Quiet Boys.
Cartwheel.
I told Parker it was okay if she left after Friday afternoon.
Just the way she had come to console me with no questions or answers, that made me feel wanted. It gave me hope, is what it did. How was she so selfless?
You don’t meet people like her in bars, or at school, or in grocery stores.
Maybe you do, but it isn’t likely. She’s too good for any of that.
And after she left, after much protesting, and an invite to her house the next weekend, I thought for a long time.
I thought about how, in a nutshell, I wished to have her outlook on life. How she was my idol, the person I looked up to, and she wasn’t even trying. That was just her.
And, so I went to school on Monday with a little bit of a different approach.
“Well you should! Go outside and look for cloud formations. Climb trees, scrape your knees, chase the sunset, watch the sunrise, do cartwheels, wander around streets you don’t know, count the number of cracks in the sidewalk, get hurt, get rough, get dirty, just feel.”
She told me I didn’t have all my life to do these things because tomorrow I could be gone. And throughout the whole school day Monday, I thought about these words. I didn’t concentrate on the work I was given, because I was concentrating on something much more important.
I liked to think it was the meaning of life, what I was concentrating on.
I walked down the hall with purpose, feeling for once that someone was looking at me. Someone was watching and waiting for my next move. And, something came over me. In the middle of the hall, I put my books down, and did a cartwheel.
If it was in a movie it would have been very funny. If it were someone else it would have been funny. But since it was me, it was just shock. What I didn’t realize was that everyone in school knew me. However, they knew me as the shy kid who sat in the back of class. The boy who sat alone at lunch. The really smart boy who made perfect grades. I wasn’t even smart, I just had nothing better to do than study.
So, it must have been a real surprise to see me do a cartwheel down the hall. Not two or three, just one.
And right after I went and picked up my books off the floor, and walked to my locker.
Thing was, every person in that hallway was silent, and staring at me. I looked around me, and waved at a few people. I smiled, and then nervously scratched the back of my neck.
Then I let out a loud laugh. A chuckle. A really happy sound. A sound I didn’t know I had in me.
A girl I had talked to a few times in math and her friend smiled really wide, and clapped.
I laughed harder, all the way out the doors.
Who would have thought I’d do that?
________
When Awkward Ivan called me Monday afternoon, I couldn’t have been sure what had gotten into him.
“What is it Ivan?”
“Parker, you have to come over. We have to do all the things you said we should do.”
He sounded so happy, and so free. Like Friday didn’t exist. Like he was a new boy. I smiled, even though he wouldn’t know it.
“What things?”
“Everything. Like looking for cloud formations. Climbing trees, scraping knees, chasing sunset, watching the sunrise, doing cartwheels, wandering streets we don’t know, counting the number of cracks in the sidewalk. Getting hurt, getting rough, getting dirty, and just feeling.”
I was smiling so wide that it almost hurt.
“Sure thing Ivan. But you really think we can do that in one day? After all, we still have school tomorrow,” I reminded him.
“We’ll skip.”
Since when did he become the rebel and I the hesitant one?
Just the way she had come to console me with no questions or answers, that made me feel wanted. It gave me hope, is what it did. How was she so selfless?
You don’t meet people like her in bars, or at school, or in grocery stores.
Maybe you do, but it isn’t likely. She’s too good for any of that.
And after she left, after much protesting, and an invite to her house the next weekend, I thought for a long time.
I thought about how, in a nutshell, I wished to have her outlook on life. How she was my idol, the person I looked up to, and she wasn’t even trying. That was just her.
And, so I went to school on Monday with a little bit of a different approach.
“Well you should! Go outside and look for cloud formations. Climb trees, scrape your knees, chase the sunset, watch the sunrise, do cartwheels, wander around streets you don’t know, count the number of cracks in the sidewalk, get hurt, get rough, get dirty, just feel.”
She told me I didn’t have all my life to do these things because tomorrow I could be gone. And throughout the whole school day Monday, I thought about these words. I didn’t concentrate on the work I was given, because I was concentrating on something much more important.
I liked to think it was the meaning of life, what I was concentrating on.
I walked down the hall with purpose, feeling for once that someone was looking at me. Someone was watching and waiting for my next move. And, something came over me. In the middle of the hall, I put my books down, and did a cartwheel.
If it was in a movie it would have been very funny. If it were someone else it would have been funny. But since it was me, it was just shock. What I didn’t realize was that everyone in school knew me. However, they knew me as the shy kid who sat in the back of class. The boy who sat alone at lunch. The really smart boy who made perfect grades. I wasn’t even smart, I just had nothing better to do than study.
So, it must have been a real surprise to see me do a cartwheel down the hall. Not two or three, just one.
And right after I went and picked up my books off the floor, and walked to my locker.
Thing was, every person in that hallway was silent, and staring at me. I looked around me, and waved at a few people. I smiled, and then nervously scratched the back of my neck.
Then I let out a loud laugh. A chuckle. A really happy sound. A sound I didn’t know I had in me.
A girl I had talked to a few times in math and her friend smiled really wide, and clapped.
I laughed harder, all the way out the doors.
Who would have thought I’d do that?
________
When Awkward Ivan called me Monday afternoon, I couldn’t have been sure what had gotten into him.
“What is it Ivan?”
“Parker, you have to come over. We have to do all the things you said we should do.”
He sounded so happy, and so free. Like Friday didn’t exist. Like he was a new boy. I smiled, even though he wouldn’t know it.
“What things?”
“Everything. Like looking for cloud formations. Climbing trees, scraping knees, chasing sunset, watching the sunrise, doing cartwheels, wandering streets we don’t know, counting the number of cracks in the sidewalk. Getting hurt, getting rough, getting dirty, and just feeling.”
I was smiling so wide that it almost hurt.
“Sure thing Ivan. But you really think we can do that in one day? After all, we still have school tomorrow,” I reminded him.
“We’ll skip.”
Since when did he become the rebel and I the hesitant one?
♠ ♠ ♠
This one is short too, but I actually have a reason for it to be. I needed certain parts seperate, and not all in one chapter. The next chapter will be pretty long to make up for these past two short ones though. :]