Uneasy Hearts Weigh The Most

The following Monday was like any other cliché school day; boring at some times, interesting at others, gossipy, and full of useless knowledge. It was at lunch that everything took a dramatic change. It was not an instant repercussion. No, it was more of a gradual hell etched upon my life.

Aubergine and I were peacefully eating lunch together, accompanied by our good mutual friends Deon, Derrick, Amelia, and Della. Had I told Deon or Derrick about this new feeling for Aubergine? Of course not. They would tell me not to get involved with her, it would only make things awkward between us if we ever broke up, I shouldn’t want to ruin our friendship over a small bout of lust. All that typical crap when you start liking someone you’re really close friends with. I don’t buy all of it though. I think if you want something, you should go for it, and if something goes wrong, well, you’ve had all those years of friendship behind you. Which means more likely than not you’ll still remain friends long after you’ve broken up.

“Who is that?” Amelia asked out of nowhere between a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich. The question was accompanied by a tiny point of the index finger somewhere above my right shoulder. I turned around and so did Aubergine from her seat to my right. There was a boy standing there, a few tables back looking seemingly lost, with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a standard red lunch tray clasped between both hands. I had never seen him before, but honestly, this school is so damn big I bet I haven’t seen everyone that goes here anyway.

“I don’t know; I’ve never seen him before,” I affirmed, continuing to watch him over my shoulder. All he did was stand there, glancing around the cafeteria looking awkward. I felt kind of bad for him; he obviously had no friends to sit with or no friends that have this lunch block. But it's already November, shouldn't he have found somewhere to sit by now?

“Me either,” Della agreed.

“Hmm…” Amelia pondered and went back to eating her sandwich.

“We should invite him over,” Deon suggested, ever the nice guy. “I’d hate to have to watch him eat alone for the next fifteen minutes.”

“Well go round him up then,” Derrick said.

“I think I will,” Deon said in his good-natured voice and slid out of his chair, walked up to where this mysterious lonely kid was still standing. They had a brief conversation which Deon started and ended by the boy having a very relieved expression come over his face before the two of them made their way back to our table.

“Guys, this is Grayson.” Deon announced as he sat down and this Grayson character sat in the empty seat next to him at the other end of the table.

“Hi Grayson,” we chanted as one. He gave a small, embarrassed wave before staring straight down at his lunch.

“What are all your names? Just so I know,” he spoke so softly I could barely hear him from the other end of the table.

“Della,” she greeted.

“Derrick.”

“Amelia.” I could almost hear the tone of ‘single’ in her voice. Amelia likes boys quite a lot.

“Aubergine.”

“Zac.” I greeted last and gave a small smile. He seemed like a nice kid. Shy, but potentially nice. And goodness knows how we’re lacking nice people in this world right now.

“Grayson is a really cool name,” Aubergine complimented. “Where did it come from?”

“Both of my parents have grey eyes,” he responded, losing some of his shyness and becoming more confident. “And they figured that I would too so they just decided to put it into my name."

"You know," Della piped up, "there wasn't a hundred percent chance you would have had grey eyes. What if they turned to brown or something?"

“Brownson? I don't know. You guys all have pretty eccentric names like me too though…well, except for you, Zac.” I looked up from my baked ziti to see him with an apologetic look on his face.

“Yeah, I like it though,” I defended, even though I probably didn’t really even need to. It wasn’t an insult or anything, just an observation, but guys my age can be really defensive some times.

“So Grayson, are you new here, or what’s the deal?” Amelia asked getting down to business.

“Well I used to live not far from here, about an hour, but my mom works around here and it was just getting too much for her to drive two hours or more to work and then have to come home and do motherly things, so my parents decided to move closer to her office."

“Why in November?” Derrick questioned.

“That was the only time we could close on both of the houses at the same time. We only moved in four days ago.”

“That sucks. Is all your stuff still in boxes and whatever?” Della asked.

“Some of it, but most of it is out. It’s just weird, you know…not living at my home anymore.” He trailed off, looking sad.

“Well, eventually it’ll feel like home, right?” Deon questioned. “I mean, that’s what they say in movies and on Hallmark cards anyway.” Amelia, who was sitting next to him, must have kicked him swiftly in the leg because he winced a bit before she muttered “insensitive prick” under her breath.

Cue the awkward turtle moment where no one has anything to say and the air feels still.

“So where exactly do you live?” I asked, unable to stand it any more.

“You know Rae Avenue?”

“Yeah.” The main street, of course, that Aubergine and I live by.

“Off of that.”

“You live right near me and Zac then!” Aubergine cried out of excitement.

“Where do you guys live?”

“Well I live on Smithdale Ave and he lives like, three blocks away on Bent Lane.”

“Hmm…I don’t know it well enough to know exactly where those are, but I live on Cerptin Ave.”

“Yeah, that’s about two blocks over from me,” I confirmed.

“Maybe you guys could show me around this weekend?” Oh, well look who’s breaking out of his shell! I couldn’t tell if I liked it or not, but I was leaning towards not.

“Oh, definitely!” Aubergine piped up. Effing fantastic. And I could have been imagining it, but I thought I saw her eyes light up as if there was a candle behind her irises.

“After you finish unpacking your boxes, of course,” I suggested. “I bet that takes a long time. You wouldn’t want to have things where they don’t belong.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” he murmured, looking uncomfortable and scratching the back of his neck.

“Aw, well isn’t this sweet!” Della exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together. “We have a new friend!”

Grayson shot a timid grin at her which she returned with a wide smile full of perfectly white teeth.

“I think the bell’s gonna ring any time now,” Derrick pointed out.

“True, let’s go,” Deon responded.

And so we set off into the halls of our high school, attending class and going about our normal business - at least for now.