This was really a pleasure to write. When it was just a blank page one, I was feeling a little intimidated and out of the loop since I haven't written a new chapter for going on three weeks (we all know why!) and Lily was heading back to school so I almost felt unfamiliar for her... But it ended up working out really nicely and I only wrote it in two days. Then the end just got weird but I loved it, and I'm starting to show a Phantom that has always been there but he's... put a mask over it so to speak.

Definitely inspired by Charles... Need to post about how great he is sooner rather than later... It's actually getting easier for me to write the mushier stuff - I think I'm starting to appreciate them as a couple more than I did before, probably because they're an odd one, and... I love making jokes about how they're together but mean to each other "all the time". I want people to feel like they're connecting, and not just talking about why they're googoo-faced for each other, so I hope I did that... If not, I certainly welcome advice on making that happen. I'm perfect by no stretch of the imagination!

25372 / 50000 words. 51% done!


HE'S (@) THERE
Chapter 31 - Unfamiliar Air


On the first day back to school, I got ran into by Drake O'Keefe, who was running down the hall with his sweatshirt covering his head. He slammed me into a locker and I dropped my notebook, which was a very bad thing to happen, because I had been storing, cough, notes in there of certain value to me. To add insult to injury, he quickly retaliated (having tripped himself) and ran back to his friends, who greatly valued the entertainment in all this, as if I were a television character rather than real person who'd probably get a gigantic bruise on her right arm and was pretty pissed off.

This was really a cherry to the morning, if I do say so myself. It was no picnic waking up at 7:00 again, having to actually worry about what I looked like, and having the special talk about bringing my grade up with Mr. Darelle after class, which he decided had more important details than punctuality would allow, consequently making me late for Science... I-I'm sorry, I'm trying to be less of a cynic - it gets me nowhere - it's really a waste of energy. I guess if I think hard enough about it, there were positives to this day. The snow had melted enough to make for a safe walk up the street, classes were easy since we were getting back into the general motion, and I'd had a slammin' bowl of Captain Crunch that morning. Also, I was starting Stage Crew this semester, along with Humanities, which I'd heard was a great class with an interesting teacher, Mr. Frackson.

Acting 3 replaced my Art slot, and I wouldn't terribly miss it, even though it gave me time to work on completely unrelated projects.

Oh, and I guess I should mention, I'd been getting texts from Erik every day. Not even very confusing ones, just these weird ones that you could call 'nice', like "have a good night's sleep" and "come visit me after your first day"... Strange how that is now. I wanted to say similar things back but didn't know how to. "Sleep well, don't fall off any roofs"?

Speaking of texting though, I had to leave Meg a number of reassuring messages this morning just to get her to step foot in the building over this Jeffrey business. She had serious anxiety over this boy, not that I blamed her, but I was really hoping this awkward maybe-he-actually-hates-me phase would run its course quickly.

Once all my papers were back in order, I stood up and darted my eyes around in question of the stares. They proceeded with their doings like it had never happened, and I wanted to forget about it too, so I went to the Usual Spot during lunch and texted Giry to ask if she was anywhere around. She said she'd pop by and after I'd gotten situated on the floor, she appeared from around the corner with a couple books in her arms, black with some silver and gold decoration.

"Hi,"

"Hello," she grinned. She seemed a lot happier than usual. "And how are you today?"

"AhhhI.. Good, I guess! ...How are you?"

"I-I don't know why, but I feel great today! My classes rock, my friends all seem to be happy,-"

"Heh, wonderful! ...What are you holding?" She came to my side and lowered the books.

"Uhhh... it's a spell book. I'm just reading it. Not to do anything 'whooo'!" she fluttered her hands, "although I may look into a few... I know you're not pagan, at least I'm pretty sure you're not, so I won't really get into it."

"Oh no, it's fine. I think it's interesting. I'm not pagan, but..." She noticed my eyes were practically molesting the cover and handed it to me.

