When I'm Gone (7 page)

Chapter 12-September 2, 2001 (Claire)

“No way,” Alex exclaimed looking at the black walls in my classroom. He flicked his gaze back down to the small object in my hand. I laughed and nodded
.
“
Yep.”
I tossed the yellow balloon in my hand. I was careful as not to pop it. Alex glanced at me, dumbstruck
.
“I don’t know,” he started doubtfully. I cut my eyes at him and stuck out my tongue
.
“Do you want to go first?
or
shall I?” I interrupted him. He shook his head
.
“Um, you can,” he said and took a few steps back, away from me and the wall. I laughed again; that time, making me sound like an evil prowess.
I gripped the balloon in my hand and took aim. Forcing myself to let go, I threw the balloon with all of my strength and grinned. The balloon popped as it hit the wall, splattering the black with a bright neon streak. I scooped up another balloon, that one being blue. I tossed it a little higher than the last one and heard the satisfying pop as it hit the wall. Electric blue spotted the wall and a few drops fell onto my arms, making it look like I had a weird case of the chicken pox
.
“That is so cool!” Alex reached down and picked up a green balloon. “So, they color-code with the paint inside them?”
I nodded. “It’s that simple.”
“
Hm.
I
wanna
try,” he stated and
and
threw the balloon and the wall. Neon green paint stained the spot where the balloon hit. Drops of paint dripped down the wall, blending in with the other colors. Alex looked at me, excitement written all over his face. “Are they all neon colors?”
“Pretty much,” I explained and picked up two more balloons. “They stand out more on the black background rather than other colors.”
“Oh, yeah,” he muttered and cleared his throat.
“Just try and leave some black visible. It’ll look better that way,” I told him.
“Okay,” he laughed. “This is going to be awesome.”
He hurled another balloon and his laughter increased in volume.
“I know, right?” I murmured and ran a hand through my tousled hair, probably leaving blue and yellow spots in the strands.
For the next hour, we continued to throw balloons at the walls. The dark, menacing black had turned bright and punk-looking. In the end, we were left with a leftover bucket of balloons and a gigantic mess
.
“What now?” Alex questioned and laid a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged and surveyed the room once more.
“I guess we should start to clean up,” I suggested. He nodded thoughtfully and picked up the corner of a tarp on the floor. He gestured to the other end and I shuffled over there.
Slowly, we started to fold up the tarps and then stacked them on top of one another in the supply closet. As we were picking up the last tarp, I heard a small, distant cough. Thinking it was Alex, I continued to fold the edges. The cough sounded again and I noticed that it was
to
soft and light to be Alex’s.
“Claire,” Alex muttered and tugged on my arm. I looked up, expecting to see the principal, but instead, Lauren stood in the doorway, a small package in her hands. Her eyes found mine and a shy smile lit up her face
.
“Hi, Claire,” she called out and waved. I managed a small wave back.
“Hey,” I said and stood up, wiping my dusty hands on my paint-splattered jeans. Lauren swept her gaze over my walls and her darkened eyes lit up with surprise. She let out a twinkling sort of laugh and I raised my eyebrows in confusion.
As she looked around my room, I took the chance to look at her appearance. She looked more
proffesional
than a few days ago. She wore a pair of dark wash jeans tucked into a pair of gorgeous brown boots that I
immeditely
wanted. Her top was a slouchy, blue sweatshirt over a white tank top. Her hair was straightened, and she wore a white flower headband that stood out from the bright red. She opened her mouth but I didn’t hear her at first.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “What?”
“I said that I love what you did to your walls,” she cooed. “It’s so cool and looks like something a teenager would do.”
“That was
kinda
the point,” I stated. Blood pooled in her cheeks and she opened her mouth to apologize. I put up my hand. “
It’s
okay.”
“Oh,” she murmured and glanced at Alex. He smiled warmly and she grinned back.
I flicked my gaze to the package in Lauren’s hands. It was long and flat, wrapped with shiny, navy blue paper. A wide yellow bow was tied to perfection at the top right-hand corner. A small card was
attatched
to the gift but I was too far away to read it.
That looks kind of like her, I thought to myself. She looks rich and she wraps her gifts like they’re rich too. Usually, I just throw it in a bag and
be
done with it.
Lauren noticed my stare and held it out to me. She laughed again when she saw my expression. “I meant to give this to you a few days ago, but I forgot after our little disagreement yesterday. So, I brought it today.”
Disagreement?
I shouted silently. You were close to calling me some unmentionable names. And you call that a disagreement? Wow, you have a skewed version of life.
However, I took it in my hands, surprised at the light weight of the gift. Sighing, I held up the card and looked at it. Gorgeous,
caligraphy
letters exclaimed
:
Welcome to the family!
