First Draft Chapter 9

Go forward reader, go forward.  I am sixteen now.  The summer had past, and we entered a new school year, and that past as well, and then another summer, and now the beginning of another school year.  And absolutely nothing had changed.  Nothing ever changes.
It was the first day of school.  The usual downcast faces broadcast the message that another summer was down the drain.  Students were beginning to resign themselves to the fact that they must face another nine months in school.
I don't remember what period it was: second? Third? Fourth? First?  The point is it happened.  I was sitting in class in those precious few moments before class began.  David was not with me in this class, so I was sitting by myself, trying to imagine what the world would be like without doors.  A new girl entered the classroom.  She sat down next to me.  (The seat next to me was one of only a few left open).
I was kind of absorbed in thought at the moment, but I managed enough to nod my head in her direction to indicate I acknowledged her existence.  My hand, which ahd previously been supporting my chin, temporarily left its post to close briefly and then open in what I was content to call a wave.  I attempted to return to my thoughts.
"Hello," she said eagerly in response to my lazy wave.  "How are you?"
I turned my head back in her direction.  "Good," I said.  "And how are you?"
Her eyes seemed to sparkle with brightness.  They were wide and excited and focused on me.  I think it was at this moment that I first realized that she had a very pretty face.  The bright eyes and eager face almost scared me.  I turned my head around as if there was something on the opposite side of the room that required my immediate attention.  It was not a premeditated move, more of a reaction.  She did not give up on me though.  "What's your name?"
I turned back towards her.  "Jon."
She stuck out her hand for me to shake.  "I'm Helen.  Good to meet you."  She leaned in close to me.  Again, almost frightened by her friendliness, I instinctively leaned back.  "Hey, what's this teacher like anyway," she asked.
"What?  Oh.  The Teacher?"  I had heard her perfectly, but began stumbling over my words anyway.  I became frustrated with myself, and felt my cheeks heat up, and I hoped I wasn't blushing.  She just smiled and nodded.  "Him?  Oh, he's all right.  He's not very interesting to listen to, but he's easy."
"That's good.  I'm new here you know."
"I thought you looked unfamiliar."
"My family moved into Urbae this summer."
"From where?"
"All the way from the West Coast."  She was obviously proud of her distant home.  She paused for a second, as if lost in memories of the West.  Then, seeming to snap out of it, she asked, "what about you?  Where are you from?"  She caught herself, and shook her head slightly to dismiss what she had said before.  "I mean, are you from somewhere, besides Urbae of course?"
My life was so boring.  Not only was I from Urbea, and only Urbae, but I could count ou one finger the number of times I had left it.  "No, I've spent all my life here."
"So you can answer any questions I have?"
I suppose that was the positive way to look at it, yes.  "I'd be happy to."
"Great.  I' m so confused about so many things.  It's different in the West you know."
Actually, I didn't know.  How would I know?  "Really?"
"Oh, yes, night and day difference.  Nothing is the same over there."
"Why did you leave?"
"My dad got a new job offer here.  A really good offer."
There was only one kind of really good job in Urbae.  "For the Duke, then?"
"Yes, for the Duke.  He's going to be supervising all the police in the city."
"We call the Strates here."
"Really?  Nothing is the same over here."
"It's a derogatory term," I said.  "We only call them that when they're not around."
"So the official term is police?"  I nodded.  "Perfect.  That's just like in the West.  One less thing I have to adjust to."
"Your Dad will be working under my dad," I volunteered.
"What does your dad do?"
"He's the Duke's fourth man."  Odd, I didn't think I was proud of my dad, but was that pride creeping into my voice.
"Oh, that's neat.  I bet our father's will be seeing lots of each other then."
"They certainly will."
And that was all we had an opportunity to say before class began.  The teacher called everyone to order, and began.  Several times I looked over at Helen during the drudgery of class, and most of those times she was sitting smiling back at me.  Reader, I have chosen to avoid describing Helen so far because she is so vibrant in my mind, and I am afraid that my words would kill her.  When I fist saw her at the beginning of that class, she looked rather plan to be, but at the end of that class I was beginning to become infatuated with her beauty.  I wonder if I had known at that moment how obsessed I would become with that face currently beside me, if I could have seen it then.  Her beauty just kind of gradually took me.