"You can look if you want." I took it from her and returned to the floor to flip the pages. I'd tried spells before, like everyone has once in their life, for money or finding a boyfriend or other such bullshit that was hard to believe could happen from putting coins or scraps of paper under your pillow. I knew it was more than that though, and beyond my control it intrigued me because I was a sucker like that.

Suddenly there was someone looming over me. I looked up and it was Meg, who resembled a sleepwalking person, having a wonderful dream.

"Hey Mariam," Giry greeted.

"Hi!" She squeaked back, then bit her lip. I knew her Chemistry class wasn't until next period so I wasn't sure what this was all about. She dropped to her knees next to me and set down a cup of onion rings. We just stared at her waiting for an explanation. "...I saw him in the snack-bar line!" She whispered in our direction.

"...That's it?" I asked.

"No, he saw me too! We were both getting straws, and then he noticed it was me and we talked!!!"

"REALLY? WHAT'D HE SAY?" Giry shouted, practically into my ear.

"SHSHSHSHHH," Meg ordered, laying over me and the book just to make her point.

"What'd he say?!"

"He said," she put on a low voice "'hey I know you!' and 'what are you doing in a place like this?' Thchcehehehe."

"And what did you say?!" I asked for the both of us.

"I... I... I laughed and didn't think of anything funny to say back!"

"Pshhh-"

"She's completely spellbound, isn't she?" Giry asked me.

"Yes, I think it's inoperable, too." We shook our heads.

"Oh SHUT UP, you have no room to talk!"

"Well come on, you had to have said something,"

"I said I'd see him next period, and he said he would 'reserve' a table. Oh my gosh, he's so cute..." She trailed, stuffing an onion ring in her mouth. Giry crawled over like she wanted to steal from her and she lent out the cup.

"Wow, she's even sharing?" I questioned. Meg gave me the eye, but it was short lasted before she sunk into the wall.

"Ohhhhh, what do I do?"

"Just go to class and act like yourself. And be nice to him," I suggested, a little wearily.

"Nooo," she replied sarcastically.

"Hey, it isn't always the first instinct. Really."

"Lily's right. Just treat him like a friend and show interest so he doesn't drift."

"Well okay but there's gonna be times when we're just sitting there listening to the teacher or working on something, and I don't want it to be awkward-"

"It won't be!" Giry tried. "I mean... don't get distracted from the class, but if there's time to spare, just make some small talk to keep the lines open and then the more important conversation will just sort of come." I nodded.

"Okay..."

We could tell today she had to take extra time to register simple information.

"But what about... when class ends. Like... how would I end it? Would I... would I say that I wanted to sit next to him again, or..."

"No, don't think about that yet. Just think about the moment and by next time it should fall together the same, and if you get the feeling it won't, just walk up and sit next to him. It's easy, it just takes a little initiation." I was liking this. Giry's advice beat mine with a wooden stick.

"If I may add... Guys are very inhibited. They won't come to you unless you come to them a little."

"Very good point, Lily!" Giry added with a noble face.

"Okay, okay..." Meg replied with her eyes on the floor. "You guys have given me enough advice - I think if I hear anymore, my head will spill and I'll forget how to tie my own shoes." We laughed at her relentlessly and Giry grabbed her by the shoulders.

"He's gonna think you're adorable, I can just feel it."

"I agree, actually." ... "H-He probably already does," I corrected.

"Yeah really... 'What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this'!"

"Oh Goddd!" She covered her face and we continued to poke fun at her for a while before Giry's friends called her off. I had to comfort and even lead Meg to the door of her class when the time finally came, and I could see Jeffrey at the end of the hall, distracted by friends, but clearly on his way. At this point, I whispered good luck into her ear and dashed off, away to Stage Crew.

When Humanities came around, my nerves acted up, seeing the new faces and not having that usual spot to sit. The desks were three rows in a half circle and I picked the front far left, closest to the door, and spent the time before the bell went off watching Mr. Frackson, who was at his desk in the corner of the room joking with a student he seemed to know already.