Cute, I grimaced and laughed silently. Suddenly, I noticed Lauren watching my every move.
“Do you want me to open it here?” I wondered aloud. Startled, she glanced at my face.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she exclaimed, looking sheepish. I shrugged lightly and placed the gift on the table closet to us.
I slid a finger underneath the wrappings and pulled it off in one swipe. Lauren and Alex watched
me,
impressed at the feat I had just
acconplished
. Underneath the wrapping paper was a long white box.
A box that would usually hold some type of clothing.
I picked the top off and was greeted by a swarm of black tissue paper. I threw it to the side and picked up the garment that laid in wait underneath them.
“Oh my-”
In my hands, was the beautiful art smock. It was a navy blue with pockets positioned all over the place. I slid it over my neck and marveled at the way it fit my body perfectly. I glanced down and noticed that on the center of the chest, more
caligraphy
letters stated my name.
Ms. Barnes
“Do you like it?” Lauren’s voice
brough
me
out of my trance and I looked up at her.
“Like it?” I asked. “No.”
“Oh, I’m-” She took a step back and cast her eyes to her boots.
“I absolutely love it,” I gushed. She looked back up, surprised. I grinned and took the smock off. “I’ve been looking for something like that, but I could never find one that I really liked. This one is perfect.”
“Oh, thanks,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Did you do it yourself?” I wondered.
“Um, yeah,
kinda
,” she admitted. “I wrote the
caligraphy
, but I found somebody to embroider it onto the smock.”
“That’s so cool,” I awed. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem. It was my pleasure,” she said and gave me another shy smile. I had to smile back and Alex laughed.
“I’m going to put this on a hook on the wall,” he told us and went off in search for one. I bit my lip and glanced down.
“I feel really guilty now, since I didn’t get you something,” I confessed to Lauren. She giggled and touched my shoulder tentatively.
“You don’t have to get me anything,” she said. “I just got this as a welcome present for you.”
“Well, I’m still going to get you something. Would you like a sign for the door to your classroom?” I suggested. Her eyes brightened and she nodded.
“You would do that for me?” she inquired. I nodded and smiled slightly.
Suddenly, her arms were around me and she was giving me a hug. I felt my posture stiffen and I kept my arms where they were; right by my sides. I don’t think she noticed my tense body, because she let go and smiled up at me.
“Thanks, so much,” she exclaimed. “I would really like that.”
“Well, what should I use as your last name since you are getting married?” I questioned.
“Jeff’s last name is Richards, so you could put ‘Mrs. Richards’,” she proposed. I nodded thoughtfully.
“Okay, I will get right to work on it,” I said. Lauren turned to leave, but looked at me when she got to the door.
“Thanks again,” she said softly.
“Well, thanks for the smock,” I replied and watched as she turned the corner and left.
“Wow, you really are breaking out of your shell,” Alex muttered as he came up behind me. I jumped at his voice and turned towards him.
“No,” I answered defensively, “I’m not. I’m just trying to be nice since she got me a gift. It’s not
like I really want to make this sign. It’s the only thing I could think of off the top of my head. God, just leave me alone.”
Alex laughed. “Now there’s the Claire I know and love.”
“The Claire you know and love is going to smack you upside the head if you don’t shut up,” I warned. Laughing, Alex walked to the door.
“I have to leave anyway. I need to go get supplies for school.” He winked at me and left
.
“What a
weirdo
,” I laughed to myself and opened the supply closet. I grabbed an eleven by thirteen canvas and set it out on a table. Next, I toted my basket of paints and set them next to the canvas. I placed my brushes on the side along with a cup of water and a few paper towels.
As I started to slowly paint the canvas, I heard footsteps by the door. I paid no attention to them, concentrating only on the thick white streaks of paint gliding across the canvas. It wasn’t until I heard the creak of my door
opening, that
I actually looked up.

Chapter 13-September 2, 2001 (Michael)

I listened silently, as my boots clomped across the tile hallway. I kept glancing at the doors, trying to find the one I was looking for. Finally, I saw a door with a sign hanging on it that had Claire’s last name on it. I studied the painting for a minute.
It was dark blue with yellow letters-the school colors-and along the edges, faces were painted. There were different races and they trailed along the outside as if they were a connect-the-dots problem. I ran my finger along Claire’s last name. When I got the
the
loop of the ‘e’ and pushed on the door, wincing as it creaked.
Inside the classroom, Claire was working at a table-probably painting something. But, when I stepped inside, the first things that I noticed were the walls. I could tell that they were freshly painted and done beautifully. The background was black and there were neon paint splatters covering most of it. The far wall, though, was completely black and someone had written Claire’s name on it in chalk.
