Someone Will Remember Us

Conversations About the Weather

Chapter Eight

Monday is not going well.

First, I accidentally locked part of my flannel shirt in my locker and the door jammed and Scott and Charlie spent about five minutes trying to get me out while everyone who passed us laughed. Then, Charlie gave me my jacket back, vomit free but slightly shrunk. And now I find out I'm supposed to be having an English test after lunch.

Scott tells me we were supposed to read this book and write some dumb essay on it, fortunately, that's not due in till next Monday. Right now, I'm only worried about knowing enough about the book to pass the test, who knows what kind of questions Miss Lawrence came up with.

Normally, I wouldn't care about some English test that probably means nothing. But mom has officially moved in yesterday and she's already taking the 'caring parent' role too seriously. She knows that I'm currently failing Chemistry and that I'm on the verge of failing Maths, she brought it up at breakfast and I could just see dad trying to control himself not to launch the dining table at my head.

So we're skipping lunch and we're sitting in the library trying to study for this dumb test.

Scott is supposed to be here with us but he fucked off to get us something to eat a few minutes ago so now it's just Charlie and me and Charlie doesn't even need to take the test, not being in the same grade as me and all.

But Charlie is the one reading the book, occasionally glancing up at me with this weird look in his eyes like he wants to ask me something but he's worried about how I'll react.

I'm reading summaries of the book on my phone, it's much easier than reading the whole book and I can remember the names of almost every character. Should be enough to at least pass the test.

God, I'm so fucking hungry. What the hell is taking Scott so long?

Charlie looks up at me for the hundredth time and it's starting to irritate me. He's supposed to read the book and summarise the chapters for me. We've only got fifteen minutes of lunch left and we barely managed to get through the first chapter.

"What?" I groan and I put my phone down on the table. I'll use any excuse to stop reading, my eyes are starting to sting. Charlie looks away and I get it, he'd rather be anywhere but here. "Fine, skim read. I don't need to know every single detail."

Charlie shakes his head nervously and he clears his throat. "No, it's not that. It's..." He puts the book down on the table in between us and sighs. "I mean, let's be honest, I could read a page per second and we still wouldn't get through the remaining eleven chapters."

I frown as I try to figure out what he means. "Are you...telling me to give up?"

I lean forward in my chair and Charlie quickly looks away. I never would have thought Charlie would be the one to give up on me. Scott? Maybe, I mean he's had to deal with so much of my bullshit that at this point I'm just counting down the days until he snaps at me.

But Charlie? He's not supposed to challenge me, he's supposed to be my friend and help me.

"Do you remember... everything that happened on Friday?" he asks, an attempt to change the subject. But fine, I'd love to talk about anything other than that wretched book.

I shrug. "Kinda. I mean...not everything everything. But I remember enough, you know?"

Charlie looks uncomfortable like he regrets bringing it up but he's got my attention now and I wanna know where he's going with this.

"Why are you asking?"

Charlie runs a hand through his hair and he exhales deeply. "You just said something to me on Friday. And I haven't really been able to stop thinking about it."