Push - Chapter Two - By Lauren & Hattie
Chapter 2
Classes went by without my learning or retaining any information. I didn't pay attention at all in class, I just sat at my desk, ignoring everyone who poked me in the back of the head, threw paper at me, and even the teacher, who called my name repeatedly. After a while the teachers stopped talking to me, probably trying to figure out why I'm so depressed over a girl killing herself when I was hardly connected to her at all.
"Cadence. What's that under your bangs?" Some random girl pushed my bangs aside and sees the circular bruise. "Whoa. How'd you get that?"
In my head, I called her all the bad names I can think of. I slapped her hand away--hard-- and reposition my bangs to how they were before she interfered. She drew more attention to me, which was not what I wanted or needed.
Mr. Lately cleared his throat to get our attention back. Only a handful of kids gave him their full attention, so he cleared his throat again, louder this time. "Class," he began, "We have a new student that will be joining us today." he gestured towards the door. "Would you like to introduce yourself, sir?"
A small murmur washed over the classroom, and the other kids were interested at last. They devoted their attention to the boy walking in, not to me, which allowed me to blend back into the back of the classroom. "I'm Griffin Stone..." he shifted his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"And why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Griffin," Mr. Lately stared at him with sparkling expectancy. Griffin glared at him, inhaling sharply, and I saw his eyes flash from blue-gray to an angry green.
"I'd rather not, sir." Griffin said, sounding as if he were straining to keep his temper under control.
"Oh, come on, don't be shy!" Mr. Lately's eyes lost their sparkle, and it looked like his temper was starting to rise as well. Mr. Lately didn't like it when his students wouldn't do what he instructed.
"No." Griffin glared at Mr. Lately, who was startled by this. "Please just tell me where to sit." I knew he said this to be polite because the only open seat in the classroom was the one where Galena had sat.
"Ah...Next to Cadence Peirce, over there...Cadence, raise your hand." I raised my hand hesitantly, then brought it back down after just a second of being in the air. Griffin looked at me for a moment, studying me, and I shrunk down in my seat, squirming. He came to the back of the room and sat down right where Galena sat. He turned to me after a minute of settling in.
"Cadence?"
I glanced at him, turning my head slightly, so I could get a good look at him. Black hair, one single blond streak in the front. He was wearing the male uniform of our school, gray slacks, white button up, gray dress shoes, and gray tie. I looked up at his face, studying it in the one second I had before staring at him would seem strange. Blue-gray eyes again, no longer the dark, angry green that they were when Mr. Lately asked him to tell the class more about himself. "Uh..yeah."
He stuck out his hand. Something guys never do. Ever. I shook it tentatively, then looked away, wondering what's with him. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Why are you talking like that?" I blurted, regretting it instantly.
"Like what?" He knit together his eyebrows quizzically.
"All polite."
"I'm not speaking politely. I'm speaking intelligently." His eyes flashed ice-blue, then back to the blue-gray shade I've never seen in eyes before. "Why do your eyes change color like that?" I asked before I could stop myself. I had been so curious about him that I had completely forgotten that I was trying to keep quiet so people didn't notice me as much.
"Change color like what?" He played smoothly.
"Don't play dumb," I smiled. But I didn't press. I looked away from him and went back to my notebook, which I opened and started to doodle in idly.
In the middle of Mr. Lately's physics lecture, Griffin looked at my notebook and tapped my shoulder. "Mind if I see that a minute," he asked, and slowly slid my notebook off of my desk. He plucked up his pencil, plopped the notebook onto his desk and began to draw in it calmly. I saw his muscles relax, and I knew then that his comfort zone was his pencil, his paper and his imagination.
About ten minutes later, he handed me back the notebook. The drawing was amazing. It was of a griffin, standing proud and tall, holding a ribbon that had my name written on it in beautiful cursive. I stared at it for what seemed like forever and noticed Griffin's signature snug in the corner. "And you...drew this?" I stared at it in complete shock.
