It was a gorgeous day. Walking through the tube was always spectacular, but never more so than on a gorgeous fall day. I wondered what it would look like on a snowy winter day.
“It’s definitely overwhelming… wanting to help everyone, but not being able to. To run away from people, never being able to get a moment’s peace. Your mind is always running at full speed.”
“Tell me about it,” he said. He understood me as well as Cedric. There weren’t too many people who did.
I smiled. “Yeah, it’s kind of annoying that I can sometimes foresee horrible events, and sense people’s innermost conflicts, yet I can’t tell if I have spinach in my teeth, or when my shirt looks awful with my pants. I need Alicia or my little sister for that.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I can never tell if I’m going to crash into someone around the corner.”
I smiled. “That happens to you a lot, doesn’t it? I see you around the halls, you’re always zooming off.”
“What?! I don’t like to be late.”
I thought about Ace who always ran late, like he couldn’t have cared less, like his time was more important than other people’s. And there was Leo who was always punctual. I winked at him. “I like it. Punctuality is super sexy.”
Oops. I was flirting again.
He blushed. And then just as we rounded the corner, he crashed into some guy who was in a hurry. “Hey, buddy. Watch where ya’ going.”
We were both still laughing when we finally got to the media center. I had the toast and milk tucked away in my backpack, and we tried not to act too guilty.
We sat down at my favorite spot. According to Ace, it was the only safe spot away from the camera. Apparently, we were at the far edges of the camera’s visibility. As long as we kept our backs to it, the person on the other end, who I was sure was Mrs. Moore, the media center manager, wouldn’t see us on her monitors. “You’d swear this place was the pentagon,” I joked.
He smiled. “I know. It’s kinda crazy.”
“We need to keep our backs to the camera behind us,” I whispered as I logged on and called Kylie.
She squealed when she saw our faces. “You must be Leo!” she exclaimed. “My sister told me so much about you.”
So much for keeping it cool.
“Nice to meet you, Kylie,” he said sweetly.
I felt the color rise to my cheeks. She had only spoken a few words, and she was embarrassing me already. “What’s up, Kylie.”
“Not much,” she said. “We just finished dinner. Mom made wings and fries.”
My stomach growled. I missed my mom’s wings and homemade fries. “The barbecue ones, or the honey garlic ones?”
She smirked. “The honey garlic.”
“Did you go trick or treating yet?”
Her eyes grew wide. “Yes!!!” she said. “Come and see.” She rose to her feet and brought my mom’s iPad to the living room where she had all her candy laid out in different categories; bags of chips, chocolate candy, lollipops and hard candy, gummies, and so on.
I was green with envy.
“Wow, that’s some amazing loot, Kylie,” Leo said.
Kylie smiled shyly. “Thank you, Leo,” she said in her sweet little voice -- she seemed quite smitten with him. Who could blame her?
“Hi, sweetheart!” my mother cheered. “So nice to see you,” she said, but she wasn’t looking at me at all. She wore one of her many colorful hippie shirts, her usual bubbly smile, and fun pigtails. “Who’s this?”
I blushed again. “This is Leo. He’s my friend.”Hopefully more, one day.
“Nice to meet you, Leo,” she said. And then she looked down at the toast on her plate. “You got yourself some toast?”
I smiled. “Yes, we do.” I rummaged through my bag and dug out the Tupperware. I opened it and handed Leo a piece.
