Gasoline
You're Screaming "It Wasn't Me"
“Every time you close your eyes, lies! Lies!” – Arcade Fire
The first day back to school had been much more exhausting than Cody expected; she walked slowly back to her car, shoulders slumped and fingers wrapped around the lighter in her pocket. Her backpack was stuffed with papers, full of simple homework assignments she had little intention of actually doing. Cody liked to do math and science – she could lose herself in the logic that burned through numbers, but her favorite subject was chemistry. The subject brimmed with tantalizing ideas of mixing chemicals to create something caustic and destructive and beautiful, but Cody loved the experiments most of all. Too bad she only had lab once a week, and they never mixed anything really exciting.
Once she reached her car, Cody unlocked the doors and threw her backpack in the backseat. She was about to get into the driver’s seat when a voice calling her name stopped her. She turned and saw Will leaning on the hood of his car, which was parked (perhaps too conveniently) directly across from hers. “How was your day?” he asked. His dark hair still hung in his eyes, almost hiding them from view. Cody walked across the aisle and stood in front of him, looking up into his brilliantly blue eyes.
“I feel like I’m trapped in a microscope slide,” she said. She finally pulled the lighter out of her pocket and clicked it, running her fingers quickly over the tips of the flame.
“People are still staring at you,” Will reminded her. Cody nodded, her gaze now fixed in the flame she seemed to hold in her slim fingers. “Are you a pyromaniac?”
Cody released the flame and smiled up at Will. “That’s what people have told me. I just like the color, the heat, the destruction… all in my fingers.” She flicked the lighter again, sending sparks into the warm afternoon air. “Well, not exactly, but that’s how I think of it… sometimes…”
Will gently pulled the lighter from her grasp, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it. “You are a mystery, Cody Laughlin,” he said. He exhaled, smoke filling the air between them. “You’re giving people a real reason to stare.”
“I guess I am,” she said. She took the cigarette from Will and took a drag, exhaling the smoke in his face. “Any plans this afternoon?” Cody wasn’t sure where this confidence was coming from. Here she felt limitless – she was a girl who played with fire, and Cody’s subconscious decided she needed a personality to match.
Back home, she never smoked – despite her love affair with fire. She spent much of her spare time in the chemistry lab of her school, learning to create fireworks with a little help from Mr. Graff. People constantly talked about them – Cody and Mr. Graff, the young chemistry teacher at her high school. Nearly everyone suspected them to be having an affair, which caused Cody to be silently angry, turning more and more to fire, and to Mr. Graff. He had been her closest friend back home – so easy to talk to, never judgmental or cruel. Their relationship had been entirely platonic until the night before Cody left.
“Well,” Will said, taking his cigarette back from the girl, “I’m planning on spending as much time with you as I possibly can. How can I do that?”
Cody pursed her lips. Her father tended to stay at his job at a business firm in the city until seven or eight at night, and her mother had promised to take Jack to buy new clothes tonight – her younger brother was growing rapidly and needed new clothes almost every month. “You can come back to my house,” she said. “I’m pretty sure no one will be there. I’m not planning on doing any of my homework, especially the ones that are all ‘tell me about yourself and your goals for the year’.”
Will had reached the end of his cigarette, which he dropped on the ground and stubbed out with his shoe. “Well, last year, my friends and I had a huge bonfire and we burned all of our school stuff. Wanna start early this year?”
A wicked smile grew on Cody’s face and she pushed Will’s dark hair out of his eyes so that she could see them clearly, gray connected to blue as both refused to look away. “I think that sounds amazing.” She turned around and walked back towards her car. “You can follow me back to my house. It’s not far.”
“I’ll race you,” Will said.
“You don’t know where I live.”
“It’s a small town. I’ll figure it out.” He was grinning at her, this amazing girl who practically set the day on fire. No other girl in this town was anything like Cody – so many girls here were superficial and fickle, easy and eager for attention. Cody was new; she already held everyone’s attention, and she had no intention of letting it go. Will started his car and followed Cody out of the parking lot, through the center of town to a quiet development. She drove quickly and took turns without slowing down. When they stopped in the driveway of her house, Will had decided that Cody was some sort of demon; she was a fallen angel who was running from hell and bringing danger with her.
