Ch. 16: Something I Don't Know

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
“Hey, um, Rachel?”
I slowed down my charge and turned to see Kyle looking at me with… hope or something close to it in his eyes.
“Oh hey” I said back.
“Were you still up for the grand tour at some point? I figure you’ve already been around pretty much the whole place - but maybe?” He asked as we kept walking.
We approached the courtyard and were hit with direct sunlight.
“Yeah, sure, I’m still up for it. When were you thinking?” I asked back. I was very curious about this very odd guy. We slowed our walk to a crawling pace.
“Great!” He exclaimed. “Maybe, after school today? Can we meet right back here?”
“Rachel,” Sean said from a few paces away, beckoning me over.
I turned back to Kyle, “Sorry, I’ve got some plans off campus after school. Maybe tomorrow, like Break?”
Kyle seemed to just notice Sean’s approach and quickly said, “Okay, see yeah,” before retreating back the way we came.
Sean walked up to me, uneasy. “That’s not him right? The guy who was giving you the creeps?” He asked, looking behind me, the way Kyle went. Bobbing his head to look through the crowd of people heading in different directions.
“Oh, no! That’s not him,” I reassured Sean, putting my hand on his hand. The gesture seemed natural.
At my touch he loosened up, then smiled down at me.
“Okay, good. Please let me know if whoever he is keeps bothering you. You looked a little off when I saw him by you,” he said, concerned.
“I’m okay, really. That guy was in my last class though. Maybe that’s what you saw in me, he was still staring. But I think I’m handling it. I’ve got a plan,” I told him.
He seemed pleased, “Good.” He grabbed my hand and started leading me towards the ‘hallway’ with Ms. Del Rios’ class then turned to me, “Are you up for a pre-beach-picnic picnic?”
“Sounds great,” I replied, beamingly happy. I saw Ally, Maxine and Marsha sitting on the bench by the cafeteria. Ally waved, laughing good naturedly, likely at me being led around like a lovesick puppy. I didn’t mind. The jolts of tingling and electricity coming from Sean’s hand in mine had me straight up giddy.
He led us to a patch of grass right by Ms. Del Rios’ class, and sat on a little staircase. I sat next to him, putting my backpack on the step above us, with my shoes on the grass. He pulled an apple out of his backpack and bit into it, while I fished around for my protein bar. At the sight of it he raised an eyebrow.
“What?” he asked between his bites, “No strawberries, Sunshine?”
I smiled back. “No, not today. You need to get on that,” and bit into my protein bar.
“Ha! She’s cheeky!” Sean beamed, the light bouncing off his jade eyes made them appear brighter.
I grinned mischievously and took another bite.
“So,” he began, swallowing his bite of apple, “I know this talk is usually reserved for a first date, but I think we might get away with calling this the first one? Tell my something I don’t know about you”
I looked back unimpressed, “I don’t know if I should just lower my ‘date’ standards just like that.” God it was fun teasing him like this.
He opened his jaw wide, “Wow, and she wounds me once again.”
We both laugh.
“Hmmm… well where do I start? We don’t know each other very much?” I ask him back.
“Well, I know you’re part Peruvian. I know you don’t speak much Spanish but do understand a great deal. I know you’re from Melbourne. You’re a freshman, but you left P.H. for some reason after barely being there - I imagine that place is just more intolerable than I would guess, but we don’t need to get into why you left. And… I know you make friends easily. Oh, and I know you really like strawberries,” he finished his list with a proud expression on his face.
“Ha, I guess you do know some things,” I responded. He signaled that I should continue, “Okay, let’s see what I can add to your list. Umm, I have a younger sister named Meg. My parents are separated and going through a divorce. Uh, I love reading, and chocolate. I have a cat, tuxedo kitten named Snickers. Uh, I used to live here in Belmar for a few years. I… don’t know what else really?” I finished my stream of consciousness-style answers.
“Well, we’ve already got a few things in common,” he says, takes another bite of his apple and chews. After a pause for his chewing he continues, “I also have a sister, but she’s older. She’s in her first year of college. Lorraine. My parents are divorced. I don’t read as much as I would like to but deeply appreciate someone who does. Chocolate is a huge yes for me. We have three cats at home.. And I guess I live in Belmar. Which I suppose you sort of already know.”
We talked for some time. Sean asks me more questions and he shares with me some stories about his sister Lorraine. They seem pretty close. He tells me about his parents’ long stretched out separation and their messy divorce. Being in the middle of that transition myself I really connect with what he says. I share some memories of my own about my parents before they started fighting, and compare it to right before the separation. My parents were way too busy fighting by the time I hit 4th grade to pay attention to us most nights. I spent a lot of time mothering my sister because of it. Sean really empathized with me. I talked to him about Meg and our currently estranged relationship, and he assured me that she would one day look back and see what I had done for her, how I had taken care of her. He explained how he was much like my sister and had just more recently realized what Lorraine had done for him during the messiest times growing up. Before I knew it, lunch was ending. I was pretty disappointed we didn’t have more time, but I also looked forward to our official date after school today.
Sean helped me up and we walked by the trash can, compost bin and recycling bin on the way into the courtyard, and dealt with the remains of our lunch before continuing forward. We walked across the courtyard and stopped at the intersection of hallways. Three of his friends walked up to us. One I recognized from Spanish class who was also in his Homeroom, the short-ish blond guy.
“Guys, this is Rachel. Rach, this is Michael, J.C., and Holden,” Sean introduced us.
Michael, the guy from Spanish and Sean’s Homeroom was the first to speak.
“Hey there Rachel, I don’t think we’ve really met,” he said.
“You’re in my Spanish class right?” I asked him for clarification.
He seemed pleased I recognized him, “Yeah.”
“Nice to meet you Rachel,” said Holden. He was tall, probably a little taller than Sean. With dark skin and deep brown eyes.
“Sorry to rush this but we’ve got to get down to P.E.” said J.C., a tall tanned Asian guy wearing a beanie. He quickly added, “Great to meet you Rachel!” while walking away with Michael and Holden.
“Nice to meet you guys too!” I said before they were out of earshot.
“Yeah! Great to meet the girl our boy’s gone mad for!” yelled a voice from down the stairway, followed by loud laughter.
Sean rolled his eyes at them then reached forward and squeezed my hand then said, “I better catch up to them. See you after school? I’ll meet you where we met at Break?”
I nodded and he rushed off down the stairway after them towards the gym. I then noticed most of the hallway was empty, and I still needed to get to class!