Free Emerge by Lila Felix Page A

breath.  We only had about six weeks left of school.  Was he seriously going to make us do another play? 
                  Mr. Escobar came in and laughed so loud that I ducked my head in response.  He pointed his trigger finger at everyone and imaginary shot them one by one and said “Gotcha” I rolled my eyes.  He told us that for the rest of the semester we could use the period as a study hall. 
                  I made my way to the corner acting like I didn’t know who was already there waiting for me.  I looked up in false horror. 
                  “Hey, you’re in my seat , ” I said.  When did I get so cheeky and brave?
                  He laughed that soul soothing laugh and moved to the next seat. 
                  “I was warming it up for you.”  I smiled at him and laughed back. 
                  He turned his chair so that it was face to face with my desk and touching each other. He raised his hand in the air slowly, pulled back and started again.  He touched my face with the backs of his fingers so gently I barely even felt it. Then he turned his hand to touch my bruise with the pads of his fingers.  They were rough and calloused but felt like heaven, warm heaven. 
                  “Is this why you couldn’t come to school?” 
                  I nodded and he put his hands on the desk and clenched and unclenched them repeatedly. His knee was jerking furiously again. 
                  I let out a breathy , “Stop; it’s ok.” 
                  He shook his head “no” and started up again.  I tentatively reached out and covered his hands with as much of my tiny hands as I could. 
                  He instantly let up and said , “I wanna talk about this later.”
                  I nodded and we sat silently for a few minutes.  He pulled out a notebook and pencil and began to draw.  He had it tilted towards him so I couldn’t see and I squinted my eyes at him in aggravation.  He was drawing something. He just smiled and kept working.  My angry face wasn’t very intimidating apparently. 
                  Minutes ticked by and then he handed me a note on a piece of paper that read:
    Are we going out tonight or not?
    I scribbled back:
    Yes.
     
    He stared at it a minute and then wrote:
    What about your parents?
                  I groaned out loud and he chuckled and I took the pencil back from him and wrote:
    I’m gonna talk to them today when I get home.  Anyway, are you off work today?
                  He responded quickly. 
    Yeah.  I asked for the day off. I have to take my brother to work tonight though. I’m gonna work short shifts on Saturday and Sunday during the day instead.  Then I go back Monday night.  Pick you up at 6:00?
    I remembered I had to work that night and I wrote:
    I have to work until 6:30.  Can you pick me up at 7:30? I need to shower and change.
                  He blushed as he read this and it was the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life.  I wanted to climb over the desk and bite his lower lip.  But I couldn’t imagine what he was blushing at. I gave him a questioning look with my eyebrows slightly furrowing . He started drawing a line on the paper and then showed it to me.  Shower   was underlined. I quickly wrote back:
                                                                          Gutter brain              
      I hid my face with my hands and he laughed nervously as he wrote back to me. 
                                              Ok, I  will see you at 7:30.  Parents?
    I rolled my eyes and went to reply, but the bell rang.
    We moved our desks back in place and I turned back to talk to him. 
                  I looked