Fallen Leaves - Chapter 20: Why Don't We Go There

Cadence took a deep breath as she walked into the main hallway at Oak Stream for the last time her sophomore year. She was completely ready to be done with sophomore year. She had passed all of her finals it was now just a day to say goodbye to everyone before the summer ended. With her yearbook in hand, she decided that she wanted to get everyone’s signatures before the school year let out. She knew it was old school and more than likely she would see the bulk of them over the summertime anyway, but since she missed commemorating her freshmen year with any of her crew at Oak Stream, she wanted to do everything she could do to commemorate the conclusion of sophomore year. She couldn’t believe it. In only a few hours she would become an upperclassmen. That felt so strange to even think about.

She had considered asking a few teachers for their signatures but thought against it. She really wasn’t close to any of her teachers this year and she had a feeling she wouldn’t remember the bulk of them in two years time anyways. She knew one thing for sure: no matter how long she lived, she would always remember Kerass. She didn’t know if she would love him forever, but she knew she would always remember him. She was totally in love with him at the moment, but being in love forever is a long time. She couldn’t even fathom what forever would even look like.

It was then that Jay walked up behind her. Cadence smiled at him and held out her yearbook asking him if he would sign it. Jay grabbed the pen and instantly began signing it.

“Can you believe we’re going to be juniors next year?”

“Oh wow, boy do I feel old…” Jay said trailing off. Jay continued explaining that he had a lot more on his mind besides becoming an upperclassmen.

“Yeah?” Cadence said. She watched him as he froze. His eyes betrayed him. He had wanted to say something and before he let it out he changed the subject. She didn’t have time to pry and she didn’t care to either. That was all he felt comfortable sharing at the moment and that was fine.

Jay handed her yearbook back to her before he began saying that he was only saying this because he cared for Kerass. “Look, I don’t want you to be upset that I’m asking this or anything…”

“Spit it out,” Cadence said sternly.

“Do you have any feelings for Gus?”

Cadence, taken aback, couldn’t even speak. She stammered before the words finally came out. “Did Kerass ask you to ask me this?”

“You didn’t say no,” Jay said turning around and walking away from her towards the P.E. hallway. When she opened up the yearbook. The only thing that was written was H.A.G.S. which was the lamest abbreviation for have a great summer. She began to wonder if the whole yearbook idea was an idiotic mistake. Nobody else seemed to be taking it as seriously as she was.

She walked over to the sophomore hallway where to her surprise she saw Damien. She waved at him grabbing his attention. He came over toward her and smiled at her.

“Can you believe it? I’m graduating tomorrow!” Damien said beaming at her.

“I’m really happy for you Damien!” Cadence replied with the same amount of enthusiasm he had given her. “Listen,” Cadence began asking him if he would sign her yearbook.

“I’d be honored.” In total contrast to Jay, Damien took a long time writing a lengthy note in her yearbook. Cadence stood there awkwardly waiting a solid 5 minutes as Damien kept writing and writing in her yearbook.

When he handed the yearbook back, Cadence immediately started crying. “Is this goodbye?”

Damien’s eyes showed that his heart was breaking along with hers. “Let’s not even say it flat out. Writing in your yearbook was hard enough. Would you do me a favor though?”

Cadence nodded her head not even able to talk in that instance.

“Tell Jay goodbye for me, please. Tell him I’ll always love him, I-” he paused as a tear shed down his face. “I just can’t say that to his face. Just tell him that I forgive him.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Cadence asked pointing out that they hadn’t been close all year.

“I came here for you, Cadence,” he said smiling again. “I knew then what I know now. I can always count on you.”

Damien hugged her before he walked down the hallway the last time at Oak Stream High. The weight of his goodbye hit her fully as she watched him walk away. She had loved Damien in a way that she had never loved anybody else and that fact came to mind as he turned the corner and out of sight. Her emotions began to overwhelm her. She was uncontrollably crying, so in an attempt to avoid embarrassment she wandered into the girl’s bathroom. She cried in there in an attempt to catch her breath. She didn’t know why saying goodbye to Damien was so difficult. Apart from attempting to make Kerass jealous earlier, she had pretty much avoided him all year, but he had a part of her that no one else would ever have. He had her virginity and she couldn’t understand why she was thinking about that as he was just about to graduate. Finally wiping the tears from her eyes, she had calmed down enough to step back out into the hallway.

