AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fuck.
IknowTheo was responsible for what happened. Ruth told me I gave a detailed account of what happened after the accident, before all of my memories of that night disappeared on me.
As September turns into October, and Ford’s punishment continues on, all I can do is go to class, do my assignments, try to avoid Merchant as best I can, and pray to god that the ban on weekend passes out of this godforsaken national park ends soon. The second Jeremy is allowed to start shuttling us back to civilization, I am fucking out of here and I amnotcoming back.
I begin to have hope that that day might come soon when Principal Ford steps up onto the stage one Friday night after we’ve all gathered in the auditorium for our nightly ‘educational’ punishment and addresses us. Sitting next to me, Noelani clutches my hand as we both listen.
“Firstly, I need to make an announcement. The Academy’s internet service is being replaced. We’re upgrading to a better system, since our satellite internet has been so patchy recently. That means your cells won’t work, I’m afraid. Unfortunately, it also means the computers in the library will be out of commission for the next week. If you need to do research for an assignment, you’re going to have to use some of the library’s other resources. There are strange rectangular objects sitting on the many shelves in there. Crack one open, and you’ll find that they’re full of pages with writing inside. You might have noticed them. They’re called books.”
The entire senior year groans.
“Now that’s out of the way…” Ford sighs. “As you’re aware, every single one of you has come up here and shared a reading, or some poetry, or completed and shared an assignment, or performed, be that singing or playing an instrument. I had planned on extending this evening gathering for another month and making you all come up here and do something again, but honestly…” She shakes her head, puffing out her cheeks. “Honestly, I don’t have the energy for it. This has been a punishment for me as much as it has been for you. So, starting tomorrow evening, you will no longer have to come here at eight. Your curfews are still in effect, though, and all other rules that were set in place still stand—”
A cry of excitement goes up around the auditorium none-the-less.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Principal Ford says, addressing the students who have eagerly gotten to their feet and are making for the exit. “I said starting tomorrow. Sit back down. Tonight, instead of forcing one of you up here, I decided we’d watch a movie instead.”
My fellow classmates’ cheering grows louder. We have access to the movies and shows that people brought with them on hard drives, but without high-speed internet to download new stuff, we’ve all grown tired of what we had saved on our laptops. A new movie is welcome news. “Don’t get too excited,” Principal Ford warns. “Since you guys have made my life a living hell and I’ve had to waste so much of my own time babysitting your asses, I get to choose the movie, and I choose The Notebook.”
The guys groan.
The girls cheer.
I’ve never seen The Notebook, but when Lani begins bouncing in her seat next to me, muttering something about Ryan Gosling and how sexy his beard is later in the story, I glean that it’s some kind of epic romance. She’s so excited that I can’t help but smile.
Ford further surprises us when two of the kitchen staff appear with a catering trolley, stacked high with little red and white striped paper bags of popcorn. Lani’s up and out of her seat before I can offer to go and grab us some. “Don’t worry. I got you!” she calls over her shoulder, bolting down the aisle.
The moment that she leaves her seat, a screen unfurls from the ceiling, and Ford makes her way off stage. People are still out of their seats, squabbling over the popcorn, when the movie starts.
I’ve been so bored over the past few weeks that I’m immediately sucked into the story. When Lani returns and sits down next to me, I don’t even spare her a sideways look; I take the bag of popcorn she offers and I munch on it, eyes glued on Ryan Gosling.
And then, over the buttery smell of the snack in my lap, I smell something else.
“I suppose I can see the attraction,” Theo says, leaning in to whisper into my ear.
My popcorn flies out of my lap, toppling to the floor.
It’s dark in the auditorium, so I can’t see much of him—just the frayed collar of his long-sleeved t-shirt, and the swirling black ink creeping up his skin above it. Just the depth of his eyes, turned almost black in the dark. Just the swell of his bicep, as it rests on the arm of my chair, perilously close to brushing up against me. He smells like he was just out in the rain, fresh, and of fragrant pine.
“Don’t tell me.” He shoots me a cocky grin. “You’re more of a Tom Hardy girl.”
I lean away from him, until my spine digs into my other arm rest. “Where the hell is Noelani?”
Theo’s fingers are wrapped in tape again. He must have been playing his cello before he came down here. Systematically, he rips it from his fingers, dropping the pieces to the floor. Once he’s done, he looks back to the movie, popping a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth. The light cast off by the screen turns his eyes into reflective mirrors. I watch him eat—the muscles in his jaw and his throat working as he chews and swallows—morbidly fascinated by the sight. I shiver involuntarily when he pops the end of his thumb into his mouth and sucks it clean. “Think I heard something about her going to sit at the back with Mel?” he says eventually.
“What the fuck? You told her not to come back and sit with me?”
He’s unaffected by my tone. Shrugging, he pops another piece of popcorn into his mouth. Sucks his index finger this time. “I did nothing of the sort.”
“Then get out of her seat so she can come back!”
“Noelani’s her own person. If she wanted to go sit with Mel, who am I to stop her? I doubt me moving will entice her back.”
“Theo!”
“Shh!” Principal Ford’s head pops up from the front row. “I swear, if you guys keep fidgeting, I will turn this thing off and you can all sit here in silence while I watch it with headphones on my laptop. That what you want?”
The auditorium is quiet as the grave.
