I'll Share With You My Heartbeat

eighteen

Since Lennon's mental state was influenced so much by photography, he figured it would only make sense to start the school year on a brighter note.

He hung up a print of the cherry blossoms he took back in April. Renewal, as he had explained to Kieran the day of the theater visit, a representation of a brand new start.

He didn't expect the ravenhead to be in his apartment by morning, so he wasn't surprised to find his home empty. Grabbing his backpack and packed lunch, he made sure to fill Socks' food and water bowls before giving his cat a fond scratch on its petite head as a farewell. Lennon headed for the door.

A sheet of neon yellow caught his eye. A sticky note stuck to the door handle that read:

Len
have a nice first day in prison ^_^
(i don't remember anything about school but my ghost friend said it's like juvenile hall and that sounds a little concerning but have fun?)

Lennon peeled it off the door, chest heaving with both muted laughter and gratitude as he dug through his backpack and stuck the note on the outside of his folder.

Today was going to be a good day— Lennon tidied up his appearance in front of the mirror— He could feel it.

__________

Today was a terrible day for Lennon.

Jittery in his seat, Lennon was having one of those moments when he just couldn't stay still. He had scribbled his way all through his notes, till his joints ached and his eyebrows might be permanently knitted together.

"Why is he so goddamn fast?" the pony-tailed girl next to him complained under her breath.

Lennon's eyes didn't leave the backboard. "I know," he relayed.

She glanced his way, snickering.

The professor cleared his throat loud enough for the whole lecture hall to hear, tapping his chalk against the board. "Something you'd like to share with the rest of us, Ms Li?"

"Nope. Would you like to continue?" she answered back, twiddling her pen between her thumb and index finger like she was bored.

Slightly impressed but also a little terrified, Lennon ducked his head down and steered away from his professor's gaze.

He had turned around to ignore the girl's comment, continuing with the class, so Lennon continued his race against the clock, trying to condense every code on the board into his notebook pages.

Statistics class was over before he knew it and he scrambled to pull his phone out for a picture, but to his absolute dismay, the professor had pulled the projector down and covered up most of the board.

"Hey."

Lennon turned to his left. "Hey."

"Which part of the notes did you need?" the girl asked.

He flipped through his pages. "Measures of Central Tendency. I didn't get to that one."

"Here." She planted her binder on Lennon's desk, pointing. "Take a picture and copy them when you can."

The chestnut boy smiled gratefully, doing as suggested. "Thank you..." he trailed off without a name to end on.

"Sara," she introduced herself, smiling, "And no problem."