Five minutes later, he pulled up a stool and introduced himself. He said he'd try to make the syllabus quick and painless, and throughout it, made a lot of jokes about the administration office "loving" him for his pushing of the curriculum limits. And actually, it was kind of addictive watching him. He had wavy dirty blond hair and thick black glasses, and this perfectly sharp nose. He moved about kind of spontaneously but every movement seemed appropriate with his words. I had been told he had an energy to his lectures and now I saw it.

"Alright, what I'm gonna have you do... is write a fun fact... but something important to you... something that would help define you... on this piece of paper. Could be deep like 'I search near and far for true love,'" the class laughed, "or maybe you have an unfounded talent for Chinese checkers - anything you want. It's anonymous, and I'm not going to call anyone out," he gave someone in the back a mock-dagger stare. "I just want to get a general feel of what this class is all about."

As I was right at the end, he gave the piece of paper to me first. I stared at the blank page, intimidated by all the answers I could possibly write, aware also that the girl next to me would know I had written it. To be honest, I didn't want to say something personal enough to define me, even if it was anonymous.

"I drink far too much tea," I jotted in cursive.

The girl next to me took it with a hand of silver fingernails and did as she was supposed to, and so did the next person, and the next. Chatter started up from the wait, and Mr. Frackson was socializing, so fidgeted with a pen and stared at all his posters a while before he had the final product in his hands.

"Okay, very good..." He looked down the list and nodded to himself, even laughed a little. "Okay... now Part 2... I'manna read these off, pause, and anyone that the fact applies to, raise your hand. To be clear... no, you do not have to raise your hand to your own fact if you don't want to... Sometimes people underestimate the gravity of their own fun-fact." I thought this was funny.

He cleared his throat dramatically.

"I drink farrrr too much tea," he said, just perfectly. I raised my hand. Surprisingly, a couple girls at the other end raised theirs too.

"...I have a plastic... frog collection," he pronounced, squinting at the words. The girl next to me raised her hand, solely, and giggled, albeit a bit modestly. "My word, that's... wonderful. There might come a day when we need those." I smiled at her and she turned towards me a bit. I noted she had a beautiful pair of glasses with a light grey frame and little jewels in the corners. Hmph. He moved on.

"...I love horseback riding." Several more raised their hands.

"I'd like to become an English professor... mmm, very nice." Two raised their hands.

The list went on - "Science fiction novels are my guilty pleasure," "I'm fluent in Romanian", "I live for football"... yeah... The only ones I raised my hand for were:

"I'd like to publish at least one book in my lifetime",
"I love to bake",
"I grew up on Disney", and
"I'm going to art school".

The syllabus and doing this took up almost all of the period and it was sprinkled with a lot of jokes. I knew I loved Mr. Frackson already and he hadn't even given us an assignment. But speak of the devil, he sent around the new books and asked us to read the first two chapters by Wednesday.
By the time English got out, I was walking towards Meg's classroom before I realized her 6th period had changed, and either way, she was probably heading towards my English room, wondering where the hell I was.

I couldn't find her anywhere so I, stupidly, ended up stuck in lowerclassmen traffic. Eventually I heard her calling me from up the stairs, and I waited for her to come running down and grab my arm like it was a lifesaver. I lead her through the crowd until there was room to breathe and noticed then that she looked happy enough to start sprinting down the street. That and she was following me home.

"What happened?!"

"It went. SO WELL."

"Uhuh?"

"YEAH, I went in there and he saw me and we sat together all period and talked and laughed and he was all happyyy, and-"

"Did he show you his comics?"

"NO, there wasn't time!" She pouted.

"Well then you have the perfect excuse to sit next to him tomo- wait, tomorrow's Tuesday."

"OH NOOOO, I have to wait until Wednesday! Thanks for reminding me."

"He won't forget you, I'm sure..." I tried.

"I hope not... Man, we hit it off so much better than I thought we would... He was looking at my stickers, and sometimes we'd just turn to each other smiling all amusedly because Mr. Cunningham... well, you know."

