Seeing in Color

Five

"Oh," He seemed a little disappointed. His dark eyes flickered down to his set of keychains dangling from his backpack. I noticed one that looked like a medal or something, but it was too hard to tell from where I sat.

Gosh, I need glasses.

"So, I'm guessing that you go to Rolland Prep?" I asked.

"Yes," He glanced at me. "It's my first day."

"Mine, too!" I couldn't help but keep my enthusiasm down. "Well, at Olympia, I guess."

"What grade are you in?" He asked.

"I'm starting my freshman year today, but I'm not even fourteen yet."

"I'm sixteen, but I'm only a freshman," I glanced up at his face to make sure I heard him right. Three years older than me, but in the same grade as me. How?

"Did you start school late?" I asked, trying not to be rude.

"No, I just moved around too much. My mother was in the Army. We kept moving every school year, until we decided to stay in one place: my grandmother's. I was homeschooled."

"Where did you live?" I asked. "Before here, I mean."

"Well, actually, I've only lived in Canada my whole life, before my grandmother decided to move down here to the US." He looked at his shoes and averted his eyes. "After, uh, she was offered a job here."

"So, you and your mom live with your grandmother, down the street?"

"No, just me. And yes, it's the house right there."

He pointed to the two-story house next to the small ranch house I lived in. We were not just neighbors, we were next-door neighbors!

I was still confused about his mother, but before I could ask, a yellow school bus pulled up down the street. The side of the bus read Olympia High School. That's my que.

"Well, that's my bus down there. See you after school, I guess." I stood and shoved my art supplies back into my bag. I waved at him and started down the sidewalk.

"Hey, wait!" He called behind me, standing up. I halted. "I never got your name!"

"Hazel! Hazel Levesque!" I called, walking backwards.

He smiled brightly and held up a hand, waving at me. "Frank! Frank Zhang!"

I smiled and turned back around, climbing into the bus and sitting in a middle row. My heart was pounding, but not from nervousness about the school day ahead, or the people I was going to meet.

My heart was leaping for joy because of the boy I had just met.

On the fifth stop we made, a short Latino boy with pixie features and a skinny frame came down the aisle towards me. He had curly dark brown hair and an impish smile on his face. He was much shorter than the tall athletes on the bus, but he didn't look like he knew how to even throw a ball. When he spotted the empty seat beside me, he smirked wider and flopped down.

"Sup?" He winked. "Call me McShizzle."

"Mc-who?" I scooted over to make room for his bag. He snorted and looked at me with a mischievous expression.

"I'm Leo," He stuck out his hand and I hesitantly shook it.

"Leo McShizzle?" I frowned in confusion.

He laughed and shook his head.

"Huh?" This kid was confusing.

Leo cracked up, pounding the back of the seat in front of him. Fortunately for him and his fragile looking body, the seat was unoccupied. "It's just Leo. Leo Valdez."

"Oh," I nervously laughed. Leo seemed different then anyone I've ever known. Even stranger than Louise, an old lady that lived downstairs from us in our New Orleans apartment. His messy hair was greasy, like he rarely washed it, but he didn't smell that bad. I mean, he smelled like burnt toast, but a lot of the kids in here did, too. I glanced at his choice of clothes and raised an eyebrow. He was wearing brown trousers and suspenders over an off-white button-up, like newsboy from the early nineteens hundreds. His brown sneakers were covered with soot and caked with dirt. He looked like a scrawny Santa's elf from nineteen fifteen.

"What's your name, guapa?" Leo asked, his fingers dancing across his legs as his feet bounced on the metal floor of the bus.

"Hazel Levesque," I glanced out the window as the bus started and continued through the city.

"Just Hazel?"

I glanced at him and blushed slightly, then nodded.

"You new in town?"

I nodded again.

"What grade? Wait, let me guess..." He frowned and put his finger to his chin, raising an eyebrow dramatically. He looked me over. "Senior?"

I laughed and swatted his arm playfully. "No, you silly! Freshman!"

Leo shrugged, putting his hand down. "You look smarter than most seniors I know. And prettier."

I blushed and glanced at my shoes. "Oh..."

He looked away, and I felt bad. This kid was trying to flirt with me, make me laugh, and I was too shy to handle it.

"Am I really?" I asked. Leo looked up and smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Most of them are too covered in makeup to see what they really look like. I like that you don't wear makeup."

"Th-thank you," I blushed harder and shrugged. "I usually don't wear makeup. It feels too heavy on my face."

"Same, hermana," He snorted. "I was dared by one of my friends to wear makeup for a full school day, and I actually looked pretty good." He pulled a scratched-up phone and pulled up a picture. It was a selfie of him and two other boys that looked like twins. Leo had makeup on, and he did look pretty good in rosy lipstick and gold eyeshadow.

"Wow, you look great!" I giggled and swiped the phone. The next picture was of one of the brothers in class, doing something funny behind the teacher's back. "Who are your friends?"

"The Stoll brothers. They're a year apart, but Travis was held back a grade, so he's a sophomore like his brother and me. Then there's Cecil Markowitz, a kid that our school counselor fosters, and Chris Rodriguez: he's the only senior in the group, but he's pretty cool."

I nodded, trying to remember names. "How long have you known them?"

"Well, I've known the Stoll brothers since third grade, and I met Chris last year when I started high school. Cecil lives down the street from the Stoll's, in a rich neighborhood in the subs. I met him and his foster sister Kayla a few summers ago."

He changed the picture to a photo of a summer camp. I recognized the two brothers and Leo posing with silly faces, joined by a brunet boy with glasses and a young girl with bright green hair. There were a few other kids in the picture, but I didn't recognize any.

"Do you want to sit with us at lunch?" He asked, slipping his phone back into his brown backpack.

"Uh, sure. Yeah. I'd like that."

The bus stopped. We were here at the school.

Leo stood and waved for me to follow him through the crowded aisle. Just as my shoes hit the pavement, I heard a catcall.

Oh boy.