I longed to lean over and whisper to her, but I didn't now how she would react.  Would she be like David, and be worried about getting in trouble?  I didn't want to do anything that would offend her.  Eventually, however, the desire to talk to her overtook me, and I decided to risk it.  I leaned over cautiously when the teacher wasn't looking.  "This is awfully boring, isn't it?"
She turned excitedly, delighted that I was talking to her.  "Yes, terribly.  Is he always like this?"
"Always.  This will be one of our longest classes, but it's easy."
"That's good.  I can't wait till it's over.  Look at the teacher's pants.  Aren't they funny looking?"
"Yes, yes.  Listen to the way he talks.  His voice keeps going up and down."  I had figured this out long ago, and it was obvious if one only listened for it.  The pitch of his voice was like a roller coaster, constantly raising and lowering.
She sat back and listened, and I could see her brow wrinkle as she tried to figure out what I meant.  Suddenly it hit her, and she realized how absolutely ridiculous the teacher's voice really was, and she bit her arm to keep from laughing.  Seeing her fight to keep somber made me appreciate anew the funniness of his voice, which I had noticed so many times before it no longer seemed funny to me.  I laughed silently, although my whole body shook.  We looked at each other, and knew what the other was thinking, and at that point she lost the struggle and had to collapse in laugher.  She put her head down into her arms, which sufficiently muffled the sound.  I shook all the harder.  A stern look from the teacher sobered me up, but Helen had her head down still and missed the look.  Once Helen was done laughing, she looked at me again, and we almost both lost it again.
The bell rang, the class got over.  Helen and I laughed as we went into the hallway.  "Hey, let me see your schedule," I said.  I looked to see if any of our other classes were the same.  To my disappointment, they were not.  I parted from her.
It is hard for me to remember exactly what my first impression of Helen was.  I spent years being in love with her, so it is difficult for me to imagine myself meeting her and not being awestruck.  And yet if I push hard on my memory, I don't think I was absolutely blown away with her on the first meeting.  Rather, I was interested in this pretty new face, but she was one of many girls who competed for my interest.  I was interested though, I was definitely interested.
After school I deliberately hung around the hallways, hoping to run into her.  I was not disappointed.  "Hey," I called out to Helen, who was looking lost as kids, who were heading for the door, swarmed by her.  "Helen.  Hey!  Over here!"
She looked.  "Oh Jon!  Hello."  I noticed she smiled when she saw me.
"How was your first day of school?"  I fought my way throw the crowds to stand next to her.  As kids flooded through the doors and outside into freedom, the hallway rush was beginning to die down.
"Jon it's so different.  I'm really not used to this kind of school at all."
"Different in the West?" I suggested, sensing a pattern.
Her eyes almost seemed to flash.  "Yes Jon, well done."
"Where are you going now?"
"Well, home I suppose.  Why?"
She was one of the elite.  Her dad had a nice state job.  Not quite as high up as my father, but a nice well paying state job just the same.  There was a good chance she would live out by my neighborhood.  "How are you getting home?"
"Walking.  Why do you ask Jon?"
That wasn't a good sign.  If she lived out by me, chances are she would bike.  I asked anyway.  "Where's home?"
"Oh, just down the road, about a ten minute walk from here.  Really Jon, why all these questions?"
I shrugged.  "I just thought because of your father's job and stuff you might live out a little ways."
"Is that where you live?"
I nodded.  "Yeah."
"My father wanted to live in the city.  He said that if he was going to be in charge of the police, he should live in the city where they operated."
I was slightly disappointed.  "Well, that sounds like a good idea."
"Yeah."
Think of something else to say!  Think of something else to say, my brain screamed at me.
"Well, I've got to go Jon, but it was really nice meeting you.  I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, right.  I'll see you tomorrow Helen," I said as I was backing up.  My hand waved good-bye, then I turned to go, furious at myself for not being able to extend that conversation any further.  I had gotten nervous and froze, but I suppose it hadn't been all that bad.
I talked to Helen several times the rest of the week during the one class we had together, and often after school if I could catch her.  She always seemed happy to see me.  She was always smiling and laughing.  Her beauty grew steadily in my mind.  I was becoming more and more in love with her.  By that Friday, she had eclipsed all the other girls in my mind.  She became the one girl that I cared about impressing.
