Page 3 of Icarus

By middle school, he was irritated because it was obvious that they didn’t need the money. His father’s real job was art restoration and he got paid a pretty penny for it. Most of which he spent on the stupid replications they shoved into Mr. Black’s house.

By the time high school started, breaking into the Black house was so easy for Icarus that it was just like any other extracurricular activity. The last time he’d almost been caught was in freshman year and he was a senior now. His spirit had settled on the matter.

More, Icarus was now old enough to know why they were robbing him.

Tenth

The one other thing that was a constant negative was this: Icarus was only allowed to have friends that stayed at school.

Everyone understands how friendship circles work. You have your four tiers:

People you talk to in class, gym, maybe after-school sports.

People you’d hang out with if no one better was around. You might get stuck with them after school, then depending on how that goes they could move up or down a tier.

People in the same direct social group as you who aren’t your absolute besties. You’d let them sleep over at your house as a group but you wouldn’t go to a solo sleepover at theirs.

Friends that feel like siblings.

Icarus was only allowed acquaintances—people to talk with during class. Everyone else tended to start asking questions that Icarus was not allowed to answer.

This was a negative for obvious reasons. The worst of which was that Icarus wasn’t unpopular.

He wasn’t a wallflower, shy, or awkward. He didn’t eat by himself at lunch and stare pensively out the window, or curl up in the library to read alone because he had to.

He was funny and outgoing, girls and guys liked him, he got invited to parties. He just wasn’t allowed to go.

It was lonely. He hated it.

Boon

He made one acquaintance in every class.

First period was Julian. He sat directly in front of Icarus in history and had moved all the way from across the room to do it. He had bushy brown curls, a round freckly face, and braces. Sometimes, he brought Icarus coffee in the morning. He was rude but he’d been the one to start talking to Icarus first.

Aspen was second period, math. She was a horribly unpopular girl, with long red hair, who wore grungy military-inspired clothes and didn’t like talking to anyone. Icarus regularly let Aspen cheat off of him by holding his tests up so that Aspen could see the answers over his shoulder. Aspen was a gamer geek and much better at science and English than math. Algebra was her Achilles’ heel and Icarus felt a bit bad for her.

Third period and fifth period were both Luca: English and gym. Icarus had him in both classes and couldn’t get away with talking to him in one and completely ignoring him in the other. Luca was tall, brawny, and a bit of a party boy. He always greeted Icarus by pushing him, punching him, or flicking him on the back of the head like the world’s gentlest bully. He was easy to talk to and liked to complain about his girl problems.

Fourth-period history was Celestina, and Icarus was very glad she and Luca didn’t know each other. She was Luca’s type and that would mess up the entire system. Celestina was pretty, with long black box braids and brown skin, and she picked on Icarus in a flirty way. He always blushed when she bothered him and he valiantly tried to suppress it.

Sixth period, and last of the day, was Sorrel. A gentle, quiet boy with white-blond hair. Icarus could tell he overwhelmed Sorrel just as much as he delighted him.

It was a perfect roster for the year.

Everyone was in distant social groups and would never come together to ask him to hang out.

Julian was too geeky for Celestina and Luca, but too forward for Sorrel and Aspen. Aspen and Sorrel were so far outside of Luca’s and Celestina’s social circles that they probably didn’t even know each other’s names. It was stable. Efficient. Devastating.

Julian

“Today you get a chai latte,” Julian announced, then turned back around in his chair. Julian brought Icarus stuff, but he never let him choose. It was always random and a lot of the time it was stuff he 100 percent didn’t like.

Icarus drank it anyway.

“Did you finish the notes for last night? I was super busy and didn’t get to them.” Icarus leaned forward on his arms and tried to look apologetic.

Julian scowled; he wasn’t impressed. “Perhaps if you spent less time doing whatever it is you do all night instead of homework, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”