2. What Really Matters
Thursday, December 12th-12:22 p.m.
1,845 words. Approximate reading time: 9 minutes, 13 seconds.
A light snow fell on Schubert Fulton as he quietly snuck behind the school gymnasium and pulled his vape pen out of his pocket. He lifted up the bottom of his balaclava, took the opening of the pen to his mouth, and pressed the button on the side of the pen, listening to the quiet crackle as the pen vaporized the cinnamon-flavored liquid. He waited a moment before slowly inhaling the vapor and letting the warm cinnamon full his mouth and his lungs.
He pulled the pen from his mouth, held his breath in for just a second, then emptied his lungs into the cold air with a plume of heavy vapor. The nice thing about it being so cold outside was that it was a lot easier for any teachers that saw it to just write it off as an exhaust fan or something, Schubert reasoned. Plus, he didn’t really have to worry about anyone following him to his private spot here and giving him away.
He had no sooner begun those musings than he heard the crunching of footsteps on snow coming around the side of the gym, and he knew he had been caught. He pulled his balaclava back down and shoved his vape pen in his pocket. Getting caught skipping class was one thing; getting caught vaping on school property was quite another. Maybe he could get away with a lesser sentence if it looked like he was just hanging out back here and avoiding Chemistry.
As the footsteps crunched closer, Schubert tried to calm himself down, and leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest in his best “playing it cool” impression, though he kept his eyes locked on the corner of the gym. Finally, he saw a young girl come around the corner.
“I thought I saw you come back here!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, it’s just you,” Schubert replied. The girl was Carrol Ewart; she had been in a bunch of Schubert’s classes, and he had a little bit of a crush on her. She had a little bit of a crush on him, too. But of course, they hadn’t really talked too much about it. It didn’t really make a ton of sense to act on it for either of them, since they lived in different neighborhoods and wouldn’t be able to really see each other outside of school.
People in school thought they were a couple, the way Carrol would hang on Schubert in the hallways during class change, the way Schubert’s eyes would light up when she came around, but it wasn’t really like that. It didn’t matter what either of them actually wanted. There were ways of doing things. They couldn’t be.
“Don’t be mean, Shooby,” Carrol chided him.
“You really sound a lot like my mother sometimes, you know?”
Carrol huffed. “Just because I’m asking you not to be mean? Ugh, whatever. What are you doing back here, anyway?”
“Same thing you’re doing,” he said. “Skipping class. Chemistry sucks. Caborn’s an ass, too.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that Mr. Caborn is a bit of a jerk. But come on; chemistry’s fun!” Carrol said. “And I’m only skipping class because I was worried about you. You’re hardly ever in third period and I don’t want you to flunk out.”
“Never said anything about it to me before,” Schubert replied. “Besides, who cares if I flunk out?”
“I do!” Carrol responded, a little too loudly, and Schubert motioned at her to keep it down.
“What the hell, Carrol? Do you want us to get caught? I’m skipping, you’re skipping, let’s just chill and hang out together. We’re not missing anything, anyway.”
“Look, I just don’t want to see you throw away your future over one teacher,” Carrol said, moving closer to Schubert and wrapping both of her arms around his right arm, pulling herself close to him. Schubert tensed up a little at the touch, then let himself relax into it.
“Well, whatever,” he said. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop skipping Caborn’s class. Better?”
“Better,” she replied.
“But for now, might as well enjoy the time. It’s not like we can sneak back in or anything. Gotta wait for the bell to ring and slip into the crowd.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Might as well. I’ll hang out here with you. Get back to your vape already.”
Schubert’s eyes widened as he looked at Carrol. “I’m not gonna rat you out,” she said, “but you gotta be more careful. I could smell that from a mile away; it’s not exactly subtle!”
“Nah, it’s cool,” Schubert muttered, and rested his head against the gym wall.
“Come on, Shooby; it’s fine. Did you know that I’ve hit a vape or two in my time?”
“You’re joking!” he said, and Carrol shook her head.
“Nope; I like the way they taste. They help me relax sometimes when I’ve been up all night studying. It’s not a big deal. I don’t care if you vape.” She rested her head on his shoulder and looked out over the small patch of woods behind the school.
Schubert shrugged. “That’s cool, I guess,” he said, and cautiously slid his vape pen out of his pocket with his left hand. He pulled up the bottom of his balaclava again and took a hit off of the pen, covering both Carrol and himself with the cinnamon-scented vapor as he exhaled.
