- Wednesday, September 24th, 2014 -

– Sixteen months ago –

“Are we going to sit inside, or outside?” Emma skips towards her locker, that is right next to mine. It’s really how I got to know her. We always ran into each other in front of our lockers.

“Let’s wait for Finn and then decide.” I look back into the hallway, waiting for him to join us for lunch. “If we change places he might not find us.”

“Right.” She grins widely. “I’ll wait for Finn.”

“I bet you will.” I chuckle. “When are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know.” She mumbles. “I don’t think he is interested in me that way.”

“Only one way to find out.”

“Not today.” She shakes her head. “He’s a bit stressed about grades. You know how he gets about grades.”

I chuckle and nod. “And he probably aced all of the tests.”

“But I’ll wait until he’s a little less stressed. Maybe we can convince him to go out with us.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“You know Finn doesn’t drink or goes out for that matter.” I wink at her. “You’ll have to tell him when he’s sober.”

“Ugh.” She groans. “It’s way easier to tell someone you like them while being a little drunk and not aware of how embarrassing things could be if someone turns you down.”

“Cheers to that.”

“Where is he?” She whines, looking at her watch. “He’s late, again.”

“We can go and pick him up?” I suggest, closing my locker and grabbing my bag. “Let’s go.” I start walking and Emma jumps in action, switching books, which she could have done while waiting for Finnley. She grabs her back, slams her locker shut and runs after me. By the time I’m rounding the corner to head for the stairs, she catches up.

“You could have waited.” She complains, taking in a couple of deep breaths to steady her breathing. “You know I hate running.”

“I know.” I laugh and nudge her softly. “But you’d run for Finnley, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d run to the end of the world and back.” She giggles. “And I regret ever telling you about my feelings. Will you shut up about it already?”

“No, I’m gonna tease you until you finally tell him how you feel.”

“That’s a really bad way of motivating me.” Emma dramatically pretends to climb a mountain instead of just some stairs. “You could ask him if he’s into someone. You know, hear him out for me.”

“I could.” I nod, grinning at her when we finally reach second floor. We start looking for Finnley, who isn’t in the classroom he last had a class in, or in the smaller lunchroom on this floor. I take Emma with me to the library. She’s never been up here before since Finnley normally meets us downstairs. The last time I was up here, was when Finnley promised to sit with me for lunch in first year, but totally forgot about lunch because he was working on some project.

We make our way through the hallway, catching the eye of multiple students who probably wonder what the hell we’re doing here.

Finnley is in the library, seated with a girl, bend over a book. He’s talking and she’s listening. I stand still for a couple of seconds, taking in Finnley while he’s in his element; in the library, I guess tutoring the girl next to him.

He’s a nerd, but at least he’s my nerd. And he’s good at tutoring.

The girl chuckles and nods before Finnley looks up and notices us in the door opening. His eyes widen and snap towards the clock and back.

“Oh, shit.” He jumps up. “I forgot about the time.” He starts scrambling the books together and I chuckle, before looking at the girl, who looked at us for three seconds, before looking down. She’s definitely cute. Her dark blond hair in a ponytail that reaches halfway down her back. Her skin seems flawless and her eyes are a light shade of brown. I keep staring at her, until she looks back u, notices it and starts blushing. Whispering something to Finnley, before she starts collecting her stuff without looking up again. She’s shorter than Finnley, so definitely shorter than me.

Finnley is frowning at me, shrugs, and drops the books in his bag.

“Ready?” Emma cheerfully chirps, skipping in his direction.

“Ready.” He nods, following us outside. “Bye Julia.” He waves at the girl, but she doesn’t look up again.

“Who was she?” Emma sounds… jealous. “Tutoring her?”

“We have math together, did some homework.” Finnley shrugs.

“She’s cute.” I grin. “I figured most girls would be really geeky around here.”

Finnley hits my arm with a fist, sending me an annoyed glare. “Don’t call her geeky, she’s really cool.”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to say, she seemed cool.”

“Right.” He eyes me suspiciously. We remain in silence while heading outside, sitting down in the grass to enjoy the sun while it’s still hot enough. Fall is kicking in soon and the temperature is already dropping like a brick during the nights.

“So, is she your girlfriend or what? You’ve never hit me over a girl before.” I tease Finnley, who sends me a cold glare, not giving me an answer. He just takes a bite and looks towards the sky. His face lights up a little, obviously enjoying being outside in the sun. “Silence means consent.”

“No, it means you should stop asking stupid questions.” He deadpans, making Emma chuckle nervously. She wants to hear his answer just as much as I do, for the same reason. She hopes Finnley is still available, while I am interested in finding out if Julia still is.