She proceeded to walk into her Pre-IB sophomore English class. It was then that the bell rang and she sat down next to Gus who was already seated. Gus had helped her all year and she had honestly become a better student, at least at English because of it. She brought up her grade to an A by the end of the year.

“What have you got there?” Gus asked pointing at the yearbook in her hands.

“Oh, it’s just a yearbook,” Cadence said putting her hair behind her ears.

Gus’ eyes widened. “I didn’t know they still sold those. I mean, isn’t that kinda old school?”

Cadence embarrassed by what he was saying knew it was true. It was old school and practically no one else sophomore year had bought a yearbook.

“You want me to sign it?” Gus asked gentler than his previous statement. Cadence just nodded her head. She didn’t even let go of the yearbook, Gus had to reach over and grab it from her. Still embarrassed, she could sense that he felt bad about making her feel uncomfortable.

“You know, don’t worry about it, it’s cool,” Gus said. “Retro.”

Gus signed the yearbook quickly before he handed it back to Cadence. She started to pick up on what Jay had accused her of. Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she might have feelings for Gus. She knew the repercussions of her actions would not be worth it. She didn’t want to experience a falling out from Kerass again. So she avoided talking to Gus the rest of the period. As the bell rang and Gus ran out of the classroom, Cadence looked at what he had written in her yearbook. He had posed a simple question: Why don’t we go there…Gus



As the final bell of the school year rang, Kerass shot out of his desk and almost ran down the hallway fully embracing the freedom that summer brought him. Summer was his favorite time of year and he was more than ready to leave his underclassmen life behind. The mass of students left the building quicker than usual during the final day of school in an attempt to rush into summer.

Kerass stepped outside and immediately headed towards the bus. He looked around at all the students rushing towards a bus or their parked cars in the school parking lot. It would be a solid three months before he stepped back onto the school grounds again. He couldn’t believe that when he returned he would be a junior and Julia, well she would be a senior… Cadence tapped his shoulder and kissed him on the lips briefly, which surprised him. He felt uncomfortable with kissing her again knowing that he had kissed Julia in the school hallway. In fact, it had been the same exact place that he had once kissed Cadence during their freshmen year.

“What’s wrong?” Cadence asked in a hushed tone.

Kerass bit his tongue upset that his face was so readable. He had shown her that he was uncomfortable with the kiss and he silently beat himself up for being so vulnerable.

“Julia kissed me,” he finally said aloud.

Cadence’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t even want to know what she was thinking.

“And I kissed her back,” Kerass paused taking a deep breath. “But it meant absolutely nothing. It was meaningless, I swear.”

Looking at her face Kerass could tell that she was avoiding eye contact. “Say something...” he said knowing that she probably wouldn’t answer in the moment. “Please.”



Jay walked into his house ecstatic that another school year had come to a close. His dad was sitting on the couch. He was surprised to see him home so early. Fear rushed through Jay. What if his dad had gotten fired? He was too nervous to actually say anything at all.

“I found her,” his father whispered after another minute of silence.

“You don’t mean…” Jay stammered.

His father said he did. He had found her, Jay’s birth mother. “I recognized how heartbroken you were when she took off, so I hired a private investigator and he found her.”

Jay couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t smile, he couldn’t cry, he couldn’t even move. Forcing himself against his will, he started walking saying that he had to go to her.

“You’re going to leave me, aren’t you?” his father said as his eyes glistened.

Jay looked back at his father. As much as he had been frustrated and angry at him for not telling him about the adoption, he knew that his father must care for him a lot to hire a private investigator to find her seeing how much pain it brought him. He had screwed up, but hadn’t he paid enough for his mistake? Jay didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. Choosing in that moment to forgive his father, he held out his hand and said, “Come with me.”

His father smiled. After quickly packing, they headed out the door for this summer’s grand adventure. It may all be in vain because she might run out again, but it was a bonding experience they would always remember. Their car left Oak Stream as the summer was just beginning.

End of Year 2

Fallen Leaves - Chapter 19: Back for You

The alarm clock disturbed Jay’s slumber. It had been 3 months to the day when Damien told him that they should take a break. Slipping out of bed more depressed than ever Jay walked over to his desk pulling out his journal for the first time in months. Not only was it three months later since the break up, it was also the last week of school. Jay knew he needed to write out his thoughts.

