Bleachers and Ceremonies

CHAPTER – 3

‘I’m a monster, I’m a monster’, wiping the mirror, willing for her reflection to vanish, anguished whimpers left Sarah’s mouth. Dumping the cloth in the sink she yanked at her hair, yelling in frustration, “I can’t do this anymore!”. Swollen eyes peered back at her, the her, she didn’t recognize anymore, the her, she despised.

Persistent waves of despondence beckoned her, and as vines of the past wrapped themselves around, Sarah found herself sinking.

********

Slumping in his seat to hide him further from the teacher’s view, Andrew fished his phone out as boredom crept in. A pop- up to Jack’s chat greeted him, ‘A voice note?’, he opened the chat to further inspect.

“ANDREW my man!!! I miss you and I...I wanna meet you soon my gu-“, switching his phone shut, he looked up, horrified. All eyes trained on him and he slowly got up, avoiding eye-contact with the glaring teacher, whose finger pointed straight out of the door - ordering him out of the class.

A few minutes later, he dialed Jack’s number, checking one last time if anyone could see him before ducking under the bleachers.

A few rings later, a groggy ‘hello’ surprised him. Andrew spoke, voice heavy with sarcasm,” Aahh.. I see you’re having an amazing morning already”.

He heard the sheets rustle as he assumed Jack got up to speak to him,” Lemme guess, I sent a voice note to you as well last night”.

“As well?!”, Andrew guffawed, stepping aside from a turned section of the grass.

“Mmmhmm, turns out I sent one to Nick too. Of course Eight A.M. would have been a lot more fun if Nick was half as amused as you were.”

“I’m not sure if amused is the right word my boy, you just got me kicked out of class.”

“Ooops”, Jack laughed, a groan following soon,” Well still, you’re in a better mood than Nick was. Man was he mad”.

Andrew stopped walking, shoving his free hand in his pocket,” Yeah, I don’t think it was about the voice-note alone. He is angry at the both of us, understandably so”, he kicked the ground,” After all, we are ditching him for graduation and then with college”.

Jack didn’t say anything, humming for a few seconds before he continued,” Tell him not to worry, you’ll be back from Boston soon and school doesn’t start till fall anyway, we’d have plenty of time”. He chuckled,” Plus I gotta put your hot-bods to some good use, moving into my dorm will keep us plenty busy”.

Andrew snickered, ”I’m sure Nick would love that”. Commencing his walk again, he heard Jack stifle a yawn.

“I would’ve asked you how Switzerland is treating you, but clearly you’re having the time of your life.”

Jack moaned and Andrew could swear he heard him roll his eyes,” Yeah right. Tell that to the head-ache taking over me right now”.

Laughing at Jack’s misery, Andrew’s eyes scouted a figure sprawled across the grass. Heading towards it, he told Jack he’d call him later.

Leaning right over her, he snapped his fingers to grab her attention. She unlocked her arms shielding her from the sun and her hazel orbs locked with his blue. His smile reached his eyes ,” Mind if I join you?”.

Gathering her belongings, Sarah jolted up, her hands reaching up to smooth down her hair,” Yeah! Sure! It’s a free country”, she giggled, a frown etching into her forehead with confusion. When had been the last time she had ‘giggled’?

He sat down right in front of her, crossing his legs one over the other, ”I got kicked out of class”, pointing a finger at her,” What’s your excuse?”.

Sarah kept staring at his eyes, and she was painfully aware of it. She tried hard not to, but his eyes resembled an ocean to her, encapsulating and inviting her to dive in. Away from everything, all the chaos and into tranquility. Catching herself, she spoke, “Oh, I just don’t have a class right now”, she looked around,” I just wanted to rest for a bit. Didn’t sleep much last night”.

‘Did you cry last night too?’ Andrew nodded his head in understanding,” I see, I just thought you liked this spot since I saw you hanging out here quite a many times with…”, he trailed off, realizing his mistake.

Sarah looked at him, slowly nodding her head, a small smile on her face, “It’s okay you can say it. Yeah, I did hang out with Keith here a lot. I mean, technically, I was the one who told him about this place first so”. She smiled at him again and Andrew noticed how her a little too watery eyed foiled her façade by just a bit. ‘You’re good at acting.’

He scratched his head,” I’m sorry it’s just a little…”, she completed his sentence,”.. Awkward”.

“Yeah”, he sighed.

Mumbling, Sarah picked at the grass,” Existing is awkward”.

Andrew chuckled at her statement and Sarah noticed the way his right lip arched higher than usual, and how his eyes sparkled a little every time he smiled. Andrew was a nice guy, that’s what everyone around said and she herself had found to be true.

He tried to make you as comfortable as he could, probably because he had felt like an outcast himself a lot of the time. She had noted his attempts to make her laugh or at the least smile when she seemed lost, and today, she felt thankful for his company.

The period bell ringing in the distance interrupted their talks and they both stood at the same time, a knowing look exchanged between them as they spoke at the same time,” English”.

“Who hosts a graduation ceremony on a Monday?! Who?”, Sarah cried, her raised hands conveying her aggravation.

Shaking his head in solidarity, Andrew spoke,” Newton High, that’s who”.

Sighing in unison, they stumbled into the hallway when a hoard of papers fluttered into disarray. A freshman scrambled to collect them all as Sarah caught the troublemaker whistling away from the scene.

“Hey!”, she yelled as Andrew knelt down to help the freshman, who seemed on the verge of a breakdown. The guy turned around, pointing a finger at himself as he mouthed ‘Me’, his eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Yeah you”, she chuckled, incredulous of his aloofness. Pointing her thumb to the mess, she walked up to him, ”You see that? You caused that”, she stressed on the ‘you’.

The guy peered over her, shrugging his shoulders. She huffed,” Don’t you think it’s the decent thing to do to help him out? Unless of course you’re a grade-A jerk!”.

The guy opened his mouth to speak but Sarah raised her hand, interjecting, “You know what I don’t have the time for this. Why don’t you make this easier for all of us and clean up the mess you made otherwise I’m sure Mr. Hanson would be more than happy to find another volunteer for the clean-up drives, because surely a guy who messes up a shit ton would love cleaning up crap other people left around as well, right?”.

The guy dragged his feet towards them and Andrew wondered if Sarah had breathed even once while she spoke to him. Tapping her foot until he was done, she sweetly smiled at the guy,” Good job! You’ve unlocked the achievement of being a responsible human being. Have fun!”. Rolling his eyes, he mumbled a ‘whatever’ and Sarah glared knives at him as soon as he turned. The freshman thanked them before scrambling back to his class.

Andrew clapped slowly as she turned to face him,“ I’m impressed” She kept walking,” Don’t be, it’s the least anyone could do”.