Ch. 7: Film

CHAPTER 7:

After about ten minutes Ally texted saying the van finally dropped them off. She asked me where I was and I responded. It was now 7:35 and as school didn’t start until 8:05, we had some time to kill. 

Ally entered the cafeteria and I excused myself to join her at our own table.

“Who are they?” Ally asked with interest. “They look familiar…”

“They’re from Melbourne, June - the one in the glasses - is a sophomore. We all went to Liveman together. Melanie’s her sister, and the other one is Angela. Melanie and Angela are seniors.”

“Ah, okay. Yeah I sort of remember them…” Ally thought aloud.

“Yeah, well Angela was weirdly warning me about Maxine and Marsha.” I caught Ally up to date about the strange comment and added that I was going to make up my own mind about them. Ally agreed with my decision.

“You know how ridiculous some girls can be. All dramatic or whatever.” She concluded. Suddenly her face changed. “Hey I was hoping we could talk for a second. That okay?”

“Of course,” I affirmed.

Ally breathed in and looked at me, not a spec of the usual light that shone in her eyes. This must be bad.

“You know how my mom has, you know?” I knew. Her parents had been living unofficially separated for a while now, but more recently her mom bought a condo a few cities away, making everything a bit more official. Ally continued, “Well, my dad just told me this morning that she’s dating someone.” I felt almost as crushed as Ally. She had really held on to the hope that her parents would see reason and just live together again. We had wished for so long for that to come true, but here we were, facing something different. “I just, I really thought they were getting along better these last few months. My mom’s come over for dinner almost every day. It’s like we were going to be a family again.” 

I didn’t know what to say right away. My parents had been separated for years and had been officially divorced since Christmas time last year. I felt for Ally, I really did, but part of me wished everyone’s parents were divorced so we all didn’t have to go through this long drawn out separation crap. I just held Ally’s hand on the table as she blinked away tears. Her eyes were shining now, but for a horribly different reason. Ally was too gentle to handle this endless disappointment her parents were giving her. I had a flicker of anger hit me at the thought of her mom not having the guts to tell Ally herself what was happening. Ally didn’t seem to notice, her eyes were staring off behind me in thought. I held back my sharp comments about her parents and just held her hand. After a few more moments Ally recentered herself. 

“Anyways,” she sniffled, “I don’t mean to bring you down. I just wanted to tell someone… it doesn’t feel real.”

Before I could piece together something to say in response, she seemed to suck it all up and switched topics, “Oh hey, let me see your schedule. I should show you where your first class is so you’re not all wandering around and whatnot.” She smiled genuinely at me and I dropped the start of the thought I had been piecing together. I guess sometimes not saying anything at all can be what someone needs.

“Sure,” I said, “that sounds like a plan.”

We got up from the tables and walked outside, relishing the sudden chilly air outside.

Ally walked me to my 1st period class, Film Analysis, with Mr. Waller. After killing some time chatting outside, she takes off to PE, the class I oddly did not have this semester. I walked over to the bathroom to refresh my tired face, and by the time I came back there was a small crowd of students outside the door. Seniors. And one I recognized right away, Max. She caught my eye and waved me over.

“Hey! I should’ve asked you what classes you had but since telling us you were a freshman I didn’t even think it could be true! What are you doing here?”

“Apparently they don’t have room for PE at any point for me so here I am,” I responded, shrugging my shoulders.

Max grinned, “Lucky!”

A serious looking middle-aged man came out from a nearby door and walked over towards us, opening the classroom. Dark and toasty, he lazily told everyone, “One second…” while he felt for the lightswitch. Once found, he added, “Alright, let’s get going.”

As everyone filed inside, I saw one more person join our crowd. Lord, his beautiful eyes looked adorable with this sleepy look. Sean. He stretched his arms up, slightly lifting his shirt to reveal a sliver of skin above his jeans. I tried not to look as I followed someone in the classroom, but I felt him looking and my eyes darted up. I probably blushed as I rushed in the door, Max following behind me. She led me to a seat by the far end and as I sat down I noticed she was looking at me.

“Oooh. You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” Max asked with a knowing smile. “You know you’re lucky I like you or I wouldn’t be so forgiving.”

I sat down, ready to respond when Sean came up right behind me, looking Max in the eye.

“Who is lucky they like who?” He asked her with a big grin. He looked down at me, eyebrow raised, knowing smile and all. 

I looked away quickly, wishing I had the power of invincibility. 

“You know Sean, it is considered rude in many cultures to insert yourself into overheard conversations?” Max said, in a light mocking tone.

“I am so sorry,” Sean empathetically resounded, “Next time I’ll wait for my invitation. Rachel, would you be so kind as to send me one?” He sat down on my left.

“Uh sure,” I added.

“See? There you go, I am personally holding onto this special invitation until further notice,” Sean said to Max I think, but said so while looking at me. I smiled, trying to control the blush that had started to fade before he sat down.

Mr. Waller took attendance, and explained that we would be continuing to watch “Blazing Saddles”. He said if you weren’t here last class, to let him know and you could borrow the movie to take home and fill in any gaps. Then he turned on the movie, and off with the lights. I tried to focus on the odd film. Avoiding Max’s pointed looks was really challenging, especially when she continued to poke my arm and push little notes into my hand.

‘Looky here,’ said one note. 

‘We are SO talking about this later,'' said another.

I had to sit there for over an hour with Sean’s arm inches from mine, resting on the desk in front of us. He seemed pretty into the movie, but once in a while he would sit back in his chair a bit and stretch his arms up, circling them down and around behind me. Arm getting ever so close, but not once touching me. At the end of class the lights came up, Mr. Waller passed out the assignment of questions to take with us as homework, and Sean took a second too long to pass me the sheets for me and Max. Forcing me to look up and into those eyes. So close I could smell the toothpaste on his breath. He looked so serious, different from the normal cavalier way he seemed to move around the school. Then he let go.

He breathed in, “Find me at lunch?” 

“Yeah, sure,” I said, still entranced, “Um where?”

He switched his body language back to his casual self and corrected, “You know what, actually, I’ll find you.”

Swoon.