-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
de of the table, instead. It also didn t change how surprised I was when he
passed behind me, and suddenly seated himself in my offered chair, pushing
his bag under the table in the process.
And... I stared at him. Couldn t think of much else to do, really. If I had
a crush on this guy, it seemed to be a bad one, because I found the way th
at he neatly laced his fingers together on the table and stared straight ah
ead quite fascinating. When I did look away I caught Haily regarding me inq
uisitively. It was a lot like the look I got from Caleb, right before he as
ked if someone was bothering me. I shrugged at Haily, and she turned back a
round, her long brunette braid falling over the back of her seat. I looked
at Milo again. Mrs. Bates was talking again, but I could have cared less ab
out what she was saying because now Milo was moving, and I was enthralled i
n the way that he was scooting back his chair and leaning down, his long, t
oned arms reaching into his backpack. Even under the unflattering fluoresce
nt lights his tanned skin had an appealing glow to it. I watched him retrie
ve an orange notebook and a ballpoint blue pen before he paused, turned his
head, and caught me watching him. He met my eyes for a brief moment before
he continued sitting up, placing his materials on the table in front of hi
m, which made me remember that Mrs. Bates had requested a piece of notebook
paper and pencil for the game she wanted us to play. Tearing my attention
from Milo, I reached to get mine, aware of the way that he was throwing sid
eways glances in my direction every so often.
I didn t sign up for this class, he suddenly whispered, somewhat defensiv
ely, and as I placed my sheet of paper and a pencil on the table I actually
wanted to clap my hands because Milo Trust was initiating conversation wit
h me.
I don t think most of us did, I replied. He gave a slight nod, and holding
his pen in his hand he looked straight ahead, focusing on Mrs. Bates. I th
ought you went to Stratfort, I said after a few moments of deciding that I
once again wanted to keep up conversation. What are you doing here?
I wanted to try public school.
Oh. Do you like it so far? I asked him.
He looked at me then, and seemed to consider his answer. No, he said genu
inely, and I found myself grinning at him. For a very brief moment, I could
have sworn that I saw a very faint smile on the corner of his full mouth b
efore he turned his attention back to Mrs. Bates as she began to talk again
, and I was forced to do the same because she was explaining what she wante
d us to do. It sounded more like an assignment than a game to me.
Mrs. Bates began by explaining what a large responsibility it was to have a
baby, and I felt sorry for the two mothers-to-be when she seemed to be dir
ecting her speech towards them a few times. She began to explain that besid
es caring for a child, there were several things a new parent needed to hav
e before they even thought about bringing home a baby, and we were to write
down everything that we thought belonged on that list of items over the ne
xt fifteen minutes.
No talking, please, Mrs. Bates had said, and then we began.
I only found it mildly distracting with Milo right next to me, scratching a
way at his paper. Like me, the other guys at the table seemed to be having
a hard time knowing where to begin. I had no idea what a baby needed. But t
hen as I thought about visiting Uncle Ray s family, and my cousin Jay, seve
ral things came to mind and before I knew it, I had a decent list, includin
g bedding and towels, because I remember my mother giving that kind of stuf
f to my Aunt Patty for her baby shower.
When our time was up, Mrs. Bates went on to talk about how it took two peop
le to make a baby, and how in an ideal world two people would take care of
the baby. She instructed us to put our pencils away and split up into pairs
with our lists. The idea was to see if two lists combined would be enough
to take care of a baby. Haily turned around after the instruction, her obvi
ous choice in partner being me, but once again Mrs. Bates separated the gir
ls from the boys by instructing us to choose a partner from our own table.
I quickly looked at Milo, and he surprised me again by sliding his paper ov
er without me even having to ask him to be my partner. I exchanged lists wi
th him, and found myself staring down at his handwriting, which looked as b
eautiful as his paintings to me.
Mrs. Bates next instruction was for us to go around the room and read our
combined lists. This took a while, because after each group read she expla
ined what they were missing and why it was so important, constantly reiter
ating that no one present was ready to take home a real baby. I did the re
ading when she reached Milo and me, and we managed to impress her. Milo wa
s the only one in the room who d come up with things on his list like a go
od paying job, college savings, and safety equipment for around the house.
I came up with a nanny. Mrs. Bates looked nicely impressed by the time I
was finished reading.
Very good, boys, she commented. It looks like all your baby is missing is
diapers.
Milo and I exchanged glances, and I watched him roll his eyes.
Our baby doesn t have diapers, I told him.
He smirked. I m sure you have a few favorite shirts hanging around.
For the rest of the class, Mrs. Bates mostly talked, and we started to read
the first chapter of our Introduction to Childcare books. I didn t talk to M
ilo, but I did find myself comfortable in his presence, and once again I won
dered about him, and hoped that by the time class was over he wouldn t be as
king me why I was sitting next to him.
He went to my school. This was a situation that I hadn t quite imagined. An
d now that I had a class with him, it meant that I d get to talk to him. I
didn t exactly have a good track record when it came to talking to him. All
of our conversations seemed to end badly, and I was hoping to change that.
I thought about what Chad had told me to do. Really introduce myself to Mi
lo. Let him know that I wasn t a complete asshole. Of course, in order to d
o this I d need a reasonable amount of cooperation from him.
I decided to say something to him after the bell rang, and everyone began to
gather up their things as Mrs. Bates instructed us to read the first chapter
in our books overnight. He had his backpack in his lap, and was zipping it up
when I turned to him.
Hey, I said, and he lifted his eyes long enough to let me know I had his att
ention. Listen, I know we haven t exactly gotten off on the right foot...
Don t bother doing that, he cut me off, but I refused to be discouraged. I
smiled at him instead.
I m Nelson, I continued. And I like the way you paint.
Milo cocked his head at me, looking somewhat amused, but said nothing as I
stood up and went to meet Haily so we could walk out to the parking lot t
ogether.
......................................
Parenting quickly became my favorite class of the day. From the moment I st
epped foot in the school, I looked forward to getting there all day long. M
ilo was in that class with me. We didn t exactly talk. It became very clear
very quickly that Mrs. Bates was a lecturer who didn t want boys socializi [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- matkadziecka.xlx.pl