- C h a p t e r – T e n -

“Five more days…” It’s Monday morning in the cafeteria, and both Luke and Steven are eating breakfast. The two boys contrast in personality that morning; while one boy is energetic, the other is much more fatigued, and by looking at their weekend activities it is easy to distinguish which boy is which. Ruby isn’t anywhere to be found, but Luke has a hunch that she’s in the art room once more.

“Five?” asks Luke, stifling a yawn. “I thought it’s six….”

“Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,” says Steven, assigning each day of the week with a finger. “I’m counting five days.”

“You’re counting wrong,” begins Luke, “When you count from one to five, you don’t end at four. You count one, two, three, four, and five. So here, we’d have to include Saturday, so we’d have six days.” He folds his arms in triumph, though it isn’t long before he has to cover his mouth from another yawn.

“But midnight’s your birthday, not Saturday evening. So, if we were counting whole days… There’s only five.” He mimics Luke’s expressions as he laughs, watching Luke’s proud figure disintegrate in merely seconds. The blonde boy frowns, placing an arm on the table, and before Steven knows it he’s fallen asleep—or has tried to. It’s quite true that Luke has a right to be exhausted, having just arrived home less than twelve hours ago; but if Steven allows the boy to sleep he won’t be attentive enough in class to learn the material. Thus Steven does the only thing he thinks is reasonable, and he reluctantly awakens the boy from his miniature nap.

“W-wha?”

“Don’t fall asleep,” Steven mumbles, shoving Luke’s breakfast toward the boy. Luke sighs, rubbing his eyes forcefully with his palms, and as he takes a bite into the biscuit he coughs hoarsely, the final sound not sounding very likeable.

“Sorry,” Luke apologizes.

“Hey, you don’t sound too well….” Luke tries to shake off the claim, but the next cough that comes out of his mouth doesn’t help his cause. “You know, you should really stay home. It looks like you’re catching a cold.”

“I’m fine,” Luke assures him, yet his coarse voice negates the sentence. Indeed it had been a little chilly up in Connecticut, but it shouldn’t have been enough to get him sick—at least, in Luke’s opinion. “Besides, if I miss a day of school I won’t be able to exempt as many of my exams.”

“School means that much to you?” Steven asks, and Luke nods. “You sure you really want to put this on yourself? I mean… I’m sure even your parents would want you to rest.”

“My dad’s pretty strong in his beliefs. Once he wants me to achieve a goal there’s no changing his mind—no excuses that might hinder me.” He tries taking another bite out of his biscuit, but it’s so small of a bite that it’s almost nothing. “Besides, a dosage of cough medicine and an early night’s sleep should cure me in no time.”

“Okay then….” Luke can tell Steven still disapproves of his stubbornness, but he’s glad that Steven’s stopped trying to convince him otherwise. “So, Luke, how was your trip? Aside from getting sick.”

“Okay,” Luke mutters, suddenly having a desire to both cough and yawn at the same time, if possible. “Turns out Lloyd wanted to inform my parents of their new grandparent status. Apparently my dad freaked out.”

“Why?” Steven asks curiously. “I would’ve thought they’d be happy about stuff like that.”

“He and Darla aren’t married yet,” Luke explains. “I guess dad didn’t like the idea of them having sex before marriage… and how Lloyd had ruined his role model status in our family. I dunno, something like that.”

“I see… but they’re engaged at least, right? That’s not good enough?” Luke shakes his head, turning away immediately afterward to cough. “Dang, I’d hate to have to follow that.”

Luke freezes in his action as he hears this, and as Steven continues to eat, his mind dives into a pool of deep thought. Had that been what Ruby had talked about that Saturday at the hotel? But that had been a different case… or was it similar?

‘Of course,’ Luke reasons with himself, ‘he never specifically mentioned anything about having a baby… even doing it with a girl…’ It’s about another five seconds before he realizes his name’s been called for the past half minute, and he immediately shakes his head out of his world of thought.

“You’re way too spacey for your own good,” Steven says with a laugh. “I swear you always seem to blank out on me.” Luke turns red at this thought, quickly hanging his head to avoid detection. One of these days, Luke knows he’s going to be caught in his act of blushing, and he can feel it turning into his demise.