At the end of that week I got out of school and made a point of running into Helen.  We talked about our plans for the weekend.  "Tonight I'm going with my family to see the symphony," she said, bubbling over with excitement.  "Saturday my dad is taking me fishing.  We're going to bike out into the country, and if the weather is warm it really ought to be a lot of fun.  Sunday, I'm going to church with my family and then my mother and I are going for a walk.  What are you doing Jon?"
"I don't know yet.  Something fun."  I shrugged.
"You don't have any idea yet?"
"Something will turn up."
We talked for a little while longer, before going our separate ways.
After parting from Helen I went over with David to his house.  Other friends of ours stopped by, and we all went over to the local field and competed with each other until dark, when our friends began to talk about their parents wanting them home, and they slowly trickled away until just David and I were left.
We flung our tired bodies down on the soft grass.  It was a relaxing feeling, and we laid in silence for a while, just enjoying the peacefulness of our surroundings.
I was not used to being at eye level with the grass, and began to see my old green friend in a different way.  I was so used to seeing the grass as just a blanket, which covered everything, not as thousands of individual pieces.  The grass wove itself together, as each blade overlapped on another blade and was overlapped in turn, but each piece was an individual distinct from the rest.  What, I wondered, would it be like to view the grass like this all the time?  What if I was a bug?  Each blade would be like a giant tree.  The whole thing would be a gigantic jungle, full of dangers and surprises, and I would weave my way through the green jungle each day.  The grass was so much more important to a bug, and yet to me the grass was just a covering.
David interrupted my thoughts.  "Hey Jonny, look at that will you?"
I looked around.  "What?"
"No, up there."  David's hand pointed to the sky.
"Yeah?"
"I don't know.  Just look at the stars.  Aren't they beautiful?"
"They look very nice Dave."
His voice was still in awe.  "So many of them.  They're all lights against the darkness.  Look at the patterns they form.  It's so beautiful Jon."  He turned on me suddenly.  "What are you thinking about Jonny?"
My thoughts had wandered to Helen.  "Hey Dave, you know that new girl at school?"
"Helen?  Yeah, she's in a couple of my classes.  Nice girl, very friendly."  David thought for a moment.  "Why do you ask Jon?  Do you like her?"
"I think I'm in love."
David was surprised by the strong language.  "What does that mean exactly, Jon?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"Well, what do you want Dave, a dictionary definition?"
David decided to change his tactics.  "You think she's quite special though?"
"Oh yeah."
"Are you gonna ask her out?"
"Well, I'm going to have to sooner or later if I ever want to go anywhere with this."
"The sooner the better Jon.  Girls like her get a lot of attention."
This was not what I wanted to hear.  "What do you mean?" I said rather angrily.
"Calm down Jonny.  I don't think anyone else is interested in her, but she's a friendly girl, very outgoing.  I mean, she's not the kind of girl who stays at home on a Saturday night, right?"  I remained silent as I brooded over what David had said.  Eventually, he broke the silence.  "Don't worry Jon, I'm sure you'll do fine.  It's been a while since you had a girlfriend, hasn't it?  Since Phyrria was it?"
Ah Phyrria, who I dated for two and a half weeks when I was thirteen.  "Oh no, don't bring her up again," I said laughing at what seemed to be a distant memory.
David joined in the laugher.  "You were pretty crazy about her for a while."
I covered my ears.  "Stop it Dave.  I don't want to hear it.  Man, what was I thinking."
"Jonny, we tried to talk some in you too, but you wouldn't listen.  Do you remember that?"
"Enough Dave, enough.  You guys will never let me forget."  The night exploded into laughter for us.
I talked to Helen again on Monday.  We exchanged stories from the weekend.  It was Tuesday before I got the courage to ask her out.
I had caught her after school.  The flood of students had subsided, and we were all alone.  We started talking about something silly, I don't even remember what it was.  She said she had to go, and turned to leave.  I was nervous, but knew I would hate myself if I didn't ask now.
"Hey," I called out as she was walking away.  "Helen, I was thinking, you're still pretty confused about this city, right?"
She stopped and turned back.  "Yes Jon, extremely."
I swallowed.  "I could show you around some afternoon perhaps.  Just a little tour of the city or something.  Would that help?"
That smile, that sweet smile that always melted me, there it flashed again.  "Yes Jon, thank you, that's very sweet of you.  I think that would help.  I'm busy tonight.  How about tomorrow?"