"Uhuh?"

"And there was a little bit of time where we could talk and one of his friends was like... making fun of him or something, and he was filling out the answers, and he goes 'I'm sure Mariam's acing it', and I was like 'what?!!'"

"Oh shut up, you know you're great at chemistry."

"Well, yes, I did admit I had an A in there, but he assumed I was smart! Agghh!"

I snickered as she stared up at the sky with her hands still clutching me tightly for support. "...Hey Mariam? Sometimes my arm likes to be circulated." She let go and danced around my mailbox as we reached the front of my house.

"Oh no, your ex's getting jealous," I pointed out. You see, the mailbox was once victim of a Meg Lapdance one late night during a rousing game of Dare Outside. The game was sister of Truth or Dare that we made up for sleepovers to get the most out of it. Why Truth when you can Dare? And why dare inside when you can make someone dance in the street in their underwear?

She paused and stared at the mailbox, then shook her finger at it.

"You knew what this was," she uttered sternly.

I shook my head at her and came to the door. She followed me to the kitchen when I dug out some things from my bag and checked my phone. I saw I had a new message so I turned away from her a moment to look.

"I'm waiting for you.."

"I'm waiting for youuu," her voice whispered right over my shoulder. I slapped the phone closed and swayed around her to the other end of the kitchen. She placed her hand over her heart. "I'd sure like a message like that from Jeffrey right about now."

"All in good time," I answered nervously, then coughed.

"...I take it I need to skedaddle?" I bit my lip.

"Well, it was sort of planned, and my parents will be home around five..."

"No no... no explanation necessary..."

"I-I-I'll be on aim later and we can talk about what happened to your heart's content, I promise!"

"Okay, if you say so! Don't let him keep you there all night and cover you in roses..."

"Psh, I don't think I could pass that one off as you being mischievous."

She smiled at me before opening the door for herself and disappearing. When I couldn't see her out the window any longer, I took all my stuff and ran upstairs to get ready.

- - -

The handles of the theater doors shook but didn't open. I worried that he had been waiting somewhere else all along, but just as I was turning around, I noticed him standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hehh..." I tried to break the ice. It still confused me how he did stuff like that.

"Hello." He smiled, in some blank but pleasant way.

"Hi..." He didn't seem to need anything else from be before his fingers encircled my hand and he lead me up the concrete path to the side of the building. "How are you?" When he reached the door, he stopped to look at me with an eerie pause.

"Good, now... ...Thank you for asking," he added. Slowly, he turned away from me to the door. I figured he was going to let me in, but he used his free hand to pull out a small ring of keys and turn the lock securely. They were dropped back into his pocket as he bent under the railing to step into the dirt below the platform. I figured he wanted me following him, so I did the same, although it wasn't as easy with a shorter pair of legs. While helping me not-trip, I noticed him staring at the top of my head. "...I like that. It looks very nice on you."

"...What? ...Oh - the bow, hehh... thank you..." He looked like he was going to say something else, but didn't. "...Where are we going?..."

"Well..." He started into the forest before completing his answer... "The sun sets around five... I thought you might like to see the water again..."



...What happened to my Phantom? It was like he'd been sent to Phantom Boot Camp and now he just wanted to show his "appreciation" for me. I couldn't check his temperature via the forehead method either.

Guiltily, I looked down to the ground with my fingers playing with an earring. "I'm... supposed to be back at five. No one knows I'm gone..."

"Oh, alright..."

"I think by then my nose'll be running like a faucet, anyway..." He weakly smiled. "I appreciate the thought, though..."

"I'll take you back in a little while then."

"Take me wherever."


He seemed to listen, weaving me through the brush in a random path while I told him about my first day back, but the spot we ended up in seemed rather calculated, because a moss-covered rock large enough for me to sit on was waiting between two trees. He noticed it was fairly wet (what do you expect - it was January), thought about it a moment, and started taking off his jacket.

