Breaking

First Date

It was going to be one of the most important days of his life. The way he saw it, it was going to be one of the most boring.
It was two weeks until graduation, and Mike was not looking forward to it. He was probably one of the only people in his class that felt that way. Everyone else was busy calling relatives and sending out invitations. Not to say that Mike hadn't done all that. It was just that he hadn't really wanted to. His mom had nagged until he had called all of his grandparents and aunts and uncles.
Mike didn't want to graduate. He knew that life started to suck as soon as you got out of school. But he also didn't want to stay in high school. As it was, he only had a few friends and he never had a girlfriend. He really wished he could just disappear.
"Mike, do you know the answer?" his teacher waved a hand in front of his face. Mike snapped out of his reverie.
"Yes, sorry." Mike stared at the teacher. "What was the question?"
"I asked if you knew what it was that happened in the chapter of Dracula you were supposed to read last night."
"Oh, yeah, um..." Mike flipped through his novel. "Dracula bit some people and killed some other people and...um...all of the good guys are still trying to find him and kill him."
His teacher stared down her nose at him. "I'd like to talk to you after class, Mike." She walked to the front of the room. Mike laid the side of his head on his desk and stared across the room.
One of the girls in his class was staring back at him and smiling. Mike blinked and raised his head a few inches. She was very cute. She had long, golden brown hair that reached down to the small of her back. It was pulled back into a pony tail revealing a set of small hoop earrings. He had met her before but couldn't remember her name.
She raised her hand slightly and waved. Mike raised his head further and raised one of his eyebrows. She stifled a giggle. The corner of Mike's mouth turned up in a hint of a smile.
The girl mouthed the words: "Meet me after class."
Mike pointed a thumb at the teacher and shrugged.
"I'll wait." She mouthed.
Mike nodded. He spent the last half of class staring at her and her at him. Eventually, the bell rang. She waved at him again, blew a kiss, and mouthed: "Hurry." Mike watched as she picked up her things and headed out the door.
Grudgingly, he put his stuff in his backpack and headed to the back of the room to talk with his teacher. "Mike, I'm worried about you. You don't seem to be trying anymore. Do you even want to graduate?" Mike tuned out the rest of what she was saying and nodded whenever she asked him something and thought about meeting the girl when he was done here.
"I'd really like to see you start trying to do better," his teacher finished.
Mike nodded. "Can I go? I don't want to be late for my next class," Mike asked.
"Yes, go."
Mike headed out of the class. The girl was waiting just outside the door. She smiled at him as he closed the door. "Hi," she said, "I'm Eliza."
"I'm Mike, but you probably already knew that, what with my getting lectured in front of the class," Mike said nervously. He noticed Eliza was slightly shorter than him.
Eliza giggled. "Yeah, that must've sucked."
"It did. Believe me, it did. But I'm kind of used to it now. Me and studying don't really get along very well. It seems like I've been lectured by almost all of my teachers this semester."
"Maybe I can help you improve your relationship with studying. If you want, you could come over to my house tonight and we could, um, study.
Mike was flabbergasted. After going from never really going on a date to having a girl invite him over to her house, he wasn't sure what to say. "Uhh...sure. That sounds great." Mike nodded stupidly.
Eliza giggled again. She seemed to do that a lot Mike thought. He also thought it was adorable. They both stood for a moment.
"Let me give you my address, Eliza said, opening up her backpack. She pulled out a piece of paper and tore a corner off and wrote on it. "This is my address, and my phone number." She tore off another piece of paper and handed it to him. He held the paper and stared at her. "Are you going to give me yours?"
"Yeah, yeah." Mike scribbled his phone number on the paper and handed it back to her.
"Thanks," Eliza said. She giggled again. Mike smiled. "I'd better get to class."
"Yeah, me too," Mike said.
Eliza giggled once more, turned, and headed down the hall. Mike stood transfixed. He held the paper with her address and phone number tightly in his hand. He looked down at the scrap. Everything was written in pink. Below the numbers was written: 'I'll call you around seven o'clock’ followed by three small hearts.
Mike continued to stare at the paper. He heard the two minute warning bell, and knew he should head to class, but couldn't seem to get his legs to move.
He was pulled out of his trance by a sharp tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Mr. Jensen, the vice principal, staring down his nose at him. "Were you planning on heading to class at all?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was. Um, still am planning on it. Going right now," Mike replied. He waved and headed down the hall. As soon as he was out of sight of the vice principal he started doing a dance as he walked.