“Smells good,” she whispered. “Strong, but good.” She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. Their eyes locked, and Schubert smiled, despite himself. He saw Carrol’s eyes drift downward before she gasped a little and pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just... well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your lips before. It's kind of a shock, really.”
“Wait, really?” He thought for a moment. “Well, I guess that makes sense. We don’t ever see each other outside of school.”
“Yeah. Still, it’s kind of weird if you think about it too much, huh?”
“I guess so. Just the way it is,” Schubert responded with a small shrug, before taking another hit off of his vape pen and covering their world with cinnamon again.
“Sure. But I guess it’s different with you, you know? How people are always acting like we’re together and stuff. How could you be my boyfriend and I’ve never even seen your lips before?”
“Stupid stuff,” he said, looking off into the woods. They both watched the trees silently for a moment, the only sound the occasional crackle of Schubert’s vape pen. “I like you a lot, you know,” he finally said, breaking the stillness of the air.
“I like you, too, Shooby,” Carrol said, pressing herself more into him and rubbing her face against his shoulder. “You know that.” Her balaclava tickled Schubert’s bare cheek, and he pulled away from her slightly. She took it as a cue, unraveled her arms from around his arm, and leaned back against the wall. “But we can’t do anything about it, so what’s the point? Can I get a hit of that?”
A little surprised, Schubert handed her his vape pen. “I had no idea you were so wild,” he said with a smirk, and watched eagerly as her hand moved up to her neck, lifting her balaclava above her mouth so she could take a hit. “Never seen your lips before, either. They’re nice.” He smiled at her.
She smiled back. “Yours, too,” she whispered, and Schubert watched as her cheeks turned red. “Anyway,” she said, desperate to change the subject, “don’t think this means that I approve of you skipping class. I mean it; I’m not going to let you throw your future away by flunking out of high school. You’re too smart for that.”
Schubert laughed a little. “Sure, okay.” He looked up at the sky as though he was searching for an answer he wouldn’t find. “But like, who cares? Who needs this stuff? None of it matters, anyway. Graduate high school and then you can go to college and then you can get a job where you chatter away for hours in VR meetings doing nothing productive and not making a difference at all. Just seems so pointless to learn all this stuff and then turn into a mindless drone like my parents. There’s gotta be something better than that.”
“I mean, yeah,” Carrol replied, “I don’t want to turn out like my parents, either. But you know we don’t have a choice. Sometimes in life, you just gotta do what you’re told by people who know better.”
“Sucks,” he muttered. “But I don’t care. I got a plan.”
“Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do if you flunk out of school?”
“Get the fuck outta here,” he said. “Go out to the Free States. I heard my parents talking one time; they didn’t know I was listening. Pretty sure I got an uncle out there or something.”
“The Free States?!” Carrol exclaimed, before lowering her voice to just above a whisper again. “Are you crazy? First of all, you know that’s just a name, right? That place is a hole.”
“You don’t know,” he said. “None of us know. I wanna find out. Gotta be better than here.”
“Okay, I guess I don’t know for sure, but I do show up for history classes, so I probably know better than you.”
“I show up for history,” he said. “It’s pretty cool sometimes.”
“Besides that,” she continued, “How would you even get there? You’ve seen the news; you know what they do to people who cross the border illegally. Serves them right, of course. But there’s no way you’re going to get a pass if you’re not even getting good grades in school.”
“I don’t care,” he responded. “I’ll figure it out. I just hate this place. And like... I was thinking maybe you come, too.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, we’ll both get out of here. Go out to the Free States, get ourselves a farm or something. Fend for ourselves.”
“Schubert Fulton, you have lost it!” she cried, and shoved his vape pen back into his hand. “If you think that I’m going to throw away everything I’ve worked for in school for you, you’ve got another thing coming. I’m already working on college applications and my grades are stellar, and-”
“And you’re here skipping class, hanging out with a delinquent.” He smirked again at her, just a little. “Carrol, none of that shit matters, don’t you get it? That’s just you being a good little pawn in their game.”
“Alright, genius,” she said, looking right at his eyes. “If none of what we’re doing matters, what does?”
His gaze met hers, and then he looked down at her lips; she still hadn’t pulled her balaclava back down, and he wanted more than anything to remember those lips, just in case...
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. Carrol’s eyes widened for just a moment, then closed as she leaned into the kiss. She had her little wild streak, but she'd never done anything so daring before. Sparks flew through her body as they held the kiss for a short time before Schubert pulled away. When Carrol opened her eyes again, he was staring right into them. She looked down and saw his lips, curved upward in a gentle smile.
