Taylor dodged flying food and fleeing students as she ran out of the cafeteria. The hallways roared as teachers and their companions struggled to make themselves heard over the chaos. Not even the half-eaten spaghetti that splattered across her shirt could stop Taylor from looking for Mason, but she couldn't catch so much as a glimpse of him.
She whipped her head around as someone yelled her name over the cacophony.
Ms. Sanderson waved her over to the library. Taylor pushed her way through the crowd and caught her breath next to the bespectacled old lady. "Looking for someone, dear?" Ms. Sanderson asked as her armadillo slowly uncurled itself and twitched its nose cautiously.
"Have you seen Mason? All this noise really spooked him."
"Ah, yes. This sort of thing tends to make him overstimulated. I'll take you to his favorite spot once we get you cleaned up a bit."
Ms. Sanderson got some wet paper towels from the bathroom and gently dabbed away the worst of the pasta sauce. "That might still leave a stain, but that's the best I can do. Now, let's go find your friend."
She led Taylor deep into the nonfiction section where only the smartest kids and the occasional kid with a research project ever dared to go. "He should be over by the books about plants, a few rows down from the art section," she whispered. "Be careful not to startle him."
Taylor whispered a quick thank you before tiptoeing past her most frequently visited aisle. Sure enough, Mason sat trembling with one hand vigorously rubbing a chunk from one of his termite mounds and the other cradling a book in his lap. His breath came out in frantic huffs as termites swarmed across his skin.
Taylor eased down next to him. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head, sending termites raining onto the pages in front of him. "Too much noise," he muttered. "It hurts."
Taylor silently sent her flies over to the end of the aisle to drown out the ruckus outside. "Whatcha' readin'?" she asked in an attempt to distract him from the noise.
"African trees." His fingers scrubbed the chunk of the mound more slowly as he flipped to a page with a drawing of a tall tree with a thick trunk and most of its branches clustered near the top. "This is a baobab. Did you know they can live for over two thousand years?"
"That's really cool. How did scientists figure that out though?"
"They might have counted the rings in one's trunk, but that would be hard to do accurately for a baobab since their rings fade as they age."
"Plus it would be hard to keep track of that many rings. Can you imagine if you lost count?"
"I'd rather not." He leaned back against the shelf as his breathing slowed. "Would you like to see my favorite tree?"
Taylor barely had time to say yes before Mason flipped to a drawing of a giraffe stripping the leaves off a thorny tree. Her eyes traced the thin, delicate lines the artist had used to draw the thorns. She longed to take a shot at painting that tree herself, but even if she had a whole canvas to work with, she couldn't hope to match the beauty she saw in the thin yet resilient thorns in the sketch. "It's so pretty."
Mason's hands fluttered in front of him as he smiled. They reminded her of how her mom's butterflies acted when the sunflowers bloomed. "Pretty neat, huh? Their thorns protect them from almost anything. The only reason giraffes can eat them is because they have long, thick tongues that let them strip off leaves without getting hurt."
"Where did you learn so much about trees?" Taylor asked. "I've never heard of these before."
"They've been my special interest for the last few years. I used to be really into flowers, but I guess trees have just sort of grown on me." He rubbed the back of his head. "Hope I didn't ramble about them too much. Talking about them helps me calm down."
"Not at all," Taylor said. "You know so many cool facts about trees. It's like you've been studying them for longer than a baobab tree can live."
"Oh gosh, I can't even imagine focusing on anything that long." His eyes grew wistful. "Sometimes I wonder what my termites will think if I ever get interested in something else. Mom says they'll love me even if I only care about trees for five more minutes, but I still can't help wondering. I mean, will they even know I'm still me?"
"If they don't, that's their loss."
"Thanks." He closed the book and put it back on the shelf as if he was putting a baby back in its crib.
"Do you feel better now?"
Mason nodded. "I need to check something though." He examined his right hand.
Taylor winced at the sight of his bright red, raw fingers. "Wow, that must really hurt! Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I just need to get some ointment from the nurse. Thanks for helping me calm down. I've managed to make myself bleed a few times before, and back when I used wood to help me calm down I'd get splinters all the time."
"Would you like me to go with you?" Taylor asked. The screaming and panicked animal noises weren't as loud as they had been, but they still served as constant background noise in the otherwise quiet library. The bell announcing the end of lunch couldn't quite drown it out. "It sounds like it's still nuts out there."
"You don't need to do that." Mason nodded to Ms. Sanderson as she took a break from shelving books to wave at them. "I'll be okay," he said. Yet, as they neared the library's exit, his fingers crept toward his pocket again.
"I think I need to see the nurse too actually," she lied. She winced and massaged her arm. "It feels like I got stung. Do you think you could talk about trees some more? I could really use a distraction from the stings."
"Of course."
The pair spread their insects around them. While most people would not like their constant buzzing, Taylor and Mason welcomed the mindless noise as a distraction from the barking and bleating surrounding them.
As they walked along the edge of the hallway, Mason explained how trees reduce noise pollution, which he would be eternally grateful for. By the time they reached the nurse's office, Taylor was relieved to note he hadn't gone back to rubbing that rough chunk for even a moment.
Nurse Wilkins greeted Mason with a knowing smile. "Spooked by the hoopla that happened at lunch?"
Mason nodded and held out his hand.
After a quick examination, Nurse Wilkins retrieved a bottle of ointment from a cabinet jam-packed with pill bottles in a rainbow of colors. "I'm glad to see we won't need any bandages or tweezers this time. Still prefer to put this on yourself?"
"Yes ma'am. Thank you."
As Mason rubbed the ointment onto his sore hand, the nurse turned her attention to Taylor. "And how can I help you?"
"I'm okay, thanks. I just wanted to make sure he'd get here okay."
"I thought you said you got stung?" Mason asked.
"I made that up so you'd let me help you."
Mason sighed with relief. "Good. Anna would have been really upset if she hurt you."
"Glad to see Mason's got such a caring friend," Nurse Wilkins said. "And thank goodness I don't have to treat another bee sting today. After how many people got hurt, it's a miracle that girl only got three weeks of detention."
"Anna got detention?" Mason asked.
Nurse Wilkins nodded. "Starting tomorrow. Apparently some bullies set her off real bad. Ms. Watson told me she's going to look into what happened and make sure they've learned their lesson, but she couldn't let Anna off scot-free 'cause it seems like she had her bees go after those kids on purpose."
"We've gotta do something," Taylor said. "She couldn't help getting upset. Those guys were being jerks!"
"If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Woods will be handling her detention since his room's got a bunch of flowers to keep those bees happy. Maybe you can ask him."
A smile slowly spread across Taylor's face. "I know exactly what we can do for her if he is."