Busy, Busy, Busy [2]

(Malory)

I know that Kyle’s uncle is back home. I lean against my locker, waiting to see if Kyle would even come today.

When he enters the building, I stand a bit straighter, sucking in a breath before walking over to him.

He fixes the straps of his book bag over his shoulders and grunts, strolling through the doors. He pauses for a moment when he notices me approaching, but then he continues walking as I fall into step with him.

“Lloyd,” he acknowledges, scratching the back of his ear.

“Hi, friend,” I say.

“So, is this is how you’re going to greet me every morning?” He asks, “Standing by the locker and then running over when you finally see me? Are you a puppy?”

“No, but I don’t see why I can’t.” I say, shrugging. “And you’re going to have to get used to the attention since you’re the lead in Masked at Midnight. Everyone is going to notice you. If you can’t even stomach me approaching you, you’re going to go crazy when it’s a mob of students you don’t even know.”

“The attention I get from you is already unbearable, Lloyd. I think I liked it better when Ron was the only one tied to my umbilical cord.”

I laugh.

He looks down at me, taken by surprise.

A shy, embarrassing smile creeps over his face.

I hesitate before speaking again. “So… I decided I’m going to drop a few activities that I do during the week so we can pitch in some time to rehearse at my place. I’ll try to get all my teachers and group leaders notified that I won’t be in the clubs anymore or at least for a little while so we can get this done. I can’t do anything about my part time job, though. There’s obviously gotta be some way I’m not starving to death.”

“Sounds like you’ve really figured this all out,” he tells me, but he doesn’t sound genuinely pleased to hear it.

“That’s it?” I ask. “No... suggestions, no... ideas about the rehearsing schedule or anything?”

He stops walking and shoves both his hands into his pockets to look at me.

“Everything’s alright,” I say, worriedly, “... Right?”

“Everything’s fine,” he tells me. “But I won’t be able to practice this week. I’ll be busy.”

“How busy? Do you have to work? Is it because of your groups? Can’t you drop them, too?” I ask.

“No. Look,” he says, “take this week to make your final arrangements with whoever you have to. And,” he shifts on his feet so he’s slightly closer to me, “can you do me a favour?”

“Uh... sure?”

“Don’t tell any strangers that you’re the lead in the play,” he says, sternly, “Not a soul. Got it? ”

When the ads for the play start circulating the school and the community, as well as social media, there will be no point to keeping it a secret. My face will be everywhere. And his probably will be, too.

He doesn’t take his eyes off me until I answer.

I guess I’m just going to have to trust that he has a good enough reason why I shouldn’t.

“Got it,” I say. “I’ll just tell the leaders of my groups. That’s all. After everything’s finalised, I should have time every evening to rehearse after school until about five. Around five is when I usually have to head off to work. And then I guess the weekends are fine for rehearsals, too. I won’t make you stay longer than you need to.” I can’t quite tell what’s on Kyle’s mind as I say these things. I don’t know if he’s trying to process what I’m saying or if he’s worried about something else. “Anyway,” I say, “We’ll talk more about it when everything is settled.”

As we approach his locker, he doesn’t take anything out or put anything in. He just opens it and stares at the titles of the textbooks before pulling out his phone to check the time.

“Uh... Malory,” he says; careful, hesitant.

“Yea?”

He turns to me, nervous. “This is off topic but… you do know that my uncle is back home… right?”

My expression goes dim. I frown slightly as I look at him. “I thought so.”

“So you can’t… randomly appear at my house,” he tells me.

“I know. I won’t. I don’t want you to get hurt.” He’s taken by surprise as I say this. “But if for any reason you’re being stubborn,” I say, “I’ll take my chances.” I smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

He rolls his eyes and scoffs, but then he smiles and looks away. “Not this week. Okay? If I’m being stubborn this week, it’s because I’m genuinely busy. So don’t be too concerned. Alright?”

Kyle speaks so calmly about being ‘busy’. I can easily understand how he managed to keep his home life a secret. He knows how to talk about things without giving any valid information about them to anyone who doesn’t need to know. He just smiles at people and speaks as casually as possible. Nobody would know a damn thing about the truth.

And that sort of frightens me.

“Alright,” I whisper, nodding.