“You.”
1,845 words. Approximate reading time: 9 minutes, 13 seconds.
A light snow fell on Schubert Fulton as he quietly snuck behind the school gymnasium and pulled his vape pen out of his pocket. He lifted up the bottom of his balaclava, took the opening of the pen to his mouth, and pressed the button on the side of the pen, listening to the quiet crackle as the pen vaporized the cinnamon-flavored liquid. He waited a moment before slowly inhaling the vapor and letting the warm cinnamon full his mouth and his lungs.
He pulled the pen from his mouth, held his breath in for just a second, then emptied his lungs into the cold air with a plume of heavy vapor. The nice thing about it being so cold outside was that it was a lot easier for any teachers that saw it to just write it off as an exhaust fan or something, Schubert reasoned. Plus, he didn’t really have to worry about anyone following him to his private spot here and giving him away.
He had no sooner begun those musings than he heard the crunching of footsteps on snow coming around the side of the gym, and he knew he had been caught. He pulled his balaclava back down and shoved his vape pen in his pocket. Getting caught skipping class was one thing; getting caught vaping on school property was quite another. Maybe he could get away with a lesser sentence if it looked like he was just hanging out back here and avoiding Chemistry.
As the footsteps crunched closer, Schubert tried to calm himself down, and leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest in his best “playing it cool” impression, though he kept his eyes locked on the corner of the gym. Finally, he saw a young girl come around the corner.
“I thought I saw you come back here!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, it’s just you,” Schubert replied. The girl was Carrol Ewart; she had been in a bunch of Schubert’s classes, and he had a little bit of a crush on her. She had a little bit of a crush on him, too. But of course, they hadn’t really talked too much about it. It didn’t really make a ton of sense to act on it for either of them, since they lived in different neighborhoods and wouldn’t be able to really see each other outside of school.
People in school thought they were a couple, the way Carrol would hang on Schubert in the hallways during class change, the way Schubert’s eyes would light up when she came around, but it wasn’t really like that. It didn’t matter what either of them actually wanted. There were ways of doing things. They couldn’t be.
“Don’t be mean, Shooby,” Carrol chided him.
“You really sound a lot like my mother sometimes, you know?”
Carrol huffed. “Just because I’m asking you not to be mean? Ugh, whatever. What are you doing back here, anyway?”
“Same thing you’re doing,” he said. “Skipping class. Chemistry sucks. Caborn’s an ass, too.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that Mr. Caborn is a bit of a jerk. But come on; chemistry’s fun!” Carrol said. “And I’m only skipping class because I was worried about you. You’re hardly ever in third period and I don’t want you to flunk out.”
“Never said anything about it to me before,” Schubert replied. “Besides, who cares if I flunk out?”
“I do!” Carrol responded, a little too loudly, and Schubert motioned at her to keep it down.
“What the hell, Carrol? Do you want us to get caught? I’m skipping, you’re skipping, let’s just chill and hang out together. We’re not missing anything, anyway.”
“Look, I just don’t want to see you throw away your future over one teacher,” Carrol said, moving closer to Schubert and wrapping both of her arms around his right arm, pulling herself close to him. Schubert tensed up a little at the touch, then let himself relax into it.
“Well, whatever,” he said. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop skipping Caborn’s class. Better?”
“Better,” she replied.
“But for now, might as well enjoy the time. It’s not like we can sneak back in or anything. Gotta wait for the bell to ring and slip into the crowd.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Might as well. I’ll hang out here with you. Get back to your vape already.”
Schubert’s eyes widened as he looked at Carrol. “I’m not gonna rat you out,” she said, “but you gotta be more careful. I could smell that from a mile away; it’s not exactly subtle!”
“Nah, it’s cool,” Schubert muttered, and rested his head against the gym wall.
“Come on, Shooby; it’s fine. Did you know that I’ve hit a vape or two in my time?”
“You’re joking!” he said, and Carrol shook her head.
“Nope; I like the way they taste. They help me relax sometimes when I’ve been up all night studying. It’s not a big deal. I don’t care if you vape.” She rested her head on his shoulder and looked out over the small patch of woods behind the school.
Schubert shrugged. “That’s cool, I guess,” he said, and cautiously slid his vape pen out of his pocket with his left hand. He pulled up the bottom of his balaclava again and took a hit off of the pen, covering both Carrol and himself with the cinnamon-scented vapor as he exhaled.