“Why would you call it a stupid question?” I act hurt. “Our teachers say stupid questions don’t exist.”

“They do. They just tell you to make you people feel better about asking the stupid questions.”

I hit him in his arm when he starts laughing. “Don’t laugh at us. You’re not that much better just because you’re smart.”

“I’m so much better.” He’s still laughing a little. “Why do you ask if she’s my girlfriend? You never took interest in my love life.” His eyes behold something like… hope?I don’t know what it is, but there’s something with the way he’s looking at me right now.

“Maybe because I’d like to know if she’s available?” I wiggle my eyebrows and grin, but stop instantly as soon as his look turns cold again.

“Not happening.” He snaps, throwing away the rest of his sandwich.

“Why not? Is she taken?”

“I don’t know. I tutor her for math.” He still sounds a bit snappy and Emma frowns at his harsh tone. “I didn’t ask if she was available for player Cristian to date her.”

“I’m not a player.”

“You are.”

“Am not!” I watch him in confusion. Since when does he think I’m a player?

“You’ve had a new girlfriend nearly each month over the past year.” He tears some grass from the ground, a little angry. “Leave Julia alone.”

“I did not have a girlfriend nearly every month.”

“You did.” Emma tells me matter-of-factly. “And maybe Finn is into her and wants you to back off for once?”

I send her an annoyed look because she somehow always manages to turn a conversation into her advantage, getting the info shewants.

“I’m not into her.” Finnley snaps and jumps up. “Just leave her alone, okay?” He storms off, leaving us behind a little startled.

* * * * *

Finnley is fine by the time I meet up with him after school. He’s dragging a bag full of books with him towards the school bus.

“Need help with that Einstein?”

“Don’t call me that.” He mutters. “I’m fine.”

“I can help.” I already make a move to take the bag from him, but he shakes his head.

“I said I’m fine. I’m used to this.”

“I know.” I chuckle. “But it seems heavy. Do you really need that much books for just today?”

“I fell a little behind.”

“What?” I let out a laugh. “School started only a month ago and you study nearly every night.”

“Except the weekends because some annoying friend refuses to spend his weekend studying and drags me to his soccer matches.”

I grin and shrug. “Live a little Finnley.”

“Don’t call me that.” He snaps. “I hate that name.”

“I’m teasing you.” I keep myself from laughing out loud again, grabbing his bag before he’s able to protest again. I feel really sorry for the scrawny type of nerds who have to drag the same number of books all day every day. Luckily, Finnley isn’t scrawny and carrying this amount every day is nearly like a work out for him.

“You are coming this Saturday, right?” I watch him get on the bus, following suit.

“Do I have to?”

“You’re my lucky charm.” I chuckle. “Without you we’ll lose.”

“That’s a lie. There’s no such thing as lucky charms.” He mutters, sitting down in our regular spot. “It’s just something to feel better for the weak-minded…”

“Stop it Finn.” I grin. “We’re not all blessed with the ability of thinking logical about literally everything.”

“But it’ just like praying.” Finnley tells me wisely. “It’s putting fate in something that isn’t even there.”

“Don’t let my parents here you talk about God, claiming he doesn’t exist.”

“Itdoesn’t exist.” He chuckles. “Religion is just a way of controlling the bigger crowds. I told you before.”

“I know, I know.” I sigh, and a smile appears on my face. “I love it when you do this, you know?”

“Do what?”

“Crush all hopes for people who just like the believe we’re part of something bigger than the eye meets.”

“We are part of something bigger.” Finnley deadpans. “Haven’t you listened to me yesterday?”

“I have.” I nod. “But it’s a different kind of something bigger.”

“A more realistic approach though.”

“For you it’s realistic and logical. For us simple-minded people it’s harder to understand the way the universe works.”

“What’s hard about it?” He seems lost at my statement. Finnley never understood some people just aren’t capable of thinking the same way.

“You expect less intelligent people to understand we’re part of something infinite. Because honestly, where does the universe end?”

“So, instead of coming up with an explanation, they believe in something that made up?”

“Right, sometimes imagination is easier to understand, you know.”

“Wise words Cris.” Finnley chuckles. “Didn’t expect them from you.”

“I keep surprising you.”

“Every day.” He agrees. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Not planning on hanging out tonight?” We both get off the bus in front of his house. I always walk the two blocks home from here.

“Nah, I really am behind on schoolwork.”

“Well, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow Finn.” We share a brotherly hug, three seconds, before he pulls away and goes inside.

I take a couple of seconds to watch at the closed door he disappeared through, think of how exhausted Finnley seems to be.