He made it to his next class seconds before the final bell rang. "Glad you decided to join us," his teacher said as he sat down at his computer. This was a typing class. The teacher took about ten minutes explaining the lesson. After that, everyone just went at their own pace.
Mike turned on the monitor and the tower and listened to the lesson. They were supposed to type a page and a half of nonsensical sentences. Mike hated these kind of assignments. But he was great at typing. He finished the assignment with fifty minutes left in class.
Mike saved his work to a disk and put it in the assignment bin. He headed back to his computer and logged onto the internet. The school's website had two years worth of school newspapers saved on it. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had seen Eliza in one of the last issues.
He brought up the most recent issue. There was a cover story about the marching band winning their final competition. Mike was proud of that. He was the clarinet section leader. He looked at the picture for the article. It was an overhead view of the band on the field. Mike easily found the small dot that represented him.
He looked through the rest of the issue. Nothing about Eliza. Mike went back to the archive page and pulled up the week before. This one had a huge picture on the front page of a few of the cheerleaders crying and hugging each other. The article for the picture was titled: 'Cheerleading Popularity At All Time Low' and below that: 'Dance Group Isn't Doing Too Well Either'. Mike chuckled. As a member of the marching band, he despised the cheerleaders and dance squad. So any bad news about them was good news to him.
After he read the whole article he searched the rest of the issue but, found nothing about Eliza in it. When he pulled up the issue from three weeks back he was greeted by Eliza smiling at him. Mike blinked and read the caption below the picture. 'Eliza Lewis, a high honor student, has been elected to give the commencement speech at this year's graduation'. Eyebrows raised, Mike began to read the article. It talked about how Eliza had gotten straight A's in all of her classes since junior high. She had been taking college classes since her sophomore year. She was the first chair violin in the school orchestra. She was also first chair flute in wind ensemble, the highest band class. She was also the mellophone section leader in marching band. Mike continued to read about all of her accomplishments, of which there were quite a lot.
Mike stared at the screen with his mouth hanging open. He shook his head slowly. Why on earth was a girl like her wanting to spend time with him? Mike read through the article again, this time making note of how many scholarships she had recieved. There were five mentioned.
Mike pulled the paper with her phone number on it out of his pocket and stared at it in disbelief. How on earth had he forgotten who she was? For that matter, how had he not known she was in marching band with him?
As if he wasn't nervous enough about going over to her house, now he had to add the fact that she was a certified genius to his nerves.
The bell rang. Mike shut down his computer and headed out of the room. School was over for the day, so he started to make his way to his locker.
One of his locker partners already had the locker open. "Hey, what's up, Mike?" he asked.
"Nothing much," Mike lied. "What about you, Jason?"
"Not alot," Jason said, stepping aside so Mike could get in the locker. "Oh, I did get a girl's phone number today."
"Really? Me too," Mike said.
"Who's did you get?" Jason asked.
"Eliza, um, Lewis."
Jason's jaw dropped. "For real?" he asked. "Why on earth would she give you her number?"
Because we're going to meet at her house tonight to do some studying, so we exchanged numbers." Mike was glad to share the news with someone.
"You're going to her house to study?"
"Going to who's house to study?" a voice behind them asked. They both turned to see Bryson, their other locker partner.
"Mike is going to Eliza Lewis's house tonight to study," Jason said, pointing accusingly at Mike.
“Yeah, right, I believe that," Bryson said.
"No, really, he is." Jason looked at Mike. "You really are, right?"
"Yeah, she's gonna call me around seven o'clock. Mike pulled out the paper with her number and address on it and showed his two friends.
Bryson studied the paper for a moment. He then punched Mike in the arm. "Jerk," he said. "Why the heck is she interested in you?"
"I have no idea," Mike said, shrugging. "But, hey, punch Jason. He got a phone number, too."
Bryson punched Jason's arm. "Jerk," he grumbled. "It seems like you get a different girl's number every day."
Jason smiled smuggly. "What, feeling left out Bryson?"
Bryson punched him again. "Yeah, but you've got nothing to brag about. Mike's got all of your girls beaten." He punched Mike again. "Anyway, I gotta get going." He punched both Mike and Jason again before turning and leaving.
"I gotta go too," Jason said. "Gotta get my homework done so I can call today's lucky girl."
"Okay, see ya later," Mike said as he closed the locker and twisted the combination. He and Jason waved at each other and headed off in different directions.
As he headed to his car, Mike began pondering what he was going to say and do when seven o'clock rolled around.

