History Hates Lovers • Cole Mackenzie

005: Only A Fib

Xavier woke up a bit later than usual and barley had any time for breakfast, but he still managed to make something. He grabbed all of his belongings and put them in his book bag, putting on his coat after and walking out of the door into the cold, snowy Avonlea day.

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Once he had made it to school, Xavier placed all of his things on the coat rack and removed his books from the book bag. He walked over to where he usually sat, beside Cole in the back of the class. Xavier greeted the boy and Cole gave him one back, before continuing to try and draw.

"Alright, bright little minds, open your readers. Let's pick up from where we last left off." Mr. Philips said, walking up and down the middle row without chairs.

Cole gripped his hand and groaned slightly, making Xavier advert his attention to the boy in pain.

"Are you alright?" Xavier whispered.

"I'm fine." Cole replied, quietly.

Xavier gave him a 'I know that's bullshit but I'm not going to call you out now' look, and Cole just rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Really, I'm okay." He said, nudging Xavier's shoulder.

"I don't believe you." Xavier replied. "But we'll talk later."

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"Isn't it the point of life to seek what excites you?" Anne asked. "I mean, what happens? Does one smile to death?"

"My parents and I have never even been invited before!" Diana exclaimed.

Cole and Xavier sat to the side, Cole trying to sketch while Xavier played with his hair. The two boys were just listening to the conversation going on, not feeling the need to intrude.

"But God forbid father had gone out with the world's tiniest sniffle!" Diana rolled her eyes.

"It's absurd that ladies aren't allowed to travel without a male companion." Anne emphasized 'male companion'.

Xavier hadn't realized it, but Cole had been getting increasingly more agitated as he continued to fail at drawing with his right hand. All of a sudden, Cole gets up off of Xavier and stands up. He walks over to the fire and throws his sketch book into it, trying to destroy all of his marvelous artwork.

"Cole what are you do- what are you you doing?" Anne yells, getting up quickly and taking the book out of the fire.

"Leave it!" Cole tells her.

"Cole..." Xavier softly says to him. "Calm down."

"I am calm." Cole responded.

"Just wait." Anne told him.

"I said leave it!" He said.

"Cole, why would you do such a thing?" Diana asks, staring at the on fire notebook.

"It should've been better by now." Cole said.

"What are you talking about?" Xavier asked. "Do you mean your hand? Cole, that's going to take a bit to fully heal."

"Well, it should have been healed enough but it's not." Cole responded.