Dear Ethan Kesler

9

Never would I have thought that a conversation with Ethan would cause me to think so much. I've always known what I'm working so hard towards. College is my goal. College, then a steady job.

I was still contemplating when I opened the door to my apartment. I was greeted with my sister, Elena, in the kitchen. She was making ramen. Music from the radio drowned out my presence. So, she didn't notice I was there until I set my stuff down on the dinner table.

"You're later than usual," she said while turning down the volume on the radio.

I checked the clock hanging on the wall, 5:30. "You're here really early."

She laughed, then handed me a bowl of food. "Yeah, I can't really believe it myself. The boss had an emergency and closed early. Maybe I'll get to go to bed early for once."

"Hopefully," I responded, before eating some of the ramen.

We both ate silently for a while. Once I finished, I grabbed my homework out of my backpack and set it on the table.

My sister was still eating, but she stopped when she saw me take out my homework.

"How's school?" she asked, taking another bite of her food.

"It's fine," I said, "homework's still a bitch."

"Yeah," she said, growing somber, "I thought so."

------

The next morning, I was sore from sleeping on the couch, since Elena wanted the bed. I woke up to my alarm going off in the otherwise silent apartment. I checked to see if she was still here, but every room was empty.

I got up and made the bed that she left messy. After making myself a quick breakfast, I grabbed my stuff and walked out the door, double-checking to lock it.

-------

Ethan didn't notice me when he walked in the library. There's chairs hidden behind a bunch of bookshelves filled with biographies that he practically bolted to. Usually, people would go there to "study".

I've had enough experiences trying to do work while a couple was messing around. No one else came in after him, and I was the first person in here this morning. So, hopefully I won't have to deal with that again.

I don't get why people even do that in libraries. I mean, the library is so quiet and empty. I get why you'd want it to be empty, but it's so quiet that you'd have to be completely silent for the librarian to not hear you. Also, since it's so empty, she'd probably notice you when you walk in. I don't know, I just think there's probably better places to do it. Like, NOT at school.

I was still studying when I heard him get up and move. The music that he had blasting in his earbuds was getting closer and closer. He walked out of the library quickly, but I caught a glance at the book he was holding, Fahrenheit 451.

------

The teacher called up Ethan to her desk when he walked into History. They talked for about a minute before he sat down at our table.

"What do I need to do again?"

The question surprised me, though it shouldn't. After yesterday, he's seemed more talkative. I'm kind of glad he isn't just ignoring me like usual.

I explained what we still had left to do. Unfortunately, there's quite a lot because I've been swamped with math homework. He listened, while tapping his fingers on the keyboard of his laptop.

After I finished, he straightened up. "We need to finish at least half of it by Monday."

I panicked. "What? We still have like two weeks until it's due."

"Ms. Kampt wants to see our progress on Monday."

Today's Thursday. That means we (or I) have the weekend to get the work done. I can make that happen. But, then I thought about all the other homework I still have to do. Not to mention the Physics test I have next week.

Ethan was staring at me while I was going over my schedule in my head. He caught my attention by snapping his fingers in front of my laptop screen.

"So," he said once I focused his attention on him, "when are we doing this?"

"We?"

"Yeah, when are we doing this?"

Since when did Ethan have any interest in this project? All he's been doing so far is... nothing.

"We only have 20 minutes until our work time is over for this period," Ethan stated, "and we don't have this class tomorrow."

"Um," I started. I don't have an answer to that. He was right, there was no way in hell that we could finish anything in the time that we have. I guess we'll just have to do it in the library. He doesn't seem like the kind to invite me over, and I definitely don't want him at my place.

"I guess the library," I said, adding a mental reminder to get started before then.

"Ok," Ethan said, grabbing his phone, "what day and what time?"

"Um," I said, thinking over my schedule again, "today and tomorrow after school works for me."

"Ok," he said, then started typing away on his laptop.

"Ok."