by Travis McBee
“Why would she complain about that stupid party to you?” Will asked, “You’re not the one trying to get her to go.”
Jon laughed softly at Will’s question and answered just as softly so the eavesdroppers wouldn’t hear.
“She wasn’t complaining about that party. In fact I don’t think she said a word about it. She’s just sick and tired of Corey. She kept complaining about how insensitive he is and how she feels like he doesn’t care about her. ,”
Jon squinted up his voice and managed a fair impression of Abby, “He just doesn’t care about me. All he wants to do is hang out with his friends. He never does what I want without arguing. Yap de yap yap yap.”
“So why is she still dating him?” Will asked with a soft laugh at Jon’s imitation but his eyebrows rose trying to make acquaintances with his hair from his genuine curiosity all the same.
“I asked her that myself,” Jon replied with a shrug, “She says she doesn’t know,”
Will shook his head in dismay, “Girls are weird buddy.”
“Yep, yep they sure are.” Jon replied and began laughing
Will joined in with the laughter briefly but was not in the mood to immerse himself in it entirely and by the time Mrs. Eagleman arrive a few minutes later he was sitting at his desk as quiet as sleeping kitten.
Lunch that day was an awkward affair for the four friends as the not so love birds shot menacing glances at each other through the silence that was thicker than the glosh that sat on their trays. Will was quite certain he had never been a part of such a somber meal and was ecstatic when the bell rang to send them to their classes.
His ecstasy departed him as quickly as it had come when he sauntered into his science class followed by the entire cast of the most awkward lunch of a lifetime. He had forgotten that he shared the same lab station with his three friends and didn’t look forward to an hour addendum to the misery.
That class would easily have been the best Basic Sciences class if it hadn’t been for the looming shadow of a dying relationship. They were set to the task of creating an acid that would only eat through a specific alloy and to do so they had to employ Bridgeworld’s version of Bunsen burners.
There are few things boys enjoy more than fire and acid may very well be one of those things. Jon and Will soon found themselves cackling like mad scientists as they dissolved material after unlucky material into the acidic brew that sat bubbling over an open flame. Even Corey found himself smiling at more than one point as testosterone told him that fire was good and scientific destruction was better.
Abby on the other hand was not a boy and as such did not find any amusement in either the little flame or the beaker of acid that it fueled. Instead she grew increasingly foreboding as anger creased her usually beautiful face and anger distorted her charming voice.
“Will you clowns stop messing around!” she yelled at them.
Will stopped laughing and pulled out the sizzling piece of metal that he was dangling into the beaker. He hung his head to avoid looking into the eyes of the incredibly angry Abby. Jon stopped laughing instantly as well and jerked his own piece of metal out of the acid. He didn’t do it quite as gracefully as Will had managed however and as he withdrew the small rod of metal it clipped the edge of the beaker.
“Look out!” Corey warned, his eyes widening in horror.
The beaker of acid had been precariously balanced over the flame that heated it and the slight knock from Jon had set it to teetering like a toddler learning to walk. Will’s first reaction was to back away from it. Jon’s first reaction was to grab it.
Now ordinarily grabbing teetering objects is one of the best ways to stabilize something. However when said object has been sitting over a flame, said object is very hot. Jon’s hands grasped the beaker alright and Jon’s hand’s began to sizzle almost instantly as he made contact.
“Yow!” he yelped and jerked his hands away from the steaming beaker.
That jerk fixed the teetering problem alright. The beaker stopped teetering about and fell. It fell directly into Jon’s lap spilling acid across his monogarb in a pool of sizzling corrosion.
“Ah! Get it off! Get it off!” Jon yelled as steam rose in columns of white fury from his lap.
His screams begot a flurry of activity. Abby promptly began to scream her head off and ran around like a chicken after noticing its head was no longer attached. Corey’s eyes widened in shock and he stood up then promptly sat down as no clever ideas sprung into his mind. Will’s head had not bothered to produce a valid solution either so he followed his natural flight or fight instinct and fought.
Will grabbed Jon and threw him to the ground and began to push his friend around and around on the ground as the firefighters had taught him in the first grade to do if someone is on fire. It was most definitely not a sensible thing for a usually sensible boy to do, but sometimes sensible just doesn’t cut it.
Jon’s roars of unbridled fear at finding acid in his lap died away and howls of outrage soon sprung out of his mouth directed what he saw as a fool throwing him on the ground then rolling him back and forth like a rolling pin.
“Get off man!” He yelled at Will before thrashing his arm out at his friend.
Will jumped backwards out of reach of the swing and stared down at his friend laying on the floor. Jon’s lap had stopped steaming and it was impartially due to the fact that Will had dislodged a large portion of the acid in his assault on his friend but the main reason was that the acid had ran out of things to eat through.
Jon struggled to his feet relieved to find himself devoid of pain but that relief soon faltered as Abby began to giggle hysterically. Those giggles unnerved Jon because Abby was not a giggly girl, in fact he was quite certain he had never heard her giggle like that before.
“What are you giggling at Abby?” He asked her sourly as outrage at his assault still flowed in his blood.
