"Sorry to keep you waiting," I said to Jessica, coming out of the school building. She smiled at me.
"No worries, I actually just came out of the art building. I had to go back and talk to Mr. Suazo about the modeling project," she told me. I looked at her with curiosity.
"What are you guys doing for the show?" I asked her. She gave me a sly smile.
"Well, we're supposed to be doing pictures for the art show, and I was hoping to bring in a nude model after school," she told me. I raised my eyebrow at that comment.
"Really? Who is going to pose for you?" I asked her. She gave me a large grin.
"You, silly!" she told me. I shook my head.
"Nope, not me," I told her quickly. She glared at me.
"Why not?! It's not like I'm going to have you display your junk for everyone to see," she snapped. I glared at her. "I'm actually really insecure about my body," I told her. She shook her head.
"Why? You're flawless. The only issue I may have with your body is—"
"I don't need the smoking lecture again, Jessica," I told her, cutting her off. She pouted for a moment.
"Well, it is horrible to your body," she said softly. I shook my head at her exasperatedly, starting towards the front gate of the school.
"Let's go, I'll buy dinner for today," I told her.
* * *
"What? You used to know Mr. Nishimoto personally?!" asked Jessica in surprise. I nodded.
"He used to know my older brother," I said to her. She looked at me in shock.
"Sam...that's his first name—used to treat me like his own sibling. He taught me how to shoot a gun, which was something I had continuously begged my father to do to no avail. Sam also helped teach me my studies so that I knew as much as they did on the subject of algebra." I gave a small chuckle. "In a way, he was family to me. The other boys were kind to me, but Sam was the person I was closest to in the gang, aside from my own brother," I told her. I shrugged.
"One day he just up and disappeared. I don't know where he went, but I thought I would never see him again. It turned out he had already gone to college and taken courses to be a teacher. I saw him again at River High a couple years after he left." I smiled weakly.
"I was so relieved to see him again—it was like a missing link of my family had finally returned to my life." Jessica listened to me silently. She gave me a small smile.
"I didn't know you had a brother. I know you have a sister, but I thought she was your only family," said Jessica. I nodded.
"His name was Adam. He was seven years older than me. He left when I was just about to go into middle-school, and he left for China to become a doctor," I said to her. She placed her chin on her hands thoughtfully.
"Were you two really close?" she asked me. Before I answered, several memories flashed through my mind. The times Adam and I escaped school to go to the abandoned cabin hidden deep within the forest behind the city limits. The times that Adam and I snuck out of the house to hang out with some of his high school friends, Mr. Nishimoto included. The last night Adam and I were on good terms—and the same night he took everything from me.
"Yes...you could say that," I said to her softly. She nodded at me. She gave me a smile.
"What was he like?" she asked me. I thought back on the hours together, the ones where we were still happy.
YOU ARE READING
In the Classroom
Romance(Rated R for mature themes.) Joshua Brown is a boy with many secrets. Life hasn't exactly been a bowl of cherries for him. His parents are dead. His brother has run off on him. His grades are horrible at school. This is only the tip of the iceberg f...