* * *

Mike sat in the front seat of his car, a red Mini Cooper. He drummed nervously on the steering wheel and looked up at Eliza's front door. She had called him promptly at 7:00 and told him it was okay for him to come over.
Mike had been ready to go two hours before she had called. As soon as he had gotten home from school he had run down to his room. He searched through the clutter in his closet, which was full of his parent's high school clothes, and found a nice long sleeved t-shirt with a yin yang on the front. He quickly jumped in and out of the shower and changed into the clean clothes.
He had spent the rest of the remaining time listening to music on his computer and practicing greeting her. When the phone rang at 7:00 he had nearly jumped out of his skin. Slowly, he picked up the reciever. "Hello," he whispered.
"Hi, is Mike there?" Eliza's cheery voice asked.
"Speaking."
"Hi Mike, it's Eliza. My parents have given me the okay to have you come over and study. Is it okay with yours?"
"Um, my parents aren't home," Mike said lamely.
"Oh. When will they be back? Could you call them?"
"Not really. They're on vacation in Italy. For the next three weeks."
Eliza laughed on the other end. "Okay, so I guess you can just come on over then."
"Yeah, I'll be right over."
"I can't wait."
Mike waited for her to hang up on her end before he hung up. He ran out of his room and up the stairs. He grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. He was out of his driveway and halfway down the street before he realized he had forgotten his back pack.
Now he was sitting in her driveway, waiting to get the nerve to go knock on the door. 'Just go up there, idiot' he thought to himself. 'She invited you.'
Finally, he turned off his car, grabbed his back pack, and got out of his car. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his hands shaking. He was especially nervous over the fact that her parents were going to be there.
He reached the door and raised his hand to the doorbell. The door swung open before he could press it. Eliza was standing in the doorway. "Hi," she said softly.
Mike's mouth hung slightly open. Eliza smiled. "Do you want to come in?" Eliza asked. Mike nodded stupidly. Eliza laughed and pulled the door open further. Mike stepped into the entryway.
"Um, do I need to take off my shoes?" Mike asked.
"Only if you want to."
Mike glanced at her feet. She was in her socks. "Yeah, I think I will." He slipped his shoes off.
"Shall we then?" Eliza asked, gesturing up the stairs.
"Um, yeah, sure."
Mike followed her up. "Our computer room is up here," Eliza explained. "But, I think we'll be more comfortable in my room. Besides, I've got my own computer in there if we really need it."
The stairs led into a short hallway. Eliza led Mike to the door at the end of it. Inside the door, the room was covered in green. The bed and walls were pale green. The carpet was dark green. The desk was sage green. There were two mint green Love Sacs on either side of the bed. Mike glanced at Eliza. "I take it you like green?"
Eliza giggled. "Yeah, it reminds me of spring."
"Spring's a good season." Mike paused for a moment. "I guess my room would remind someone of autumn. It's all orange. But not by choice. The people who lived in our house before us didn't really have the best ideas on decorating. Or building for that matter. They built one of our basement walls in the middle of a window. Half of the window is in my room, half is in the bathroom." He glanced at Eliza, who was smiling broadly. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just that I think that's the most I've heard you say at once."
"I guess I was kind of rambling on. Sorry."
"It's fine." Eliza paused. "Did you bring your Dracula book?"
"Yeah, it's right here." Mike swung his backpack around and pulled his book out of it. "Where should we sit?"
"Either on the edge of the bed or on the Love Sacs. You choose."
"How about the sacs? I don't know if your parents would like me sitting on your bed."
"I don't think they'd really care, but, ok, Love Sacs it is." She grabbed one and pulled it over by the other. Have a seat.
Mike sat down on the closest one. "How'd you afford two of these?" he asked.
"My parents bought one each for me and my sister. She's gone off to college and didn't have room in her dorm for her's, so I'm using it until she gets back." She grabbed her book off of the desk and sat down, too.
"What chapter are we on? I haven't really been reading so far."
"Do you even know what's been going on so far?"
"Not really. I haven't really been paying attention in class either."
Eliza smiled. "I'll catch you up, then, okay?"
"Sounds good."
"Okay, in the first chapter..."
Mike paid close attention to her summation of the book. He glanced down at her hands. Her right was resting on top of her book. Her left, the one closest to him, was lying palm up. Something popped into his mind. Did she want him to hold her hand? Probably not. But what if she did? Should he? He decided not to.
He continued to listen to her description. Her eyes seemed to be drifting around his face. She glanced down at her hand. She must want him to hold her hand. He looked at her hand again. She was now drumming her fingers on the Love Sac. That had to be a sure sign. He looked at his own hand. It was resting on his thigh. He didn't want to just reach over and grab her hand. He began to slowly inch his hand towards her's. He realized he was still looking at their hands. Quickly, he brought his eyes back up to her's. She glanced down at his hand.
His finger brushed against her's. She curled her's around the tip of his small finger. He slowly entwined his fingers with her's. She stopped reciting and smiled at him. He smiled back. She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.
She scooted off of her Love Sac and onto his. He moved to give her room. Mike was trembling. He could tell that Eliza was as well. She placed her elbow on the inside of his.