A deeper laughter broke out behind him and he turned around in a blur to see that Will had caught the giggle bug that had stricken Abby. Will wasn’t exactly giggling but he was most definitely laughing softly.
“What’s so darn funny!” he screeched at Will then turned to stare at Abby whose eyes were beginning to fill with tears but not the tears of sorrow that he was used to seeing.
He turned to Corey and found his eyes filled with amusement though that amusement had not yet traveled to his lips.
“What are they laughing at Corey?” he asked the blonde boy
“Dude..” Corey said simply and pointed at Jon’s pants.
Jon lowered his head and stared at where the finger had indicated. His mouth dropped in horror and his hands leapt into action. The acid had worked alright and man oh man did it work. It was supposed to only eat through a certain metal, zephlon, without harming anything else it touched and it had done just that. The monogarb that had clothed Jon seconds before no longer existed from the waist down. What may be worse was that underwear, while highly popular on Earth, is not something Broglians invest in.
“Well done boys and girl. You have made the acid correctly, though I don’t think dissolving our monogarb was the best way to demonstrate this do you?” A deep voice said from behind Jon.
Jon spun in place with his hands firmly clamped over himself so that he would be somewhat decent.
“Dr. Kang,” he stuttered out, “It- it was an accident,”
“Accident as it may be I would recommend hastening to your dormitory before the bell rings and your accident is, ah, exposed to the rest of the school,” The man recommended with a slight smile on his tan face.
Jon didn’t wait to hear the instructions twice and he scurried out of the room and towards the first year dormitory as the entire class began to howl in laughter. He ran as fast as he could so that he could slip into a new monogarb before anyone could see him. He almost made it too. He almost avoided getting nicknamed “Streaker” too, a nickname that would stick with him until the day he left Bridgeworld for the last time. Almost.
Will was more than grateful for his hour long reprieve from his friends drama and found himself thoroughly enjoying his language class even though he still barely understood a word that was spoken in it. Mr. Guenella knew that most of his students were making minimal progress and, being a nice guy, he made the tests exceedingly easy so that it became one of Will’s least stressful classes. By the end of that class Will felt confident about heading to IGR and dealing with both an upset Abby and an always severe Mrs. Edwards.
Will was the first of his friends to arrive in IGR and he moved swiftly towards the comfort of the back of the room. As soon as he took his usually seat the door slid open and Jon came in freshly clad in a new monogarb although a high stain of embarrassment still sat on his cheeks.
“This has got to be the worst day of my life,” Jon moaned as he lowered himself into his seat.
“Doubtful for the worst, but definitely a top ten,” Will replied, “How’s your…um…lap?”
“Oh it’s fine, The acid didn’t so much as irritate my skin but my dignity is ruined,” He looked around the room and sure enough eyes were darting his way followed by fervent whispers hidden behind hands.
“Eh don’t worry about it. They’ll forget about it in a week,” Will assured him knowing they wouldn’t
Jon shrugged his shoulders in disbelief but didn’t offer a dissenting opinion because of the sudden appearance of Abby who had just walked into the room with a scowl painted on her otherwise adorable features.
Will looked up at her and opened his mouth to greet her. The words never left his mouth as he registered her appearance. Her incredible dark green eyes leaked tears at a slow but miserable pace and the usually lively white of her eyes were crisscrossed with lines of red. Dark sacks had latched themselves under her eyes as if she had been deprived of sleep and deep lines flowed from her frowning mouth.
She looked at her two friends and braved a tedious smile before setting herself gingerly into the seat next to Will. She promptly laid her head on the cool desk and afforded Will and Jon the opportunity to exchange dark glances at each other without being seen. What Will saw in Jon’s eyes were fear and regret; what Jon saw in Will’s eyes were sorrow and compassion.
When the nonverbal communication had broken off between the two boys Abby looked up as if on cue and stared at Will with those eyes so full of pain.
“I’m so sick of it all,” She cried, “He’s such a jerk but I’m not brave enough to dump him because I’m scared of being single,”
“Why are you scared of being single?” Will asked
“I don’t know okay!” she yelled at him before breaking down into a torrent of tears, “I just am!”
“Abby! It’s okay Abby,” Will said launching himself outward and hugging his friend tightly, “It’s okay,”
Abby breathed in a series of tearful gulps and looked up at the silver eyed boy who held her in his arms. The tears began to slow but her breathing remained ragged with emotional strain.
“You’re going to be alright,” Will whispered to her ignoring the stares from his classmates, “Okay?”
Abby nodded and faltered a weak smile as she calmed herself in the surprisingly comfortable arms of her friend. His eyes seemed to sooth her and she opened her mouth to whisper out a thanks.
“Mr. Haynes!” A gruff voice called out from the door, “If you must flirt with Ms. Phillips please do it outside of my classroom!”
Will’s head jolted upward at the verbal assault and he let go of Abby as quickly as if she had suddenly turned to lava. He sat back in his desk and felt the warmth of deep embarrassment flow across his cheeks. Mrs. Edwards had hit it right on the head of course, the miserable old woman, he had been trying to flirt.