"Wednesday's are no good for me.  I volunteer at the Central Office."
Her eyebrows raised.  "Really?  Well I'm impressed Jon.  Alright, how about Thursday after school?"
"Thursday's cool."
Oh, there went that smile again.  "Okay, it's a plan.  I'll see you tomorrow, okay Jon?"
"Okay."
I turned to leave.  My hands were shaking with joy.  My insides were turning.  I was filled with energy for the rest of the day.

Ah, the Central Office.  Did that catch your eye reader?  Ever since that incident at Strate Park, my father thought the best way to keep me out of trouble was to keep my busy.  I knew better than to fight him on it directly, but I tried to weasel out of hours there as often as I could.
The Central Office was a government building.  It was one of the more important government buildings, but certainly not one of the more glamorous.  It was not where the Senate met, and none of the Senators ever went over to the Central Office.  Old Flash would drop by once and a while, and when he did he would usually make a point of chatting with me, but aside from him no one remotely famous frequented the Central Office.  It was a place where paper work got done, and low level self-important beauracrats lived out their boring existence.  This was the pit of drudgery where I was forced to volunteer.
During the summer, my father would have liked to have me at the Central Office five days a week.  I was frequently able to weasel out of days, but that was his goal.  During the school year, my father wanted me to get good grades so he shortened it down to one day, but on that one day he was firm.  No matter what else was going on in my life, every Wednesday I would go to the Central Office as soon as school got out, and stay there till is closed down at eleven O' clock at night.  If I got there late or left early, he heard about it.
It was my father's hope that these hours spent in the Central Office would give me a better idea of how government worked, and would prepare me for when I grew up and began working for Flash.  Looking back on the experience, he was right.  It did teach me a lot about the complexity of government, if from nothing else than the conversations I would often overhear.  At the time, however, it seemed utterly useless.  My task was to file papers and I believed it to be nothing more than a complete waste of time.
And so, with visions of Helen dancing in my head, I filed away dutifully, thinking every minute about her.  It is entirely possible that I might have lapsed into day dreaming about her once or twice during the afternoon.  Actually, it is likely that my head was in the clouds the whole time.
"Jonathon!  Snap out of it.  This FJC needs his paperwork."
I shook my head, trying to temporarily remove Helen from my brain.  I Inquired about the name and went into the Fabulae Junior Corp, looking for the young man's papers.  I found the appropriate file and ran over to the front.  "Here you go sir."
The FJC took the material and look it over.  He was young.  In fact, he really didn't look any older than I was.  He had probably just turned eighteen.  Innocent young eyes shone from his acne covered face.  He signed the appropriate papers and handed the folder back to me.  I took it and watched him as he disappeared down the hall.
"Are you old enough to join the FJC yet?" my supervisor asked me.
"I'm only sixteen."
"A couple more years then huh?  Don't worry, it will go faster than you think."
The FJCs, also known as the Cadets or, as we called them, the SJs.  Strate Juniors.  It was all a lot of nonsense really, they didn't do anything.  They marched around and got shiny new uniforms and went around with their backs straight and their chins high and did absolutely nothing of any importance.  They just learned how to march pretty and how to take orders and be subservient.  Once in a while they would perform a public service, like cleaning up the street or the park, but mostly they were useless.  And yet, membership in the SJ was mandatory for anyone who hoped to get a government job.  My father never directly mentioned it to me, but we both knew what I turned eighteen I was going to register with the SJs, and spend four years marching around and looking stupid while I attended classes at the university.  It was not something I was looking forward to at all.
"I had a fun time in the FJC," my supervisor said, "made some of my best friends there.  Don't worry though, you'll be eighteen soon enough.  No rush to grow up, right?

Thursday came.  Helen poked me in class.  "Hey, we're still on for tonight, right?"
Of course we were still on.  Nothing could stop me from being still on.  "Yeah.  You're still planning on it, right?"
"I'm looking forward to it," she said with a smile.
And so, I meet her in the hallways after school.  "Well, where do you want to go first?" I asked her.
"I don't know.  What is there?"
"Let's just walk.  We'll find stuff."
In the interest of keeping her entertained, I assumed a tour guide role for the first half hour or so.  "That's the best candy store in Urbae.  That used to be the place to hang out when we were twelve.  I haven't gone there in a long time though.  It's mostly little kids there now."
