Between The Lines

Chapter 2

“What are you doing here?”

My mouth froze half-open as his steely voice stopped me from speaking.  I took three more steps before I was pulled up at the final shed.  His hazel eyes were curious and surprised (whether it was a pleasant surprise, I wasn’t sure) as he peered down at me.

I backtracked on the speech I had been planning to give him, something stupid about morals and fighting and how dangerous it was to sit on a bike shed where no one could see you, when I caught sight of a nasty bruise on the underside of his jaw.  Suddenly the worry of him falling to his death from a bike shed was inconsequential.

“Your jaw,” I breathed, my eyes widening as he moved his head unknowingly to the left, giving me an even better view of the large pulp, a colour very similar to the mould growing in the corner of the bathroom where my ignorant brothers had continuously forgotten to open the window after showering.

How could I not have noticed that earlier?  Better yet, how could Kaitlin, who was so studious in the art of inspecting every inch of the opposite gender’s skin and attire, not have noticed it?

Zacharias shifted uncomfortably, moving his head back to the right and scratching the side of his neck consciously, effectively hiding his injury.  “You didn’t answer my question,” he reminded me.

Pulling my gaze away from his jaw, I met his eyes.  Normally, I was good at reading people’s emotions through their eyes, but I couldn’t tell whether it was genuine curiosity or repugnance in his black pupils.  Instead of answering, I shrugged my shoulders, walking through a clump of muddy leaves to the side of the bike shed.

“Can I come up?” I asked politely, gripping the edge of the bike shed as I treaded through the autumn leaves, ignoring the dirt that clung to my trainers as I went.

“No.”

I disregarded his answer, pushing myself onto the bottom of the sloped roof and clambering to the top.  With a thud, I plonked myself down next to Zacharias, swinging my legs over the edge of the wooden hut and letting them sway in the wind.  We sat in a comfortable silence for what must have been five or ten minutes, only broken by the whistle of the wind, the rustle of the leaves and the crunch of my teeth on the granola bar I'd pulled out to eat.  At least, the quietness was comfortable for me.  I couldn’t be sure if Zacharias was feeling so at ease.  Judging by the edgy looks he was shooting at me out of the corner of his eyes and the rather stiff way his right hand, the hand nearest mine, was resting on the roof, I suspected not.

“Do you always sit here alone?” I queried, turning to watch his reaction as I spoke.

As he sent another uneasy glance in my direction, nodding in one straight forward motion, I found myself thinking how he really wasn’t as bad as he was made out to be.  I’d never been one to judge someone on what I’d heard. I figured that everyone had a different life and a different way of expressing themselves and rumours weren’t the best way to learn what someone was really like.  After all, everyone had their own story, everyone came from different backgrounds and only they had the right to explain what it was like being them.

“I like it,” I stated assuredly, referring to the secluded bike sheds and grey back of the school building.

I did like it.  It was much more relaxing than the overcrowded, excruciatingly loud atmosphere in the canteen, and although I did feel a little guilty for abandoning Kaitlin, I could get used to it out here.  I realized that Zacharias was openly staring at me now, looking peturbed by the way I gazed fondly at the muddy leaves and wood I was sitting on.  A short bark of laughter escaped my mouth as I realized how strange this situation was.  Of course he was wierded out.  I doubted he ever had company before and here I was, making pleasant conversation, sitting beside him on the roof of an old, decrepit bike shed.

“You must think I’m really weird.”  I laughed as his eyes flickered to the ground and then back to my face, awkardly.

It took a while for him to respond.  “Well, since you kind of walked into the middle of a fight, kind of punched a grown man, ran off, and kind of randomly decided to spend lunch on a bike shed with me, for no apparent reason… yeah, I’m kind of thinking you’re a bit weird right now.”  His voice was low and clear as he spoke, and he let out a quiet chuckle that I wouldn’t have expected to come from his mouth.

“Only kind of,” I agreed, grinning widely as I scrutinised his face.  “You know, I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say.”

His broad shoulders moved up and down in a slight shrug.  “I think that’s the least I’ve ever heard you say,” he shot back.  “You never did answer my question, anyway.  What are you doing here?” he pressed, all silliness gone.

“I...” I hesitated slightly.  “I guess it’s like you said.  I walked into the middle of your fight, punched a random guy and ran away.  It’s kind of hard to forget that, and since I saw you walking down here, I thought I’d join you and, you know, get some answers out of you…” I trailed off, looking at him for a reaction.

He merely looked around as if he’d expected just as much.

“Such as why you were in a gang fight in the first place?”  I pressed on.

“It wasn’t a gang fight.  It was only me and I’m pretty sure that you need at least three people for it to be a gang.”

“Why were you in a gang-on-one figh-”

“Have you ever heard the phrase curiosity killed the cat?” he interjected, starting to move as he dropped sharply onto the ground, landing neatly on his toes.  He sent a dazzling, though slightly sarcastic grin up at me as he slung his backpack onto his back.  “You should try to remember it more,” he suggested.

I narrowed my eyes as he began to walk casually back towards the school, flexing his arms as though they were stiff from staying in one position.  “Where are you going?” I shouted, unmoving.

“English.  Didn’t you know that class started three minutes ago?”  With that last sentence, he swerved around the corner, smirking at my shocked expression.

I pulled my wrist up to my face, looking at the time on my watch with disbelief.  Of course.  Not only had I been let out late of Home Economics, I’d forgotten that the lunch break had been shortened to only thirty minutes to make more time for the drama class’ production practices.  Cursing myself for letting myself get so carried away, I slid rather violently down the bike shed, snatching my bag as I went and actually sprinting for the third time in the past two days, I ran wildly all the way to my Chemistry class.