Rosemary's School For Extraordinary Teens

17. truth or cringe

I hop off the back of the truck and walk past Dawson and straight up to the grounds keeper.

  "Can I speak with you" I say softly

  "Sure" he says after a moment. The janitor nods and slips away leaving me and this 50 some year old grounds keeper alone.

   I can feel my heart in my chest as I blank on what to say next.

  "What can I help you with" he says looking at me confused

  "Uhm" I start as I scatter to think of what to say "Uhm I'm very interest in construction... I was wondering if you would show me your skills" I say wanting to punch myself in the face I'm so stupid

  "Uhm, I don't know much about my skill but I have a photo album in my house with some of my projects if that helps?" He says confused

  "Yes, yes that would help" I say smiling. Fuck my life.

  "Okay then" he says walking towards his small house as I follow close behind.

  I look over at Dawson and he is smirking while Natalie and Tyler are laughing their asses off.

  "what's your name" he asks as we walk into the small cosy home

  "Mary" I say and he nods

  "Tucker" he says as he walks over to a book shelf and grabs a big book off it before plopping it down on the table.

  "Here we go" he says motioning for me to take a seat at the table in front of the book. I do.

  I open the book to see on the first page is the construction of the fence that wraps around the property. I flip the page and it's the beginning construction of his tiny home we are sitting in right now.

  "Is that you" I say pointing to a man standing in the picture.

"Sure is" he says smiling.

  "Look at you, I'm sure all the girls where following you around" I say wanting to shoot myself in the head. Ugh fuck Dawson. Fuck him. Fuck him. Fuck him.

  "Oh I don't know about that, just the one" he says smiling as he points to a picture of a young girl, supposably his wife.

   "She's beautiful" I say now just flipping through the pages more interested than anything

  "Who's that" I say pointing to a child in one of the photos.

  "That's our son" he says softly.

  Just as I'm about to ask about him he grabs the book back and puts it on the shelf.

  "that's enough wasting time, we have to get back to the shed before you all have to go for supper.

  "Absolutely" I say standing up from the chair. I don't know how to 'hit on' the groundskeeper, I did my best.

I walk out of the tiny home with tucker close behind as we head over to continue building the small shed.

I look over at Natalie and tyler as they are still laughing. God when it's my turn I'm gunna fucking use it, screw you Dawson.

  I walk over to the group as we all start building again. We get a good majority of the frame done before our detention is over and we are aloud back to the mess hall for supper.

  Once we enter the mess hall the whole room is already full with kids eating, we all part ways and head to our normal tables. I immediately look for Erin and go right for the seat beside her.

  "Hey" I say as I sit down in front of the open spot beside her

  "Hey where were you?" She looks over at me confused

  "Detention, had to build a shed for the groundskeeper" I say dishing up food

  "Oh that sucks, you coming to the movie tonight in the field" she asks excitedly

  "What movie?"

  "Every so often they pull out the big projector and we get to watch movies on the side of the building, I think tonight's is Jurassic Park"

  "Oh maybe" I say as I start to eat.

  Supper passed by fairly quickly and it felt like not to long after before the sun had set and most people where on there way out to the back field between the main building and the education building to watch the movie.

  As we made our way out Erin spotted a good spot near the back on a small hill that we ran too before anyone could take it. We sat and watched as loads of people made there way out of the building and out to the grass in front of the previews flickering on the screen plastered on the side of the building.

  I looked over and noticed Natalie walking with Tyler in our direction before sitting down beside us.

  "Hey girl" she says to me as she sits down with a big blanket she's sharing with Tyler.

  "You want some, here" she says throwing me and Erin some of her blanket so we all have some.

  "Oh, Erin this is Tyler and Natalie. Natalie, Tyler this is Erin my roommate" I introduce them all and just then the screen goes black and the movie finally starts.

  "So what happened with the groundskeeper" Natalie whispers to me

  "Oh you mean tucker?" I say back and she smiles

  "He just showed me a photo album, I didn't know what to say to him I did my best" i say quietly

  "Well either way it's your turn, what are u gunna do" she says excitedly

  " I don't know yet but I'm gunna get Dawson either way, I can't believe he made me do that"

  "Make it good" she says smiling

  We continue to watch the movie but around half way my attention for this old movie starts to run out and I end up people watching more than anything.

  I watch as small groups are talking and Couples lay out in the grass making out and as I scan I land on Dawson and his friends sitting near the back, off to the side talking.

  Just as I'm watching them Dawson looks up and over in my direction and we lock eyes for a moment before I look away, he's clearly reading my mind, I wouldn't be surprised if I learned he constantly read my mind, it feels like he does.

  When I look back over at him he's still looking my direction and we end up locking eyes, both of us not breaking it.

  A few more moments pass before Dawson then stands up from his group and takes his blanket and starts walking to an open space before laying down.

He looks back over at me and we lock eyes again before he nudges his head signalling me to join him.

I ignore him and go back to looking at the screen but it doesn't take long before I look back over to find Dawson watching the movie then looking back over at me.

I really shouldn't but I stand up and step out of the blanket.

"Where are u going" Natalie says fixing the blanket.

"I'll be back" I say quietly as I walk across the field over to Dawson.