They're Playing Our Song

I shuffled into math class quietly. The whole thing that happened with Mary was still on my mind, even if it was a few periods ago. I sighed as I slid into my seat. A few minutes later Gavin strolled in as if he owned the place. I rolled my eyes as he settled in his seat and eyed me with a smirk, as if trying to think of the next cruel joke to hurl at me.

"So freak." he smiled. "What's the drama? You're usually all 'trippy acid rain' this time of day."

"'Trippy acid rain'?" I snorted, my mouth pulling up in a sneer.

"Yeah. You know. Punky but with that oh-so sweet edge of bitch. Whateves." he shrugged as if he hadn't made a grossly...accurate analogy. "So what's the problem?"

"None of your business." I muttered. I didn't need him making jokes about losing the only friend I had. Well, maybe not my only friend.

"Okay then. Jeez. You can't blame a guy for being curious." he shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes, dismissing the subject. The late bell rang, class started, and I didn't talk to Gavin after that. As I slowly made my way to Mr. Way's class after math, my brain stirred around with too many questions. Why is Gavin acting bipolar? Is he bipolar? Why did mom say that dad wasn't a very good promise keeper? Why does Mary think I was lying? How can I get her to believe me? Why am I so close to Mr. Way after only these couple of days?

I was so absorbed in my own thoughts that I almost walked right past the classroom door. I shook my head, attempting to clear it, and made my way into the room and to my seat. It didn't surprise me one bit that nobody seemed to be late to Mr. Way's class.

"Hey guys." he smiled in greeting as the bell rang. He walked up to the board and started to write down what we were doing today. We all read each word as he messily scrawled them in chalk. What's. On. Your. Mind? Under the messy sentence, he drew a big thought bubble hanging over top of a crazy little cartoon boy. In the thought bubble, he drew a crazy little cartoon girl. All the girls in the class giggled when he was finished, and the guys nodded in silent approval. This entire display only went on for about 5 minutes.

"So." he started. "Today I want to know what's on your mind. It can be anything you want. Abstract, cartoony, detailed. Whatever. Just draw whatever is on your mind right now." I bit my lip. I'd have to use one big piece of paper to draw everything that was buzzing around in my mind. He took out a set of keys from the pocket of his tight purple dress pants, and unlocked a number of supply cabinets around the room.

"Okay." he said expectantly. "You may get started. But one thing, guys. I don't care if it is on your mind, I really would rather not see a porno scene. 'Kay? Thanks." I chuckled lightly to that one. Mr. Way certainly was a character.

I sighed as I pulled my sketch pad out of my bag. I opened it up and pulled a pencil out of my pocket. I stared at the page for a moment longer before my pencil moved across it. You see, there are only three things that can absorb my full attention; music, my thoughts, and my art. It was because of this that I once again didn't notice as Mr. Way pulled a seat up to my table and watched me work.
When I was finished, and I pulled away from the paper, I jumped a little at the sudden sight of Mr. Way. He was staring at my paper contently, and smirking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked lightly.

"What's what supposed to mean?" I said innocently.

"The question mark." he smiled. He was talking about the giant question mark sketch I had drawn. It was a huge question mark with thick outlines, and on the inside of it I had drawn pictures of the questions on my mind. In the top section of the mark I had drawn a big D, for Dad. In the circle beneath the question mark I had drawn an M, for Mary. And in the middle, I had drawn a G and a W. One for Gavin and one for Mr. Way.

"Oh. That." I replied, staring down at the paper.

"What does it mean?" he asked curiously. Then, after a moment of silence he added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay." I said. My heart beat faster, as I realized that I had pretty much put my entire life in this town out on paper, and was about to discuss it all with a teacher I had only known for two days. But it didn't seem like that. It seemed as if I'd known him forever, like an old friend. It was astonishingly easy to trust him. I opened my mouth to speak, but then the blonde girl in the corner let out a loud sigh.

"Mr. Way! Come over here for a second! I need you to help me draw a bird!" she whined. He rolled his eyes at her, and stood slowly. He crossed his arms and made his way over to her seat reluctantly.

"Try like this." he said to her, bending over her shoulder and picking up her pencil. I almost laughed out loud as her cheeks glowed bright red and she grinned like a dog with a bone. I shook my head, and closed up my sketch book. The bell was going to ring in a few minutes.

"Okay guys." Mr. Way said as he finished helping the blonde. "Time's almost up. Stack you're sketch books over there on my desk, I want to see what you drew. This won't be a big grade though, so don't worry if it's not perfect." As he finished up his sentence the bell rang, and the kids all filed out the door. I moved slowly toward his desk, threading my body through chairs that hadn't been pushed in. I carefully set my book on the messy pile, and backed up a little. Mr. Way was going around the room pushing in chairs.

"So." he began. "Were you going to tell me why you drew a question mark with letters in it?" I sighed.

"Yeah. Well...the question mark represents...questions." I stated hesitantly.

"Obviously." Mr. Way smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"And the letters represent people I have questions for." I said reluctantly, helping him push in chairs.

"The G?" he asked.

"For Gavin. I want to know why he treats me the way he does."

"I see." muttered Mr. Way. "The D?"

"For my dad. I want to know why my mom doesn't trust him with promises."

"Okay." he nodded. "The M?"

"For Mary. She's...she thinks I'm lying to her." I said nervously.

"About?"

"About...u-" I was about to say "us", but I stopped myself. "About a friend of mine. She thinks I have something romantic going on with him, but I'm sure I don't."

"You're sure?" she said.

"Um...well. Yeah. Pretty sure." I lied. I wasn't sure at all.

"Then you should explain that to her. Maybe get the guy to explain it to her too." I almost laughed.

"Okay. Thanks." I smiled.

"Anytime." he smiled back. "Now...about the W?" he smirked. I laughed dryly.

"The W is for Way." I said boldly, heading for the door.

"Why Way?" he asked slyly. I paused in the door way for a moment.

"Because I'm still trying to figure you out." I said over my shoulder. And without so much as a backwards glance, I was gone.