“I won,” Cody said, leaning on Will’s black car.
“I let you win,” he said, getting out of his car and following Cody towards her house. She laughed and dropped her bag on the front porch, pulling out a sheet of paper and her lighter.
“Syllabus for Advanced Placement American Government,” she read, her lighter already alight.
“AP? It could be important,” Will warned sarcastically.
“Nearly everything you do is not important, but it is important that you do it,” she said, holding the lighter to the corner of the page. It curled and blackened almost instantly, the orange flames spreading quickly to the words on the page.
“Do you expect me to think you’re brilliant because you can quote Gandhi?” Will asked, smiling. He blew at the paper playfully, half-trying to extinguish the flames.
“I expect you to think I’m not stupid, and that I quoted Gandhi,” she said. Will suspected she was full of these vague answers – confidence and intelligence, but an amazing ability to hide any personal information. She dropped the paper on the ground and let it burn to ashes on the cement leading up to the porch. Will ran his fingers slowly through Cody’s hair, causing her to turn and look curiously at him.
“Tell me about yourself, Cody Laughlin,” he said.
A small smile crossed her face and she responded, “You first.”
Across the street, Jude looked up from his paper. He’d spent the entire afternoon drawing. As soon as he got back from work, he picked up a piece of charcoal and began to draw from memory those round gray eyes. His gaze wandered across the street and he saw Cody sitting on the steps of the porch outside her house, her face inches from Will Harrison’s. Jude dropped his charcoal and crossed to the window, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Jude’s surprise quickly turned to irritation. He wondered if Cody knew what Will had done, what kind of person he was. He wondered how Cody had brought him back to her house after the first day of school – what words did he say to snare her interest?
Jude had always hated Will Harrison, but he hated him now more than ever – because Will was with a girl Jude hardly even knew, but wanted more than anything to know everything about.
The first day back to school had been much more exhausting than Cody expected; she walked slowly back to her car, shoulders slumped and fingers wrapped around the lighter in her pocket. Her backpack was stuffed with papers, full of simple homework assignments she had little intention of actually doing. Cody liked to do math and science – she could lose herself in the logic that burned through numbers, but her favorite subject was chemistry. The subject brimmed with tantalizing ideas of mixing chemicals to create something caustic and destructive and beautiful, but Cody loved the experiments most of all. Too bad she only had lab once a week, and they never mixed anything really exciting.
Once she reached her car, Cody unlocked the doors and threw her backpack in the backseat. She was about to get into the driver’s seat when a voice calling her name stopped her. She turned and saw Will leaning on the hood of his car, which was parked (perhaps too conveniently) directly across from hers. “How was your day?” he asked. His dark hair still hung in his eyes, almost hiding them from view. Cody walked across the aisle and stood in front of him, looking up into his brilliantly blue eyes.
“I feel like I’m trapped in a microscope slide,” she said. She finally pulled the lighter out of her pocket and clicked it, running her fingers quickly over the tips of the flame.
“People are still staring at you,” Will reminded her. Cody nodded, her gaze now fixed in the flame she seemed to hold in her slim fingers. “Are you a pyromaniac?”
Cody released the flame and smiled up at Will. “That’s what people have told me. I just like the color, the heat, the destruction… all in my fingers.” She flicked the lighter again, sending sparks into the warm afternoon air. “Well, not exactly, but that’s how I think of it… sometimes…”
Will gently pulled the lighter from her grasp, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it. “You are a mystery, Cody Laughlin,” he said. He exhaled, smoke filling the air between them. “You’re giving people a real reason to stare.”
“I guess I am,” she said. She took the cigarette from Will and took a drag, exhaling the smoke in his face. “Any plans this afternoon?” Cody wasn’t sure where this confidence was coming from. Here she felt limitless – she was a girl who played with fire, and Cody’s subconscious decided she needed a personality to match.