They sat for a moment, neither one talking. Eliza cleared her throat. "Shall we continue?" she asked.
"Um, yeah." Mike replied shakily.
"Okay, we're almost caught up. We just have the last chapter to go over." Eliza cleared her throat once more and continued her explanation.
"Okay, you're caught up," she said after a few minutes. "Now for tonights chapter. Do you remember what chapter we were supposed to read?"
"Um, chapter 11, I think."
"Yeah, it's 11. How do you want to do this. Do you want to switch off reading paragraphs or pages?"
"Let's do pages. It'll be easier."
"Do you want to start?"
"Sure, why not?" Holding his book open in one hand and still holding her's with his other, he began reading.
After they had both read a few pages, Eliza laid her head on Mike's shoulder. He could feel her chest rising when she breathed. He continued reading and rested his head on her's.
In less than half an hour they finished the chapter. Mike set his book down on his lap and began stroking her hand. It occured to him that this would normally be a very uncomfortable position. But right now it was fine.
"Mike, I just thought of something."
"What's that?"
"You said that your parents are going to be in Italy for the next three weeks. But graduation is in two."
Mike nodded. "And..."
"So your parents don't even care that they are going to miss your graduation?"
"No, they care. It's just that they've been planning this trip for a really long time. When they had set a date, graduation was going to be held on the day they got back. But the school decided to push graduation forward a week."
"Do you care that they aren't going to be there?"
"Yeah, but I understand. They've been wanting to go to Italy for a really long time. My grandparents are going to be at graduation to record it though, so I'm not too upset."
"I'm sorry Mike."
"It's not your fault."
"I know, but I'm sorry all the same."
"Thanks," Mike whispered.
Neither one of them spoke for a moment. Finally, Eliza broke the silence. "Shall we finish our homework?"
“Yeah, we probably should do the study sheet for the chapter."
They separated and stood up. Mike went to his backpack and pulled out the assignment, and sat back down on the Love Sac. Eliza joined him.
It took them about ten minutes to finish the worksheet. It was nearing 9:00 when they finished. “So, I guess I should be going, seeing as how we’re done.” Mike said.
“Well, we don’t have school tomorrow so you could stay longer if you wanted to,” Eliza said. “We could watch a movie or something. But only if you want to.”
“I’d love to,” Mike said.
“Great. What would you like to watch?”
“What have you got?”
Eliza led him downstairs to the tv room. Against one wall was a large book case full of movies. “Take your pick,” she said.
“You know, I really don’t care what we watch, why don’t you pick?” Mike asked.
“Okay. Do you mind watching chick flicks?”
“No, not really.”
“Okay, let’s watch this.” She pulled down ‘Ever After’.
“Sounds good.”
“Have a seat.” Eliza pointed to the large couch which was next to the book case. Mike sat down as Eliza put the DVD in the player and turned on the huge tv. She grabbed the remote and sat down next to Mike.
She placed her hand in his and laid her head on his shoulder again. He gently placed his cheek on the top of her head.
About halfway through the movie, Mike noticed that Eliza’s breathing had slowed. He glanced down and noticed that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He tried to make himself as comfortable as he could so that she would keep sleeping and continued to watch the movie.
When it ended, Mike grabbed the remote and turned off the tv. He let Eliza sleep for twenty more minutes before rubbing her cheek with his thumb to wake her. She slowly raised her head and looked at him with groggy eyes. “How long was I asleep?” she asked.
“About an hour and a half. I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful,” Mike said.
Eliza glanced at a clock. “Wow, it’s almost midnight.”
“I should probably be going,” Mike said.
“Yeah, probably. Let me get my shoes and I’ll walk you to your car.”
They both stood up and headed to the front door. Eliza went upstairs to get her shoes while Mike slipped on his. She came back and he opened the door and they both walked outside.
“Wow, you drive a Mini Cooper?” Eliza asked.
“Yeah, it was an early graduation present from my grandpa. He’s very rich. He gave my older brother a motorcycle for his graduation.”
“I love Minis.” Eliza said.
“Same here.”
“Would you like to go do something tomorrow with me?” Eliza asked.
“Like a date?”
“Yeah, a date. I know a great pizza place we could go to.”
“Sounds good. Maybe we could bring another couple with us.”
“Let’s do that. My best friend could bring her boyfriend and come with us.”
“Sounds like a plan. What time should I pick you up?”
“How about noon? Then we can spend the rest of the day together just hanging out.”
“Okay, I’ll be by at noon.”
“Great.” Suddenly, Eliza wrapped her arms around Mike’s waist. Mike’s eyes went wide. He slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. They hugged for a minute before pulling apart.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Eliza asked.
“Yeah, I’ll see you.”
“Goodnight. Thanks for coming over tonight.”
“Goodnight. Thanks for having me over.”
They hugged once more then Eliza walked back to her house. Mike waited to make sure she got inside before climbing into his car. As he drove home he turned his stereo up full blast and sang along with it.
He got home and made sure all the doors were locked before heading down to his room. He knew he should go to sleep but didn’t want to for fear that he would wake up and find that the whole night had been a dream. He turned on his computer and started writing in his online journal. Around three a.m. he fell asleep in his computer chair.