"Yeah, so?" his eyes flashed a beautiful sapphire blue when our eyes met, then got back their usual silvery sheen.
"That's...where did you learn to draw like that?" I asked, pausing a moment. "...And your eyes totally just went from gray to blue."
"I taught myself. Also, I might point out since you seem so keen on making sure I know my eyes apparently change color, one of your eyes is blue, the other green. I will continue pointing this out until you stop insisting my eye color changes." He smiled playfully.
"No way. You did not teach yourself, you're a master at drawing." I paused again, looking at the griffin again before looking up at him. I study his face closer, and with a pang I recognize Galena's nose on his face. My shock must have shown on my face.
"What's the matter, Cadence?"
"What? Nothing," I said a little too quickly.
He leans closer to me, my heart speeds up. "No, there's definitely something wrong." A girl who must have been listening to our conversation instead of Mr. Lately's lecture - not that I can blame her - spun around in her seat.
"She's just upset because some girl committed suicide last month,"
"Uhh..."
"Did you know the girl?" Griffin asked me, his eyes turning a light, pale green.
"No, uh, sort of..." I stumble over my words, sounding stupid. My face heats up, embarrassed. "I mean, no, not really. I'd seen her in the hallways and stuff, but otherwise, no..."
"Excuse me." Lianne butts in from my right. "Cadence broke her glasses, leading to the chick getting contacts, making her, like, totally hot, and so all these senior guys, they like, raped her and stuff, and so then, that night, the chick slit those big veins that like run up your arms..." Lianne made a swift cutting motion. "And...voila! Dead chick." I called Lianne as many bad names as I could think of in five seconds.
"Whoa. You broke the girl's glasses?"
I pointed a finger at Lianne coyly. "She made me. So did Lesley and Kaylee. My old friends." Lianne sat back in her chair, her face clearly showing that my last comment had stung her.
"...Doesn't matter who made who do what, though, Cadence...It's who did the deed that matters." Griffin said, and Lianne smirked at me.
"Hey, if we didn't have some seriously perverted seniors at our school, what I did would have been a favor. I made her look beautiful, even if it was just for a day. And besides, if I'd known Galena was going to go home and kill herself instead of calling the cops, I would never have done it. Even if it meant that Lianne, Lesley, and Kaylee were planning on ditching me if I didn't."
"Still, there are a lot of perverted guys here. I walked into the boys' bathroom and saw some dude feeling a girl up against her will in a stall." Griffin paused, recognition of something on his face. "What did you say the girl's name was?"
"Galena. Why?" Did he know her? Or did he mishear what I said?
"Morris?"
"Yeah. Why?" I repeated. He obviously knew someone named Galena Morris.
"Yes! Why?" I exclaimed, exasperated. He should have just asked her full name the first time. Geeze, he wasn't being polite or intelligent. Not even nosy. Just annoying.
"Galena Ann Morris was my half sister, then. We have the same dad." He looked up, thoughtful, his eyes flashing through colors so fast I couldn't even tell what colors were what. Mixed emotions, I realized.
"Oh, God." Thoughts sped through my mind, mixing with each other fighting for the number one spot at the list of my worries. "I'm so sorry." "I've only met her once, its not as big of a deal as it seems to be. We were twelve when we met, before she had to get glasses and everything. After that I'd only talked to her maybe once a year, and I'd only get to see what she looked like in the Christmas cards our dad, my mom, and I would get from her mom and her step-dad."
"Oh." I said while trying to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat as he spoke. I was unsuccessful.
