Danyelle
Ceon and I walked in silence to the bus stop. I tapped my foot impatiently, afraid that the train conductor would follow us out. I kept glancing backwards, anxiously towards the direction of the train station, but he never appeared. I glanced back for about the third time when the bus pulled up right in front of Ceon. He gestured for me to go in first, which I did. I dropped $4.50 in coins into the machine for Ceon and I and we sat down close to the front in the nearly empty bus. I fiddled with my thumbs and watched as we cruised through downtown Sheathing. I looked up at the sky, the sun almost set with a beautiful pink and red sky. Dilapidated apartment windows winked at me in the dim red sunlight. Boys played handball on the sidewalks and girls jumped double-dutch and sang rhyming songs. Women sat on their house porches and chatted, each with a glass of lemonade in hand. I leaned against the wall of the bus and watched a boy ride no-handedly on his bike in front of the bus. As he sped down the street, his friends, boys and girls stopped to whistle and holler their hellos. “Hey, Theo!” I heard a girl yell, while keeping time with her double-dutching. The boy turned to the sound of her voice and gave her a salute. “Headed to the library, Teddy?” Another boy called as he dribbled his basketball down the sidewalk.
Theo nodded and smiled and pulled the bill of his fitted cap farther down into his forehead. Ceon nudged me. “We’re here,” he said, just as the bus pulled to a stop and Theo pulled on his brakes. I stood up quickly and thanked the bus driver, who smiled. “You’re welcome, kiddo. Ain’t everyday someone says thanks to me.”
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I walked unto the sidewalk, Ceon trailing me. It was surprisingly warm in Sheathing and I could feel sweat trickling down my back underneath my sweatshirt. The boy was locking his bicycle to a rack in front of the library. He opened the door for me. “Thanks,” I said. Ceon nodded his gratitude. “Hey,” he said. “Are ya’ll from ‘round here? Ain’t never seen you at the slab before,” he remarked. “Slab? Where’s the Sl—’’ As I saw him up close, I saw that he had freckles dotting his tanned, chocolate cheeks and nose and a small gap in his two front teeth. I thought it was charming. He looked about fifteen and was about 5’6, a good 2½ inches taller than me. “No, we’re not from around here.” Ceon said.
Theo looked at Ceon with marble tranquility and turned back to me. “You need help with them bags?”
“No, we’re alright, thanks.” Ceon said again. Theo stared at Ceon and spoke with a disserting calmness. “I beg your pardon, but I don’t reckon I ever spoke to you, sir.” Ceon was taken aback. “So? You need help?” Theo insisted.
“Thanks,” I said, handing him my duffel bag. He stepped into the library with a swiftness and sleekness that I marveled at. It seemed like his home. “Hey, Ms. Genevieve.” He said, to the zitty librarian, taking off his hat to reveal freshly cut, wavy black hair. I gawked at the uniform she wore. Simply ridonkulous. “Theo, I done told ya you ain’t gotta call me Ms. Genevieve. Just Gen, to you sir,” she said smiling. “Always Ms. Genevieve this and Ms. Genevieve that!” she remarked to herself.
Theo smiled at her and placed my duffel bag unto a chair. “What you doin’ here anyway Ms. Genevieve? Din’t your shift end hours ago?” “Yeah,” sighed Genevieve. “But that fool called in sick when she know doggone well she ain’t sick. So I gotta take over.” Theo clucked his tongue. “Shame, Ms. G.” “A shame it is,” Genevieve said, shaking her head despondently.
He stuck his hand out to me good-naturedly. “The name’s Theodore. Named after Teddy Roosevelt himself. Some call me Theo. Some call me Teddy. You could call me whatever floats ya boat, but never Dora.” I shook him warmly by the hand. “Danyelle,” I said. “Some call me Dan. Some call me Danny. You can call me whatever you want.”
“Danny it is,” he said, smiling.
He turned to Ceon.
“Ceon.” Ceon said gruffly.
“You ain’t got a nickname?” Teddy asked disbelievingly.
“Nope.” Ceon said.
Teddy laughed a laugh like fireworks on July 4th. I laughed too. “Well, ya gon get one soon!” I loved his accent. It was so rhythmic and smooth. He looked at Ceon’s face inquiringly. “Boy, you sure you ain’t from these parts? ‘Cause I could’ve sworn I---”
“No,” Ceon said, interrupting again, an irritating habit he had picked up. “I’ve never been here.”
“Oh,” said Teddy, taking off his cap and scratching his head. “Must’ve been in another life.” He linked his thumbs in his belt loops and put his cap back on. “So what ya’ll come here for?”
I answered before Ceon could. “We came to look for someone. Three little kids, a pair of twins and an older boy. They, uh… got lost… somehow.” I said.
Teddy looked at me pryingly. “Ya don’t seem too sure.” I ignored him. Genevieve came to the rescue. “Oh, ya mean those three shrimps who walked in earlier? Those poor chickadees looked like they hadn’t eaten in days. They must still be in the back… I ain’t seen ‘em leave…” she trailed off, clucking her tongue. Ceon immediately stormed to the back of the library. My ears picked up muffled cries and the sound of Matt’s voice. I heard Fletcher cry, “Ceon!” I went to follow him, but Teddy grabbed my arm.