The instant that his pen hit the paper, he couldn’t stop writing. All of his concerns about whether he would ever find love, would Damien ever be his friend, let alone his boyfriend again. His thoughts dwelled on his romantic future. The depression he was experiencing wasn’t solely because of Damien, he finally admitted after months of denial. He irrationally blamed Damien for his birth mother walking out of his life as well. While not much had changed internally inside of him during these months, most everyone had paired off again. Kerass was still his best friend, but it was only a shadow of where they had been before Jay had come out. He talked to Cadence occasionally when Kerass would bring her along to hang out. The trio became a square quickly when Cadence’s best friend Gus was brought into the group’s hangouts and very quickly Jay felt like a freak of nature. He just didn’t enjoy hanging out with big groups of people and that was deemed bizarre by everyone around him except for Kerass, but with Kerass and Cadence amazingly back together and for three months now no less, Jay never saw Kerass alone anymore.

Looking at the clock, seeing that it was 6:10, he knew he needed to grab a shower and rush out the door. He closed his journal, but kept it on his desk promising himself that he would make it a daily habit before walking out his bedroom door.



“Could you at least attempt to show a semblance of caring about how I feel?” Cadence asked Kerass. She couldn’t believe how selfish he was being.

“I don’t get what the big deal is,” Kerass began. He went on to explain that they hung out with Gus all the time. “I’ve made an effort, so what’s the big deal?”

“I want you to be his friend too.”

“We hang out don’t we?” Kerass asked incredulously.

Cadence conceded that while that may be true, they never hung out together. “It’s important to me that you be friends with my best friend.”

She watched as Kerass scratched his forehead scrunching up his face. “All right, I’ve got a proposition for you,” he began. He explained that if he went out of his way to spend some one-on-one time with Gus that it was only fair if she spent some one-on-one time with his best friend Jay. “It’d only be fair.”

“No! That’s not fair at all!” Cadence yelled at him afraid to speak the truth.

“Why not?”

“Kerass, Jay is a total creepass.”

“What?!” Kerass exclaimed.

“He’s obsessed with you,” Cadence said. She continued saying that the way he looked at Kerass and the way he acted around Kerass was a red flag of co-dependency. “And Kerass, you can’t satisfy him the way that he wants you too. He’s just-”

“My best friend, ok?” Kerass looked down on her which made her feel small and insignificant. “I forgave him for all that stuff. Sure he’s a little clingy, but he’s my best friend, what’s so wrong with that?”

“You’re letting your history with him blind what the real problem is.”

“If you don’t then there’s no way I’m going out of my way to chill with Gus alone, all right?”

“Fine, I’ll do it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Cadence said before storming off. Her anger rose with each step. She was stepping into English class focusing all of her anger onto Cry the Beloved Country…anger always made for the best class discussions. She would definitely get her full participation points.



Damien walked down the sophomore hallway. The place seemed foreign after he had avoided it like the plague post-break up. Although he had said they were only taking a break, he knew the following morning that it was over. He was walking over to Jay to let him know that that was the end. Jay’s surprise read all over his face and Damien instantly regretted the decision to come over. Jay’s face was filled with hope when he saw Damien.

“How are you?” Damien asked.

“I, I’m,” Jay paused taking a breath. “I’m doing well, how are you?”

“I’m fine. I chose to attend Dowden Terrace College. Orientation begins in 2 weeks.”

“That’s awesome!” Jay said. He continued to say that he knew he’d make a decision eventually. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Listen-”

“Is there any hope for us? I mean,” Jay paused running his hand over his spiky hair, “can we even be friends?”

“I don’t think so.”

A single tear started to fall down Jay’s face.

Damien continued to say, “I didn’t come back for you. I came here to tell you goodbye. I hope everything works out for you, I really do.”

Looking at Jay who was breathing heavily, attempting to slow down the tears, he didn’t know what else to say so he uttered the only word on his mind, “Bye.”

Damien turned around and walked over to the junior hallway, which was just a hallway over. Julia smiled at him as he walked over toward her locker. Not only had Julia become his friend, Julia had become his best friend. Her face fell as he walked closer to her.

“You ended it, didn’t you?” she whispered to him.