Abby straightened up in indignation at the harsh words from Mrs. Edwards. There had been no point in saying something like that she could have just cleared her throat loudly, after all Will hadn’t been flirting he was just her friend and had been comforting her. She glanced sideways at Will and was surprised to see him blushing, what’s more it was a guilty blush as if he had been accused of some secret he had though well hidden. Abby raised her eyebrows and for the first time that day forgot about Corey Edgar.
Will approached the cafeteria from the hanger with more than a bit of trepidation worming around inside his head. That day had turned into a terrible day of awkward silences and raging arguments and he had no desire to be caught in the whirlwind of the drama between Abby and Corey once again and dinner would see all four of the once merry gang together once more.
Will’s journey to the cafeteria was extremely brief, a simple walk across the atrium and he arrived, and as such he was always the first one to dinner. He grabbed a tray of glosh and broccoli and sat down at their usual round table that was situated near the door to the teachers’ dining room. Jon was the next one to arrive five minutes later and he sat down with a miserable plop that Will could not help but relate to.
“Ready to hear them bickering?” Jon asked him after he took a sip of water
“Heck no, but ready or not here it comes,” He said nodding his head towards the door.
Abby and Corey came in together but they weren’t together they simply walked in at the same time. Will watched as the two made their way through line and sat down at the table within a few seconds of each other. He prepared himself mentally for the assault of words that would soon be launched at each other but was surprised to find that the arrival of the two brought silence instead of renewed arguing. He was disappointed to find that the silence wasn’t a pleasant or peaceful one, and Will and Jon began to feel more and more awkward around the unhappy couple as dinner stretched on.
“So,” Jon finally ventured trying to break the silence, “Did you two get everything sorted out?”
Corey glanced up, stared Jon in the eye for a full five seconds and glanced back down at his food. Abby also glanced up but she forced a smile onto her face and answered him.
“Yes,” She said in a bitterly sweet voice, “We decided to call it quits before we began to hate each other.”
Will glanced at the slender wrist of his friend and crush and noticed that only one amor, a benevolent blue, jingled softy around it.
“Well are we all still friends?” Jon asked as that terrible silence threatened to close in on them once more.
“Yes we are, don’t worry about it.” Corey said looking up and offering a slight, yet reassuring, smile.
Despite that reassuring smile, the insufferable silence descended on them once again and lasted undisturbed through dinner it even accompanied them to the Study Hall where they all began to work on homework in dreary silence.
Will lasted for thirty minutes before he couldn’t stand the deafening silence any longer. When they usually studied together a light basting of conversations would help lighten up the grind but the silence of that night made the grind, if anything, more difficult. He slid his chair out with a huff as he stood up suddenly drawing the eyes of all of his friends.
“I’m going for a walk,” He excused himself and turned to head for the door.
“Where are you going?” Jon asked looking at him with ‘Please don’t leave me here’ plastered into every line of his face.
“Just for a walk I can’t stand this anymore,” He said motioning towards the table before he walked away from the table and out of the door at the other side of the Study Hall.
Will stared out of the massive windows and down onto the gray world that they orbited so peacefully far below. In the distance he could see the sun retreating behind the edge of Broglio and he was fairly certain he had never seen a more magnificent sight. He had retreated up to the sixth floor to stare out of the only windows in the school following his exodus from the suffocating silence of his friends. It was a place he had often frequented since he had discovered it on his second day when he was dragged up there by Mr. Sweetman to face punishment for his assault on Brandon. He loved to stare out at the gray world or black space, i
t seemed to calm him and set his mind free. At times he would find himself looking towards distant stars and wondering if his parents and Michael were doing the same, though he honestly didn’t miss them as much as he thought he should.
“It’s beautiful,” A bell like voice rang out behind him, startling him from his tranquility
He turned around to see Abby standing behind him with her arms wrapped around her stomach and her hair flowing freely down the back of her neck. Her face no longer bore the signs of stress and misery and Will was amazed at how fast she seemed to have recovered, at least on the outside.
“Did you know that I’ve been in every room of this school looking for you?” she laughed, “I had never been up here before, now I’ll know where to go to find you from now on,” She let out a single laugh as high and pure as the call of a bird calling forth the sun in the early morning.
“Yeah I love it up here,” Will replied staring back out into the obsidian darkness of space, “It helps me relax and take my mind off of things.”
Abby pursed her lips and in doing so managed to look cuter than Will had ever seen her.
“I’m sorry about today,” she told him, “I know it was stressing you and Jon out and I shouldn’t have gotten you two involved,”
Will turned and flashed a smile towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re your friends Abby. We’re supposed to get involved besides you didn’t hurt us or anything,”
“Well Jon did lose his pants…” she giggled
Will smiled broadly remembering his friends flight from their science class.
“That is true,” Will agreed, “And I thank you for giving me a memory that will make me smile until the day I die,” he let out a short round of laughter.
Abby walked up to the window and stared out. She stood only a foot away from Will and he could smell the body spray that she wore, a popular accessory on any planet he thought to himself. It smelled as sweet and delicate as a cherry blossom and Will felt an almost uncontrollable desire to grab her and hold her tight so that he could breath in the aroma.
