Transcend

Before long days were passing by at a fast pace before they become full weeks, and I was so consumed in the school work being assigned in all of my classes that I let my thoughts of Liam and his story that he'd teleported into my room, which I still struggled to accept, slip from my immediate thoughts until it was in the back of my mind, shoved away by essays and exams. I went through Study Hall for Math once more before the weekend came, hardly speaking at all to Liam as we waited for class before we started working on our individual assignments. I rushed away from class again on Thursday, sure that I was sending him the message that I didn't want to be near him. Whether or not he chose to acknowledge the message and leave me alone was something he had to decide for himself, and I couldn't quite tell if he'd made his decision yet.
After leaving Study Hall I drove home to start my three day weekend on Friday, having classes only four times a week. I poured over textbooks most of the time, studying for my History midterm scheduled for next Wednesday and working on the problems assigned from my Algebra textbooks. What free time I allowed myself was spent mostly with my mother and father and eleven year old brother, Samuel, catching up through stories of work or school. The rest of the time I had I put into keeping up with friends who had either moved away or gone to a different college, using the Internet or conversing through texting.
Occasionally, I would break from my studies to walk five or ten minutes to the beach where a long concrete seawall ran parallel along the shoreline. Since it was mid November and the water was becoming colder not as many people swam in the ocean or walked around in bathing suits, most instead sticking to normal clothing to walk on the seawall or near the water with another person or their dog. A few people could be seen in the water wearing wet suits, most of them surfing, though I could only count a few from where I walked.
Though I lived right next to the beach I avoided it a lot of the time, mainly because it has been where Liam and I had met and walking though the pale white sand brought back memories that I didn't care to think about. Though now I was being more or less forced into talking to him, I still winced when I passed particular spots where we would go: the boardwalk about half a mile down where they sold ice cream and candy, the row of benches next to the northern entrance to the beach, the tables near the jetties. It was a long time ago, but I could still feel that familiar pain when I happened to pass by a location that had once been our place, but no longer was.
I never heard anything from Liam the entire three days I was away from campus, though I knew he didn't have my new cell phone number and I wasn't friends with him on any social networking site where he could contact me. I wasn't too bothered by the fact that he was making no move to talk to me even though I was, after all, the only one who knew anything about his teleporting. I put that to the back of my mind as well, at least until Study Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
'Are we just going to forget this ever happened?' was written on a sheet of notebook paper torn roughly from a spiral Liam carried, and when he passed it to his left where I was sitting studying for a fast approaching Algebra Midterm, I glanced over and read it with curious eyes before glaring at the paper and turning my attention back to my work. I tried to ignore him, though from the corner of my eyes I saw him frown slightly before pushing the paper towards me more until it buckled upward from hitting against my arm. I shot him an annoyed look before taking the note and sliding it on top of the work in front of me writing, 'Yea that sounds like a pretty good idea; I'd love to if you would leave me alone.'
He took it back from me when I slid it in his direction as discretely as I could, and I pretended to continue working while he read over my answer quickly. After pausing to think, he leaned forward and wrote his reply, 'But aren't you curious about what happened? About the portal? About why it happened to me? Don't you care about the fact that I teleported?' before sliding it my way and quickly having it sent back to him with my reply: 'No.'
Expecting our conversation to be finished from there I continued solving the equation I'd been in the middle of when he'd decided to bother me, watching nonchalantly as he rested his head in his hand and leaned over the paper we'd passed, taping his pencil on the desk before moving it towards the paper to write. After a few seconds of him writing out his reply, he slid the paper lightly to me once again and I took it ungratefully reading his messy cursive words, 'The time I teleported into your bedroom was the only time anything like that has ever happened to me. Do you think that it was just a one time thing?'
I sighed lightly and looked up and around the classroom as I thought about what my reply would be: a serious theory about his situation or just more passive aggressive anger to get him to leave me alone. I surprised even myself when I looked back down at the paper and replied, 'It might be if it hasn't happened since.'