* * *

“I swear, that has to be the most annoying noise in the world,” Mike said as he got out of the chair and trudged over to turn off his alarm. He stood up straight and heard his back pop. “Last time I let myself fall asleep in a chair.” He bent his neck back and forth and popped it as well.
It was only 7:00 in the morning. Mike had forgotten to change his alarm before falling asleep. “Might as well get started with the day,” he told himself.
He got undressed and hopped in the shower. Nobody else was home to use the water so he took a 25 minute shower. The hot water felt good on his back and neck.
When he was dried off and dressed he went upstairs and ate breakfast. “Frosted Flakes, the breakfast of lazy people,” he said. He finished eating and went back downstairs to his computer. It was still running. He read what he had been writing in his journal and laughed. Right before he had fallen asleep he had started writing things like: ‘Me and her likes her a lot”. He sat down and deleted the whole last half of the journal, typed a quick finish, and posted it. His online journal was on a website dedicated to art. People could post drawings and stories and such for other people to see. Mike had a ton of drawings on his page and lots of people were watching his page for more.
Mike spent the next three hours browsing other people’s drawings and posting a few of his own. It was 11:30 when he finished. He stood up and walked back upstairs. He had a few drawings he hadn’t scanned into his computer yet. The scanner was upstairs with his parents computer. He grabbed his backpack and headed into the computer room. It took about half an hour to scan the pictures in.
As he was heading downstairs again, his phone rang. He could hear it but couldn’t remember where he had left it. He ran around his house looking for it and found it in the refrigerator. He picked up. “Hello?”
“Hi Mike, it’s Eliza.”
“Oh, hi.”
“Are you busy?”
“No, not at all. Why?”
“Well, I called my friend and she would like to leave now. Her and her boyfriend are over at my house right now. Do you think you could come over now?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right over.”
“Great, thank you.” Eliza hung up.
Mike quickly ran downstairs and brushed his teeth and ran a brush through his hair. He slipped his shoes on and ran out the door. He grabbed a cd from his case and popped it in as he drove up to her house.
When he arrived he jumped out of his car and ran up to her door. He caught his breath and was about to knock when the door opened. Mike was greeted by Eliza’s smiling face. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi.”
“Come on in. Don’t take off your shoes. We’ll be leaving right away.”
“Sounds good.”
Eliza turned her head towards the stairs. “Krystal ” she called. “Mike is here. Let’s get going.”
“Coming ” came the reply. Mike heard a door open and saw two people walking down the hallway. The girl, who must have been Krystal, had shoulder length, jet black hair. She was wearing a black trench coat over a black t-shirt with a red, dripping heart on it and a black skirt. The guy had short brown hair and was wearing a letterman’s jacket. Mike recognized him as the trumpet section leader in the marching band.
“Mike, this is Krystal and Jeff. Krystal, Jeff, this is Mike.”
“Hey,” Mike said, shaking each of their hands.
“So, Eliza, where is it that we’re going? You said it was the best pizza place ever on the phone.” Krystal asked.
“It’s called California Pizza Kitchen. It’s a twenty minute drive to get there. They make gourmet pizza. It is the best pizza ever. Except for maybe Italian pizza.”
“Then let’s get going,” Krystal said.
They all headed out to Mike’s car. “Nice car,” Krystal and Jeff said in unison.
“Thanks,” Mike said as he opened the passenger side door for Eliza. She climbed in and he closed the door. He climbed in his side and they started off. “You’ll have to direct me, Eliza. I’ve never been to this place.”
“Just get on the freeway and go south. I’ll tell you when to turn off,” Eliza said.
“So, Mike,” Jeff said, “how long have you and Eliza been going out?”
Mike blushed. “Um, We haven’t really been going out. This is our first date,” Mike answered.
Krystal punched Jeff. “I told you that,” she said.
“Sorry,” Jeff said.
The next few minutes of the drive were silent. “I hate being the conversation killer,” Jeff said finally.
“Yeah, well, you do it a lot,” Krystal said.
“I said I was sorry.”
“Look, don’t worry about it,” Eliza said.
“So, Eliza, have you written your speech for graduation yet?” Krystal asked.
“Most of it. I’m still doing some finishing touches,” Eliza answered.
“What are you planning on talking about?” Mike asked.
Eliza explained about her speech for the next little while. “Mike, turn off here,” she said after a while. She continued to give him directions to an underground parking garage. “The restaurant is in this mall, but it’s at the other end. We’ll park here and walk a bit.”
Mike found a parking spot and they all got out and headed to the restaurant. On the way, Eliza’s hand found it's way into Mike’s.

