Radley- He is rather introverted and quite self-conscious. He believes that nothing goes right for him. Although to others, his style of dress and favorite color may seem a little odd, he’s still a good person, he just doesn’t think so. Also an aspiring poet.

Hunter- One of Radley’s only friends. He can tell that Radley looks up to him and is trying his best to break a few bad habits so Radley won’t follow in his footsteps. Hunter’s appearance is contradictory to what is inside. Father of (so far) two.

Jessie- Has a weird way of doing simple things. Has a habit of carrying a pocket knife with him for a reason he’d rather not remember. His parents don’t trust him because he ran away twice and is thinking of doing it again. Has an obsession with blood, even if it is his own.

Khleo- He may seem perverted, but that is just his way of doing things. Is an old friend of Hunter’s and likes to freak Radley out with his comments. He has a feeling that Jessie might be on to him. In a way he’s actually scared of Jessie and doesn’t want to be left alone with him.

Keith- Although Radley doesn’t fully trust him, Keith is a good guy, he’s just a bit reluctant to share his thoughts and feelings. He’s had the most recent life-altering revelation, luckily, he doesn’t view it as a bad thing. He has a goal in his mind to win over Radley before school starts again.

Nate- David’s best friend. He is the one who started the band and is always in a competition with Evann. He plays the bass in the band but feels guilty for some strange reason. He’s trying to figure out what he did wrong.

David- Not much is known about him other than the fact that he is always seen at Nate’s side. He plays the drums in the band. He’s even more introverted than Radley and only speaks when he absolutely has to.

Evann- Another one of Radley’s only friends. Plays the guitar in the band and is responsible for teaching Radley how to play. His relationship with Radley was started a while ago and their ties still run deep.

Zachary- He is Radley’s only cousin his age. He always has to know everything about something before he does it, so his habit of asking questions is unnerving to Radley and just plain annoying to almost everybody else. Really sweet when he wants to be.

Friday, May 14

11:11 a.m.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Radley~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last day of school. I was sitting at a lunch table with Hunter. He was signing my year book and I was signing his.

I closed his yearbook and watched him write whatever it was he was writing. He covered half a page before he closed it and looked up at me, his face serious. Just then, somebody came up to our table and dropped a yearbook on top of my hand. I looked up: Keith.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He held up a pass. “I’m supposed to be going to the bathroom, but I wound up in the lunchroom instead. Isn’t that weird?”

“What do you want?” I asked, Hunter was looking at me then up at Keith, who was standing right beside me. I looked at him and he just shook his head and got up to throw his tray away. Hunter! Get back here! I screamed in my mind. Of course he didn’t hear me.

“Care to sign?” he asked.

I shrugged and took the yearbook. “What do you want me to put?” I asked, hoping he just wanted my signature. I shouldn’t have asked, he’s going to make me write a speech.

“Whatever you want.” he said.

I told him with my eyes to sit down and he sat where Hunter had been sitting, saw my yearbook and pulled a pen out of his pocket. Then he looked up at me. “Go on ahead.” I said, turning my attention to what little page space he had left for me.

Keith,

Had a good year with you, looking forward to another.

Radley

I closed the yearbook and watched him finish. It took him a few minutes to write a few sentences. He had to stop every now and then to think. When he handed it to me, I closed it. “Aren’t you going to read it?” he said a bit disappointed.

“Not until I get home.” I replied. He smiled, looked at his watch, then jumped up. I was just able to hand him back his yearbook before he almost literally ran out of the cafeteria.

A moment after he left, Hunter returned. “What was all that about?” he asked.

“It took you five minutes to walk right over there to throw a plate away?” I asked.

Hunter laughed about something I didn’t get and just shook his head. “I had other things to attend to.” he said smoothly.

“Really...” I said, gathering my own things.

All of a sudden, I wondered about what could’ve been going on. Hunter usually doesn’t keep stuff from me, not unless it’s personal. But it wouldn’t be personal if it concerned me, would it?

“What’s going on?” I asked him.

“Nothing...Nothing...Must I ask of your permission to laugh?”

“If I didn’t know what it was about.” I told him plainly.

He stopped laughing quite abruptly and he turned away from me. I hate it when I feel like I’m being left out of things. Before I could think of anything else, the bell rang.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jessie~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2:30 p.m.

The last fifteen minutes of hell. In fifteen minutes, I will be free from this torture...this prison. I look up when I noticed that the purple freak, I mean Radley, was coming towards my desk. These past couple of weeks, I’ve grown to at least tolerate the kid. In a way, I’m jealous of him. He’s so bold, making his own statements with his...color choices and style of clothing. I wouldn’t be caught dead in half the stuff he wears, which is why I look up...I mean appreciate him. I wouldn’t be caught dead...

“Would you like to sign?” he asked, holding out the book. He’s the only person who asked me to sign their yearbook. I took it from him and opened it up. Only two paragraphs covered a single page. One was written in black ink, the other in red ink. Blood-red ink I should say. I took out my own black pen and turned to a clean page. What should I write? I hardly know the kid, but it feels like we’ve known each other for a while. I know a lot about him, but it’s not that much. He doesn’t know much about me and I plan to keep it that way.

This is Jessie. Just letting you know that I apologize for how I acted. I’ve gotten used to it now. I hope you know what IT means. Maybe we can be friends. Just don’t do anything you might regret.

Closing the book and capping the pen, I handed it back to him. He smiled at me and walked away. I don’t know why, but I’m starting to feel sorry for him.

3:00 p.m.

I waited outside the school with a few other people. Waiting for my parent’s to come pick me up. I stood away from everybody else and tried to think on my plan. Over the weeks, I’ve tweaked it to perfection and now it is almost fool-proof. The only thing that will mess it up, is if I get caught.

