Chasing Ellie

9. Camel Fights

Darren Hannigan

I'm usually early for school, I like to say it's because I just want to avoid the traffic but really I'm stuck in a constant state of punctuation.

I can't not be punctual, even when I try I still end up being on time or early. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining.

Punctuality has its benefits, especially in the workforce. The golf course loves me. I show up at 4:30 am every day during the summer. Not 4:31, not 4:29 but exactly at 4:30. I'm reliable, it shows respect and diligence.

Really it's just habit. My alarm goes off at the same time everyday and I walk through the same motions and drive the same drive until I arrive at the same spot. It's not that hard.

That being said though, I have a map I keep folded and tucked between some books on a shelf in my room. It's dotted with all the places I want to travel, a loose itinerary of sorts.

I want out of my childhood home with its 98% white population and Christian beliefs. I want to experience people and cultures and see history for myself. Learn their customs and gain first hand experience of their lifestyles.

People on their own are intriguing.

I love studying people, the way they are, how they react. The things they do. Why they like something and don't like something else. People are puzzles. And I like solving them.

But I also love the many different cultures. I'm intrigued by all the quirkiness of lands far away.

Like how rather than tucking a lost tooth under a pillow as a child, in Greece they toss them on the roof. Or how in South Korea red ink was used to pen the names of the deceased. It is taboo to write someone's name in red ink. Or camel wresting in Turkey. They say there's no injuries to the Camels or the spectators but agitated Camels have a tendency to produce excess saliva that lends to being more sticky and smelly than average.

These things are so wildly fascinating to me. How did they come about? Why did they come about?

I can't imagine being gathered around a camel fighting ring but I want to see it, if only once. To say that I have. But also to experience it, to gather all of the sights and the sounds and the energy of it.

The thought of me standing around a ring watching angry camels amuses me so much I smirk as I shuffle through the quiet hallways. Only a handful of people are here, Wes Thompson and Brett Williams two of them. Which is odd because they typically don't show up for another six minutes. It may seem odd I know the exact time that they get to school but Wes is even worse about being punctual than I am.

Though he has a better excuse than me. He has OCD, I just do the same thing everyday because why not. It works.

"Why so smiley this morning." Sawyer muses startling me from my thoughts.

My smile drops, heart peaking maximum beats per second as I stare at him with wide eyes.

He's early. Unusually early.

"Nothing." I squeak out, reaching for my combination as Sawyer slides up against the locker beside mine. "You're early."

"Always so observant." He says. "Gave someone a ride."

That thing I said about people being intriguing on their own applies to Sawyer.

We have hung out countless times, with Peter, without Peter. Never once have I been to his house. That's four years now. Four years of us spending school, practice, and countless hours of free time with each other and the amount of things I know about Sawyer Evans is limited. Except he constantly picks on Wes Thompson up until a few days ago.

I heard about an incident in town that involved Sawyer, Ben, Wes and the new girl Laurel. Wes came to school with new tics, Sawyer stopped picking on him and suddenly Laurel is missing.

Now tell me that's not interesting.

What makes it even more interesting is the fact that James seems to not have much more information on whatever has happened.

"Who?" I pry because curiosity is getting the better of me.

Sawyer's brown eyes shift to me, from whatever he was watching down the hall. He's slow to respond, like he's calculating exactly what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. Running through his options, exploring each avenue and their outcome.

But then he smirks, that boyish charm that the girls of this school seem to swoon over and he says "no one important".

I know that's a lie but I don't push any farther.

People think you need to force answers out of others. That the only way to know the truth is to have an admission. It's not. All you need to do is look at the facts, the things you know to be the true and the events surrounding you. The people and their behaviors. Placing them along a timeline and eventually you piece enough of it together that it has a way of spelling out the truth.

"Is Peter going to be home this weekend?" Sawyer asks, shaking me from my thoughts again.

I nod.

Sawyer chews over the information, his eyes drifting back down the hallway and I want to look too but it'd be obvious and attention drawing so I don't.

"I heard Ellie Hope might come." He states.

The mention of her name sends my heart into a frenzy, my body going haywire with nerves as my mind tries to create potential scenarios I might find myself in.

I'm not sure if Sawyer knows about my crush. I've never pegged him as overly observant or even that in-tune with any of us. More of Sawyer is the leader and the rest of us follow in his wake just like when Peter was in school.

Maybe James told him. But even that doesn't seem viable. That's not James.

Whatever it is, his comment knocks me off guard and all I can mutter is "oh".