He nodded adding, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You are such a chick, I love it!”

Damien’s eyes alit with fire. Sure, he was gay, but he was the farthest thing from a chick.

“It’s so cool having a gay best friend,” Julia added smiling at him. She leaned forward to hug him but he put his hand up preventing her.

“Stop!” he said surprised at the volume of his voice. His breaths became short as his anger rose.

“I’m sorry, I,” Julia paused, “I don’t understand.”

“Why do I have to be your gay best friend, huh?” Damien continued asking why he couldn’t just be her best friend. “Why are you stereotyping me? You know that I’m the farthest thing from the gay stereotypes. I hate being labeled like that so just stop it!”

“I didn’t think it was a problem.”

“That’s right, you didn’t think at all,” Damien said sighing with frustration. “Could you like attempt to have empathy just this once?”

“I have that, but this is the first time you’ve mentioned it before!”

Damien calmed himself down seeing that she was completely oblivious. He mentioned to her that he was being super sensitive having broken up with Jay. “I just thought you would have thought about it more.”

“Fine, I won’t do it again,” Julia said gently.

“All right,” Damien said beginning to walk away. Julia’s voice stopped him as he headed toward first period. She asked him if they were cool. Damien turned around and said, “Yeah, we’re cool.”

“Then, why don’t I believe you?” Julia asked.

“Just forget it,” Damien said and walked away blocking out everything else she called out after him.



Kerass couldn’t believe he was doing this. He walked inside the comic book store on Main Street after the school day had ended. He had never been into anything geeky like comic books. He was walking in an uncharted landscape and he couldn’t help but feel like he was in enemy territory. Kerass was a jock in the strictest sense of the term. The junior varsity football team was just as successful as the freshman football team had been last year all thanks to Kerass. Noticing no one was at the counter, he decided to walk around looking through the isles of all the various bizarre comic books. They all seemed to be the exact same premise, none of them was uniquely different, and he couldn’t understand the appeal anyone would have for any of these so-called superheroes.

Out of his periphery vision, Kerass noticed Gus walk up to the counter. Gus’ mouth dropped when he saw Kerass in the comic book store. “You don’t have to look so surprised,” Kerass said, but he knew full well that it was a shock.

“Sorry, it’s just…wow,” Gus said shaking his head in disbelief. “You finally got bit by the superhero bug, didn’t you?”

“No, actually, I came here to speak with you.”

Gus was clearly avoiding his eye contact. Gus had just made the whole situation 10 times more uncomfortable. “What about?”

“Do you like, I don’t know,” Kerass said trailing off. This didn’t feel right at all, but he promised Cadence he would and he always held onto his promises. “Do you want to, you know, like chill?”

“I, uh…” Gus began. He clearly lacked the usual confidence that he exuded. Kerass had never seen him like this, but he couldn’t deny it was hilarious watching Gus squirm. Kerass thought Gus must not be comfortable on his home turf inside a comic book store.

“I guess so. I guess we could do that, yeah,” Gus finally stated his answer.

“Cool, well I guess I’ll check with you later then?” Kerass asked. He continued to clarify that they could come up with a time and place at school the next day.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Gus replied timidly.

It was so obvious that Gus wanted Kerass to leave as quickly as possible. Not wanting to extend the uncomfortable tension any longer, Kerass saluted Gus as he walked out of the comic book store. He couldn’t get a grasp on who Gus really was and while that had bothered him in the past, he didn’t really mind it much anymore. Gus did his own thing and that was cool, but there were obviously some elements of his personality that he kept guarded that he had more trouble guarding at the comic book store. Curiosity got the better of him…he decided he wanted to get Gus into that vulnerable state where he could no longer hide and then and only then would Kerass be comfortable being Gus’ friend.



Julia stood still behind the school stairwell the following day waiting for Kerass to walk past. It was only a matter of time before he would eventually walk past her. Although things with Damien the other day had ended unpleasantly, Damien had previously encouraged her to pursue what made her happy and Kerass was her answer to happiness. She saw him as he began walking down the hallway. She instantly grabbed Kerass and pulled him behind the stairwell where she proceeded to make out with him. He didn’t push her off to her surprise…his body relaxed as they continued kissing each other.