“Smells good,” she whispered. “Strong, but good.” She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. Their eyes locked, and Schubert smiled, despite himself. He saw Carrol’s eyes drift downward before she gasped a little and pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just... well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your lips before. It's kind of a shock, really.”
“Wait, really?” He thought for a moment. “Well, I guess that makes sense. We don’t ever see each other outside of school.”
“Yeah. Still, it’s kind of weird if you think about it too much, huh?”
“I guess so. Just the way it is,” Schubert responded with a small shrug, before taking another hit off of his vape pen and covering their world with cinnamon again.
“Sure. But I guess it’s different with you, you know? How people are always acting like we’re together and stuff. How could you be my boyfriend and I’ve never even seen your lips before?”
“Stupid stuff,” he said, looking off into the woods. They both watched the trees silently for a moment, the only sound the occasional crackle of Schubert’s vape pen. “I like you a lot, you know,” he finally said, breaking the stillness of the air.
“I like you, too, Shooby,” Carrol said, pressing herself more into him and rubbing her face against his shoulder. “You know that.” Her balaclava tickled Schubert’s bare cheek, and he pulled away from her slightly. She took it as a cue, unraveled her arms from around his arm, and leaned back against the wall. “But we can’t do anything about it, so what’s the point? Can I get a hit of that?”
A little surprised, Schubert handed her his vape pen. “I had no idea you were so wild,” he said with a smirk, and watched eagerly as her hand moved up to her neck, lifting her balaclava above her mouth so she could take a hit. “Never seen your lips before, either. They’re nice.” He smiled at her.
She smiled back. “Yours, too,” she whispered, and Schubert watched as her cheeks turned red. “Anyway,” she said, desperate to change the subject, “don’t think this means that I approve of you skipping class. I mean it; I’m not going to let you throw your future away by flunking out of high school. You’re too smart for that.”
Schubert laughed a little. “Sure, okay.” He looked up at the sky as though he was searching for an answer he wouldn’t find. “But like, who cares? Who needs this stuff? None of it matters, anyway. Graduate high school and then you can go to college and then you can get a job where you chatter away for hours in VR meetings doing nothing productive and not making a difference at all. Just seems so pointless to learn all this stuff and then turn into a mindless drone like my parents. There’s gotta be something better than that.”
“I mean, yeah,” Carrol replied, “I don’t want to turn out like my parents, either. But you know we don’t have a choice. Sometimes in life, you just gotta do what you’re told by people who know better.”
“Sucks,” he muttered. “But I don’t care. I got a plan.”
“Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do if you flunk out of school?”
“Get the fuck outta here,” he said. “Go out to the Free States. I heard my parents talking one time; they didn’t know I was listening. Pretty sure I got an uncle out there or something.”
“The Free States?!” Carrol exclaimed, before lowering her voice to just above a whisper again. “Are you crazy? First of all, you know that’s just a name, right? That place is a hole.”
“You don’t know,” he said. “None of us know. I wanna find out. Gotta be better than here.”
“Okay, I guess I don’t know for sure, but I do show up for history classes, so I probably know better than you.”
“I show up for history,” he said. “It’s pretty cool sometimes.”
“Besides that,” she continued, “How would you even get there? You’ve seen the news; you know what they do to people who cross the border illegally. Serves them right, of course. But there’s no way you’re going to get a pass if you’re not even getting good grades in school.”
“I don’t care,” he responded. “I’ll figure it out. I just hate this place. And like... I was thinking maybe you come, too.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, we’ll both get out of here. Go out to the Free States, get ourselves a farm or something. Fend for ourselves.”
“Schubert Fulton, you have lost it!” she cried, and shoved his vape pen back into his hand. “If you think that I’m going to throw away everything I’ve worked for in school for you, you’ve got another thing coming. I’m already working on college applications and my grades are stellar, and-”
“And you’re here skipping class, hanging out with a delinquent.” He smirked again at her, just a little. “Carrol, none of that shit matters, don’t you get it? That’s just you being a good little pawn in their game.”
“Alright, genius,” she said, looking right at his eyes. “If none of what we’re doing matters, what does?”
His gaze met hers, and then he looked down at her lips; she still hadn’t pulled her balaclava back down, and he wanted more than anything to remember those lips, just in case...
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. Carrol’s eyes widened for just a moment, then closed as she leaned into the kiss. She had her little wild streak, but she'd never done anything so daring before. Sparks flew through her body as they held the kiss for a short time before Schubert pulled away. When Carrol opened her eyes again, he was staring right into them. She looked down and saw his lips, curved upward in a gentle smile.
“You.”