The Suburbs

fifteen

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.

[Herman Melville]

• • •

On Monday morning, Isabel was late for class. Kody stared at her empty seat, the teacher's dry voice fading out of focus. He was thinking about Arlo, and about what the two of them shared. They never labelled it, and Kody didn't want to - not yet. All he knew was that he wanted to spend as much time as possible mindlessly gazing into his green gemstone eyes.

Isabel stumbled into the classroom ten minutes late, hastily apologising to the teacher as she erratically pulled her books out of her bag and shook her hair out of her face. "Are you okay?" Kody murmured.

She glanced at him. Her baby blue eyes were tinged red and her cheeks were flushed. She had been crying. "Yeah, I'm fine." She whispered back.

He placed his hand over hers under the table, trying to soothe the trembling of her fingers. He squeezed comfortingly, "Is it about Darya?"

She glared at him, "Can you not say that so loudly please?"

He wasn't sure how his whispered voice could be any quieter, but he didn't question her logic, "Sorry."

"It's not about Darya." She mumbled, starting to make notes absentmindedly. "It's about Christopher."

"Christopher?"

"We broke up."

Kody's lips parted in shock but he tried to conceal his surprised expression, "Oh, Isabel, I'm sorry, I-"

"It's fine." She snapped, her features quickly softening, "I'm sorry. It's hard to be nice right now."

He offered her a soft smile, "You don't have to be nice to me." He promised. "Do you want to talk about it? I can buy you lunch later."

She shook her head, "I-I'm okay." She assured him. "Thanks, Kody."

Isabel kept to herself for the rest of the day. At lunch, Kody sat with Rhea in the canteen - Isabel has disappeared and Christopher was eating with his other friends, seeking comfort somewhere else. Rhea ran off to talk to a teacher the second she had finished her food, leaving Kody alone. His entire friendship group had fallen apart around him, forgetting him, like a past relic of a reality that once existed, left to rot and fade.

He found Arlo studying in the library, his eyes flicking between three different books, seemingly making notes from all of them. "Fancy some company?" Kody offered, falling into the seat opposite him.

Arlo barely glanced up at him before returning to his work, "I'm really busy, Kody. I have an exam tomorrow and two essays due this week."

"Well, can I sit here silently and watch?"

Arlo dropped his pen and stared at the boy incredulously, "If you sit there for long enough I'm gonna get distracted."

"Well, that was the plan."

Arlo sighed, "Do you remember that thing I said about five seconds ago - about how busy I am?"

"Fine. If I leave you alone now and let you get all your work done, can we meet later?"

Arlo shook his head, "I can't. I see my psychiatrist on Mondays." He said apologetically.

"Well, when can I see you?"

"Tomorrow." He promised. "We can do whatever you want."

Kody grinned, an idea surfacing in his mind, "I look forward to it."