* * *

After lunch the four of them wandered around the mall. “Hey, would you guys like to go see a movie?” Eliza asked. “There’s an IMAX theater in this mall.”
“What would we go see?” Krystal asked.
“That’s up to you.”
“Well, let’s go to the theater and see what’s playing.” Mike said.
“Sounds good. If I remember right, they have a Love Sac room. The front half of the theater is filled with Love Sacs. If we get there early enough we can sit on one of those.”
“Where’s the theater?” Jeff asked.
“On the other side of the mall. Back by the pizza place.”
“Then we’d better hurry,” Mike said. They all took off running towards the theater. Half way there they all stopped and caught their breath. “Maybe we should walk.”
They got to the theater and agreed on what movie to see. The front end of the theater was filled with different sized Love Sacs. “Do you want to sit on one of them?” Eliza asked.
“Sure,” Mike said. They picked a big one near the center and flopped down on it. Mike was laying on his back. Eliza cuddled up next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. Mike placed his arm around her.

* * *

The movie ended and they headed back outside. It was already dark. “Wow, that was a really long movie,” Krystal said.
“It was the extended edition of Return of the King. What did you expect?” Jeff said.
Krystal shrugged. “What time is it?”
Mike pulled out his cell phone. “Almost seven,” he said. “Anybody hungry again?”
“Not really,” Krystal said. “But I am thirsty.”
“Anybody up for an Orange Julius?” Eliza asked.
“Sure,” Krystal said. Mike and Jeff nodded.
“Well, there’s a food court this way.” They all followed Eliza to the second floor of the mall. After they had all gotten their drinks they sat in the court and talked.
“So, Mike, what are you planning to do after high school?” Eliza asked.
“I really don’t know. My parents want me to go straight into college but I don’t think that my grades are good enough to get into any of the schools around here, at least, not if I want to get a scholarship. Most of them call for a pretty high GPA. So I’m probably going to get a job and save up for school. What about you?” Mike asked.
“Well, I’ve gotten a few scholarships. And a few letters from the local universities asking me to come to their school. I’m not really sure which one I want to go to. I want to major in writing, so it’s all a matter of which school has the best writing program. What are you planning on majoring in when you go?”
“I’d like to go into photography, but there’s not many schools that allow a major in that. So I’m probably going to go into writing or graphic arts.”
“Wow, that’s so weird. I’m planning on minoring in graphic arts.”
“You like to draw?”
“Yeah, I’m not very good though.”
“I’d like to see some of your work sometime. Would that be okay?”
“Yeah, but I’d like to see some of your stuff, too.”
Mike had finished his drink and was waiting for the others. “Well, see this hoodie I’m wearing? I designed it. It’s for my brother’s band.” He turned around so she could see the back of his sweater.
“Wow, that’s really good. You really drew that?”
“Yeah, it took me a while. I also did a design for a girl’s shirt for the band.”
“Did you take any drawing classes in high school?”
“A couple. I didn’t really like them. I’m no good at drawing people and that’s mainly what they draw in those classes.”
“Yeah, I’m no good at drawing people either.” Eliza had now finished her drink as had Krystal and Jeff. “You guys ready to go?”
Krystal and Jeff nodded. They all got up and headed back to the garage.
On the ride home Krystal and Jeff cuddled in the back seat. Mike offered his hand to Eliza. She took it and placed it in her lap and stroked it with her fingers.
“Am I taking you and Jeff back to Eliza’s house?” Mike asked Krystal.
“No. Could you drop us off at my house? I’ll tell you how to get there. Just get off on the exit we got on to come here.”
“Okay.” Mike looked over at Eliza. She was watching him and smiling. “What?” Mike asked defensively.
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” Eliza answered. Mike turned his eyes back to the road. The rest of the ride home was quiet. They were all tired and didn’t feel like talking much. When they got off the freeway, Krystal directed Mike to her house and she and Jeff climbed out.
“Thanks for the ride,” Krystal said.
“Yeah, thanks,” Jeff said.
“No problem,” Mike answered.
Krystal and Jeff headed into the house. Mike waited to make sure they got in before driving off. “Am I just taking you home?” he asked Eliza.
“Well, it’s only 8:00. I don’t have to be home until 11:00. Do you want to go to a park or something and take a walk?” Eliza answered.
“Sure. I know a park that is great for walking.”
When they got to the park, Mike opened the passenger door for Eliza and offered her his hand. She took it and they began walking down a path that wound it’s way around a large pond. They continued the conversation they had started earlier in the food court.
“Are you planning on moving out of your parents house after graduation?” Eliza asked.
“Yeah, a couple of my friends and I have already bought an apartment. It’s got a really cheap rent and with three of us staying there it shouldn’t be to hard to afford. What about you? Are you moving out?”
Eliza nodded. “Krystal and I have also bought an apartment. Only, we aren’t paying for all of it. Since neither of us have jobs right now, our parents have helped buy it. When we get do get jobs we’re going to pay the rent by ourselves though. I’m only going to go part time at my job so I can go to school. How did you pay for your apartment?”
“Jason, he’s one of my friends, has a job already and so does Bryson, another friend of mine. I’m the only one who doesn’t yet, but I have an interview next week at my aunt’s company. She designs t-shirts and stuff like that. She says I’m sure to get the job so I’ll be able to pay my part of the rent soon.”
“That’s so cool. You’re getting a job doing something you like. Not many people get to do that without going to college first. And even then it’s not guaranteed.”
“Yeah, I’m really excited.”
They continued to walk and talk for a while. After an while they had made two or three laps around the whole park. Mike checked his cell phone again. “I should probably get you home soon. We’ve been walking for a couple of hours. It’s already 10:30.” Eliza nodded and they headed back to Mike’s car.

