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Reluctantly, I sent Azure back to his home on wheels. He seemed just as unwilling, but I knew that I’d need to spend my time wisely if I was going to formulate a plan to keep him in my house. Especially if my mom was willing, we’d need to work together to convince him that it was a good idea.

The rest of the week passed on by with a weird twang. It was like anticipating an apple flavor, seeing a ripe apple, and tasting a chili cheese dip. Completely acceptable, as foods go, but not quite what was expected.

Every morning, Azure would follow me to first period, hurry back over to the math wing for his College Algebra class, and then rush back to meet and escort me to second period. He would then run back to the History hall. It was all rather silly, I thought. Garrett seemed to brood, most of the time. He would escape from the classrooms, both first and second, and have his head down on his desk by the time Azure and I reached the room.

This bothered me, but not enough to interfere. Not that much, yet.

What bothered me more was the revelation that Azure and Garrett shared a PE class, now. How terrible, it was like a setup for some predictable western movie. They were just chomping at the bit, waiting for a shootout. I had Kia on guard duty, because she shared that class with them, but even she couldn’t stop them if they were to go at it in the locker room or something. I had Azure’s word that he wouldn’t instigate any fights, but even that wasn’t really good enough. All through third period, I sat in class and fretted over the two boys that were hundreds of yards away with their fists clenched.

Garrett did not have fifth period lunch, thank goodness. After first and second, I really only had to deal with him during English; Miss July kept him pretty much under control when we were there. When ever he tried to instigate a conversation, she’d call on him with some nonsense question like, “Delaine, what would we refer to John Proctor as, if he were here in modern times?”

“…um, a pimp?” his readiness to answer her inane questions was growing with time. The confidence level was not enough to satisfy the little homunculi in her head.

“Close, but no gold stars, Delaine. Jameson?”

“I believe Proctor would be a man-whore, ma’am?”

“Good job. You can have a gold star.” She mimed peeling a sticker from a sheet, and flicked the imaginary decagon in Chase Jameson’s direction. He played along, grabbing at the object—this was why she liked him, I’d decided.

An exchange like that would leave Garrett mystified for at least a good five minutes, and it was lucky for me that The Crucible left itself wide open for non-sequiturs. I worried for what would happen when we started on The Scarlet Letter…

Azure then scampers over from Sociology, which is only one hall over from English, and we flee from any further interaction with our blonde-haired not-friend. This had to be eating at him, but I was really more concerned with keeping the peace than making friends. Besides, I was having a lot more fun just spending my free time with Azure.

More and more, Azure would slip in little things under his breath. They would range from, “Who needs that, anyway?” to “Libby would snap your neck with a spork,” or even “A Babelfish couldn’t understand the goop that you refer to as ‘words’ that spew from your dysfunctional, disgustingly huge lips.” I figured that he was probably trying out what he was allowed to say, because he could barely keep a straight face with that line about the spork.

“You will live here with us, Azure.”

“I am perfectly alright in my current circumstances. Thank you.” His eyes were closed in frustration, much to my amusement. I couldn’t let myself laugh; it would kill the face of authority that we’d worked to put up against him.

“We have a spare room.”

“I am aware of that.” The eyebrows just kept sinking lower on his smooth forehead…

“You won’t be causing any fuss at all.”

“That isn’t the issue.” That was completely the issue, but there was probably something more to it that he hadn’t told me.

“Isn’t it?”

“No it is not, Miss Amat.” Azure was using titles, now. Intimidating my mother with formalities was as funny as it was futile.

“Please, call me Bernadette. And live here, while you’re at it.”

I stifled a laugh at his expression while he held his own with my mom. She was an absolute beast at catching you off guard.

“I do not understand what your obsession with my living arrangements is, Bernadette, but I assure you that this is not an issue in the least. I will live in my perfectly acceptable Nissan and feed myself from the perfectly acceptable Panda Express down the street. They make a great Orange Chicken, and their steamed rice is a perfectly acceptable consistency.”

“What kind of retard are you?” my mother said in a way that I wish I could learn. It was as if she were handing you a cookie and telling you just exactly which poisons she’d laced it with, but then you decided that you still wanted to eat that cookie, “The nice lady is asking you to please move into your girlfriend’s house and eat for free. You are the least sensible person in the history of teenage boys.”

“Quite a statement.”

“And it’s all true.” It was Mama’s turn to lean back in her chair and look frustrated, but I knew that she was probably just giving Azure a break from bantering. It wasn’t nearly as fun if he didn’t fight back.

I chimed in, hoping for a finishing blow, “Please, Azure? It’d mean the world to me, you know. To have you just meters away, wouldn’t that be nice?”

“It would be, I’m sure,” he added under his breath, “If only you didn’t dream of him, too.”