“So where you from?” he asked, looking at me with piercing brown eyes.
“I’m from Boreal.” I said smoothly.
Teddy put his fingers in his belt loops. “Ain’t nobody from Boreal got a accent like you got. Ya ain’t lying, are ya?”
I fake-laughed. “Course not, Teddy.”
Teddy shrugged and kept his strong gaze on me. I averted my eyes. “So, uh, why ya looking for these kids? They, uh… ya siblings or somethin’ of the sort?”
“You Sheathingers are really nosy,” I remarked.
“I prefer the word ‘curious’.”
“I call it obnoxious. You guys must get into a lot of fights,” I observed.
“Oh,” Teddy said. “That ain’t all the Sheathingers. It’s just me. I was just born naturally…” he moved closer to me, his face just inches away from mine. “Inquisitive.”
“Uh—Danyelle?” Ceon’s voice echoed through the room. He stared at Teddy and me. I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and moved back a little. I walked over to him. “What—’’
“Nothing,” I said. “And lower your voice.” I glanced over my shoulder at Teddy, who gave me a salute and winked. My cheeks and ears went up in flames. Ceon’s eyes went up in flames. “They’re hungry. Could you get something to eat… please?” He asked, his eyes softening. “No problem,” I said, my cheeks returning to their normal temperature. I walked to the back of the library and saw Fletcher and Sarai and Matt, happily munching on cheese puffs we brought for snack. I hugged them all. Fletcher squeezed me the tightest.
“I thought we were goners, Dan! Rio called me all scared and said to listen to you and—’’
“Mario?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“You never explained why he didn’t come,” Ceon said. “That’s a whole other story,” I said, sighing. Since when did my life become complicated? I wondered to myself. I took some clothes out of my backpack and gave them to Ceon, leaving just my wallet, a few coins, a tank top, and bobby pins and paper clips. I grabbed a pair of dark denim shorts and a canary yellow tank top from Ceon’s arms and rushed to the bathroom to change. I quickly pulled off my grimy sweats and sweatshirt and slipped into my shorts and top. I felt the scab on my knee, from when Bertha pushed me unto the sidewalk. I cringed. I pulled my cell phone out of my sweats and dropped them into my backpack. I felt much breezier and casual. Great for the warmer weather in Sheathing. I swiped with deodorant quickly and added a few spritzes of my favorite perfume, Secret Garden. I looked at my hair, frazzled and untidy. I grabbed my comb and took it out of the bun. I combed through it neatly yet quickly and let it hang with loose kinky curls at my shoulders. I quickly applied some light pink lip gloss and blush and brushed my think, long eyelashes with some extreme black mascara. I pulled my light yellow headband with a large sunflower onto my head and let a short curl dangle in front. I stepped out of the bathroom with my clothes and book bag.
Ceon stared, and I stared back. “What?” I asked. He blushed and looked away. I pulled on white Hanes socks and my fairly new white converses and looked in the mirror. Fab, I thought, posing in the mirror. I threw my book bag over my shoulder and stuffed my clothes into my duffel bag.
“You look great,” breathed Sarai. “Thanks!” I said to her. I patted down my hair, noogied Matt on the head, and walked out to meet Teddy. “Do you know of anywhere I can get fast food?” I asked, as he stared at me from head to toe, the hazel specks in his eyes bright and dancing like sparks.
“Hello? Teddy? ”
“Uh, yeah.” He said, blinking rapidly. “Um. There’s a soda pop shop not too far from here… ain’t far at all.” He said again.
“Soda pop?” I asked. “I mean, pizzas, burgers…”
“They sell that stuff too.” He said, staring at me intensely.
“Great… well then, can you take me?” I asked, hopefully.
“’Course,” he said. “C’mon,” he took his thumbs out of his belt loops and opened the door for me on our way out. “Thanks,” I said.
Ceon was staring at me, his cheeks red and his brown eyes cold. I swallowed, looking from him to Teddy. I wanted to go back inside, console him, tell him that his siblings needed him. Tell him how I felt. But I swallowed it then, and I swallowed my feelings for Ceon and followed Teddy. When I turned my back on him then, I refused to look at him again.
Teddy unlocked his bike from the rack. “Well,” he said, patting the handlebars. “Hop up.”
“Hop… up…” I repeated his words quietly, trying to comprehend. “Hop up?! ’’ I shrieked. “Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?” I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. He threw one of his legs over his bike. “Well, alrighty then. Good day—’’
“Wait!” I said, as he began to push the pedal. “I’ll get on,” I huffed, boosting myself unto his handlebars. He grinned for the first time, and a dimple pierced through his chin and left cheek. I smiled grudgingly and he began to ride. I felt the wind blowing through my hair, and I didn’t look back. But I should have. Because then I would have seen Ceon, his eyes brimming, staring accusingly at the back of Teddy’s bicycle through the library window.