Keeping Time- Chapter 2

Tisdale's High was equally as unheard of as Tisdale itself. Ofcourse this should have been pretty obvious. For some reason, Tyrone kept expecting it to be the kind of school that you saw on TV, but it wasn't. It carried the smell of cigarettes and there were empty syringes in the trough at the boy's toilets. He was glad he was strong-willed, and that he was sure he would never use drugs, alchohol or even smoke on cigarette, but how can you be sure? He didn't pay much attention in class, but then again; no-one else did either. He was scribbling in that ol' notebook of his again, jotting down words as he stared out the window to his right. "...'yall don't have to worry about gettin' in no trouble with this teacher, some say she's deaf, and partially blind in her left eye, which is a lazy eye anyhows. So how's 'bout skippin' class? We do it all eh-time, honestly we do." Tyrone knew who it was by the sound of the voice and the way it spoke. It was Vannessa, and she had asked him to wag! "Well, I guess so then. Bu'h were we goin' go?" said Tyrone, as if to make her re-think the whole skipping class thing. "The ol' lemon tree, I guess." she said, half in thought, eyes staring off into who knows where.

They crept up the front, and opened the door. The big old wooden door creaked as it glided along the floor.There's a first for everything, and today it was the first time the teacher heard 'em escape. "Vannessa! New kid! Get back 'ere you's two!" shouted the teacher which most kids swore was at leat 100 years old. "Just keep on runnin' will ya'!?" said Vannessa as she was tripping all over the backs of Tyrone's shoes. "Well sorry, this runnin' thing ain't really my specialty."

Vannessa had cut ahead and led them to an old tree tucked away in a corner of the school that was pretty much always deserted. "This 'ere's the lemon tree. I go here all's of the time, honest." puffed Vannessa, the impact of all the running making a clear impact on her breathing pattern. As Tyrone sat down, his notebook fell onto her lap, and she started to sing one of the songs on the front page. Tyrone, to entranced to be angry at her reading of his notebook, sat silently as she quietly sung. He could swear that the trees were swaying in time with her singing, and once again the birds were as a choir. Tyrone stared into Vannessa's eyes again, and once more he felt real strange about the whole thing. "You're a good singer, Vannessa." complimented Tyrone, and she smiled bearing her shiny white teeth. "Thanks a million. Uh, here's your notebook," she said, holding the notebook out for his taking. "I like your songs." she said, as Tyrone reached for the notebook and tripped, falling right on top of Vannessa. "Oh, I'm sorry he said, his longish hair dangling around her eyes. She slowly put her pointing finger on his lips, and he was silent, she then gave him a kiss and walked off. Tyrone was shocked. "C'mon Ty, next class is about to start, and this teacher's hearing is 100%!" chuckled Vannessa as she walked off.