I heard it, and started to object, but then something strange happened.

“Him? Who’s he talking about, Libby? And you dream of Azure? That’s so cute.” Mama had completely heard Azure’s mutter. God, why do genes have to be inherited at all? Can’t I just have magical super-hearing all on my own?

“Um, Derrick. Sometimes I dream that we’re playing video games. Azure’s usually there, but we team up on him and he loses the game.” Even flustered, the lies flew from my tongue with a grace that my physical movement could never match.

“Derrick then turns on you and we both lose,” Azure completed the fib smoothly, realizing his whispered blunder. My mother had a look on her face of deep thought, and I wondered if she saw through the un-truth.

“That’s the least satisfying dream I’ve ever heard of.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. This guy was jealous, for some reason.”

“Hmm. Well get over yourself, for one, and move in, for two.”

Azure sighed. I could see the breaking point, it was in sight! We’d only need to gang up on him with some super amazing combo, now… I went in for the tease, holding the carrot on the string right in front of him.

“Azure, please live here. You know, I could always invite someone else… but I’d enjoy your company so much more.”

He rolled his eyes, trying not to put a pleased expression on his lovely face. Angels could’ve cried at the injustice. They didn’t, I’m sure, but they certainly could have.

“If I consent, do you promise not to violate me?” He smirked, knowing that this would issue some sort of response from my mother. Maybe he expected some sort of response from me, as well. I never was good at quick replies when they were of an explicit nature.

The response of my mom was as follows: she smiled, kissed me on the forehead, got up and walked toward the doorway of the kitchen and said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do; your brother’s still got virgin eyes, y’know.” Toward the stairs, I heard her speculate, “Well, I guess he does, anyway… I should ask, huh...?”

Blushing furiously, I didn’t even bother to respond. It would’ve been gibberish and I wouldn’t have had the upper hand, regardless of what I said.

“Just so you know,” I whispered with more difficulty than I like to admit, “I doubt I’d violate you.”

“Too bad.” a blush played at his cheeks too, so I didn’t feel a need to be any more embarrassed.

A flash of flaming hair erupted back around the entryway, “Also, clean towels are in the dryer.” The green eye winked at me while the blue one looked at me with a twinge of concern. They both blinked and disappeared back around the corner.

“Thank you very much.” I tried for politeness, but fell short of the bullseye. My verbal catapult probably needed some tweaking for accuracy.

Description
Reluctantly, I sent Azure back to his home on wheels. He seemed just as unwilling, but I knew that I’d need to spend my time wisely if I was going to formulate a plan to keep him in my house. Especially if my mom was willing, we’d need to work together to convince him that it was a good idea.

The rest of the week passed on by with a weird twang. It was like anticipating an apple flavor, seeing a ripe apple, and tasting a chili cheese dip. Completely acceptable, as foods go, but not quite what was expected.

Every morning, Azure would follow me to first period, hurry back over to the math wing for his College Algebra class, and then rush back to meet and escort me to second period. He would then run back to the History hall. It was all rather silly, I thought. Garrett seemed to brood, most of the time. He would escape from the classrooms, both first and second, and have his head down on his desk by the time Azure and I reached the room.

This bothered me, but not enough to interfere. Not that much, yet.

What bothered me more was the revelation that Azure and Garrett shared a PE class, now. How terrible, it was like a setup for some predictable western movie. They were just chomping at the bit, waiting for a shootout. I had Kia on guard duty, because she shared that class with them, but even she couldn’t stop them if they were to go at it in the locker room or something. I had Azure’s word that he wouldn’t instigate any fights, but even that wasn’t really good enough. All through third period, I sat in class and fretted over the two boys that were hundreds of yards away with their fists clenched.

Garrett did not have fifth period lunch, thank goodness. After first and second, I really only had to deal with him during English; Miss July kept him pretty much under control when we were there. When ever he tried to instigate a conversation, she’d call on him with some nonsense question like, “Delaine, what would we refer to John Proctor as, if he were here in modern times?”

“…um, a pimp?” his readiness to answer her inane questions was growing with time. The confidence level was not enough to satisfy the little homunculi in her head.

“Close, but no gold stars, Delaine. Jameson?”

“I believe Proctor would be a man-whore, ma’am?”

“Good job. You can have a gold star.” She mimed peeling a sticker from a sheet, and flicked the imaginary decagon in Chase Jameson’s direction. He played along, grabbing at the object—this was why she liked him, I’d decided.

An exchange like that would leave Garrett mystified for at least a good five minutes, and it was lucky for me that The Crucible left itself wide open for non-sequiturs. I worried for what would happen when we started on The Scarlet Letter…

Azure then scampers over from Sociology, which is only one hall over from English, and we flee from any further interaction with our blonde-haired not-friend. This had to be eating at him, but I was really more concerned with keeping the peace than making friends. Besides, I was having a lot more fun just spending my free time with Azure.

