Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

I sat at the dining room table with my books spread out in front of me. I thought it would be a good idea to study and get back into the flow of school. I had missed almost three months of learning, and needed to make it up in a week. Calculus was my main concern. Math was tricky. You had to pay attention because in order to do the next step, you had to understand the last step. If you didn’t understand any of it and tried to wing it, you would for sure fail. I wasn’t worried about English at all. They were reading a novel that I had read the previous summer. I needed to review a bit on history, and you can never over study physics.

I was pouring over my calculus textbook when the front door opened. I kept my attention on my book. It was either the Moreno brothers or one of their friends.

“Yo,” Luke greeted, walking past me and into the kitchen. “Where are the girls?”

“Taking a nap in their room,” I answered, scribbling down the answer to question three.

“You haven’t even had those books for a day, and you’ve already cracked them open,” Luke teased, taking a swig out of a bottle of Dr. Pepper.

“I have to catch up a little,” I shrugged.

“Have to get back in the grade grubbing mood, huh?” he laughed, leaning on his elbows.

“Exactly,” I agreed with a soft chuckle.

“Need me to quiz you on anything?” he asked, making his way towards the table and sitting across from me.

“Sure,” I shrugged, pushing my Civil war textbook towards him. “I’m on chapter three, section two.”

“Alright, let’s see here,” Luke mumbled, grabbing the book and flipping through the pages. I wonder if he knows any of this stuff. I’m in his grade, but I was in higher classes than he was when it came to history, math, and science.

“How did Earl Van Dorn die?” he asked, holding the book up to his face so I couldn’t see the answers.

“By a jealous Doctor named George Peters,” I answered, nodding my head in confidence.

“Right,” Luke nodded. “The Battle of Pittsburgh Landing is also know by what name?”

“Shiloh?” I questioned. I wasn’t sure if it was Shiloh or Wilderness.

“Yup. Shiloh is right,” he clarified. “According to historians, what battle was decided by ‘three cigars’?”

“Antietam,” I answered. “Private Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana found three cigars wrapped in General Robert E. Lee’s special orders.”

“And you say you’re not a grade grubber?” Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes at him and smiled. Was it such a crime to be interested in your schoolwork? History is important. It’s literature on real events that happened. It explains how people lived, and fought, and what they made with what they had. It was fascinating to me.

“Which Union General‘s famous last words were ‘They couldn‘t hit an elephant at this distance‘?” he continued to read.

“John Sedgwick,” I answered.

“What battle did he die in, and how?” he asked, looking up at me from the book.

“Battle of Spotsylvania, 1864, shot right through the head,” I answered.

“You go girl,” Luke cheered, raising his hand as a signal for a high five.

I slapped my hand against his, wearing an excited smile. I was so going to pass this year. Maybe I could convince all my teachers into giving me extra work so I could be done with the year early and have the rest off? I wanted to get back into high school, start a regular senior year!

I leaned back in the wooden chair, and waited for Luke to ask me another question. He was shifting through the pages, probably looking for more things to quiz me over. I wanted to ask him a question that had been bugging me since last night, but I was afraid to. I didn’t think Luke would get mad, but I was afraid he would be grossed out or say something stupid that might end up hurting my feelings.

“Do we act like a couple?” I blurted out. I immediately wanted to slap my hand onto my mouth, but repressed the urge by nervously tapping the table.

“Huh?” he asked, looking just as confused as he did when Mr. Higgins asked when I was due. He kept his eyes on the book, flipping through the pages.

“Mason just,” I paused, waiting for the right way to explain what happened. “Never mind.”

“What?” he asked, looking up from the book.

“Mason said something at school last night and,” I paused again. He was probably going to explode at Mason now. Good going, Riley. “Just forget I asked.”

Luke looked at me through squinted eyes. He was still confused, but I didn’t know how to say it where it made sense.

“You lost me,” he said, slightly shaking his head.

“Mason introduced me to some people last night at school, and he told them I was off limits because I was with you,” I explained slowly, more or my benefit than his. “And I was wondering why he would think that way.”

Luke rolled his eyes and shook his head. He looked annoyed, and I can’t help but think that it was because of me.

“Mason thinks that as soon as you talk to a girl, they’re a girl friend,” Luke chuckled. “He’s used to Scotty and Danny. They can exchange two sentences with a female, and then deem her as their girlfriend.”

I laughed, and shook my head. Scotty and Danny thought they were just a gift from God to the women. It was quite sad.

“I don’t think we act like a couple,” Luke said, shaking his head and returning his gaze back to the large history book.

“I don’t either,” I agreed with a chuckle.

The front door opened again, and Jack threw his backpack into the storage bin.

“Squid with a book?” he teased, walking towards us. “There’s something wrong with that,”

“It’s not my book,” Luke informed him, still flipping through the pages. I thin he was just flipping pages just to do so.

“Who’s is it then?” he asked, looking at the cover. “AP Civil War? What?”

“It’s hers,” Luke answered, pointing the spine of the textbook at me.

“Why do you have an AP Civil War book?” he asked with a confused smile.

Jack was smiling at me. I didn’t know what to do. Do I answer him or just shrug?

“I’m in night school now,” I answered quietly, waiting for him to explode.

“Cool,” he shrugged, and walked towards the fridge.

Both Luke and I both stared at him with wide, confused eyes. What was going on? Jack wasn’t ignoring or yelling at me. He was actually having somewhat of a conversation with me. Was he sick? Did Izzy do something to put him in a good mood? I’m so confused by his new attitude.

Luke shrugged it off after a moment of staring. Even he noticed something was up. He turned his attention back to the book. The face he made afterward made me want to laugh. He got out of his chair, and stood behind me, putting the book on the table in front of us. He underlined a phrase with his finger.

“How the eff do you say that?” he asked, his mouth very close to my ear that it made me jump.

“Sic Semper Tyranus,” I answered. “It’s the motto of Virginia. It’s also what John Wilkes Booth said after he shot Lincoln.

“There goes that question,” he chuckled.

I scooted a bit closer to him. He still smelled o Pancakes and stale cigarettes. It made me wonder why. I had never seen Luke with a cigarette or a pancake.

“Maybe this isn’t so awkward after all,” he whispered, pulling the book over my head and returning to his seat.

I don’t know if I was supposed to hear that last part or not, but I played it off as if I didn’t.

“Yo, Riley,” Jack called from the kitchen counter.

“What’s up?” I asked, grabbing my calculus textbook.

“Scotty’s party this weekend, are you going?” he asked, munching down on an apple.

“I was thinking about it,” I shrugged. I didn’t know if Jack was asking because he was going to make it clear I wasn’t invited or if his presence counted on it.

“You should,” he said. “It’s supposed to be epic.”

Luke slowly turned around in his chair and stared at Jack with a confused face. I just looked at him with raised eyebrows. Something was definitely up with Jack.