Still the same. And still beautiful.

Still the same. And still beautiful Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Outside

I didn't get it. He looked scared and confused, but it was only a chair! only a stupid chair! I went back to Rachel as the bus moved off, "what the fuck is wrong with him?" She said, and I just said wryly, "dunno..." I couldn't bring myself to say the usual, 'weirdo'. When we got to school I went to lesson 1, history. I just sat there, I never did anything during history anyway, but this time, I was thinking about him. I didn't even know his name, or what he was like. But I know that just sitting on his seat scared him. I mean, really scared. Not just confused but there was real fear in him. But why? It was just a stupid chair...

I didn't know what to do. We had maths together; fourth lesson. He wasn't there. I felt an empty pang of dread about what he was doing and where he was. I remember looking at him before. His brown hair always flopping down over his work, his nose so close to the page he was almost touching it. He never looked at anyone. not even Mr. Grady. Just looked at the board for the vital numbers he needed to know what work to do and did it. All of it, perfectly. Mr Grady was reading out the register, as always, late as he was totally computer illiterate. "Lucinda Ramson..." a pause that meant no more to me than the noise as I was staring at his empty place... "Lucinda?..." in the back of my head, the words registered,

"yes!" i said, a little to loudly as the hole class turned and stared. "I mean... Yes, sir." Mr. Grady gave me the look that was stuck halfway between confusion and irritation,

"I... see..." He said and looked down again. What was his name? I thought. It was awful i still didn't know. "David Gregory... "

"here sir"

"Rachel Frost..."

"Wa?" said Rachel, looking in disgust at sir.

"that's a yes, then." He said, and carried on reading out names. The rest retreated to background noise and I looked At his empty seat again.

"Monty Agate?"... The name hit me like a hammer. Monty. Monty was his name. It must be, Mr. Grady would not give anyone as much respect as to raise his voice a little to make the monotonous reading of their name a question... Monty Agate... Then, suddenly, I remembered Mr. Grady was still waiting for the standard glace at Monty's seat and ticking, and my stomach churned. I looked at Rachel, but it was too late, as she opened her mouth my stomach turned inside out and suddenly I felt like i wanted to be sick.

"He ran, sir." Mr. Grady looked up, concerned...

"What?" Obviously he was tempted not to believe a word the stupid bitch said, as she was close to a compulsive liar. "now, Miss Frost... I am going to ask you a question that matters. Allot. You must answer it truthfully, and with respect. Where is Monty?"