No Time Like Now (Lesbian)

Chapter Two

The best part of my school day is 'Early Release', my last period. Meaning, I get to leave the Baron Schell High School after fifth period while the rest of the suckers have to stay an extra hour. The only way anyone can sign up to either leave school early or start school an hour later is if they earn enough credits to afford having one less class.

Thank you, Mrs. Baxter and your shitty acting classes that got me out of the house for the past couple summers.

Once history class ends, I'm walking to a dark blue Nissan. The keys jangled from the lanyard around my neck as I get in the car. The seat belt's over my backpack in the passenger seat and I turn on the engine. Whistling a happy tune, I drive out of the student lot.

You may be wondering where I'm going. Home? Nope; I'm not going to be enjoying my alone time one minute, and the next interrupted by my parents.

A friend's house? Since I'm the only one in the group to have early release, I'd be alone with nothing to do. Except to find a way to explain to the parents when they come home why I broke in and to please not call the cops.

Instead, I go to my usual spot: Broken Bones Graveyard.

Okay, the official name for the graveyard is "Brook Towne". It was built around the same time the town was running out of room in the sole graveyard hidden in the corner of the area. So of course, the second graveyard had to be made. As a result of a Halloween prank someone pulled last year, 'Broken Bones' stuck to me.

It's a peaceful kinda graveyard compared to the older one, where a Gothic-inspired fence border around the area and a pair of gargoyles stand at either side of the opening gate. Broken Bones is more open with some flowers planted all over it, not only at certain tombstones. Also unlike the old graveyard, there's a big oak tree which someone planted right outside the graveyard, hovering over a few stones.

Parking near the entrance, I get out a book from my backpack and step out the car. My handy phone is stuffed as much as possible into the ridiculously tiny jeans pocket. I walk over to the tree, my shoes crunching on the fallen leaves, and sit at the base. Fall's coming strong this year, which means the probability of finding a leaf still on the tree the first week of October drops down from 100% to 5.4%.

My back curves along the trunk as I lean back and lazily stare at the scene before me. The stones are white under the warm sun. The flowers are taking their last opportunity to bloom before they become officially dead in the next few days. Little critters roam around, including a squirrel standing tall and proud five feet away from me. I swear it's expecting me to reach into my pocket and magically pull out acorns to give. When I don't make a move, it scampers off. 

I let out a sigh of relief. Peace at last.

Cracking into the book, I flip through the pages until I get to the part I'm at and start reading. The only times I break off from the story is when I come across a word I have to look up the meaning for in my phone. Or if a character does something so questionable it makes me wonder if the writer was on crack.

Paradise ends when I feel a buzz from my jeans. With a groan, I pull out my phone and look at the screen. Fuck, school just got out and one of my friends is probably wondering where I am, why I'm where I am, and to drop everything and go tag along to wherever he wants.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Jeremiah. We get each other's jokes and share our interest in snakes to the point we tried to adopt a snake at the pet store. (We were fifteen, three years off the age required to go through the adoption process.) We instead are planning to room together and getting a snake then.

It's the fact he acts like there's no such thing as privacy. There are times I want to be alone and do whatever I'm in the mood for. And the last few times I tried getting some alone time, Jeremiah would find a casino to play at, or a restaurant to try milkshakes at, and we gotta go go go.

I keep staring at the phone in my hand. It's still buzzing and displaying Jeremiah's name and picture -- which I took over the summer when he dyed his hair neon green. Frankly, he reminds me of Cosmo from the Fairly Odd Parents show. Sure, he's got glasses and braces, but he also has the similar wide eyes. And he could stand to gain five pounds or ten or thirty.

The buzzing stops. I barely think of a prediction of how long it'll take before he calls back when it starts back up again. Jeremiah can do this all day, unfortunately. Better answer and see what he wants before saying 'no' and hang up.

"Niamh! Where you at?" Jeremiah screams into the phone, causing me to jerk my head away and keep the call at an arm's reach. "Got important shit to talk about!"

Really? Important shit to him is usually find a loophole in whatever law prevents us from 'having responsible fun'. "Like what?"

"I'll tell you tonight outside the library," Jeremiah rushed.

"Wait, what? You just asked me where I was. Why not now?" Because if I'm having my me time interrupted, it might as well be a good one.

"It's not the right time, okay? Meet me at the library tonight at ten and we'll talk then!"

"Okay..." I trail off.

"Great! See you then!"

The phone beeps as he hangs up.

Thunking my head again the tree, I stare up through the bare branches and at the pale blue sky. I'd been looking forward to some quiet time, but the vague call kinda ruined it for me.  The last time Jeremiah called to say we needed to meet up, without any explanation, was when he got the news from one of his relatives about the death of a cousin he was sort of close with. 

There's no way in hell I can comfortably wait for tonight.

The squirrel from earlier -- I'm sure it's the same one -- comes back and stares at me at a short distance.

"Do you have any idea why my friend needs to meet up?" I ask it.

It sends me a quizzical look, like it has no idea how to proceed with a human talk to it.

"Yeah, I figure," I mutter to myself.