She listened attentively and politely.  I showed her where our frequent hangouts were.  All the cheap restaurants where teen-agers could afford to eat, all the stores we patronized, all the places not to go.  "Yeah, stay away from there.  It may look cool but nobody under thirty ever goes in there."  We got to Strate Park, and I could not resist telling her the story of our adventure.  She listened spell bound.
"That's incredible Jon.  Did you ever go back?"
"Yeah, we couldn't stay away.  We went back every day for a while.  We still go every once and a while."
"And you've never gotten caught again?"
I shook my head.  "No, no we're a lot smarter about it now.  We don't dare go any farther than the lake and none of the Strates ever goes out by the lake."
"But someone could."  I just shrugged.  "I mean, it's within the realm of possibilities, right?"
"We've been lucky so far."
We stopped in to get a drink at a local hang out.  I continued telling stories.  Helen stopped me.
"Alright, I know who David is.  I don't believe I've met this Icarus fellow."
"I'll try and point him out to you sometime," I said. "This guy is insane though.  You wouldn't believe the things Icarus comes up with."
Not wanting to bore her with my stories, however, I decided to give her a chance to talk.  I asked her about her life in the West, and a stream of stories erupted forth.  She became very animated as she talked about the West.  "I'm not saying Urbae is a bad place Jon, don't misunderstand me.  It's a fine place, at least what I've seen of it.  I loved the West though Jon, I'm sure you would too if you saw it.  I'm going there some day.  I really can't imagine spending the rest of my life here.  As soon as I graduate from the University, I'm going back out West."
We talked a long time.  Afternoon turned into early evening, and then late evening.  "I've really got to get back," Helen said eventually.  "I've got homework to do."
"Yeah, I do too.  Do you want me to walk you home?"
That smile again.  "Why thank you Jon, yes that would be sweet of you."
Once we arrived at her house, she paused by the doorway.  "Do you want to come in?" she asked.
I accepted.  She showed me all around the house.  I met her little sister Cressida, who was ten years old.  I also met her mother, who was in the kitchen making dinner.  Next, we went to meet her dad in the living room, reading the daily newspaper.  He was very friendly, and stood up as I was introduced to him.  "This is Jon," Helen said.  "His father works for the Duke too."
"Is that so?  Well, maybe I know your father Jonathon.  What is his name?"
"Paul."
Helen's dad whistled.  Impressive.  Helen dear, be careful with this boy.  We've got a very important kid in this house right now.  If he gets damaged, we're all in trouble."  I did my best to laugh.
Helen showed me her room.  "Now I’m a little embarrassed," she said as she opened the door, "because I've been here for over a month now and I haven't even finished unpacking yet."  The door opened, and I looked in the room.  It was mostly neat and orderly, except for several boxes stacked in the middle.
"You can come in if you want," she said, walking inside herself.  I followed her in.  It was a nicely decorated room; paintings of flowers and kittens were hung on the wall.
The boxes made me curious.  I went over and lifted the lid of one.  "Do you mind if I look at your stuff?" I asked.
"Knock yourself out."
I peered in.  The box was full of books.  I looked over in another one.  Also filled with books.  "Are these all books?"
"Mmmm Hmmm," she nodded proudly.  "My prize possessions."
"You like to read then, huh?"
"Very much so, yes.  What about you Jon?"
"Yeah, reading's okay."  Whatever she liked, I liked.
I was very cautious not to overstay my welcome.  I knew she had homework to do, and so I left.
A couple days later my father came up to me.  I was at the dinner table, trying to eat and study at the same time.  "How are you doing, Jonathon?"
"Good."  I was trying hard to study, and so did not even look up from my books.
"Good.  Hey, I was talking to someone at work today.  He said you were at his house recently visiting his daughter."
This could get annoying fast, I thought, If he heard about it every time I was over at Helen's house.  "Oh, yeah.  That's Helen probably."
"Really?"  He hovered over me.  He wanted more information, but I didn't feel like this was any of his business.  "Is she a nice girl?"
"Yeah, she's cool."
"How did you meet her?"
The answer was obvious, and my tone of voice reflected my annoyance at being asked an obvious question.  "Dad, we go to school together."
"Oh.  Well, okay."  He was searching for more questions.  "So do you spend a lot of time with this girl then?"
"Not a ton."
