I Want to Scream 'I Love You'

I flipped through channels on the TV, enjoying my day off. After scrolling through them all, I started back at channel three and made my way back up.

A knock came at the door and Danielle jumped up. “I got it,” she sang, bouncing to the door.

I chuckled. “Hold on,” I said, pulling myself off the couch and over the door where Danielle was waiting impatiently.

I pulled the door open to reveal Noelle. She smiled and gave me a hug. “And why weren’t you at school today?” I asked.

“Hello to you too,” she said, bending to down to hug Danielle.

“Hiiii, Noelle,” Danielle said, hugging her back.

“Now that’s how someone should be greeted,” she said. “Hello, Danielle.”

“Hi, now, why weren’t you at school?” I asked, walking over to grab some snacks from the kitchen.

“I wasn’t feeling good, jeez,” she said with a smile. “But I’m feeling better now and I couldn’t be cooped up anymore, so I came to see you.”

“To get us sick? Thanks,” I replied sarcastically; sliding a bowl of Chex Mix onto the counter. I hoisted myself to sit on the counter and Noelle sat next to me.

“Sure, sure,” she said, rolling her eyes. Danielle came from out of her room, carrying a stool. She set it next to the counter and climbed the steps until she was sitting next to Noelle. “So,” Noelle said, turning to Danielle, who swung her feet silently, “how’s life?”

“Um,” Danielle said, looking up at the ceiling as if she were searching for her thoughts, “fun, I guess. I’m going to be a vet when I’m older.” She smiled; looking proud.

“Really? That’s awesome. I’m glad; you’ve got the brains for it,” Noelle tapped Danielle’s nose.

Danielle scrunched up her nose and rubbed it vigorously with the palm of her hand. “Oh come on,” Noelle whined, “that couldn’t of hurt.”

“No, it itches,” Danielle said, finally giving up and turning her head to sneeze.

“Look at that,” I said, munching on the Chex Mix. “She’s got a sneeze button.”

Danielle folded her arms and hopped off the counter to stand and stare at us. “I do not. It just itched,” she said defiantly.

Noelle smiled, sliding gracefully off the counter. She picked up the still pouting Danielle and set her on the counter.

Danielle tried not to smile, but quickly gave up.

“So,” Noelle said, pulling out a few strands of Danielle‘s hair to braid. “Tell me more about being a vet.”

***

“Five bucks says I can beat you in tic-tac-toe,” were the first words out of Patrick’s mouth when he walked into English. He set his stuff down on his desk before sliding into it. Quickly, he shuffled through his stuff, found a notebook, and opened it up to a blank page.

“I suck at tic-tac-toe,” I said, picking up my pencil anyway as he drew the grid.

“Okay, then no bets. But still want to play?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, drawing a circle in a box.

After three games, Patrick somehow managed to beat me every time.

“Wow,” he said, setting his pencil down, “you do suck.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.

“Way to not notice me,” I heard. I turned around to find Noelle in her seat.

“Oh hey,” I said, “sorry. Tic-tac-toe apparently requires lots of concentration.

“You use all that concentration and still lose,” Patrick snickered. I turned around and hit his arm, not hard though.

“Anyway,” Noelle sighed, “aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Noelle, Patrick. Patrick, Noelle,” I said quickly before continuing, “I could beat you in checkers though.”

Noelle nodded, “Probably.”

“Sure you could,” Patrick huffed and waved me off with a smirk.

“I could. Whenever, wherever. I could so kick your butt in checkers.”

“A bit competitive, are we?”

“Always have been, always will be,” Noelle butted in. I turned and shot her a death stare. She smiled, shrugged, and turned around to face the whiteboard in the front of the room.

Patrick chuckled and I turned to face him. “What are you giggling about, Stump?” I asked as if I were interrogating him.

He shrugged and continued to smile.

The bell rang and everyone turned to face forward, but the teacher was gone. A few people questioned where he was, but most just went back into their conversations. I turned back to Noelle but she was talking to some other girl. So I looked back at Patrick, who was now reading a book.

I glanced over at my desk, realizing I had nothing to read. For a couple of long seconds, I let my eyes wander the room, but I quickly got tired of just sitting and doing nothing. I finally sat up and stared at Patrick before trying to find something I could say to get him talking.

“Danielle was asking if you had any pets last night,” I said, but as I did, her voice flooded into my head.

You so like him. I’m your conversation starter.

I cringed motionlessly as Patrick lifted his head with a grin. “How come? So she can practice euthanizing them?”

Though I tried to stop myself, I ended up laughing anyway. “Jeez, now that was mean. But, just so you know, if she knew that was at all part of the job, she would never have even thought about being a vet.”

“I know, I know, sorry,” he said, though he was smiling. “You think they’d inform these kids of that part before they go off preaching that it’s a great job.”

“You’d think so,” I shrugged, “guess not.”

Just then, the teacher came bursting through the door, holding a stack of papers. He waved them back and forth as everyone’s eyes followed him as he handed the pieces of papers out.

“Welcome to class. And, to start out the day, here’s your pop quiz. Good luck!”

The whole class groaned as he slid the paper onto my desk. I glanced down at it and the words ran together in my brain, creating a whole new language. I pressed my pencil to the paper, hoping that the answers would somehow materialize in my head. Slowly, I started answering things to the best of my ability, but it was no hope. And I was screwed.

