In the middle of Des Plaines Illinois three boys find themselves in a tangled knot of angsty lust and amateur love.
Evan Webster has an average American life. When he isn't at swim practice or the movie theater, he's trying to make time to study bi...
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MAY
There was a boxelder bug climbing the windowpane. Jackson watched its tiny legs move with leisure. The steps were about as slow as the clock – seemingly making biology class last a lifetime.
The dark-haired boy who usually sat next to him was gone, which had become predictable. He hadn't seen Danny in weeks. His absence had become a fixture of the biology lab, like the artificial skeleton in the back or the Bunsen burners along the wall. The redhead would never admit it to Evan, but he missed having a lab partner who hated school as much as him.
He missed the way Danny would purposely mispronounce words just to piss off Ms. Hodge, and how he never had a pencil. Or a notebook. Or anything. Jackson hadn't realized it before, but Danny made the hour go faster when he was there. Thankfully, a couple more months and he would be done with school forever.
It was strange how Danny didn't care about school, but he cared about what people thought of him. And then there was Evan who cared about school, but no one's opinions. Jackson supposed he fit somewhere in the middle of the two boys...In more ways than one.
"Today we will be discussing weather patterns and their effects on our ecosystem," Ms. Hodge began. "Which means you will need to know some basic physics. Can anyone tell me the first law of thermodynamics?"
It was Evan who raised his hand, waiting to speak until Ms. Hodge nodded to him. Chris was sitting beside him with a comic book folded between the pages of his textbook.
"Matter cannot be created nor destroyed," Evan said.
"That's correct," Ms. Hodge turned to the blackboard, drawing three curved arrows. "All matter exists within a closed cycle in which it continuously gets reshaped. Different amounts of energy are required for these shifts to take place, but the quantity of matter within our world will never be altered."
"What about cell multiplication?" Evan questioned. "Mitosis?"
Jackson looked at the smart boy from across the classroom. He didn't understand a word Evan was saying, but he liked hearing him talk. It seemed as though kissing the know-it-all had changed his perspective.
"Mitosis is simply an increase in mass of an existing participle," Ms. Hodge explained, looking to Evan. She had those glasses with the dangly beads that looped around her neck. "Matter is not created from mitosis or even meiosis."
Evan scribbled the fact into his notebook, but Jackson didn't bother to write anything. The redhead couldn't think of a time or place he'd ever use the information, and if there was ever a situation he needed to know it, he would just ask Evan.
"The three stages of matter are: solid, liquid, and gas," the teacher continued. "Does anyone know how matter transfers from one stage to another?"
Ms. Hodge's question settled over the quiet room of students, but no one spoke. A few seconds had passed before the door slammed.
"Does it use an ATM?" Danny guessed, stumbling into the room.
Ms. Hodge slid her eyes to the disheveled boy. His clothes were wrinkled and his feet were off balance. The laces on his shoes weren't even tied. His hair was flat against the back of his head, as if he had been sleeping somewhere hard. Jackson and Evan's eyes clicked together as soon as he entered the classroom, knowing this wasn't Danny – not the Danny they knew.
"Take a seat, Daniel," Ms. Hodge spoke. "Nice of you to join us."
It was Evan who noticed Danny's purple fingers. They looked bruised or very, very cold – but Evan would have to touch them to be sure. An ache seemed to pull at the chords in his throat as he reminded himself he'd never be able to do that again.
Although the classroom was small, he felt so far away from the boy he once held so close.
"If you don't mind, Debra," he addressed her. "I think I'll take the table."
Danny slumped onto a lab table near the front of the room, acting as if it were a bed. Jackson had seen him high before, but this was not his normal state of euphoria. The red-haired boy thought maybe he might be drunk, but Danny wouldn't drink before noon...Right?
"Daniel Herrera," Ms. Hodge scolded. "Get up this instant."
"Give me five seconds," Danny held up his hand with all his fingers sticking up. "Or more."
He burped, cuddling the tabletop as if resting on something solid was his new idea of comfort.
All the students stared, except Chris – he was too busy critiquing Aquaman. Evan remained sitting on the stool beside him, concern creasing his forehead. Danny's family would never let him hobble around town like that...Had he even seen his family lately? What has he been doing?
"Daniel," Ms. Hodge said one last time. "Take your antics to the principal's office. I don't have time for foolery. This is an educational institution, not a playground."
Danny rolled off the table and onto the floor with a heavy, lethargic heave.
Jackson didn't have to be a teacher to know something wasn't right, and shame on Ms. Hodge for choosing to ignore it. But was Jackson any better for remaining quiet? For pretending he was nothing more than his classmate.
Evan shrunk down in his seat, contemplating how to intervene.