* * *

Mike pulled up to Eliza’s house and opened her door for her. Her hand slipped into his and they walked up to her front door. “Thanks for today,” Eliza said. “I had a great time.” She pulled her keys out of her pocket.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you had a good time. We should do this again sometime,” Mike said.
“Definitely.”
They stood for a moment. Eliza was fiddling with her keys. “Well, goodnight,” Eliza finally said. She stared straight into his eyes. Did she want him to kiss her, Mike thought to himself. He decided to go for it. He bent down and kissed her. Eliza wrapped her arms around his neck and held him there. The kiss seemed to go on forever and Mike didn’t want it to end. Finally, Eliza pulled away. “Can I see you tomorrow?” she asked. “You can come over and we can watch a movie or something.”
“Sure. I’ll call you sometime in the afternoon, okay?”
“I’ll be waiting.” She still had her arms around his neck. “I’d better go.”
Mike kissed her once more before she unlocked her door. “Goodnight,” she said as she headed in.
“Goodnight,” he replied. She shut the door behind her.
Mike walked slowly down the walkway back to his car. He had never felt better than he did at that moment.

* * *

The next two weeks were a blur to Mike. He saw Eliza almost every day, either at school or after. They kissed whenever they could. They were constantly holding hands. Whenever they had a chance, Mike would go over to Eliza’s house to study. She helped him with most of his classes and slowly, Mike’s grades came up. The last day of school came and went. There was only three days until graduation. The night before graduation was the all night party for the seniors which was held at one of the local universities.
Mike and Eliza drove up to it together. There weren’t any parking spots left in the school parking lot so Mike parked across the street. They met up with Krystal and Jeff on their way into the school. Later, they ran in to Bryson and Jason. The six of them went bowling at the school’s bowling alley. After that they all sat and watched a hypnotist perform.
“You know this is all fake, right?” Eliza whispered in Mike’s ear. Mike nodded.
“I just like watching people make fools of themselves. Especially the 'cool' people,” Mike whispered back. At the moment, all of the seniors on the football team were frantically running around stuffing foam balls into their pants.
“Yeah, it makes me feel good about myself,” Eliza said.
Later, they were all sitting on couches and talking. It was almost morning. Already, the sky was getting lighter. Everyone was running out of energy. Except for Bryson and Jason who seemed to get more energy the later it got. The two were currently hiding behind couches and throwing pillows at each other.
“I don’t know how your friends do it,” Eliza told Mike.
“I do,” Mike said. “It’s called caffeine. And lot’s of it.”
“What time is it?”
Mike looked behind him at a clock. “It’s almost 6:00.”
“What time is the graduation ceremony?”
“It’s not until 4 in the afternoon.”
“Maybe we should head home. I’d like to get some sleep before I have to give my speech.”
“Yeah, let’s get going.”
They both stood up and headed to the exit. “Hey, Bryson,” Mike yelled. “Eliza and I are heading home. See you later.”
“Traitor ” Bryson yelled as he threw a pillow at Mike’s head.
On the way out Mike and Eliza passed groups of people sleeping on couches. Others were still bowling.
They opened the front doors and stepped outside. The brisk morning air felt good on their cheeks. They could see Mike’s car parked across the street. “Wait here,” Mike told Eliza, “I’ll go get the car and bring it over here.”
“Okay, hurry,” Eliza said.

