School Story - 005

Work that night was normal. Or in other words, uneventful. But I can't say I would rather have work be eventful, it's most definitely good being uneventful.

The only noticeable thing about work today, was that by the end of my shift at eleven, I was beyond drained of energy. It's a miracle I managed to stumble home. The whole day, school plus work, had left me exhausted.

And this was after just one day. This is why school was a bad idea.

The next morning, I woke up quite late. Late as in by the time I made it out of the door first period would already have been over. I had been hoping to make a good first impression on my teachers, but this certainly wouldn't help me with that. Not that there's much I could do it about it. I don't have a phone to set an alarm on, or an old-school alarm clock. Not that that's any excuse, I suppose.

I almost fall back to sleep on the way to school on the bus. Luckily, the jolts that occur whenever the bus goes over a pothole were frequent enough to keep me awake.

I got off at the wrong stop. As I was the only student on the bus this time around, I wasn't sure exactly when to push the button. Once I had, I didn't feel like I had much choice but to get off and walk the rest of the way. I knew I must be close anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

I didn't have the exact time, but I guessed that it was probably still second period. The bus took a little over half an hour, and then I'd walked for perhaps five minutes, but there's probably still about twenty minutes of class left. My second period subject on Tuesday, is Maths.

When I arrive so late, it's embarrassing. The whole class stared when I opened the door, and all I could do was mumble 'sorry I'm late' and make my way towards an empty desk.

Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the class. Not that that should come as any surprise. I'd missed most of the morning, but had ended up coming in time for interval: a short fifteen minute, well, interval, between second and third period.

Once again, I found myself wandering around a bit.

Perhaps I can make the excuse that it's hard to make friends after starting at a new school this late in the year, but I have to admit I haven't put much effort in. I'm not sure if I even want to make friends at this school. I don't know how long I'll be here. I might not even finish the year. And I'm not the most talkative person. Maybe that's hard to tell with Tayla, but in general, I'm not very talkative, generally keeping more to myself than I do around her.

At some point, without meaning to, I found myself at the bench I'd seen Arthur Davies sitting at, yesterday lunchtime. He was there again.

That's right. Yesterday, I didn't come say hello, because he was talking with a group of people.

It hadn't seemed like they were his friends.

Surely, they would be here again if they were his friends.

It had seemed like they were laughing at him.

The right thing to do would've been to head over, but it had ended before I made sense of what was going on. And Arthur hadn't looked happy when it was over. He gave off the impression that he didn't want to be talked to. An aura, if you will.

That isn't the case now, however.

Well, he still doesn't seem that approachable. But he isn't unapproachable either.

"Hey," I say in greeting, "I was in a couple of your classes yesterday."

"R-right," he replies, "Alexander, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, and your Arthur?"

He nodded.

…

…

"Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Sure, that's fine."

…

Apparently neither of us are really the talkative type. Well, I guess that I should try to strike up a conversation, given that I asked to sit beside him.

"So, have you lived in Christchurch your whole life?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you'll stay here after you graduate?"

"Probably not. I don't particularly like it here."

"No one I've met here seems to."

Everyone I've met in Christchurch, Massimo, Tayla, and all my co-workers, none of them seem to think too much of their city. The younger ones all want to leave as soon as possible, and the older ones only lament about the city's past radiance.

"What about you? You're not from Christchurch, are you?"

"No, I was living in Wellington until recently. Before that, I lived in Singapore."

"Singapore? That'd be quite cool. Isn't that where the Artemis shuttles launch from?"

"Yeah… I lived there before most of that was developed, however."

"That's a shame… they almost seem like something out of a sci-fi story, don't they?"

"I guess…"

The Artemis shuttles are transports between the Earth and Artemis, the lunar city where my father lives. I'd rather not talk about all that. It'd be best if they remained in the realm of science fiction, rather than reality, for me.

We fall back into a lull. It really is hard conversing with this guy. I know I'm not the best either, but it feels like he isn't doing anything to help carry the conversation along.

"So, you take History and English… what other subjects do you take?"

…

Arthur didn't respond, so I looked in his direction to find him staring at me.

"What?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions? I feel like I'm being interrogated."

"I'm just trying to…"

I was going to say: 'I'm just trying to make conversation', but that isn't exactly true.

It was noticeable.

It was noticeable how Arthur was being treated. Maybe bullying isn't exactly what it was, but it was clear that he was being shunned.

There was yesterday's incident, when I saw those boys laughing at him, in his face. Whether they were bullying him or not, I'm not really sure, but it certainly seems like a possibility.

And then, there's the aura that Arthur himself gives off. The aura of unapproachability. Like he doesn't want to be talked to. There's almost like an invisible wall between himself and the rest of the world. An atmosphere of sorts.

An atmosphere that causes him to be ignored by his surroundings. By the other people around him, to the point where it's almost like he doesn't exist. Like he's untouchable. Unnoticeable.

That's what I found noticeable. And that's why I decided to talk to him, despite the fact that such an atmosphere existed. Such an air of unapproachability.

So instead of what I originally planned to say, I replied, "I saw yesterday, those other boys talking to you. They were laughing, but it didn't look like you were enjoying yourself. I'm not sure what was going on, but it felt off watching you."

Arthur's eyes swelled for a moment, but then returned to normal. He looked away from me before he responded.

"It'd be best for you to leave me alone."

"Why's that?"

"That's just how it is. If you want to make friends or whatever, you should choose anyone but me."

"Why should I do that? For what reason do you think that way? Maybe I can help-"

"Just leave me alone, okay?!"

Arthur's shout causes everyone around us to look in our direction. One or two catch my eye, but look away immediately.

"Just go, please."

He seems upset, but I don't know what to say. I don't understand what his problem is. Whatever he's saying, just doesn't quite make sense to me. But I don't think there's anything I can do, accept respect his wishes.

"Fine. If that's what you want."

I get up and walk away, returning to my patrol of the school, and leaving Arthur behind at his bench.