Before It Rains

I found out more about Will in the two hours than I had found out about any of the other guys in the past day. A varsity football player, he moved to Washington D.C. when he was ten and had lived there since. He had one little brother who was living at home with his parents. He had gone to school with the president’s nephew and niece. He was in the top ten of the freshmen class last year and his best subject was math. He and Austin had met last year as roommates and were now best friends. And of course, I listened attentively to all of this. I figured taking notes would have been pushing it.

The rest of Thursday passed in a blur. All except the assembly, which all eight of us did attend, despite Shane’s pleads that will all skip and watch a movie back in the dorms instead. Turns out it probably wouldn’t of been a bad idea. It was an hour an a half of rules and teacher introductions. The only helpful bit of information I received was that we could pick up our schedules in the main office Saturday or Sunday. I’d finally get to find out what classes my mom had signed us up for.

After the assembly, we walked back over to the dorms, saying goodbye to Asia at A and leaving Will over at the main office. He had procrastinated on checking in all day and wanted to sign up for the football tryouts too. Just before we got in the elevator, I realized I had forgotten to give Asia back her sweatshirt which I had borrowed in the air conditioned auditorium. I left B and walked back across the lawn to A. Asia was in the shower when I reached her room, but Elise promised she’d leave it for Asia.

I had barely taken five steps out the door of the girl’s dorm building when someone grabbed me and pulled me over to the side of the wall, covering my mouth in the process. Of course they had, I was going to scream. I whipped around the best I could with my mouth covered, and saw Will behind me. He took his fingers away from my mouth and put his index finger to his lips. I ignored his gesture.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” I hissed at him. Then I heard voices crossing the lawn behind us. I turned and looked to the left to see Kelsey, Rosa, and Felicity walking towards us.

“I can’t believe it! She’s not even like, like...” Kelsey sputtered, apparently looking for a word.

“Pretty?” asked Rosa. “Is that it?”

“Yes! First Asia and now her! I know he still likes me, but I can’t figure out why he doesn’t show it,” she whined.

“Aw, Kels, just be patient,” Felicity soothed. “He’ll come around.”

Their voices trailed off into the distance as they opened the doors to the building next to us, A dorms, and went inside. Will stepped out from between the buildings and I followed.

He shook his head. “Sorry about that, but no one wants to have to encounter Kelsey in the middle of one of her jealousy fits,” he said. “Anyone in the school will tell you that.” Something dawned on me.

“She was talking about... me?” I asked.

“Probably.”

“And the guy she was talking about... that was Austin, wasn’t it?” I half asked half said. I already knew the answer. We were in the elevator now, and he pushed the button for out floor.

“Yeah.”

“But does he...” I was going to ask, but then thought better of my question and pressed my lips together. It didn’t really matter though, he seemed to know what I was going to say.

And he shook his head. “He doesn’t.”

“Oh.” It was quiet for a minute, until the elevator dinged and broke through the silence. We walked back to our dorms, his and Austin’s exactly across the hall from mine. Laughter was coming from the other side of Will’s room. He opened the door to find all of the other guys in the room, watching Back to the Future. I followed him in.

“Is this, like, tradition or something? Movie night every night?” I asked.

“Not exactly. Only until school starts, then we’re all business,” Will told me. Shane completely lost in then, rolling around on the floor. Will glanced down at him. “Well, almost all of us.” He shoved Kai over on his bed and stretched out. I looked around for a place to sit. I wasn’t going to sit with Shane on the floor, and all the chairs were already taken. So instead I walked over to Austin’s bed.

“Can I sit here?” I asked. He looked surprised, but he smiled.

“Sure.” He moved over and I sat next to him on the bed, trying to take up as little space as possible. He laughed. “I don’t bite, Sam.” And so I eased over a little closer on the bed.

By the time the ending credits scrolled by, everyone besides myself and Kai were sprawled out in some way or another fast asleep. I looked at the clock, only to realize my curfew was less than twenty minutes away. Austin’s head was on my knee. I gently picked it up and slid the pillow under it instead. He adjusted himself in his sleep, and all was still again.

I got up, stepping over both Max and Shane who were sleeping on the floor, and headed for the door. Kai tilted his head at me as if to ask what I was doing.

“Curfew for me is midnight,” I whispered. He nodded and pressed a button on the TV. The room went completely dark as I opened the door and unlocked the door to my own room across the hall.