I’ll wait until a night that my mom is out working late and my dad is knocked out from drinking too heavily. Instead of taking my dad’s motorcycle, I’ll steal his keys and take his car. That way, if he wakes up and realizes I’m gone, he won’t be able to pursue me until my mom returns. I know how to drive well enough to avoid any attention from highway patrolmen. All I have to do is drive eastward to the beach. I have an old friend who lives out there.

I can stay with her for a few days to rest up and make sure I’m not being followed. Then I’ll drive my dad’s car into the water and sneak on a cruise ship or whatever. I’ve decided to drop my previous destination. I’ll go wherever the ship takes me, or as far as I can go without getting caught, whichever comes first. Then, I can just find a place to live and start my life over. But there is only one thing wrong with that plan. If I’m taking Radley, how am I going to get him? I mean, no need to fret over it, he might not agree to go with me. I might accidentally kill him if...he tries something. So it is a good thing if he says no. That way, I’ll be less tempted to do it. Maybe I won’t be tempted at all. Wait. That’s not right.

I snap out of my thoughts when I recognize my dad’s bright red convertible. I only have one question left: When will I run away?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Evann~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5:55 p.m.

“So. How are you enjoying your vacation so far?” I asked Radley as we walked to David’s house. I was being sarcastic. We had just gotten off the bus two hours ago. He shrugged as he watched the ground, as if it might crumble beneath him any second.

“Nothing...bad has happened.” he said. I step off the road to allow a few cars to pass, then I return to walking on the yellow lines. That’s just like him. His answers are always short and to the point.

“It’s kind of weird going back to David’s house. We haven’t done it since your birthday. Even then, we didn’t practice.” I say, trying to start a conversation.

“Yeah...” he says, almost like its painful to speak.

“Is something bothering you?” I ask him. The kid always seems to have something bothering him. Maybe that’s just how he is.

He doesn’t say anything, but looks up. I look in the direction he’s facing and I run out of the road to allow a car to pass. I was so busy talking to him, I didn’t hear it. Lucky me. Maybe he doesn’t like to talk. Maybe he doesn’t like to talk...to me.

“Come on! Spill your guts!” I say, patting him on the back. I decided that walking in the middle of the road was a bit too risky.

He just looks at me for a short moment, then returns his gaze to the ground. “Nothing...” he says flatly.

Even though he hardly ever tells me what is going on, I can usually get a little bit of the situation out of him, but it was proving even more difficult than usual.

“Do you already want to go back to school?” I ask.

He just shakes his head.

“Family trouble?”

He shakes his head again.

“Girl problems?”

“Far from it.”

“Then what?”

“Let’s just say that...I’m not used to the way a friend is treating me.”

“Me?”

“No.”

“That Hunter guy.”

He shakes his head. “No...It’s another friend. I’m just not used to...the whole thing. Too many steps are being taken at one time.”

“Oh. I get it. This friend of yours is moving to fast in the relationship?”

“Well...It’s not really a relationship. At least I don’t think so. But yeah, you got it right.”

I quiet. I decide to let him sort out his feelings. I think he does a lot better on his own than with my help.

7:18 p.m.

We had just finished a rehearsal and we were all laying in the middle of the floor of the shed. David was sitting against a wall, reading a magazine. Nate was stretched out on the floor in front of him, half asleep. Radley and I were sitting back to back, relying on each other for support. It wasn’t until now that I realized that Radley was the only one who wasn’t sweating.

“It’s good to get our old songs back in my mind.” I say, wiping at my forehead. Nate mumbles his reply and David nods. Because of the way were sitting, Radley was facing away from everybody else. He was sitting in the direct path of the wind blowing from the window.

“Are we going to come up with a new one?” I asked.

“Maybe...tomorrow.” Nate says, his voice muffled against his arms.

I decide to shut up. Nobody wants to talk. Radley has been plucking at his guitar the whole time now. The same note playing itself over and over, like the ticking of a clock, just slower. I could just barely hear it because it was so soft, but if you were quiet enough, it would be the only thing you hear. Sort of like in the silence we were in now.

The note continued to play, like an echo, over and over. It was starting to become annoying, but I tried to hold my peace. After a while, it must have gotten to him because he started to play the scale. It was better and less annoying. I found myself drifting off to sleep. “Can you please stop it? I’m trying to go to sleep!” Nate half-yelled. Almost immediately, Radley dropped the guitar to his side and a complete silence fell over us.

I listened to Nate lightly snore and I watched David try his damn hardest to stay awake. He dropped the magazine after a while and closed his eyes. He fell forward in his sleep and his head landed on Nate’s back, but neither stirred. “Radley?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t the only one awake. He didn’t reply. “Radley?”

“What?” came his reply. He didn’t sound a bit tired. I’m glad I didn’t wake him up.

“Look.” I could feel him turn around.

“What?” he repeated.

“Isn’t that cute?” I asked in a high-pitched voice, the voice people use when talking to babies, pointing to Nate and David.

“Shut up.” he said. He sounded offended, so I decided to drop it. I thought back on our last practices. Everyone was always cranky after a hard work-out, but Radley sounded plain out hurt. He obviously didn’t like me picking on them.

“Sorry.” I replied. To make me feel even worse. He got up and opened the door to the shed, the refreshing blast of cold air shot into the shed. “Time to go?” I asked.

He didn’t reply, but based on the look on his face, he obviously wanted to go back home. I stood up. I would kill just to see their reaction when they woke up like that, but I forced myself to leave. As we walked back home in silence, I gazed up at the sky and took careful notice of how the reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and blue mixed into each other. “I think I got it.” I whispered.