Page 18 of Ginjuh

Chapter 4

When Austin appeared at his locker the next morning, his cheeks were sun-scorched and his forehead was peeling slightly. His dark hair somehow looked lighter, and he was walking stiffly. He was wearing gray basketball shorts a size too big, a too baggy t-shirt, and kicks loosely tied. Obviously, he was wearing the shorts I had lent him, but I couldn’t get mad. I’d been sunburnt before. Loose clothing was ideal. Less chance that the material would brush against your skin and make it feel like it was peeling away in scratchy layers.

Jay was beside me, talking to Mandy like the teenage boy in love that he was, basically ignoring me. So, I didn’t see any problem with ignoring them to take a moment and return Austin’s notebook back to him. Austin was already eyeing me as he opened his locker, obviously unsure what the protocol was about saying “hello” now that we were in school and not working in the fields together. Again, I had mercy on him and addressed him first.

“Hey, man.” I smiled at him, reaching into my backpack. “You look like you got some sun.”

He smiled tightly and started digging in his locker.

“You left this on my car.”

Austin turned to me with a bored expression as I dug in my backpack. When his notebook came into view, his eyes grew and he reached out to take it from me quickly.

“You’re welcome.” I frowned when he snatched it out of my hands.

“Um, sorry.” He said, turning back to his locker. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

You didn’t…” His eyes were darting around, flicking to the side at me.

“I didn’t look at it.”

Austin stuffed the notebook under his arm, fidgeted around, messed around in his locker, the whole time his eyes darting to the side to look at me. Finally, he finished whatever he had come to his locker to do, then gave me a tight, nervous smile, and dashed away towards the other end of the hall. I frowned after him, wondering what was wrong with him. Sure, I had read one of his poems—but he didn’t know that. And the poem had actually been decent, though it didn’t exactly lay his soul bare to me. As far as I was concerned, it was just a poem about death. Nothing that would make a person feel vulnerable or exposed. Just another poem by another emo kid who was trying to be a rebel. No more, no less.

“Uh oh.” Jay’s teasing voice came from behind me. “What happened out on the farm, Zach? You make the moves on Freaky-Deaky and he turn you down or what?”

I snorted and shot a smile over my shoulder.

“Shut up.”

Mandy and Katie giggled, which only fed Jay’s ego. I didn’t care. I knew that Jay was kidding.

“Yo, Ginjuh!” Matt fell back against the locker next to me. “How were tricks this weekend? Make a couple bucks?”

I rolled my eyes and walked away towards my first class.

“Dude,” I heard Jay talking to Matt as I walked away, “everyone knows you want some of that ginger dick. But you’re going to have to find a better way to go about it, man.”

I flipped them all off over my shoulder, their laughter following me to class. When I got to Pre-Calc, Austin was in the back of the room in his seat, like always, trying to make himself look as small as possible. He was holding his notebook in his hands on the desktop, his hands clenching it tightly as he looked down at it. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was doing his best not to cry. For some reason, my heart went out to him, and I wanted to walk over and see if he was going to be okay—though I had no idea why he was upset. Instead, I took my seat in the front row and got ready for class.

The rest of the week was essentially the same. High school is like Groundhog Day when you think about it. Get up, get cleaned up, go to school, spend the next eight hours going from class to class, lunch, bell rings, you go home. Then you do your homework, eat dinner, go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Five days a week. Nine months a year. It’s no wonder that kids spend eighteen years of their lives waiting for something…anything…to happen. The regimen and routine make young minds and bodies restless, itchy—kinetic energy building and building until it reaches critical mass.

When Friday came around, Jay and Mandy had been at my locker with me after final bell, talking about their date plans for the evening. I let them know I’d be at Grandpa’s all weekend working, just in case they wanted to start a thrupple or something, they’d know that I neither interested nor available. They said their “goodbyes” and left in a flurry of arms roaming each other’s bodies and kisses stolen. Finally, I could breathe easy, knowing that I wouldn’t have to endure the cutesy behavior for another two-and-a-half days. Just as I was about to shut my locker and head out to the parking lot to get in my car to drive over to Grandpa’s, Austin appeared at his locker. His backpack was slung over his shoulder and that stupid notebook was tucked tightly under his arm. He was looking down at his feet, as if waiting for me to say something.

“Hi,” I said simply.

“Is it okay if I ride with you to Mr. Pelton’s?” He asked. “Dad said to catch a ride with you if that was okay.”

“Well,” I shrugged, “I’m going there anyway. And you are, too, so…”

“All right.” He said.

Together, we walked out to the parking lot. Jeff Potts stopped me in the parking lot to talk for a second about some nonsense, which I mostly smiled and nodded at the whole time. Austin stared at his feet the whole time, even when Jeff tried to talk to him about the guys missing him in baseball. After it became apparent that everyone was uncomfortable, Jeff and I fist bumped and said we’d “see ya’ Monday”. Then Austin and I climbed in my car and headed out to Grandpa’s farm.

Once we got there, Grandpa was waiting on the farm, a glass of water resting on the arm of his chair as he rocked.

“Hey, Grandpa!” I waved excitedly as I hopped out of the car.