked a laugh and pointed to the next question. He leaned over his paper with his pencil in his hand. "Do you have any tests?" Mikey asked me.

"Oh, I have a lot of tests," I replied, running my hand through his silky hair. It was getting quite long. I made a mental note to take him to get a haircut once we went on break.

"High school sounds hard," he commented. I nodded.

"You get used to it," I said.

"Hey," I heard. I looked up to see Ben standing in the doorway.

"Hey," I replied as he came over.

"Ben!!" Mikey cried, rushing over to give him a hug. Ben laughed and ruffled his hair.

"I thought I'd find you here," Ben said, sitting down next to me.

"I'm helping him study for his math test tomorrow," I told him.

"And who's going to help you study for yours?" Ben asked me with a wink. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Guess what, Ben?" Mikey asked, sitting up and looking at Ben with sparkling blue eyes.

"What?" Ben asked, a grin on his face.

"I'm going to watch all the Dragon Ball Z episodes this year with my friend Jacob!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Seriously? That sounds like fun. Can I watch?" Ben asked, glancing at me with a small smile on his lips.

"Yeah! You and Renee both!" Mikey cried gleefully.

"What's going on?" I asked Ben when Mike resumed his work.

"I was wondering if you'd like to get some coffee and take a break from studying," Ben said. "But I guess you're already taking a break," he observed, nodding at Mike. I nodded.

"I might be up for coffee later tonight. I'll be up studying and writing papers," I told him.

"Same here," he mumbled, leaning against the low bunk bed. "It's crazy how they have Rosestone Elementary now. I think it's horrible of parents to want to get rid of their young children so easily," he said.

"Rosestone didn't have an elementary school before?" I asked.

"Nope! They made it four years ago," Nick chirruped. I turned around, having completely forgotten he was in the room.

"But they had been talking about making it from way before then," Ben added.

"Yeah. And then they built it," Nick said, looking directly at me. I could tell he wanted some attention, too. Ben gaving me a knowing look.