Autumn Leaves and Teenage Dreams

6. Routine

Two weeks ago was the first time I walked home with Aurora. It should have been the only time I've walked home with Aurora. Because at the time, I had promised myself that this would not become a tradition in any way, sort, or form. Because I like my solo autumn afternoon walks. I like walking in silence underneath the swirling colored leaves. I feel like that peacefulness is gone when I'm awkwardly trying to keep up conversation with someone I don't know well.

Yet, nearly every Tuesday and Thursday I've been walking home with Aurora. It's not directly after school. We don't actively seek out each other. What's happened is that our Calculus class is near the end of the day, so we head to the library after school to work on problems together before heading home around the time the sun starts to go down.

My mother is used to me staying later at the library, so she does not question when I come home later than normal. I don't bring up the fact to my brother and sister either that I haven't been walking home in complete solitude anymore.

However, the fact that Aurora and I are spending more time together hasn't been a well-kept secret. It's a Tuesday, another day I plan to go to the library for a bit and walk home with Aurora, when Juliet asks a question a lunch.

"Who's that redhead you keep walking with?" Juliet asks.

I eye her. "Huh?"

"I like to hang out front while waiting for my parents to pick me up, and I noticed you walking out of the library with her for a few weeks now," Juliet explains.

"Oh, same. Sometimes I see you while driving home from soccer practice," Allison adds.

"Oh, um. That's Aurora," I explain.

My friends turn and stare at me oddly. I expect them to. Who asks for an opinion on a girl and then starts suspiciously hanging out with her shortly after? My heart seizes for a moment. Do they actually think something is going on between us? My friends don't even know I'm—

"She's been tutoring me in Calculus after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We just figured out that she lived a few blocks away from me, so we usually walk home the same way. That's all," I answer.

"You don't need a Calc tutor," Abigail teases.

"Sometimes I do," I murmur. It's true that most of the time I'm at the library with Aurora, she doesn't help me too much, save for word problems.

"Weren't you just asking about her a few weeks ago?" Hazel recalls.

Shit.

"Because she offered to tutor me, and I wasn't sure if she'd be of much help or not," I quickly fib. "But that's it. I'm just getting some extra Calculus help. Gotta polish those grades for college applications next year and hope for a good score on the AP exam. Why are you all looking at me like that? None of you live close to me, so it's nice having someone to talk to on the way home. Jeez."

"Aw, is Callie actually making another friend?" Hazel teases.

"I have plenty of friends!" I argue.

"Besides us four?" Allison counters.

"Well, a ton of acquaintances, then," I murmur, crossing my arms. I start going back to picking at my pasta salad while my friends giggle around at me. Well, at least they just suspect a friendship is forming, but Aurora's and mine's relationship is far removed from that. We're merely acquaintances, classmates, trying to survive this damn math class together. Sure, I'm slowly learning more about her, but I'm sure her schedule will pick up soon, and our time together will slowly drift apart, especially when she graduates.

It wouldn't be bad to have a senior friend, I think. Having someone show me the ropes of what it's like to survive senior year might be an advantage.