“Sorry,” Luke apologizes quickly. “I’m a bit tired… my mind is not in its proper place….”

“Yeah, I understand.” As Steven returns to his food again, Luke sighs, relaxing now that he’s gotten away with his latest excuse. He knows, however, that he won’t be able to use it all the time. “You think we should get going? We got a physics test today, and I guess we could study a bit beforehand.”

“Sure.” The two stand up and collect their trash, throwing it into the garbage bin on the way out. They’re met with a pleasant breeze as they exit the cafeteria, much more pleasant than the cold air of Connecticut, and the wind picks up to a gentle pace. The sky is typical of October weather—not too cloudy yet not ridiculously bright—and as they walk through their school’s campus, back to the main building, they’re met with beautiful gold and orange foliage.

They’re deprived of the autumn scenery as they enter the main building, navigating their way through hallways and classrooms as they find their way around. They pass by Steven’s locker, where he makes a quick book exchange, and after another five minutes, the two boys arrive at their classroom.

“Just take a seat,” Luke mutters, and the two sit down at their desks. After pulling out their textbooks they go straight to work in memorizing formulas and concepts.

“Momentum’s measured in kilograms… multiplied by meters… all over seconds… Damnit, I declare I hate physics.”

“You said math was your forte,” says Luke.

“But this is stupid math. Realistic, but stupid.” Inside Luke is agreeing with him, but he chooses not to say anything—physics using calculus is so much better, he decides.

“What’s the law of conservation of momentum?” asks Luke, though he already knows the answer; it’s intended to be a quiz question for the other boy.

“The final momentum must be equal to the momentum before the collision.” His voice is awfully monotonic, as if he’s studied the material so many times the night before. There’s some sort of a silence between them, interrupted only by another cough of Luke’s, and as students begin filling the room, Luke gives up trying to study.

“Let’s just take the test already. I’ve crammed so much into my head it’s beginning to hurt.”

“Okay then.” Yet another silence falls between them as Luke turns around to face the board. As always the teacher isn’t there, and just as Luke places his textbook under his desk Steven taps his shoulder.

“Yes?” Luke turns around once more to meet the gaze of Steven’s blue eyes, but he only finds himself shifting his gaze toward Steven’s SoCal shirt instead.

“If I were to have a birthday party… and say you were one of the few kids I invited, and the only one able to come…”

“Would I go still?” finishes Luke, and Steven nods. “I’d still go, yeah. Why?”

“Just asking… But anyway, good luck on your test…” Luke eyes the boy with curiosity before finally turning around once again. It’s not like the question is unreasonable and unheard of, as Steven’s own birthday is less than a week away, but somehow the question bugs him. Luke decides to ask Steven about it, but before he can turn around and ask him their teacher arrives—on time, in fact—which thus signals the test’s start.

- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the week passes by very slowly for Luke, but it’s the periods after school that tend to be passing the slowest. With reason too, both Luke and Steven note, as the blonde boy spent most of his afternoons in bed. The only thing Luke’s found to be useful is that when he’s sick, his mother makes his siblings serve food and orange juice to him at his bed. As unhappy as his sisters are in doing the chore, there’s nothing else that seems to please Luke more than attaining his chance at revenge.

Ruby had popped in for several minutes, several times throughout the week, but otherwise Steven had been the only one actually watching Luke for improvement. Luke had been right in that his parents wouldn’t care about his condition; true to his word they began reminding him of his necessity to get well soon and that there would be no chance for the boy of even having the opportunity to miss school because of some fever.

“Just sleep really early,” Steven mutters as Luke coughs again. He’s at the edge of Luke’s bed, holding a tray of food that Leslie had recently brought up. As Luke had warned the boy, Steven had received some interesting looks from Leonard due to his desire to stay at Luke’s side, but Steven ignored it.

“You’ve only said that to me about every day this week…” Luke frowns, reaching his hand for the cup of orange juice. “I don’t want to be sick on my own birthday… nor yours.”

