Two Friends [Chapter 4]
#4 of Two Friends
Chapter 4
The next day at school the lunch bell rang and kids flocked out of their class rooms and into the school's halls. Tom left his math class with relief after a long and boring lecture. He walked across the school's halls to the school's courtyard to meet Mark by their usual spot, by the old oak-tree. As he took the step outside, through the west hall, he felt the hard summer's heat beat down on his skin. It summer sun made his skin tingle and instantly he bang to sweat. He furrows his eyebrow against the sun's ray and made a B-line towards the oak-tree.
He stepped under the tree's shade at waited for Mark to arrive. The air buzzed with excitement, since tomorrow was the last day of school and graduation. As he stood there he watched and observed people walking by with their friends, talking about miscellaneous gossip and whatnot. He observed groups and how they acted and how they expressed their subject that they talked about. He also observed people who walked alone. Some walked slowly, with no intention of getting anywhere, or they either just wanted to walk slow to wait for friends, or to pass the time; some people, he observed, walked briskly, as if they need to get somewhere fast before other people, like the lunch line, or they just wanted to walk fast. Tom smiled as he the thought of not knowing what people were thinking about, or what their habits were, but he like the fact that he can speculate what a person is thinking by the way they acted or walked.
Tom looked at his watch and then looked around the courtyard. 'Strange,' he thought. 'He should be here by now.' Tom looked though the crowd looking for Mark. As he peered through the colorful students he spotted Mark, but Tom noticed something: Mark was walking slowly, but he was walking slowly with somebody. Tom squinted to though bright sun that penetrated and shined through the leaves. He slowly followed Mark and his companion, slowly gaining speed in order to solve his riddle.
As Tom drew nearer he noticed that it was a girl that Mark was walking with. Immediately his heart sank. He stopped in his tracks and watched his friend walk away with a new found love. A tear rolled down his cheek as he recalled all of the time spent together with Mark. He remembered people saying that they were inseparable and he remembered Mark helping him when he was sick or hurt. But he does not remember Mark ever helping with his broken heart.
Tom readjusted his backpack on his shoulders. He had to make a decision, either to stay at school or to walk home. Just as he was about to make the decision to walk home he heard his name over the P.A.
"Tom Jacobson, please report to the office." He sighed and turned on his heels back towards school.
*****
Tom opened the door inside the office, which was air-conditioned cool. The quiet office made his ears ring, since he was so used to the loud environment of class rooms and hallways. He never thought that the office was so quiet, even during the lunch time hours. As Tom closed the door behind him he was greeted by his councilor.
"Hello Tom," She said gently and with a smile.
"Hello Mrs. Simmons." Tom replied back with a lopsided smile.
"Follow me to my office; we have issues to talk about." Mrs. Simmons said as she stared towards her office. Tom drew in a breath and followed. The rounded the corner and into a door that separated the Attendance Office and the Counseling Office. They continued walking into the short, but wide, hallway.
Mrs. Simmons stopped at her office and opened her door and step in. She walked around the room to her desk and sat down behind it. She offered Tom a seat, in which he took. "Ok Tom," she stared. "I was looking though my files of my students, for preparation of graduation tomorrow, when I came up to your profile, which is when something caught my eye." Tom fidgeted in his seat.
"Alright," Tom said nervously.
"To get to the point and not to be too blunt, you're not going to graduate. I'm sorry." Tom lowered his head and nodded. "I wish I could pull some strings to see you graduate, but you way too far down in your grades for me to do anything. I'm sorry to have to ruin your day like this, but it had to be said, I'm sorry." Tom sat there in shock, his head spinning as his world came crashing down on top of him. He stood up without saying a word and left Mrs. Simmons' office. He walked out of the main office, though the halls out into the courtyard and out of the school. He walked slowly home without any expression and without any intention of going back to school again.
*****
Mark walked down an old dusty road towards his home in the rural area of his hometown. He walked halfway to his house and stopped at an old bridge. He went towards the left side of the bridge and stood there remembering that he and Mark would fish here when they had a chance from school, or the weekends when they were kids. They would fish all day long sitting here in this exact spot. They would watch the sunset; the river stretching as the eye can see, which made a perfect line where the sun would go down.
Tom looked down at the river, sixty feet down; jagged rocks surfaced through the water directly below the bridge. The river was deep enough to paddle a small boat or to go swimming in and see who could hold their breath the longest or who can touch the bottom as many times as they can with one breath. Tom gave a slight smile when he remembered challenging Mark to a breath holding contest-he always won every time. Tom sighed and continued walking though his lonely path.
When Tom got home he went directly to his room and closed his door. He set his backpack down by his bed and walked over to his window. As he looked out he saw a deer. I wish I could be that deer, he thought. Always free and not have to worry about anything. I give anything be that deer. He stood there for awhile watching the deer graze on his back yard. When the deer had enough of its fill it went back into the forest. Tom turned away from his window and walked over to his bed.
He laid down on his bed and looked up at his white ceiling. He started to slip away into a day dream. He started to playing back in his head what happened at school, where it all went wrong. A tear rolled down his eye when he remembered the bad news about not graduating. How am I going to tell this to Mark? He whined. As soon as he thought of Mark his thoughts flew recalling every good and bad memories. He sighed not knowing he had held his breath. Tom sat up and felt a sharp pain in his heart, this made him cry. He remembered his parents throwing him out of his house on his seven-tenth birthday; he remembered going through a month of school with nowhere to live, desperately trying to find a place to live; he remember Mark asking him what was wrong and if he could help; he remember moving into his home; he remembered loving Mark and Mark loving him. Tom tried hold back his tears, but he couldn't. He had to let it out. He gave one last effort to try to keep his tears back, but he failed. He breathed deeply and gave long desperate cry for his friend. "Mark!" He yelled and buried his face in his hands. "Why Mark, why?" His shoulders shook violently as he sobbed deeply. Tom laid back down on his side. The hours flew by and soon day turned into dusk. Tom fell asleep somewhere in between six and seven in the evening.
*****
That night Mark got home late in the evening. He looked at the clock, Midnight, he thought. I hope Mom and Dad won't get too upset. He dropped his stuff on the couch and headed off to his room. As he passed by Tom's room he stopped, he had a weird feeling that something was wrong. Mark reached out and silently turned Tom's doorknob. He silently opened the door and peered though. He faintly could see Tom laying in his bed sleeping. Mark gave a sigh and debated whether or not he should wake his friend and tell him about the news; he knew that if he woke Tom up and told him that he found someone Tom would be heavily devastated, but if he waited, or if he didn't tell him, Tom would be extremely devastated. He decided he should tell him tomorrow morning, since tomorrow was graduation and they were not expect to be at school. Mark silently closed the door and went to his room where he undressed from his clothes and slipped on his PJs. He walked over to his bed and laid down on it. He quickly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.