Bump

  ***

  The first few classes of the day were engaging and refreshing after his weeks of boredom and solitude, but the novelty of being back in school wore off quickly. By lunch he was in the same mood he’d been in every school day for the last eleven years: he wanted to leave.

  As he entered the cafeteria, Ryan was confronted with the pleasant fact he had been facing all day: he was out among girls again. In the last few weeks, Ryan had been completely cut off from the rest of the world, and the only people he had seen were his family and friends. Now that he was back in school, he was constantly reminded of how truly nice it was to be around girls. He had missed them and he hadn’t even realized it: their smell, their walk, their hair.

  He plopped his tray down on their end of the table and took the seat next to Eli, across from Vanessa. It was their own little corner of the cafeteria.

  Ryan’s high school wasn’t as cliquish or gossipy as those on TV; no one really cared about anybody’s business outside their own circle of friends. There were bigger groups of friends and smaller groups of friends, but it wasn’t the class warfare like popular culture insisted all high schools were mired in. The three friends had grown up together, and that’s how they stayed. They weren’t outsiders, they weren’t insiders. They didn’t exclude anyone, but they didn’t go out of their way to include anyone either. They had each other, and that’s how they liked it.

  “Don’t look now guys, but we go to school with girls.” Ryan said.

  “Wait, what?!” Eli answered.

  “Isn’t high school a little late to be just figuring this out?” Vanessa asked.

  “Explains a lot, actually.” Eli said.

  “You guys don’t know what it was like. There are a lot of girls here. I took that for granted before.” Ryan replied.

  “Does that mean you’re actually going to talk to one of them?” Vanessa asked with a gentle smirk.

  “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Besides, don’t you mean ‘one of us’? Don’t you fall into that category?” Ryan pointed out.

  “Or is there something you’ve been hiding from us all these years?” Eli quipped to Vanessa. “You know, now that I’m really looking, is that an Adam’s apple-”

  He was cut short by a French fry which Vanessa flicked at him. Eli tried to catch it in his mouth but it hit him in the eye instead.

  “Let’s face it,” Vanessa began, “to you guys I stopped being a girl the day I dunked on Eli.”

  “Yeah, when we were eleven!” Eli shot back. “The hoop was six feet high! The ball said ‘Nerf’ on it! Besides, at that age, all girls were taller than boys.”

  “Uh huh, and what’s your excuse now?” Ryan cracked.

  “Then it was normal, now it’s adorable. I am five foot five inches of burning love. I defy you to show me a woman who doesn’t want this…on second thought, I don’t defy you anything. Please show me a woman, any woman, I don’t care what she wants. I’ll wear lifts, I’ll-”

  “You know, you’d think nearly getting killed would give me perspective,” Ryan cut in, knowing that Eli could go on for hours, “like that life is too short to be afraid of talking to girls.”

  “And did it?” Vanessa asked.

  “Not in the least. I’d still take an angry bear over approaching a girl cold.”

  “My hero.” Eli replied. “Have you considered using the angry bear story in order to talk to girls? You fought off a bear, man. The Jeremiah Johnson thing could be very sexy.”

  “What? How? ‘Hi, my name is Ryan. We’ve never spoken before, but I was recently mauled by a bear. What are you doing tomorrow night?’”

  “See?” Eli insisted. “You’re in!”

  “Gave me chills.” Vanessa agreed with a smile.

  Eli began again. “Well, now that we’ve got that worked out, I feel the need for a second lunch.” He pulled his car keys from his pocket. “Anyone else for the diner?”

  “Class starts in ten minutes.” Ryan replied.

  “Ugh, I don’t know why you’re so attached to History. We know how it ends! 1492, pilgrims, Indians, British, yadda yadda yadda, Constitution. Come on, I want pancakes.”

  Eli ran his hand through his coffee-colored hair and held the keys up next to his face. His dark eyes, the same color as his hair, glinted as he grinned. Eli’s eyes were always slightly crinkled, as if he were enjoying some private joke that the rest of the world would never hear. Unlike Ryan, Eli could afford to skip class. While Ryan had his strengths and weaknesses, Eli seemed to be good at everything. His mind was like a steel trap and though he had just brushed off the need for learning history, Ryan knew Eli could probably rattle off all the names, dates, and necessary facts of every major battle of the American Revolution. He was taking second-level Algebra for the third time, but could have breezed through AP Calc without breaking a sweat. Chemistry, physics, French, English, Eli could ace them all, but he didn’t care enough to try. Ryan had brought this up with Eli once before, and only once. He had asked why Eli never applied himself, and his friend had responded simply: “Because I’ve got my priorities straight. Ooh! Golden Girls marathon!” Ryan had never brought it up again.

  “Suit your square selves.” Eli said and he bounced away.

  A moment later, the first bell rang and Ryan found himself caught up in the sea of people leaving for class as he waved goodbye to Vanessa. He weaved his way through the traffic of the halls to American History. He walked to the back of the class and slumped into a seat near the window. Ryan exhaled and set his hand beneath his chin as he stared outside.

  The trees on either side of the parking lot stood with yellowing leaves fluttering fitfully in a sporadic breeze. The sun shone on the cars and pavement below, making the outside look much warmer than it was. His eyes drifted to the cloudless blue sky of early autumn and Ryan’s gaze fell to the outline of a large bird circling lazily between him and the pale sun.