Color Coded (A Frosh Story)

Casual Connection

One of the other boys in first grade could see colors. Everyone was friends with him. Fred would talk to him, sometimes asking what a certain color looked like.

The boy would try to tell him.

"My favorite toy is yellow. Yellow is the sun and the buses outside. I think it's happy. A happy color." He had giggled, sloppily coloring a page.

Fred could feel a twinge of what was jealousy.

Yellow sounded nice.

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Thursday afternoon, he got home from school. Rain lightly fell, leaving a thin layer of water on his jacket and backpack. The paper Rowan had given him was folded in his pocket.

Fred knew his mom wasn't home yet; her car wasn't in the driveway and the door had been locked.

He sighed, hanging his jacket on the hangar and slipping off his wet shoes. His trudged upstairs, lugging his bag full of schoolwork along.

At least he didn't have Ms. Cobb today.

Sitting down at the small desk in his room, he got to work on the homework assigned.

----------------

After twenty minutes of work, his phone buzzed.

He ignored it at first, thinking it was maybe an email or a notification from an app.

It pinged again.

Fred picked up his phone, checking his updates and looking at the cause of the noise.

Unknown Number: Hello. This is Rowan
Walsh from school.

Unknown Number: In case you forgot, or lost my number that is.

He rolled his eyes. So much for her having faith in him. He saved her contact, quickly typing out a reply.

Hi, I didn't forget, I was just
working on homework.

Rowan: Ah, understandable. My apologies
about that. How is it coming along?

I guess it's alright. I mean,
it's homework :/

Rowan: Also understandable. I finished
mine in homeroom. Do you want
to take a break and chat?

There was zero hesitation to his reply.

Yeah, that'd be great. How
about I ask you a question,
and you get to ask me one.
Does that sound good?

Rowan: Yes, that's fine. You can go first.

Alright then. Easy one.
What's your favorite
subject?

Rowan: English. What are your
electives?

Band and Spanish, and
theatre as an extra one.
Favorite book?

Rowan: Island of the Blue Dolphins.

There was a pause to her typing. She was thinking, so it seemed. It picked up soon after.

Rowan: Sorry if this is personal, but
curiosity has gotten the best
of me. I was wondering if
you could see color?

I can't, haven't met my
soulmate yet. Can you?

Fred wasn't sensitive to the question. Some people, if asked, would refuse to answer or become angry. He didn't get why they would be so offended by the question.

Rowan: I have met my soulmate. It's
a bit different from a normal
soulmate, though.

Another pause. He waited, confused yet eager to know what she meant.

Rowan: My soulmate is platonic. I
won't have a romantic
connection to him. We're still
close and feel right, obviously.
I can only see three colors, along
with black and white. I see blue,
green, and orange. Those are
Max's favorite colors. He can
see red, blue, and yellow.

That's cool! I didn't know
that could happen. I'm
glad that you still have a
good relationship.

Rowan: Thank you :)

Fred could hear the front door open, with a yell of his name and the sound of footsteps.

Gotta go help my mom,
talk to you later?

Rowan: Yes, of course. Goodbye.

He set his phone down with a smile, leaving his room and greeting his mom with a hug, asking her about her day and telling her about his.

This friendship was definitely intriguing.