4.2 Looks

After pulling together an outfit from the clothing on the floor, Raymond sat at the table to eat what was left of the breakfast his mother hadn't burnt. Not a word was spoken the whole time which seemed odd considering what happened in the last 24 hours. His father just read the morning paper and his mother did the dishes silently in the small sink beside the old half working stove. After finishing his meal Raymond grabbed his book bag, stuck his headphones in and head out the door. He watched the numbers change while waiting for the elevator to reach his floor. As he did, he couldn't help but think about the weirdly silent meal he had.

The bus showed up late as usual and Raymond took his seat beside the driver, but today the driver never said hi to him. He took a quick look around, everyone on the bus seemed to be staring at him and whispering to each other. Raymond pulled an earphone out to see if he could hear anything but the loud noises coming from the old bus engine made that near impossible. He stuck the earbud back in and watched out the window with black sabbath blaring in his ears as the bus rounded the corners on Howes street. "Oh yeah, Mike... He probably heard about everything that happened yesterday" Raymond thought to himself as the breaks screeched to a halt. Mike came busting out his door, skateboard in one hand and a half smoked cigarette in the other. He snuffed it out on the bus window as he did the bay before and slid into the seat beside Raymond. "Aye man, I hear you got fucked up yesterday. Passed out in class and shit. What were you high on? I heard you were saying gnarly shit like you were hallucinating" Mike asked. "Uh, I think I just haven't been sleeping well. I don't really remember much of yesterday" Raymond said nervously. "Weak dude, I thought you got turnt up in class. I used to do that in grade nine, shit was fun man"

Not much else was said on the ride to school but the whole time he could feel the eyes of every kid glaring at the back of his head, almost like they all knew what happened. It was a small school and word got around quickly with most things, but he wondered if anyone else thought he was on drugs or was Mike just a different kind of guy. As the bus pulled up to the school Mike shot up and waved Raymond out "Ladies first" he said as he snickered to himself. Raymond was reluctant to get up in fear Mike would call him a girl or something but didn't want to hold up the rest of the kids waiting behind Mike as he stood in the middle of the isle. "I'm going to get a smoke in and skip first class, you wanna join me?" Mike asked. "No thanks, I gotta talk to Ms. Perkins about yesterday. Maybe I'll see you around at lunch" "Doubt it, I'm taking my deck and walking the halls. Let's see if skater kids can really pick up chicks. Later!"

Raymond walked towards the big school doors that looked like they belonged to a church. As he did he could tell everyone was looking at him, everyone knew. The worst part was, he didn't know what actually happened.