"Yeah," he said, sounding like he was about to say more, but something caught his attention. His hand flew up to his neck, where I notice a silver chain around his neck. He gives it a small tug when he notices I'm staring at it, and a small shard of crystal appeared on the end of the chain. It was pretty shiny and a dark, dark purple. I looked at his face, wondering why his necklace had attracted his attention. "Damn," he whispers to himself spitefully. I saw his eyes flash. His face was passive, no emotion whatsoever. "What? What's wrong?" I whisper-yell to him fearfully. He looked at me with a fierce face, his eyes a strict teal. I could see in his eyes as he battled himself whether or not to tell me. "Not yet," he murmured, "It's not quite time." He looked back up at Mr. Lately, but I could tell that he was more intent on drowning out any more of my questions than actually learning anything. I sat straight up in my seat again and studied the animal that Griffin drew. I traced the outline of the griffin with my pinky, and studied the intent detail of everything. The way that the ribbon with my name on it cascaded down from the beak of the griffin, the way the shadows were perfectly placed on the creatures wings which were gracefully outstretched from one side to the other of the page.
I looked back over to him, dumbfounded that someone as young as him could have drawn something so beautiful, so completely perfect. I noticed him turn his head back to Mr. Lately quickly. He was looking at me, I thought to myself, and I felt my face go red. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and smiled, but i wasn't exactly sure why. I was jolted back into reality when the bell rang, so I grabbed my binder and slipped my notebook into it. I took my time to get everything, and I noticed Griffin do the same. As I walked out of the room, I could feel my heart slow down, and I once again listened to the steady rhythm of my converse against the tile floor as I walked briskly to my locker.
Period after period went by and I learned that Griffin had second, fourth and fifth hour with me, as well as first. Why am I caring so much about him, I thought to myself angrily. I just met the kid. In each period that I had with him, he ended up having to sit right by me, behind me, or in front of me. You're kidding me, right? We went through all 4 of his introductions quickly, each one of him refusing point-blank to introduce himself. He asked every time for the teacher to just tell him where to sit, and each teacher complied about the same way Mr. Lately did.
At the end of the day, I found myself wishing the school day hadn't ended, which didn't make sense because even though I knew him pretty well, I should probably feel too guilty for pretty much killing his sister that I wouldn't want to hang around him.
Classes went by without my learning or retaining any information. I didn't pay attention at all in class, I just sat at my desk, ignoring everyone who poked me in the back of the head, threw paper at me, and even the teacher, who called my name repeatedly. After a while the teachers stopped talking to me, probably trying to figure out why I'm so depressed over a girl killing herself when I was hardly connected to her at all.
"Cadence. What's that under your bangs?" Some random girl pushed my bangs aside and sees the circular bruise. "Whoa. How'd you get that?"
In my head, I called her all the bad names I can think of. I slapped her hand away--hard-- and reposition my bangs to how they were before she interfered. She drew more attention to me, which was not what I wanted or needed.
Mr. Lately cleared his throat to get our attention back. Only a handful of kids gave him their full attention, so he cleared his throat again, louder this time. "Class," he began, "We have a new student that will be joining us today." he gestured towards the door. "Would you like to introduce yourself, sir?"
A small murmur washed over the classroom, and the other kids were interested at last. They devoted their attention to the boy walking in, not to me, which allowed me to blend back into the back of the classroom. "I'm Griffin Stone..." he shifted his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"And why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Griffin," Mr. Lately stared at him with sparkling expectancy. Griffin glared at him, inhaling sharply, and I saw his eyes flash from blue-gray to an angry green.
"I'd rather not, sir." Griffin said, sounding as if he were straining to keep his temper under control.
"Oh, come on, don't be shy!" Mr. Lately's eyes lost their sparkle, and it looked like his temper was starting to rise as well. Mr. Lately didn't like it when his students wouldn't do what he instructed.
"No." Griffin glared at Mr. Lately, who was startled by this. "Please just tell me where to sit." I knew he said this to be polite because the only open seat in the classroom was the one where Galena had sat.