"But you think she's pretty cool?"  I really did not appreciate him trying to dig into my romantic life, but I knew that if I kept cool it would blow over soon enough.
"Yeah, she's okay."
At last he gave up.  "Alright, well keep me informed Jonathon."  He gave me a pat on the back, and then left.

News spread fast.  I'm not really sure how he found out about it.  Perhaps Helen had casually mentioned to someone how nice I was to show her around the city.  Perhaps David let it slip that I was interested in Helen.  Nothing ever stays a secret for too long.
Orion confronted me in the hallway one day during break at school.  Around him were several snickering boys, who knew he planned to humiliate me and hoped to get a good laugh out of it.
The boys blocked my way.  Orion stepped forwards.  "Jonny, Jonny, Jonny."  A smile was on his face, but it was not a friendly smile.  It was a smile for him alone.  I hear you've been spending a lot of time with Helen lately."
I backed up, cautious of Orion.  The passage of time had only served to increase his muscles.  He had grown taller too.  He was, without a doubt, the one kid no one else in the school dared mess with.
There was no right answer to his question.  "I might be."
Orion looked around and the other boys grinned.  I was squirming already.  "Now what kind of an answer is that Jonny?  Are you afraid to tell us something?  We hear you two spent all of Thursday afternoon together.  Now that's a lof of time, isn't it Jonny.  You even went to her house?"
"Does this have a point?"
"Calm down Jonny, I just want to talk to you."  I turned to go the other way, and found the circle had expanded to block my path from behind as well.  I was trapped in a circle of boys with Orion and me in the center.  "Do you like her Jonny?  Is our Jonny boy in love?"  The voice had assumed a mocking tone.
"Leave me alone Orion."
"She's not bad looking Jon, not bad at all.  What do you suppose she looks like without her clothes on?  Do you think she's good in bed Jon?  Have you screwed her yet Jonny?  Have you?  I bet you want to."  Orion's tone was dripping with a mocking quality.  The boys were practically rolling with laughter.
"Go screw yourself, Orion."
He tolerated no back talk.  The words were barely out of my mouth when Orion's fist hit my jaw.  I was knocked to the ground.  "You watch it Jon.  I'll tear you apart."  Orion stepped on me as he walked off.  The laughing boys followed.  I rubbed my bruised jaw and stood up and watched him leave before I went back into the crowd.

I talked to Helen every day, but it was about a week since our tour of the city that I asked her out again.  "She seems to be an intelligent girl," David said.  "Take her to that play."
"What play?"
"Boy, you are out of it Jonny.  Angela is playing this week.  It's a classic."
I shook my head.  "I've never heard of it."
"She'll like it Jon, trust me.  She seems like that kind of girl."
I asked her the following day after school.  "Hey, Helen, what are you doing this Friday?"
"No plans yet Jon, why?"
"Well, there's a play in town I'd like to go to, and I'm looking for someone to go with."
"Angela?  Why yes Jon, I want to see that play too.  This Friday?  Yes I'd love to go."
And so we were on.  Friday arrived and after going home initially after school, I biked back to meet her at her house.  I had on some of my nicest clothes.
I knocked on the door.  Her father answered.  "Well, well.  Jonathon.  Come in, come in, just be careful.  If anything happens to you in my house I think I'll be out of a job."  His wide smile let me know he was joking, but there was probably truth behind that joke.  "Helen's still getting ready," he explained to me, before shouting upstairs, "Helen, Jonathon's here."
"Tell him I'll be right down," she shouted back.
He turned to me.  "She'll be right down."
"Okay."
"Would you like a drink?"
"No, I'm fine."
"You know I really enjoy working with your father.  He seems like a man of real integrity."
"I suppose."
"Helen says you're really proud of him."  Had I given that impression?  I didn't mean to.  I was slightly taken aback by it, but no use denying it now.
"Yeah, I think he's pretty cool."
We both heard Helen coming down the stairs and turned to look.  She was dressed very nicely.  A red shirt and black dress pants.  Helen's dad whistled his appreciation.  "My you look nice tonight dear."  She blushed, and knowing that she was embarrassed made me feel uncomfortable as well.  "Well, you kids better get going if you want to catch the show," he said, opening the door for us.
We walked towards the theater.  "I'm really excited about this Jon," she said.  "I've always wanted to see this play.  I read the book when I was younger, and enjoyed every word of it."
