cornerstone

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"miss whittle, mr turner, late as usual. take your seats", miss wilson looked more bitter than ever as we entered the classroom an hour and ten minutes late. we missed first period, which was maths, but were only ten minutes late for english. "good to see you too, wilson" i smiled at her as i strolled towards the back right of the classroom to my seat, running my hand over the tables as i go. thank goodness they got the AC working today, the heat in the classroom had been insufferable when it wasn't functioning properly. with my leather jacket hanging on the backboard of my chair, i sit down and put a mint in my mouth. all the students in the class look half asleep, they're all slouching in their chairs, not giving a fuck about miss wilson or her dissatisfied remarks. "now, let's get back to what we were discussing before we were so abruptly interrupted..." i roll my eyes and sigh. i hear another person to my left sigh, and i turn my head to meet alex's eyes. i smile at him and shake my head, and he offers me a smile in return; we both share an intense hatred for miss wilson.

last period is finally over; mr johnson let us go as soon as the bell rang for the last time today. as i leave the classroom, alex sneaks up behind me and is suddenly walking besides me "mardy bum! need a ride home today?" he asks with a smirk on his face. i can feel his scent; expensive cologne and cigarettes, but i don't look at him in my concentration to get through the crowded hallway, hopefully without having someone run into me. "i don't recall hiring you as my personal driver", i say, smiling to him quickly over my shoulder as he makes his way through the crowd behind me. "that's because you didn't. i was just being nice to ya", he says, squeezing between people standing in the middle of the corridor. i don't turn around to see if he's still following me, i just make my way to the wall of old yellow bricks behind the building. just like yesterday, i lean towards the wall while lighting a cig. alex comes walking after me around the corner, but stops to look for his lighter. he finds it in the back pocket of his jeans, and when he turns back to me, he hits his head on the corner of the building. "ow, fuck's sake." he mutters, rubbing his head where he hit it. "i hit me head on the stone on the corner", he says while groaning in pain. "the cornerstone?" i smile, inhaling the smoke from my cig. he laughs at my comment, and before i know it, he grabs a sharpie from his pocket and starts writing something on the stone he hit his head on. interested, i look over to see what he wrote. "cornerstone".

with the cig still in my mouth, i walk over to my light brown cadillac, hoping it works today. i called john last night and asked him to have a look at it, he's fixed it a few times before. i open the door and get inside the car. i make an attempt to start it, and to my content, it starts on the first try and makes a revving noise when i step lightly on the accelerator. satisfied, i lean back into the seat and open the window to have another puff of my cig. i turn the volume up, and "life is simple in the moonlight" by the strokes starts playing. as i roll the window down, i notice a pair of hauntingly spiteful eyes in my rear view mirror. i turn the music down. "wilson." i muse aloud with a smile as she walks up to my rolled- down window, exhaling a thick cloud of grey smoke into her face. to my satisfaction, it covers her face for a second, and i can escape her bitter eyes for a short moment. "what can i do for you?" she looks with disgust on the cigarette i'm holding. "you want a smoke?" i ask her, smiling amusedly at her facial expression while offering her the cigarette in my hand. "miss whittle, as i have already told you, smoking is not allowed on school property", she says, pursing her lips. i have another puff of my cig, holding the smoke for a few seconds before releasing it. "aw man, really?" i say with a bummed face, as if she hadn't already told me sixteen times that i wasn't allowed to smoke here ("no, miss whittle, not even in the parking lot!"). "well, as lovley as it is to talk to you, wilson, i'll get going then", start backing out of my parking spot. "i love you, wilson!" i shout with the cig still in my mouth and with a grin on my face.

as i'm driving out of the parking lot, i see another familiar face in the rear view mirror. alex? shouldn't he be in his own car, on his way home? he waves awkwardly at me when i spot him on the sidewalk, and drive up to him. "turner. where's your fancy car?" i ask, stopping the car next to him. "broke down", he mutters, but then smiles at me; "ironic, isn't it? that yer car broke down yesterday and now mine did?" i smile back at him, feeling a bit sorry for him. "life is funny like that" i grin. i know what area he lives in, and so i know that he's got further to drive - and walk, for that matter- to and from school, and it'd take him at least 45 minutes to get home. i bite my lip, debating with myself whether i should drive him or not, and come to the conclusion that i'll give him a lift, simply because it's the decent thing to do. "get in" i say, nodding my head to the door by the passenger seat. "really?" he says, raising his eyebrows at me. "don't make me change my mind, turner. get in" i'm still smiling at him, and throw my finished cig on the ground while he gets in the car. "where to?" i ask and look over at him. like i said, i know what area he lives in, but i don't know his exact address.

"nice house." i stop the car outside a fairly large, beige house with a well managed front lawn. it's in a nice neighbourhood, one of the wealthier areas in sheffield. it had a lot of big windows, and a two- step stair leading up to a white front door and a wrap around porch. there was a porch swing with a bunch of pillows on it, and a few plants standing besides it. i wasn't being sarcastic, it was a pretty house. i could imagine alex living here. suddenly, he made a movement and brought his face only a few centimetres from mine, so close that i could feel his warm breath on my skin. "thank you for the ride," he made a pause and opened the door, "mardy bum." he grinned, getting out of the car. "oh, fuck off" i said back, ignoring the smile i knew was creeping up on my face as i spoke. he turned around on his way up to the house, and i gave him my middle finger. still with a wide grin on my face. oh, fuck off, i thought, this time to myself.

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