***

I wandered the cafeteria; Noelle at my side. Somehow Patrick had convinced us to sit next to him during lunch. Though, since I’m just this lucky, he gave us no indication of where he sat.

I heard Noelle heave a heavy sigh and I turned to face her. “Come on,” she said irritated, “let’s go sit down where we usually sit. He didn’t even give us a hint where he sits.”

“I promised,” I said, still searching the cafeteria. A few people watched, amused, as we wandered the cafeteria.

Patrick, if you see us and you don’t get your ass over here right now, I swear…

“Good afternoon.” I spun around to find the source of the voice.

“Same to you,” Noelle said sharply to Patrick who just smiled. “Now, where do you sit? I’m sick of walking around in circles.”

He chuckled and motioned us with his head to follow. Noelle rolled her eyes as I followed, but she tagged along anyway.

When we reached his table, there was barely enough room for the three of us. Patrick scooted in first where he already had sat his lunch tray, followed by me, then Noelle last. Most people around just waved or nodded; not paying much attention; except for the guy sitting across from Patrick. He leaned forward as his afro leaned with him.

“Welcome ladies. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?” he asked with an obviously fake British accent. Patrick shook his head, with a smile, and introduced us.

Joe, who I was now informed was his name, was a very hyper and high-spirited guy. His afro moved along with his head, mimicking it’s nods and shakes.

Noelle next to me was extremely quiet. I had expected her to be nagging at me for dragging us away from the usual spot; but she sat silently, picking at her food.

“You okay?” I asked in a whisper. She shrugged and continued to push her green beans around on her plate. “Noelle, talk to me.”

“Eh, I’m not feeling to great,” she grumbled, turning her head to cough, something I’ve been noticing quite a bit.

“Do you want to go to the nurse?” I offered. She began to shake her head, but stopped and switched to a nod.

“Sure,” she muttered, standing up. I started to wriggle my way out of the crowded table, but she stopped me. “I’m probably just going to go home,” she said, “don’t worry about coming.”

I thought about objecting, but just decided to let her be. She wasn’t feeling good; and I wasn’t about to add to that.

“See you later. Thanks,” she said, dumping her tray and walking out of the cafeteria.

I sat back down next to Patrick as he turned his head and looked at me questioningly.

“She’s not feeling well,” I explained, “she’s heading home.”

“Oh,” Patrick said with a nod before Joe quickly lost patience and began to talk again.

I leaned in to the conversation, listening as Joe and Patrick talked just about everything. Just from listening, I figured out Joe was the guitarist in the band Patrick was in. Pete was some crazy guy, but, more importantly, their bassist. Andy was their new drummer, and though he spent most time up in Milwaukee, he was down here in Chicago so they could record their new album. After their discussion about band, they got into homework and stuff that I would rather have preferred not to be reminded of. And though I was still sitting next to Patrick, I wasn’t listening to a word he was saying.

“Did you get it?” I heard faintly, thinking about asking if he was talking to me, but went back to pushing the food around my plate. “Earth to Hayley. Are you there?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, lifting my head. Joe chuckled as Patrick shook his head with a smile.

“I was asking if you understood the homework Mr. Hollie gave us,” Patrick said.

“Psh, no. I don’t think anyone did,” I replied, pushing my tray away from me. Mr. Hollie had said that tonight’s homework was to think outside the box and draw a painting of what comes to mind when you think acid. It was his way of branching out to his inner artist and grasping the job he’s always wanted; which was an art teacher. In order to “protest” against the school for not letting him teach art for a day, he’s promised to make sure our homework will be all art until he gets what he wants. I’m just positive it’s going to get him fired. Which is a shame, since he’s one of the rare teachers I liked.

“All I think is green and bubbly liquid,” Patrick twisted his face, “how in the world am I supposed to draw that? Cover the paper in lime green crayon?”

“Sure,” I said at the same time Joe said, “That could work.”

Patrick shrugged and stood up as the bell rang. I somehow made my way through the crowd and to my locker. I had assumed that Joe and Patrick went their separate ways, until, that was, Patrick appeared next to me.

“I didn’t bore you too bad, did I?” he said, leaning against the locker next to mine.

“Nah,” I assured him, pulling out my history book, notebook, and pencil from my locker. “I want to hear your band someday now, though.”

He scrunched his nose up, and shook his head. “You probably don’t want to. Trust me.”

“How do you know?” I slammed my locker shut as we both began walking. “You’ve not even let me hear your voice.”

“You hear it,” he stated dumbly, as if I should’ve known.

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “your singing voice. I want to hear you sing.”

“I promise you, it’s really not that good. Like I said, I’m better at drumming.”

“You got picked to sing. You’ve obviously got something worth listening to,” I said, stopping at the doorway to my next class. Patrick quickly spun around, noticing I stopped.

“Fine, I’ll give you a copy of the CD when it’s done,” he said with a smile.

“And when’s that going to be?” I asked.

He shrugged, “I don’t know. Weeks? Months?”

“Patrick…” I sighed. He chuckled a little before glancing at his watch.

“Crap,” he muttered. “I’ve got to get to class. See you later.”

“’Kay,” I said, turning into my class as he walked away. I took a seat in my desk and rested my head in my hands. The late bell rang as a final call and people flooded into the room. As the teacher, in his boring monotone voice, began to talk, I instinctively tuned him out, laying my head in my hands and letting my eyes drift shut.