"I'm looking forward to it too."
"That was very nice of you to ask me."
"Well I'm glad you came Helen."
We arrived at the theater.  I had already bought the tickets.  They were up high near the back, but I couldn't afford much better, and I'm sure she understood.  We could still tell what was going on.
But what to do next?  Once the play ended and everyone began to disperse, I recommended we go to a coffee house.  She said that was fine, but the play had gone so late that nothing was open.  We walked up and down the brick roads, which were lit by street lamps alone.  In the dimness, we eventually just ended up at the field where my school friends and I competed in sports.
"Do you want to just sit down on the grass for a while?" I suggested.
"Yes that sounds good.  It's too bad nothing was open."
"It's okay.  I don't like the taste of coffee anyway.  I was just looking for something to do."  I sat first on the grassy field, and she did the same.  "It's probably nicer being outside anyway."  I moved my hand and felt the softness of the grass.  I dug my and into the dirt and felt how firm and comfortable it was.  "Feel the ground," I suggested to her.  "Isn't it soft?"
"Oh Jon, look at the stars," she said.  I jerked my head up.  If she was interested in the stars, so was I.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?"
"There are so many of them Jon.  It's incredible."  I gripped the soil with my hand while I gazed upwards.  I felt the dirt run through my hands.  So many grains of dirt too.
It was a quiet moment; a magical moment as we both gazed up at the sky.  She was in wonder.  I felt like I should say something profound.  "What do you to do Helen?"  She looked at me blankly.  "I mean with your life.  What do you want to do with your life?"
"Oh I don't know.  We're a little young to start thinking about that, don't you think?"
"I guess, yeah."  It did not seem to me like we were too young at all, but then my future was already all planned out for me.
She thought for a moment.  "I really don't know.  I mean I like to read," she laughed, "but you can't do that for a living, right?  I enjoy writing."
"Maybe you could write then?"
"Yeah, maybe."  She started to stare off into space as if she were intrigued with the thought, but then shook it off.  "I don't know if I'm good enough though.  I'd like to."
I moved closer to her.  I was sitting right beside her now.  "Your family seems pretty cool."
Smile.  "You like them?"
"What I've seen of them, yeah.  You guys act like you're pretty close."
"I think we are," she laughed nervously.  "I don't know what other families are like though.  I can see them, but you never really know what they're like.  Do you know what I mean?"
I nodded.  Things aren't always what they seem."
"Yes, well put Jon."
I put my arm around her, cautiously at first.  Carefully I observed her reactions.  She did not tense up.  In fact she leaned against me.  I felt her body against mine, the warmth of it surprised me.  I tightened my grip.  I looked over at her, and she was looking up at me.  "Helen I-" I faltered, temporarily over come by nervousness.  I swallowed.  "Helen I think you're a really special girl."
She looked away quickly.  Did her body tense up as well, or was that just my imagination.  My heartbeat quickened.  I was fearful I had ruined everything.  "Was that the wrong thing to say?" I asked, my voice no doubt shaking.
She looked back at me.  I focused on her face, trying to decipher her expression.  What did it mean?  The smile was gone.  The eyes weren't gleaming.  Was she upset?  Was she just serious?  I couldn't tell.  "I don't think so," she said, after a moment of silence.
I leaned towards her.  Her eyes at first opened wide with surprise when my lips met hers, but she did not back away.  Soon, she began to return my kiss.  I felt a softness and tenderness in her lips that had been absent from Phyrria's.
We pulled away at the same time.  I scanned her face again.  What did that expression mean?  Was she happy?  Could she be happy without that smile covering her face?  I was so confused.  "Are you okay?" I asked.  She nodded her head, but she did not convince me.  "What's wrong?"
"Nothing.  Nothing Jon.  I'm okay."  A smile flashed across her lips.
In my nervousness I felt along the ground with my hand.  While keeping my eyes on her I felt the grass.  My hand went deeper, and I got to the dirt, and I tried to grab a handful of it, but this time I did not find loose soil, just well packed dirt.  I dug my fingers in, and a few chunks broke off, but it was not the soft soil I was expecting.  The whole time, my hand acted beside me while I remained focused on her face.  I didn't know what else to do, so I just asked, "May I kiss you again, Helen?"  She answered by putting her lips against mine.