"Oh no! No really, I can stand," he approached the rock and almost looked like he couldn't hear me hovering around right behind him. I stared uncomfortably at it, draped over it and surely dirtied. "But.. but.. but... you're going to be freezing." Still trance-like, he took my hands and backed me up until I had nothing to do but sit or he'd lean right into me.

"I don't do things because I have to, Christine." He backed away with his hands gently extended, like he were checking the straightness of a picture frame. He looked to have seen perfection. "In fact, I've learned to ignore pressure all together. It's something I'm working to expel in you as well. You've heard this before, though..."

"You must have some pressures."

"There are some things that drive me beyond my control, like you. That's something I'm happy to be influenced by, though..."

"I-I.... I never know what to say when you tell me things like this."

"Well, you've never heard them before.... Surprisingly..."

"Hehh... I don't think that's a surprise at all."

And then he just smiled at me, and it made me self-conscious enough to look down and make sure my coat layers weren't poking out in weird places. "I actually wanted to see you to tell you something..." I looked up at him and I could tell he was thinking out his words. "There was something I planned that never happened... I was hoping I could... take you somewhere... rather soon... You just have to tell me when I can."

"Well I..." I couldn't really tell him I worked until Friday, but I'm sure he knew. "I'll see when I can...It may not be until the weekend..."

"Whenever you can give me your mind completely..." He said. It kind of creeped me out not knowing what this was all about. In a zoned state, I stood up from the rock and he came before me. "You'll enjoy it, I promise..."

"Okay... I trust you then."

"Are you sure?" I looked up to tilt my head at such a question and noticed he seemed to be getting very cold again.

"Never. I've learned to live that way lately, I guess." His smirk was reassuring that I hadn't said something wrong.

"I have too." I felt my hand being lifted. It came between us and met his lips, which hit the chalky skin like ice. It frankly sent bolts all through me... This was the second time he had done something like this... but I steered clear of addressing it.

"You don't have to live like this though."

"What's that?"

"You know, freezing your ass off and such..." Hm, that didn't sound very Christine-ly at all... in fact, it was sappy for anyone.

He hid his amusement from me by turning to the side.

"Take me back."

"As you wish..."

He took his dampened coat by the collar and wrung it over his arm, then extended the other for me. Now that I had him all alone, this would've been the ideal time to kick him in the shin and "hospitalize" him back at the theater. I doubt he had a bowl of cookies laying around though. The fantasy would have to wait for another time.

He checked his pocket watch when the building became visible and told me it was 4:40. That was probably as much time I could spend with him to stay in the safe zone...

I was helped up the platform again and stood next to the door. He took out his keys and stared at me. "...Do you need to come in here to warm up?"

"No, I really shouldn't..."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, no, it's okay. I should go back alone."

His eyes dropped as his arm blindly cracked open the door.

"...It'll be so much better than this."

"What?"

"...I'm sorry. I seem to be thinking aloud."

"... I look forward to it, Erik," I tried. He was a bit stretched across the entrance, but I hugged him on one side and hurried down the path. I looked back once and the door was closed.

What we had just had made no sense to me, but then, neither did my feelings for him. I would go where he took me.





Favorite Quote(s)

Suddenly there was someone looming over me. I looked up and it was Meg, who resembled a sleepwalking person, having a wonderful dream.

"Just go to class and act like yourself. And be nice to him," I suggested, a little wearily.

"Nooo," she replied sarcastically.

"Hey, it isn't always the first instinct. Really."

"...I have a plastic... frog collection," he pronounced, squinting at the words. The girl next to me raised her hand, solely, and giggled, albeit a bit modestly. "My word, that's... wonderful. There might come a day when we need those."

"...Hey Mariam? Sometimes my arm likes to be circulated."

"How are you?" When he reached the door, he stopped to look at me with an eerie pause.

"Good, now... ...Thank you for asking."

"I trust you then."

"Are you sure?" I looked up to tilt my head at such a question and noticed he seemed to be getting very cold again.

"Never. I've learned to live that way lately, I guess."