Fallen Leaves - Chapter 18: Tell Me A Lie

Damien grabbed Jay’s shoulder physically removing him from the band walking him to the parking lot. Jay yelled in protest screaming that Damien was hurting his arm.

“What is this?” Damien asked quietly holding up the photo of Kerass in the speedo. His eyes pierced Jay’s with a fiery rage. “Huh? Have you been cheating on me?” Damien asked his voice raising.

“No! Of course not...” Jay said pausing. “I took those before I started dating you.”

Damien said ok taking a deep breath before continuing. “Then why do you still have them on your phone and why are there 5 of them?”

“It’s not what you think, it’s-”

“Worse,” Damien finished Jay’s sentence. “Yeah, you bet it is.”

Jay explained that he had forgotten about the photos and they were just a means to release. “I mean you know…you didn’t come out until after I was out for nearly a whole year. You’ve got to release those desires somehow.”

Damien didn’t believe him. It would have been different if it was a different guy but not with Kerass. Kerass was attractive, not as attractive as Damien viewed himself, but still attractive nonetheless. Kerass also had an air of innocence about him that Damien obviously didn’t have.

Sighing, Damien finally said, “Why have you been lying to me?”

“Why are you so paranoid? Did he tell you about my father?” Jay asked.

Damien’s eyes widened. He had no idea what Jay was talking about. Did he even know Jay at all? “What about your father?”

“Forget it.” Jay continued saying that it wasn’t important.

Damien looked at Jay with a look he never thought he would have given Jay, a look of unadulterated hatred.

“Fine, I’ll tell you, just don’t look at me like that ever again,” Jay conceded. “My father adopted me. I told no one about it for a while and then I told Kerass about it.”

“How could you not tell me something so important!” Damien exclaimed flabbergasted. “I’m your boyfriend. I should’ve been the first person you told. How could you tell Kerass before me! Do I mean so little to you?”

“It was nothing!” Jay explained that it was all innocence and he only blabbed to try to maintain a friendship with Kerass. “We hadn’t been close in a while and it obviously opened up our friendship again.”

“Are you finished?” Damien asked agitated.

Jay sighed before he said, “We’re breaking up, aren’t we?”

Damien closed his eyes taking a deep breath before speaking. “No, not officially at least.” Damien told Jay that despite all of this he still loved him. “I just need time to trust you again. We’re not breaking up, but we are taking time apart.”

“We’re taking a break?” Jay asked a single tear falling down his face.

Damien nodded his head before walking away. He didn’t look back. He wanted to punish Jay for withholding so many secrets from him and his mind was still fuming. He desired to exact revenge against Jay, but Damien wasn’t that kind of guy, at least he hadn’t been ever since he came out. Damien began to doubt himself. He didn’t know if he believed anything could be known anymore. It all just seemed so meaningless.



Kerass jumped into the school’s swimming pool. The pool was only used by the swim team. The water was extremely appealing to Kerass. What began last year as a last ditch effort to avoid time alone with his father turned into a hobby he quite enjoyed. He wasn’t a great swimmer like he was a great football player, but he enjoyed swimming a lot more than he enjoyed the football field. Part of it was rebellion against his father who didn’t view swimming as a manly sport, or even viewed it as a sport for that matter, but even the thrills of teenage rebellion could only distract Kerass so much from the water. Kerass felt alive in the water.

By the time he completed his first lap, Gus was standing over his lane. “Can you come up? I want to say something to you,” Gus said.

Kerass got out of the pool upset by the fact that Gus didn’t offer his hand to help him out of the pool but he got over that initial frustration quickly. “What’s going on?”

“Is it true?” Gus asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Kerass asked bewildered.

“Are you seriously that stupid to think that-”

Kerass immediately offended cut Gus off shouting, “Hey! I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

“Cadence, man. Are you going to go out with Cadence again?”

“Maybe…what’s it matter to you?” Kerass asked testy.

“So it is true.”

“No,” Kerass said admitting defeat adding that she hadn’t given him her answer yet.

“Don’t be an idiot. You’d be foolish to go out with her again.”

“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Kerass said finally realizing why Gus was there.

“No…I don’t want to be near that girl. She’s not who you think she is.”

“Then who is she?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” Gus replied.

“You are so full of it.”

“Hey, it’s the way I tell the story.”

“You’re not making any sense at all,” Kerass said. He asked why he should listen to him.

