"So, did you hear?" Sebastian asked T.J. as him and Steve sat at fast food restaurant, munching on burgers. "We're gonna be going back to school next week."
"Yeah," T.J. nodded. "The old elementary school."
"How are they gonna fit everyone in there?" Steve frowned. "It's a lot smaller than the high school was."
"More people in a class, I guess," T.J. shrugged. "Did you guys go to that place when you were kids?"
"Nah, private school, man," Steve said.
"Same," Sebastian nodded. "Did you?"
"Um, yeah, actually, I did," T.J. said.
"At least we'll get the morning to sleep in," Steve said. "The little kids are going in the morning."
Suddenly the door to the restaurant dinged as Mikey walked in.
"Wow, so I guess this is where he gets all that extra fat from," Steve laughed, watching Mikey go up to the counter to place his order. "Man, that guy is so fat!"
"Guess that helped him after he got shot," Sebastian snickered. "All that extra blubber in his arm probably softened the blow."
T.J. felt his fist clench slightly under the table, but he didn't say anything.
"Yo, Blumberger!" Steve yelled, standing up. "Sure the seats here are big enough for you? I think they have a 400 pound weight limit."
Sebastian laughed and stood up with his friend. "You want to know why it's taking them so long to reopen the high school? When Blumberg fell he took up all the tiles on the floor!"
T.J. sneaked a look at Mikey. He was pretending not to hear the jeers, but T.J. saw his eyes, and knew he was trying to keep it together.
"Guys, knock it off," T.J. mumbled.
"Come on, he knows he's fat T.J.," Steve said. "We're just pointing out what everyone knows."
"Fine, we'll humor you," Sebastian said. "Yo Mikey, we were just joking. You're really thin as a rail!"
Mikey grabbed his food, tossed down a few bills and ran out the door. As he ran past the boys' table, though, he looked right at T.J..
"Man, let's get out of here," Steve said, finishing the last of his root beer. "I just rented some movie with a hot blonde on the cover and my dad has some beers in the fridge."
"Sweet," Sebastian said, throwing out his wrappers. "You in, T.J.?"
T.J. shook his head. "No. My sister's in town and I promised her I'd help her look for an anniversary present for our parents."
"Whatever," Steve shrugged. "Come over if you decide you want some fun."
T.J. waited until he saw the boys get into Steve's car before he left. His sister wouldn't be home for another two weeks, and his parents' anniversary had been last month. He just didn't want to spend another minute with those two right now.
He walked over to the park across from the restaurant and hang out there for awhile. He walked around the playgrounds and the baseball field until he reached a secluded area surrounded by trees. He sat down at the base of a particularly thick tree and looked up at the sky. He heard something from the other side of the tree, though, and when he peered around the trunk, he saw none other than Mikey. He was sitting his head in his knees and shoulders shaking, his bag of food untouched at his feet.
Mikey didn't see him. T.J. contemplated whether to approach his crying former friend. But what could he way? Sure, he hadn't said anything about Mikey like Steve and Sebastian did, but he didn't exactly defend Mikey either. And besides, he was guilty just by association.
T.J. turned back around to his side of the tree and tried to ignore the sobs he heard.
…
At last, Gretchen was able to leave the hospital and go home. She was put on some pain medication and told to refrain from any heavy activity, but otherwise cleared as fully recovered. She still grimaced when she walked from the pain in her abdomen, but in her mind that was a small price to pay to finally be released.
School would be starting in three days, and for the first time she could remember, she wasn't looking forward to going back.
"Gretchen, we're going to the office!" her mother called from the kitchen. "I left some frozen dinners in the freezer for you."
"Okay," Gretchen responded from her bedroom. She watched from her window as she was her parents' cars leave the driveway. She picked up her AP Physics textbook from her bedside table and began reviewing. Physics was her strongest subject; anything math or science was, actually. She obviously still excelled at English and History and every other class she took, but she liked the practicality of numbers and formulas.
About an hour after her parents left, there was a knock at her front door. Closing her textbook, she slowly got up and made her way to answer it.
"Oh, hi," Gretchen said, finding her friend Beth on her front porch.
"I heard you came home today," Beth said, coming into the house and closing the door behind her. "I thought we could, you know, study."
"Um, sure," Gretchen shrugged. "I was just looking over Physics…"
"Did you hear what they're doing with the classes?" Beth asked.
"No, what?"
"Since that dinky elementary school only has about a quarter of the classrooms the high school has," Beth said. "They have to combine a bunch of the classes! They're going to be combining the AP, Honors, and Regular classes together under one teacher! Can you believe that?"
"Well, I guess that's the only thing they can-"
"They're going to be teaching on a regular level, Gretchen!" Beth exclaimed. "All the AP students are going to have to self-teach themselves to be ready for the exams in May!"
"I'm sure we can manage," Gretchen said.
"Well, we all know you can," Beth said. "But still, just the idea of being in the same classes as those…morons is enough to make me want to transfer to a new school."
Gretchen shrugged. "Maybe it won't be that bad." She took a deep breath. "Did you go to Jenny's funeral?"
"Yeah," Beth sighed. "Her parents were really distraught. She had just got accepted into that Young Scholars program you got into last year."
"I know," Gretchen nodded. "She was so excited."
"You know they gave me the position after she died?"
Gretchen frowned. "They did?"
"I know it's a little insensitive to be bringing it up," Beth shrugged. "But Jenny was number two in the class, and now that she…well, point is now I'm number two."
Gretchen didn't say anything. How could Beth think about something like that now? Who care what rank in the class she was? Their friend was dead.
"Anyway," Beth said. "That math competition that was supposed to be two weeks ago was postponed to next weekend, so we'll have to put in some serious practice."
"Oh, yeah," Gretchen said, remembering that competition for the first time since the shooting. Truthfully, she didn't even want to compete anymore. "Hey, you know Jenny and I went to that elementary school we're going to?"
"Really?" Beth said, opening her calculus book. "Were you guys friends?"
"No, we only talked once," Gretchen said. "She hung out in the library the whole day. She used to be called the Library Kid."
"Huh, I would've thought that would be you."
"One day me and my friends were in there and we saw her," Gretchen said, smiling at the memory. "And we tried to convince her to come out to recess with us, since she had never been to it before."
"I never liked recess either," Beth shrugged. "It seemed pointless. I would've stayed in the library too if I could."
"Well, Jenny loved it," Gretchen said. "She went wild, and my friends and I spend the whole day trying to catch her before she got hurt."
"What friends were these?"
"Oh, you know," Gretchen said. "Just some kids from my class…"
"Oh. Hey, you mind if I borrow your graphing calculator? I left mine at home."
"Um, sure," Gretchen said. "It's on my desk."
"Thanks," Beth said, heading back to Gretchen's room.
Gretchen sat down on the couch, more and more memories from Third Street Elementary pouring into her head.