Two Schools Out - Forever

50

Study Hall was my favorite class. The school had a great library, with seemingly endless books and six computers for kids to do research on.

The school librarian was this nice, smart guy named Michael Lazzara. Everybody seemed to like Mr. Lazzara a lot, even me. So far, anyway.

Today I was in research mode. Maybe if I hit some code-breaking sites I could figure out a different approach for how to find our parents.

All six computers had kids sitting at them. I stood there a moment, wishing I could just tip a kid out of a chair.

"Here, I can get off."

I looked over at the guy who'd spoken. "What?"

The guy got up and gathered his books. "I don't need the computer. You can have it."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

"You're new," the guy said. "You're in my Language Arts class."

"Yeah," I said. I'd recognized him-years of paranoia had honed my ability to remember faces. "I'm Max."

"I know. I'm Sam." He gave me a warm smile, and I blinked, realizing he was cute. I'd never really had the luxury of noticing cuteness or lack thereof in guys. Mostly it was the lethal/nonlethal distinction that I went with. "Where did you move from?"

"Uh... Missouri."

"Wow. Midwest. This must be pretty different for you."

"Yep."

"So, are you doing schoolwork or more of a personal project?" He nodded at the computer. I started to say, What's with the questions? but then I thought, Maybe he's not interrogating me. Maybe this is how people interact, get to know each other. They exchange information.

"Um, more of a personal project," I said.

He smiled again. "Me too. I was checking out this kayak I want to buy. I'm hoping my Christmas money will give me enough."

I smiled, trying to act as if I knew what Christmas money was. Voice? A little help here? The Voice was silent. After mentally reviewing possible responses, I went with: "Cool."

"Well, I'll let you get to it, then," he said, looking like he wanted to say something else. I waited, but he didn't-just picked up his stuff and split. I felt like a Vulcan, studying these odd, quaint humans.

Sighing, I sat down at the computer. I would never fit in. Never. Not anywhere.