Chalkboard paint, I thought to myself as I looked at it.
“Can I help you with something?” Claire’s voice traveled across the room clearly and I glanced over at her. She stood up with her hands on her hips, a white spot of paint on her forehead. I smiled and walked over to her.
“Hey Claire,” I said easily and looked up at her ceiling. “I just came to check on your sprinklers in your classroom.”
“You do this to every classroom?” she asked. I nodded.
“Yep,” I lied quickly and looked around her classroom. “You have a ladder around here somewhere?”
“In the supply closet,” she said and pointed at a closet next to the desk where she had been painting. I sauntered over to it, pulling the door open. My eyes wandered over to her painting where she only had painted the canvas white. I pulled the ladder out and set it in the middle of the classroom. I could feel Claire’s eyes on me as I tightened my grip on the clipboard I brought with me.
“Could you help me?” I asked, pointing to the ladder. She shuffled over to it,
then
looked back at me. Confusion clouded her face and she raised her eyebrows. I almost wanted to laugh at her, but swallowed it back.
“What do I do?” Her hand went up and she started twirling a lock of her hair. I could tell she was starting to get annoyed.
“Just hold the ladder. I don’t have anyone to spot me,” I explained and grabbed her hand. I placed them on the ladder where they were supposed to be. When I dropped my grasp, she hesitated, shooting me a look.
“Is this safe? It’s very high,” she said haughtily as if she didn’t believe me.
“
It’s
fine,” I soothed and lightly touched her shoulder. She stiffened and slid from my grasp. I shrugged and started to climb up the ladder.
Once I reached the top, I took a ceiling tile off and placed it on the top of the ladder. I started to
mess around with the wires up there, making it look like I actually had something to do. I “made a note” on my clipboard. Laughing silently at my little doodle dog, I looked down at Claire.
“How is it?” she inquired carefully. I could hear fear taking over her voice. Her grey eyes widened and she swallowed loudly.
“Perfect.” I smiled and
doodled
another dog on my clipboard. “Let me just
chack
one more thing.”
“Okay.” Her voice flooded with relief. Suddenly, she cleared her throat and glared back up at me. “Well, make it quick. I have to finish my painting.”
“What are you painting?” I tried my best to stay nonchalant.
“A sign for another teacher’s room.”
“
What teacher?”
“
Mrs. Richards.”
“
What does she teach?” I heard her exhale hard and let go of the ladder. It wobbled a bit before she placed her hands back on the metal. The ladder stilled and I sighed.
“Theater.”
“
What-”
“God, are you always this nosy?” she interrupted. I looked back down at her. Her eyes had a hard glint to them and her mouth was set in a tight line.
“Sorry,” I muttered and turned away. She exhaled again
.
“Why do you want to know so much about me?” she asked.
“Why do you keep pulling away?” I countered. She laughed softly.
“It’s a long story,” she managed. That time, I laughed
.
“I like long stories,” I told her, and looked back down. She watched me warily and tensed her shoulders
.
“Okay,” she murmured.
“How about you tell me this ‘long story’ on Tuesday?” I chose my words carefully, as to not let her think it was a date.
“Tuesday?”
Doubt filled her voice.
“Yeah.
Tuesday afternoon. What time do you get off of school?”
“I can get off at two after lunch. Then the rest of the afternoon is free,” she said.
“Then I will pick you up at two,” I replied.
“I think Alex will be okay with it. He doesn’t have anything to do,” she continued. I let out a surprised gasp and climbed back down.
Once down on the floor, Claire glanced at my shocked expression.
“What?” she questioned
.
“I actually meant that it would just be you and me,” I explained. Surprise flashed in her eyes and she looked down with
embarassment
.
“Oh, sorry.
I didn’t know,” she said.
“It’s cool,” I forgave and smiled slightly. She glared back up at me
.
“Is this a date?” she seethed. I laughed quickly.
“Of course not.
This is two friends having an outing,” I lied through clenched teeth.
“Good,” she uttered.
“Because, I don’t date.”
“
Why?”
“I just don’t, okay?” She raised her voice. “I wish you would just leave it alone.”
“Okay, sorry.” I shrugged and started to make my way towards the door.
“
Wait,”she
called out. I turned back to face her, “so Tuesday? Two?”
Smiling, I nodded. She let out a breath and relaxed her stance. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to say something
.
“You better be on time. Two o’clock sharp,” she warned. I laughed and nodded.
“I will. Don’t worry. See you Tuesday,” I said and walked out of her room.
Oh, Claire, I laughed to myself. You just wait to be dazzled.