LondonLane: Truth?
LJH6678: YES!
LondonLane: Yes.
LJH6678: Not fair.
LondonLane: I know but listen. In the way that you probably choose not to think about things that you don’t want to remember, I do the same. It helps things be a little bit… surprising.
LJH6678: Still not fair. When is it?
LondonLane: Not telling.
LJH6678: Seriously, not fair.
Checking the time again, I lean back in my chair and stretch. The day is wearing on me. I need sleep.
LondonLane: Luke, I have to go to bed.
LJH6678: I know, I know. Me, too.
LondonLane: See you tomorrow?
LJH6678: Want a ride?
LondonLane: Of course.
LJH6678: I’ll bring you treats if you tell me the date.
LondonLane: You’ll bring me treats anyway.
LJH6678: I’m going to have to work hard to surprise you, London Lane.
LondonLane: Yes, you are.
LJH6678: Night, beautiful girl.
LondonLane: Night, Luke.
45
It’s the last day of my junior year but it might as well be the first. I know the layout of the school from next year, but everything else is gone.
There is no math class tomorrow to remind me where I sit today. There are no locker trips next week to tell me where mine is located now. Luke can’t exactly escort me around like a guide dog.
“You’ll be okay?” Luke asks as he grabs my hand. He looks almost as nervous as I feel. We’re walking in from the student parking lot carrying matching half-empty lattes.
“I’ll be okay. My mom wrote it all down for me.”
“That was cool of her,” he says. “Has she heard anything yet?”
“No, not yet,” I say, feeling a heaviness in my chest that might not ever go away.
“At least I can get you to your first class safely,” Luke says, pulling me up the main hallway. We stroll in easy silence, Luke angling me over a couple of times when I almost collide with other students. He laughs when he realizes that I’m looking at their shoes. He walks me to the door of my Pre-calculus classroom and kisses me good-bye.
“Good luck,” he says.
“Thanks,” I say back, wanting to handcuff myself to him and make him sit through all my classes with me. Instead, I force myself to go in.