Waiting Outside the Window

Chapter Two

Val stepped out of the car, said goodbye to her mom, and then watched the care drive off until it couldn’t be seen anymore. Her peers walked around her, looking strangely at the girl cemented to the sidewalk.

“You lost?”

Val turned around and saw a girl a few inches taller than she was with shoulder length blonde hair and baby blue eyes. She had a round, cheery face, and a ruler figure. She dressed in low-cut pants and a black halter-top.

“Um, no,” Val said. “I was just admiring the view.

“A view of the parking lot?” the girl chuckled.

Val thought the girl might fit into a movie where there’s a sickly sweet little girl who goes psychotic and kills everyone. Not that Val has ever seen a movie like that; she was too easily frightened.

“Yeah.”

“Um, ok. Are you a freshman? Because I don’t remember you.”

“Yeah. I’m Val.”

“I’m Carrie. Nice to meet you.”

“So you’re a…?”

“Sophomore.”

“Ah. Yes. Do you know where Mr. Dileo’s class is? I’ve got him first period and I really have no idea where to go. “

“Well, I can take you most of the way, but then I’ve got to get to class. I can tell you how to get there from my class, though.”

Val followed Carrie into the rather small high school building. The front entrance had two large doors with metal handles that were cold to the touch. The hallways were half filled with students, leaving enough room to move around but not enough room to do jumping jacks, in case you ever felt the need to do jumping jacks during passing period. The students walked around in different clothing, but the majority wore black or red.

“This is the tenth grade hallway, where you’ll find your locker. Do you need it right now?” Val shook her head. “Down there you’ll find the math classes and science classes.”

The hall reminded Val of a ghost town, with hardly anyone in it. As they walked away Val could have sworn she saw tumbleweed out of the corner of her eye.

The second hallway was the eleventh grader’s hall, and was much busier than the first. Social studies and literacy classes were in that hallway. That was where Carrie’s first class was.

“This is where I leave you, but all you need to do is turn right at the end of the hall and take the second door to the right to get to Mr. Dileo’s class.” Carrie smiled before walking into one of the doors to the right.

Val followed her instructions until she got to the door, which read Room 109, Mr. Dileo. She opened it and walked into the classroom. Everyone looked her way at the sound of the door opening. She smiled as she closed the door behind her and took the seat closest to the door, next to a girl with short, purple hair, black clothes and clunky boots on. The girl smiled at Val as she sat down.

“The name’s Tess,” she said.

“I’m Val.”

“This is supposed to be the easiest language class to pass, so I took it.”

“My mom made me take this class.”

“Bummer.” Tess fished around in her backpack before pulling out a pack of gum. “Want some?” She held it out towards Val.

“Nah. Not much of a gum chewer.”

Tess shrugged. “More for me.”

A man, which Val assumed was Mr. Dileo, walked in carrying a brown leather briefcase. Mr. Dileo was more immature than his students. He always wore a black suit to work and carried his briefcase around with him as though it carried his very soul.

“Hello students,” said Mr. Dileo. He had a brown mustache to match his brown, messy hair. His brown eyes were alive and alert, reminding Val of Ryan in a candy store, and making her smile.

“How are we this fine morning?”

A few students mumbled replies like “tired” or “good”, but for the most part everyone was silent.

“Welcome to Spanish one, where you will hopefully learn the basics to speaking Spanish. I will be your teacher, Mr. Dileo.”

I wonder what Ryan is doing right now, Val thought, slightly paying attention to the teacher, but mostly in her own world of doodles.

At that moment Ryan was making a paper airplane out of some graph paper that was just handed out for their first math assignment.

“This is boring already,” he mumbled.

“Tell me about it.”

Ryan turned to the kid next to him. His head was rested on his left hand while his right one drew stick figures killing each other in disturbing ways. The boy had straight black hair that fell to his chin and was parted to one side. His nails were painted with dark blue nail polish, and he wore clothes he probably found dumpster diving. His current stick figure was standing there, and then a giant butterfly came and ate its head off. After that the next spurted blood as the figure fell over.

“Nice drawings,” Ryan said.

“It’s just my boredom getting the best of me,” the kid said. “I’m Eric, by the way.”

“Ryan. What grade are you in?”

“Tenth, but I should be in eleventh. I got held back a year.” Eric flashed a mischievous smile. “I only passed one class and couldn’t go to summer school because we don’t have the money.”

“You seem pretty proud of yourself.”

“Maybe juts a little. Not everyone can pull that off and still have people think they’re great.”

“So why did you only pass one class?”

Eric flashed another smile. “I was high as a kite all year and in art, when you’re high, you can come up with some pretty insane shit. This year I’ve cut back a little though. Only after school.”

Eric started a new drawing, starting by drawing a bridge with a bunch of people walking across it. In the next frame he had a different stick figure put a bomb at the end and blow it up. All the stick figures were in the air, screaming for help. In the last frame he drew the stick figure with the bomb pointing and laughing at all the other stick figures that were skewered by pointy rocks at the bottom of the fall or getting eaten by sharks.

“You’ve got a sick mind, you know that?” Ryan said after class.

“I know.”