“Just tread lightly. You’re about to fall into the deep end.”

“You’re using a pool analogy on me…” Kerass said mockingly.

“Hey, it was the best I could do considering the circumstances. Just be cautious,” Gus said before walking out.

Kerass felt the whole encounter was pointless and didn’t make any sense. To relieve his mind of the utter stupidity of the encounter he dived back into the pool to do another lap.



Julia drove into the school parking lot the following morning. She pulled in right next to Damien who was crying inside his truck. She got out of her car filled with empathy and opened the door to Damien’s truck sitting down in the passenger seat. Damien looked up ashamed. He coyly attempted wiping tears away from his eyes.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Julia said.

“No one was supposed to see me like this,” Damien responded gruffly. He then proceeded to yell at her demanding to know why she stepped into his truck uninvited.

“I wasn’t going to just do nothing,” she began. She continued saying that he couldn’t keep her away. “Besides, I think I know how you feel.”

“Lies…”

“Would you rather tell me a lie?”

Damien looked over at her and shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Julia asked gingerly.

“Obviously not seeing as I didn’t want anybody to see me like this!” Damien snapped back at Julia.

“Please.”

Damien’s lip quivered before he started talking again. Julia hated to admit it, but seeing him cry made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. She empathized with him, but it was difficult sitting still watching him cry. It made her antsy.

“I don’t know who I am without Jay,” he said. He continued saying that he had given Jay everything: time, attention, he didn’t have friends outside of the relationship, and his relationship with his parents suffered. He said he had gotten lost in Jay. “Jay was my whole world. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

“I’ll be your friend,” Julia offered.

Damien locked eyes with her before saying, “I’d like that.”



Jay had his hand on the doorknob before he heard his father calling him. With his index finger, his father motioned him over.

“I saw Dianne Lesley at your marching band competition.”

“You know, don’t you?” Jay asked.

Jay’s father nodded his head. It didn’t even occur to Jay that his adopted father might run into his birth mother at the competition. How could he have been so stupid!

“Jay, sit down please.”

Jay sat down. He didn’t think he wanted to hear what his father had to say but curiosity got the better of him.

The story his father told astonished him. His father was a gay man who wanted kids but none of his romantic partners desired to have kids and split with him before he could do anything about adoption. He met Lesley on a whim who sympathized with his story but asked that if he adopted the child that he ensured that the child never reached out to her. Being a single father meant that his love life vanished all together but he didn’t regret the decision one bit. His desire to be romantically linked with a man had gone away because of his overwhelming love for his son.

“Are you insinuating that it’s just a phase?” Jay asked.

“No, no, not at all,” his father said with a chuckle. “All I’m saying is that the feelings come and go in phases and for me the times I desire it are far fewer then when I’m totally content with where I’m at.”

“Thanks for sharing Dad.” Jay said with a newfound respect for his father. His father hugged him and told Jay that he loved him no matter what.

Jay then bolted out of the house racing toward the bus stop recognizing that he was going to be late for school. While he respected his father for his honesty he was convinced his dad was suppressing his true homosexual desires. What he said about it coming and going in phases was a load of crap. His father had to be lying to himself…it didn’t make sense any other way.



Cadence walked over to Kerass’ locker holding his outstretched hand. Not a word was said, but they both knew what this meant. The answer was yes and they were officially dating again. Neither Julia nor Damien could keep them apart. Kerass tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. She felt gorgeous in his eyes. She leaned forward to kiss him, but he held his finger to her lips.

“Is this a mistake?” Kerass asked latent with doubt.

“Don’t fight it,” Cadence responded as their lips locked.



After the initial shock of hearing Jay’s father’s thoughts that homosexuality came in phases, Jay remembered that he said Dianne had asked for him, her own flesh and blood, to not contact her. That couldn’t be true. There had to be a mistake. Maybe she had meant she didn’t want to be contacted during school hours. He needed clarification and he needed it fast.

Without thinking he went straight towards the guidance counselors hallway. First block could wait. He walked straight down the hallway without even giving the receptionist a look. He stopped at her door. He knocked…no response. He knocked again, still there was nothing. He knocked a third time opening the door. The room was completely empty. Everything had been packed up and relocated before school started the Monday after the marching band competition. He looked at the door and noticed that even her nametag had been removed.