"Ah...Next to Cadence Peirce, over there...Cadence, raise your hand." I raised my hand hesitantly, then brought it back down after just a second of being in the air. Griffin looked at me for a moment, studying me, and I shrunk down in my seat, squirming. He came to the back of the room and sat down right where Galena sat. He turned to me after a minute of settling in.
"Cadence?"
I glanced at him, turning my head slightly, so I could get a good look at him. Black hair, one single blond streak in the front. He was wearing the male uniform of our school, gray slacks, white button up, gray dress shoes, and gray tie. I looked up at his face, studying it in the one second I had before staring at him would seem strange. Blue-gray eyes again, no longer the dark, angry green that they were when Mr. Lately asked him to tell the class more about himself. "Uh..yeah."
He stuck out his hand. Something guys never do. Ever. I shook it tentatively, then looked away, wondering what's with him. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Why are you talking like that?" I blurted, regretting it instantly.
"Like what?" He knit together his eyebrows quizzically.
"All polite."
"I'm not speaking politely. I'm speaking intelligently." His eyes flashed ice-blue, then back to the blue-gray shade I've never seen in eyes before. "Why do your eyes change color like that?" I asked before I could stop myself. I had been so curious about him that I had completely forgotten that I was trying to keep quiet so people didn't notice me as much.
"Change color like what?" He played smoothly.
"Don't play dumb," I smiled. But I didn't press. I looked away from him and went back to my notebook, which I opened and started to doodle in idly.
In the middle of Mr. Lately's physics lecture, Griffin looked at my notebook and tapped my shoulder. "Mind if I see that a minute," he asked, and slowly slid my notebook off of my desk. He plucked up his pencil, plopped the notebook onto his desk and began to draw in it calmly. I saw his muscles relax, and I knew then that his comfort zone was his pencil, his paper and his imagination.
About ten minutes later, he handed me back the notebook. The drawing was amazing. It was of a griffin, standing proud and tall, holding a ribbon that had my name written on it in beautiful cursive. I stared at it for what seemed like forever and noticed Griffin's signature snug in the corner. "And you...drew this?" I stared at it in complete shock.
"Yeah, so?" his eyes flashed a beautiful sapphire blue when our eyes met, then got back their usual silvery sheen.
"That's...where did you learn to draw like that?" I asked, pausing a moment. "...And your eyes totally just went from gray to blue."
"I taught myself. Also, I might point out since you seem so keen on making sure I know my eyes apparently change color, one of your eyes is blue, the other green. I will continue pointing this out until you stop insisting my eye color changes." He smiled playfully.
"No way. You did not teach yourself, you're a master at drawing." I paused again, looking at the griffin again before looking up at him. I study his face closer, and with a pang I recognize Galena's nose on his face. My shock must have shown on my face.
"What's the matter, Cadence?"
"What? Nothing," I said a little too quickly.
He leans closer to me, my heart speeds up. "No, there's definitely something wrong." A girl who must have been listening to our conversation instead of Mr. Lately's lecture - not that I can blame her - spun around in her seat.
"She's just upset because some girl committed suicide last month,"
"Uhh..."
"Did you know the girl?" Griffin asked me, his eyes turning a light, pale green.
"No, uh, sort of..." I stumble over my words, sounding stupid. My face heats up, embarrassed. "I mean, no, not really. I'd seen her in the hallways and stuff, but otherwise, no..."
"Excuse me." Lianne butts in from my right. "Cadence broke her glasses, leading to the chick getting contacts, making her, like, totally hot, and so all these senior guys, they like, raped her and stuff, and so then, that night, the chick slit those big veins that like run up your arms..." Lianne made a swift cutting motion. "And...voila! Dead chick." I called Lianne as many bad names as I could think of in five seconds.
"Whoa. You broke the girl's glasses?"
I pointed a finger at Lianne coyly. "She made me. So did Lesley and Kaylee. My old friends." Lianne sat back in her chair, her face clearly showing that my last comment had stung her.
"...Doesn't matter who made who do what, though, Cadence...It's who did the deed that matters." Griffin said, and Lianne smirked at me.