“That’s fine,” says Steven, making sure Luke doesn’t drop the glass. “As long as you get better, I don’t mind if you’re sick on my birthday…”

“But the plans you—we—made! How we’d do something together to celebrate our birthdays together!”

“That can be delayed, can’t it? Besides, if you go out while you’re sick, you’ll get the whole world sick.”

“Yeah, and me going to school all this week hasn’t achieved that same effect. Seriously, it’s not that different…” Luke pauses to cough, which no longer sounds as bad as his previous coughs. “For now I’ll just hope for the best, and we’ll see what happens.”

“Fine,” says Steven, sighing. “I’ll get going then… I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“If my mom doesn’t suffocate me with family celebrations, then yes, probably.”

Steven chuckles, getting up and placing the tray on a nearby chair. From that same chair he gets his jacket and puts it around himself, waving to the blonde as he exits the room. Luke remains motionless for several moments, watching the doorframe—where Steven had waved his goodbye—for what seems like hours. What bothers him the most is that, while he’s promised to stay away from those thoughts—and Steven as a whole—he knows he’s about to crash hard by the time it’s over.

Luke reaches over to his book bag and takes out a pad of paper and a pencil. He folds the paper in half—a hot dog fold—and as he unfolds it he draws a line along the crease. He doesn’t label the columns—he knows what’s what in his mind—and as he fiddles with his pencil he frowns.

It’s something Ruby had told him to do, once upon a time, to draw a table and list the positive and negative aspects of a person—Steven—and figure out why another person—Luke—likes him or her to begin with.

For the next half hour he begins filling in the columns. He tries avoiding the usage of physical traits—something his family likes to do—but as he begins running out of characteristic flaws and perfections he’s left with no choice. By the time he’s done Luke has a rather sophisticated table, and he stares at it blankly for several moments, not even realizing that the door’s been knocked upon for a decent amount of time. Luke jumps out of bed almost immediately, stuffing the list into one of the notebooks in his bag before the door opens.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Luke sighs in relief once he finds out it is only Ruby.

“Yeah, I think I’m up…” But as he says this he can already feel his knees giving way. In his effort to hide the list he had used quite a lot of energy—in a short amount of time—and as a result he feels a bit dizzy. He raises a hand to support his head, and before Ruby realizes anything he’s collapsed onto the bed.

“Luke!” Ruby shrieks, but a slight wave of the boy’s left hand tells her he’s still fine.

“Don’t worry about me,” says Luke, adjusting himself so he’s properly on the bed. “I’ll be fine before… tomorrow.”

“You sure you only have a fever?” Ruby asks with concern. “It seems like it could be something worse. You’ve been like this since Monday, and it’s already like what, Friday?”

“I doubt it.” The two are temporarily interrupted by a knock on the door, and as Ruby answers it a very sullen-faced Laine shoves another tray into her hands. Ruby takes it pleasantly, retrieving the old one and giving it to the girl. “I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Maybe you should see a doctor.”

“No, I’m fine…” She nods her head, relenting in asking of his condition and moving on to another topic. “So are you going to Steven’s birthday party?”

“Huh?”

“Birthday… party… where you celebrate someone’s birthday…”

“I know what one is, duh—but I didn’t know he was having one…” Except, of course, that random question during Physics…

“I felt kinda bad,” says Ruby. “I mean… yesterday he told me he was only planning on inviting two people—you and I— but he looked really disappointed when I told him I had a concert to go to.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?” Luke asks. “Though… he did mention something about delaying a party until I got better.”

“That’s it, then,” says Ruby. “I guess you could always show up at his house and surprise him.” She looks to Luke for an answer, but she doesn’t receive one—he seems to be out like a light. She frowns, as she had just heard him speak moments before—but she doesn’t question anyway; she merely waves a goodbye and leaves the room.

In reality, however, Luke’s only closed his eyes, mind in a world other than his own. The idea of surprising Steven on his birthday sounds like an appealing idea… and Luke supposes that maybe it would be the perfect time to…

‘Just play it by ear,’ he tells himself before flipping himself over with an intention to sleep.