* * *

Eliza watched as Mike ran down the front steps of the college. She shivered as a small breeze blew through her hair. Mike reached the cross walk and started across the street. Eliza glanced up the street and noticed a car coming towards Mike. The car was going extremely fast and was swerving back and forth. Mike didn’t seem to see it coming. He continued across the street towards his car.
Eliza screamed. Mike turned just as the car hit him. He flipped up over the hood and his head smashed into the windshield, shattering it. He continued over the car and landed on the street behind it. The car sped on down the street.
Eliza ran down the steps, tears streaming down her face. She reached Mike’s body. His legs were both twisted back in unnatural positions. His left arm was clearly shattered in more than one place. His right arm seemed okay but was already beginning to bruise. Mike’s head was bleeding profusely. It seemed to be sunken in on one side. His face was cut up from the broken glass and one of his eyes was torn open. He was missing a few of his teeth.
Eliza kneeled down next to his inert form. She didn’t want to move him for fear of causing further harm. She began screaming, hoping that someone would hear her. Finally, someone came out of the college. It was Bryson. He heard her screaming and saw her kneeling down in the street. He quickly ran over to her. He stopped dead when he saw Mike’s body. “Eliza, what happened here?” he asked.
Eliza tried to tell him what had happened but she was crying to much to form the words.
“I’m going to call the police,” Bryson said.
Eliza didn’t hear him. She was still screaming.
In a few minutes Bryson came over and placed an arm around her shoulders.
They sat in the street until they heard sirens. The paramedics pulled up and jumped out of the ambulance. They tried to ask Eliza what had happened but she was still too hysterical to talk. They asked Bryson, but he didn’t know what had happened.
One of the paramedics brought over a stretcher. They began to move Mike onto it. Eliza screamed at them and tried to stop them. One of them grabbed her and pulled her away. She fought against him as hard as she could but couldn’t get away. “You’re not taking him away from me ” she screamed.
She watched as Mike was laid down on the stretcher and loaded up into the ambulance. Eliza continued to scream. She could hear the paramedic ask her to get into a police car’s front seat. She felt herself being helped up into the seat. She only vaguely remembered the trip to the hospital.

* * *

Eliza sat in the waiting room of the hospital fighting off sleep. She had stopped crying. A nurse was sitting with her. Eliza’s head was resting on the nurses shoulder. The nurse was trying to soothe her. Finally, Eliza drifted off.

* * *

Eliza jolted awake. She was still in the waiting room. The nurse was gone. There was a doctor standing in front of her. “Where is Mike?” she rasped. Her voice was mostly gone from screaming.
“He’s okay for now,” the doctor said. “He’s in his room. Can you explain to me what happened?” The doctor sat down next to her.
Eliza tried to tell him exactly what had happened. She couldn’t remember all of it for some reason. “Can I see him?” she asked.
The doctor nodded. “Follow me.” He led her to an elevator and they got in. As they were going up the doctor explained to her to be careful around Mike. She wasn’t supposed to hug him. “He’s on pain medications right now so he might not be able to comprehend what you’re saying,” he said as they stepped off the elevator. He led her down a long hallway to Mike’s room. “He’s in here.”
Eliza walked into the room. Mike was laying on a bed. He had bandages around his head. There were tubes running in and out of him. His legs were also bandaged. His right arm was resting at his side and his left was propped up in a sling. His right eye was covered in a bandage that was slightly red.
She found a chair and pulled it up next to his bed. He looked over at her with his good eye and smiled as best he could. She saw him open up his right hand. She took it gently in her's and began stroking it. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Like crap,” Mike responded weakly. “Are you okay?”
Eliza nodded. “I am now that you’re okay.”
“Good. I’m sorry about all of this.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“But I’m sorry all the same.”
Eliza smiled.
“Eliza?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
She smiled again. “I love you, too,” she replied. She gently squeezed his hand.
“I just wanted you to know.”
She squeezed his hand again.
“I’m going to take a nap now. Don’t leave, okay?” Mike said groggily.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Eliza responded, but Mike was already asleep.
She sat and watched his chest rising slowly up and down. An hour or two passed. Eliza stared as his chest stopped moving.

* * *

Eliza stood at the podium staring out at the crowd of students and parents. Many of them had had no idea what had happened only hours before. At the beginning of the ceremony the principal had made the announcement of Mike’s accident. The crowd was silent as Eliza had stepped up to the podium.
She now stood there, her speech in hand. She cleared her throat. “Fellow students. Ladies and gentleman...”