Husbands But Not

37: Phone Number

Kent

I witnessed three things at school today:

An over-the-top prom proposal, a fight, and a breakup. Such things happen at every school, except this time, each of them turned my perspective in a different direction.

The reality was, none of those things was actually over-the-top.

The prom proposal just happened to be the first one of the season. It didn't concern me specifically, but it did slap me with the fact that I wouldn't be attending the spring formal with Noah Grayson, my Home Ec. husband. It was a thing for Home Economics students to go with their year-long assigned partners.

Did it make him my ex-husband, now that I moved schools?

No it didn't because it was more than school.

Did he move on?

No I didn't, Kent Sinclair.

I wondered as I walked away from the 'Prom?' sign and the strewn flowers if Noah's days were going any better than mine.

No they weren't, Kent.

I found myself thinking about him quite more often as the time passed.

Me too, Kent, me too.

Was Home Economics fun without me, or had my absence gone unnoticed?

You left a gap that can't be filled.

Walking physically was something, but walking in a direction while my mind was walking in another was bound to end catastrophically.

In that case, the catastrophe was me running into someone, knocking off their books.

"I see you're still running from your problems?" The feminine voice said as she picked up her books. I looked up from my crouch and was met with a bright pearly smile.

"Valerie Val For Short." I beamed back.

She giggled then took me in a short, meaningful embrace. "I missed you so much!" I didn't know why, but it affected me more than it should've to know that I was missed. It had me feeling a certain way; like, someone actually noticed my absence.

She walked me to class and promised to catch up with me at lunch. For a minute, I had a settling sensation that, hey, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to start anew.

New school and new friends. Living with a new, much more pleasant family than I've ever had. It would've been of utmost idiocy to leave it all behind and go back to my old life. Not that I had a say in it, but I liked to think I had a choice. I liked to imagine that I wasn't always the puppet.

If dad was thinking of punishing me by sending me away, then that was the best punishment he'd ever applied. And he applied a lot of punishments before.

I sat down in class with most eyes fixed on me. Typical, considering I was the newly transferred kid. It didn't bother me, and no one said anything. It was just expected, awkward glances.

I was sitting alone, no one next to me. The layout of the classroom was eerily similar to the one at Rivertown High. My solo session didn't last long, but thankfully, I was joined by none other than Marisol.

Mario's sister was very bubbly, always happy, but not in an annoying way. I liked her.

"Hey Kent!" She beamed. We didn't get a chance to discuss our day much because the teacher walked in right then. That was when everything went to hell.

The teacher introduced herself as Miss Gladys. It was extra uncomfortable because it was only me who didn't know her. She looked like she ate children for breakfast.

No wonder she's a miss, I thought.

Intimidating like an angry wolf's eyes, fearless like a wild bear, and straight up murderous. Then she spoke and the highest pitched voice I've ever heard came out of her mouth, followed by the loudest laugh I've ever let out.

She thankfully let it slide, but I was pretty sure Marisol wouldn't let me live it down.

Regardless of the stone-cold teacher, I expected the class to be fun and lighthearted, like my previous one was. It was so not.

They had no projects, no pretend families, no marriages. No Husbands.

"The tax reforms then changed after Parkridge got its independence as its own country, despite it being called a state." the teacher went on and on about tax evasion and its complications.

"Could this get any more boring?"

Marisol sighed. "Trust me, it could. It will."

I didn't doubt it.

The fight broke through on my way to lunch. A girl more intimidating than Miss Gladys slapped a guy who looked like a basketball player so hard he actually cried. It was dissipating. Everyone was going back to their own life when the boy's friend slapped her back.

Amidst the chaos, I remembered Casper Dean and the amount of times we had fought in the busy hallways. I found myself feeling bittersweet about the relationship I had with him. He made my school life hell, but sometimes I'd pester him on purpose to trigger a chase or an anger fit in him.

The break up happened at lunch.

Valerie Ross broke up with her boyfriend. He was an airhead, she was an intellectual, but he saw it the other way around.

She sat at my table, casually eating like nothing happened. Maybe my thoughts of relationships were distorted, or maybe she just didn't care. Had it been me I wouldn't have gotten back my appetite until at least a few days.

She looked up at me through long eyelashes, her head hunched over her food. "I'm an athlete, Kent. I can't afford losing calories over heartbreak." two spoonfuls later, she wiped her mouth. "So how have you been, what had gotten you here, did you miss me?"

I didn't know how to tackle her questions or which to start with. However, we talked for the length of lunch period and caught up, more or less.

Before the bell struck, she pulled out her phone and started tapping on it.

"OH. MY. GOD." I gasped when I realised. How slow was my head? "You're Gavin's sister!" I tried not to draw attention to us. I didn't want to come off as the new crazy kid.

She looked scared. "Uh, Kent. We already established this?"

"No I mean you have his number!"

"You still make no sense."

I explained my phone dilemma and she said she'd try and get me Noah's number. I didn't know what I'd do with his number without a phone or computer, but that was a problem for later.

Right before we had to leave, she aimed her phone camera at me and clicked a picture. It took me off guard. Moments later, she turned over her screen, a picture of Noah sitting at his regular lunch table, unaware of his photo being taken. I almost leaped over the table to take her phone. This was Noah Grayson, living his day-to-day life in his own circle. It hurt like hell knowing I should be there with him instead of being behind a screen that felt like an invisible barrier between two restless souls that wouldn't find peace until they unite.

I didn't focus at all through the rest of the classes. The teachers probably thought I was a stoner. I wished I were.

That night I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of Noah's heart. I wanted to believe that his heart was beating in my direction. I hoped his heart was half the heart it was before I left. I was sure mine had split in half that day I threw his jacket back to his front porch. I wondered if there would come a day when our hearts will beat together, or be one made of two perfect halves.

The three things I witnessed were very regular and normal. But those three things redirected my soul to Rivertown, and what parts of me were left in it.

"That's weird." Mario exclaimed from his bed. "Valerie Ross just texted me. And it's some random phone number."

I instantly jumped in bed. "That's not a random number."

A/N: Thanks for reading. More soon x.