He took the paper from me with almost too much haste when I passed it to him, seeming generally surprised when what he read wasn't dripping with sarcasm. I ran my fingers through my bangs as I waited for his answer, not even bothering to try and work now that I was humoring him. At this rate, he'd want to talk for hours about the teleporting and what it means.
'And then I can just forget about it, like it never even happened. Before long I'll just think it was a dream or something like that.' I smiled a little as I read his answer, resting both my elbows on the table and holding the note in front of me with both my hands. If he moved on from teleporting and let himself forget that it had ever happened and that I knew about it, then he would finally leave me alone and I could continue going about my life in peace –without Liam.
Our Study Hall ended soon enough and the professor told us to leave as she rose from her chair to walk out herself. I passed the note back to Liam, trusting that he would want it back to tear it up or burn it if he was really that concerned about people finding out about his ability, and collected my things with a rapid pace like I'd been doing. After grabbing my things I made my way to the classroom door and out into the hall, slightly surprised that Liam hadn't chosen to try and talk to me since we'd passed notes almost the entire time, though I'm sure he was satisfied with our conversation for the time being.
My week passed just as quickly as everything else seemed to be going; I took my midterm in Social History 1302 and made an 87, content with my grade considering how busy life was; I turned in all the essays I'd been working on for English, and finished the Algebra homework I'd been assigned. I sped through the week quickly, and I found myself incredibly bored as I went through my classes taking notes on how to work an equation or how the transition into the industrialization period affected the people living at the time. I did the problems given to me and read the assigned reading like I was supposed to, but it felt so bland that it was depressing. Perhaps it was waking up to my ex boyfriend and being told that he teleported into my room and then returning back to normal everyday life that was the cause.
When Thursday came around and it was time to go to Math Study Hall once again, I walked up the stairs and to the second floor where my classroom was expecting to have another conversation with Liam either before class or through notes like we had on Tuesday. Since I'd given him a serious answer when he asked what I thought about the teleporting, I assumed that he would want to talk more about it.
Arriving at room 221, I walked in and sat down in my usual seat at the table before opening my folder and my textbook to pull out what I had to work on. People started to enter the room slowly, filling up the chairs around the tables one by one until the class had reached its average size. After a few minutes the professor stepped in and began taking roll, and as I turned in my seat to look behind me where she was standing I noticed that Liam wasn't in the room. I said 'here' when my name was called and then listened to the silence that followed once his name was called, the only sound being the professor repeating his name a few times, "Liam Kelly? Is Liam Kelley here?"
I would have spoke up and said that he wasn't here if he was actually my friend and I liked being around him, but since that wasn't the case an older man sitting on the other side of the room answered her saying, "He isn't here today." She nodded to him and counted Liam absent, then walked back over to the desk in the corner and sat down while everyone around me focused their attention on working.
After I turned back to face the table and my books and papers laying on it before me, I glanced to his empty seat as if I needed to see for myself that he wasn't here. Of course the chair was empty, and his books that he carried were nowhere to be seen. I wasn't upset that he was missing from class, but after enrolling as late as he had I expected him to try and skip as few classes as possible. I knew all that he had today was Algebra 1319 and Math Study Hall after that, and though I could understand why he would want to miss out on both it still seemed irresponsible when he was so behind already.
The class went on just as it would have any other day as everyone worked silently on their assignments or studied for their tests, the only thing being different was Liam's absence which, in all honestly, didn't affect the class much. There was still the same silence penetrated only by the sound of pages turning and pencils writing, and the time went by just the same as it would have. I did my homework assigned to me the day before as I would have had Liam been present, though in the back of my mind I thought about the absence the whole time.
Naturally, my mind wondered across the idea that maybe he had teleported again and was trapped in the portal trying to find his way out. Maybe he would be gone for another seven months, or maybe I would never even see him again. I didn't let my mind linger on it too long, as it was strange to honestly be considering teleporting as a reason for him not being here.
Once the fifty minutes were up and everyone gathered their things and left, I exited the classroom and walked to my car to go home, only slowly this time as I knew there was no fear of Liam catching up to me and trying to have a conversation. I made my way out of the building and to the parking lot where I'd parked earlier that afternoon, my mind on Liam despite how badly I wanted not to think about him.