Back home, she never smoked – despite her love affair with fire. She spent much of her spare time in the chemistry lab of her school, learning to create fireworks with a little help from Mr. Graff. People constantly talked about them – Cody and Mr. Graff, the young chemistry teacher at her high school. Nearly everyone suspected them to be having an affair, which caused Cody to be silently angry, turning more and more to fire, and to Mr. Graff. He had been her closest friend back home – so easy to talk to, never judgmental or cruel. Their relationship had been entirely platonic until the night before Cody left.
“Well,” Will said, taking his cigarette back from the girl, “I’m planning on spending as much time with you as I possibly can. How can I do that?”
Cody pursed her lips. Her father tended to stay at his job at a business firm in the city until seven or eight at night, and her mother had promised to take Jack to buy new clothes tonight – her younger brother was growing rapidly and needed new clothes almost every month. “You can come back to my house,” she said. “I’m pretty sure no one will be there. I’m not planning on doing any of my homework, especially the ones that are all ‘tell me about yourself and your goals for the year’.”
Will had reached the end of his cigarette, which he dropped on the ground and stubbed out with his shoe. “Well, last year, my friends and I had a huge bonfire and we burned all of our school stuff. Wanna start early this year?”
A wicked smile grew on Cody’s face and she pushed Will’s dark hair out of his eyes so that she could see them clearly, gray connected to blue as both refused to look away. “I think that sounds amazing.” She turned around and walked back towards her car. “You can follow me back to my house. It’s not far.”
“I’ll race you,” Will said.
“You don’t know where I live.”
“It’s a small town. I’ll figure it out.” He was grinning at her, this amazing girl who practically set the day on fire. No other girl in this town was anything like Cody – so many girls here were superficial and fickle, easy and eager for attention. Cody was new; she already held everyone’s attention, and she had no intention of letting it go. Will started his car and followed Cody out of the parking lot, through the center of town to a quiet development. She drove quickly and took turns without slowing down. When they stopped in the driveway of her house, Will had decided that Cody was some sort of demon; she was a fallen angel who was running from hell and bringing danger with her.
“I won,” Cody said, leaning on Will’s black car.
“I let you win,” he said, getting out of his car and following Cody towards her house. She laughed and dropped her bag on the front porch, pulling out a sheet of paper and her lighter.
“Syllabus for Advanced Placement American Government,” she read, her lighter already alight.
“AP? It could be important,” Will warned sarcastically.
“Nearly everything you do is not important, but it is important that you do it,” she said, holding the lighter to the corner of the page. It curled and blackened almost instantly, the orange flames spreading quickly to the words on the page.
“Do you expect me to think you’re brilliant because you can quote Gandhi?” Will asked, smiling. He blew at the paper playfully, half-trying to extinguish the flames.
“I expect you to think I’m not stupid, and that I quoted Gandhi,” she said. Will suspected she was full of these vague answers – confidence and intelligence, but an amazing ability to hide any personal information. She dropped the paper on the ground and let it burn to ashes on the cement leading up to the porch. Will ran his fingers slowly through Cody’s hair, causing her to turn and look curiously at him.
“Tell me about yourself, Cody Laughlin,” he said.
A small smile crossed her face and she responded, “You first.”
Across the street, Jude looked up from his paper. He’d spent the entire afternoon drawing. As soon as he got back from work, he picked up a piece of charcoal and began to draw from memory those round gray eyes. His gaze wandered across the street and he saw Cody sitting on the steps of the porch outside her house, her face inches from Will Harrison’s. Jude dropped his charcoal and crossed to the window, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Jude’s surprise quickly turned to irritation. He wondered if Cody knew what Will had done, what kind of person he was. He wondered how Cody had brought him back to her house after the first day of school – what words did he say to snare her interest?
Jude had always hated Will Harrison, but he hated him now more than ever – because Will was with a girl Jude hardly even knew, but wanted more than anything to know everything about.