"Hey, if we didn't have some seriously perverted seniors at our school, what I did would have been a favor. I made her look beautiful, even if it was just for a day. And besides, if I'd known Galena was going to go home and kill herself instead of calling the cops, I would never have done it. Even if it meant that Lianne, Lesley, and Kaylee were planning on ditching me if I didn't."
"Still, there are a lot of perverted guys here. I walked into the boys' bathroom and saw some dude feeling a girl up against her will in a stall." Griffin paused, recognition of something on his face. "What did you say the girl's name was?"
"Galena. Why?" Did he know her? Or did he mishear what I said?
"Morris?"
"Yeah. Why?" I repeated. He obviously knew someone named Galena Morris.
"Yes! Why?" I exclaimed, exasperated. He should have just asked her full name the first time. Geeze, he wasn't being polite or intelligent. Not even nosy. Just annoying.
"Galena Ann Morris was my half sister, then. We have the same dad." He looked up, thoughtful, his eyes flashing through colors so fast I couldn't even tell what colors were what. Mixed emotions, I realized.
"Oh, God." Thoughts sped through my mind, mixing with each other fighting for the number one spot at the list of my worries. "I'm so sorry." "I've only met her once, its not as big of a deal as it seems to be. We were twelve when we met, before she had to get glasses and everything. After that I'd only talked to her maybe once a year, and I'd only get to see what she looked like in the Christmas cards our dad, my mom, and I would get from her mom and her step-dad."
"Oh." I said while trying to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat as he spoke. I was unsuccessful.
"Yeah," he said, sounding like he was about to say more, but something caught his attention. His hand flew up to his neck, where I notice a silver chain around his neck. He gives it a small tug when he notices I'm staring at it, and a small shard of crystal appeared on the end of the chain. It was pretty shiny and a dark, dark purple. I looked at his face, wondering why his necklace had attracted his attention. "Damn," he whispers to himself spitefully. I saw his eyes flash. His face was passive, no emotion whatsoever. "What? What's wrong?" I whisper-yell to him fearfully. He looked at me with a fierce face, his eyes a strict teal. I could see in his eyes as he battled himself whether or not to tell me. "Not yet," he murmured, "It's not quite time." He looked back up at Mr. Lately, but I could tell that he was more intent on drowning out any more of my questions than actually learning anything. I sat straight up in my seat again and studied the animal that Griffin drew. I traced the outline of the griffin with my pinky, and studied the intent detail of everything. The way that the ribbon with my name on it cascaded down from the beak of the griffin, the way the shadows were perfectly placed on the creatures wings which were gracefully outstretched from one side to the other of the page.
I looked back over to him, dumbfounded that someone as young as him could have drawn something so beautiful, so completely perfect. I noticed him turn his head back to Mr. Lately quickly. He was looking at me, I thought to myself, and I felt my face go red. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and smiled, but i wasn't exactly sure why. I was jolted back into reality when the bell rang, so I grabbed my binder and slipped my notebook into it. I took my time to get everything, and I noticed Griffin do the same. As I walked out of the room, I could feel my heart slow down, and I once again listened to the steady rhythm of my converse against the tile floor as I walked briskly to my locker.
Period after period went by and I learned that Griffin had second, fourth and fifth hour with me, as well as first. Why am I caring so much about him, I thought to myself angrily. I just met the kid. In each period that I had with him, he ended up having to sit right by me, behind me, or in front of me. You're kidding me, right? We went through all 4 of his introductions quickly, each one of him refusing point-blank to introduce himself. He asked every time for the teacher to just tell him where to sit, and each teacher complied about the same way Mr. Lately did.
At the end of the day, I found myself wishing the school day hadn't ended, which didn't make sense because even though I knew him pretty well, I should probably feel too guilty for pretty much killing his sister that I wouldn't want to hang around him.
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