More and more, Azure would slip in little things under his breath. They would range from, “Who needs that, anyway?” to “Libby would snap your neck with a spork,” or even “A Babelfish couldn’t understand the goop that you refer to as ‘words’ that spew from your dysfunctional, disgustingly huge lips.” I figured that he was probably trying out what he was allowed to say, because he could barely keep a straight face with that line about the spork.

“You will live here with us, Azure.”

“I am perfectly alright in my current circumstances. Thank you.” His eyes were closed in frustration, much to my amusement. I couldn’t let myself laugh; it would kill the face of authority that we’d worked to put up against him.

“We have a spare room.”

“I am aware of that.” The eyebrows just kept sinking lower on his smooth forehead…

“You won’t be causing any fuss at all.”

“That isn’t the issue.” That was completely the issue, but there was probably something more to it that he hadn’t told me.

“Isn’t it?”

“No it is not, Miss Amat.” Azure was using titles, now. Intimidating my mother with formalities was as funny as it was futile.

“Please, call me Bernadette. And live here, while you’re at it.”

I stifled a laugh at his expression while he held his own with my mom. She was an absolute beast at catching you off guard.

“I do not understand what your obsession with my living arrangements is, Bernadette, but I assure you that this is not an issue in the least. I will live in my perfectly acceptable Nissan and feed myself from the perfectly acceptable Panda Express down the street. They make a great Orange Chicken, and their steamed rice is a perfectly acceptable consistency.”

“What kind of retard are you?” my mother said in a way that I wish I could learn. It was as if she were handing you a cookie and telling you just exactly which poisons she’d laced it with, but then you decided that you still wanted to eat that cookie, “The nice lady is asking you to please move into your girlfriend’s house and eat for free. You are the least sensible person in the history of teenage boys.”

“Quite a statement.”

“And it’s all true.” It was Mama’s turn to lean back in her chair and look frustrated, but I knew that she was probably just giving Azure a break from bantering. It wasn’t nearly as fun if he didn’t fight back.

I chimed in, hoping for a finishing blow, “Please, Azure? It’d mean the world to me, you know. To have you just meters away, wouldn’t that be nice?”

“It would be, I’m sure,” he added under his breath, “If only you didn’t dream of him, too.”

I heard it, and started to object, but then something strange happened.

“Him? Who’s he talking about, Libby? And you dream of Azure? That’s so cute.” Mama had completely heard Azure’s mutter. God, why do genes have to be inherited at all? Can’t I just have magical super-hearing all on my own?

“Um, Derrick. Sometimes I dream that we’re playing video games. Azure’s usually there, but we team up on him and he loses the game.” Even flustered, the lies flew from my tongue with a grace that my physical movement could never match.

“Derrick then turns on you and we both lose,” Azure completed the fib smoothly, realizing his whispered blunder. My mother had a look on her face of deep thought, and I wondered if she saw through the un-truth.

“That’s the least satisfying dream I’ve ever heard of.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. This guy was jealous, for some reason.”

“Hmm. Well get over yourself, for one, and move in, for two.”

Azure sighed. I could see the breaking point, it was in sight! We’d only need to gang up on him with some super amazing combo, now… I went in for the tease, holding the carrot on the string right in front of him.

“Azure, please live here. You know, I could always invite someone else… but I’d enjoy your company so much more.”

He rolled his eyes, trying not to put a pleased expression on his lovely face. Angels could’ve cried at the injustice. They didn’t, I’m sure, but they certainly could have.

“If I consent, do you promise not to violate me?” He smirked, knowing that this would issue some sort of response from my mother. Maybe he expected some sort of response from me, as well. I never was good at quick replies when they were of an explicit nature.

The response of my mom was as follows: she smiled, kissed me on the forehead, got up and walked toward the doorway of the kitchen and said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do; your brother’s still got virgin eyes, y’know.” Toward the stairs, I heard her speculate, “Well, I guess he does, anyway… I should ask, huh...?”

Blushing furiously, I didn’t even bother to respond. It would’ve been gibberish and I wouldn’t have had the upper hand, regardless of what I said.

“Just so you know,” I whispered with more difficulty than I like to admit, “I doubt I’d violate you.”

“Too bad.” a blush played at his cheeks too, so I didn’t feel a need to be any more embarrassed.

A flash of flaming hair erupted back around the entryway, “Also, clean towels are in the dryer.” The green eye winked at me while the blue one looked at me with a twinge of concern. They both blinked and disappeared back around the corner.

“Thank you very much.” I tried for politeness, but fell short of the bullseye. My verbal catapult probably needed some tweaking for accuracy.