Lessons On Love

29: Curtain Fall Or Encore

            “Isn’t that important?”

            Marshall shrugged as we walked down the hallway. “Who knows. I always fall asleep before the class ends. What do you have?”

            “Psychology.” And I might have gone if I hadn’t read ahead and covered all the material Mrs. Baker was planning to teach us, and then all the material she said she wouldn’t have enough time for, but since I was done the textbook, and finished the year-end project I was supposed to do with Tyler by myself, it really wasn’t necessary for me to attend. “Okay,” I told him. “Let’s skip. I’ve been slacking on my homework the last two days.” I wasn’t behind in class, but I wanted to plan out my year-end Hamlet essay for English. “Let’s go to the library.”

            Marshall turned to look at me with a surprised expression on his face. “Wow,” he said. “We have a library in our school?”

            We didn’t end up going to the library mostly because I felt that it would offend the library if I brought Marshall inside it. Because I disturbed his basketball practice however, I thought we should go to the gym so he could at least hone his skills even if he couldn’t train the others. Unfortunately, the gym had classes inside it so Marshall stole a basketball and we decided to go to the basketball court outside by the tennis courts.

            The court outside wasn’t that great. It was small and the basketball hoops were in a horrible condition, but there were a couple of benches on the side so I could sit comfortably and do my schoolwork while Marshall practiced.

            The funny thing was that nothing really changed, not even after the kiss. If I looked at him closely, maybe Marshall was actually a little bit more good-looking than I thought he was before, and maybe the way he played basketball made him look a little bit cooler than when I first saw him play, but besides that, everything was still the same. I was really confused. I knew that the two of us were skipping classes together because we were both late and didn’t want to attend, and it wasn’t really like Marshall was teaching me anything, but he was still spending his time with me, wasn’t he? Do I… Am I supposed to give him money when the bell rings? Would he be expecting money?

            I didn’t fully understand it, and it made me feel nervous. It made me feel confused. I didn’t want him to leave me when he felt disappointed that I didn’t give him money when he was expecting it. So should I do it? Am I just better off giving him money every time I see him one on one?

            “Cam-Cam?”

            “Hmm?” When I looked up, I realized my thoughts were so completely elsewhere that I hadn’t written a single word down in my notebook. Marshall stood in the middle of the court, casually dribbling the basketball before he stopped and held it in his hands. “What?” I mumbled. “Did you need something?”

            He shrugged. “Well, I don’t know, but it’s been on my mind a lot actually. The other day… when I took the money, did I, by any chance… hurt you?”

            I stared at him blankly and he stared back at me. He was too far away for me to make out his expression clearly, but sometimes I wonder how he always reads my mind. Or maybe it was all just a coincidence. Maybe we always just thought about the same things at the same time together.