Tom reached his house as the sun rose. He'd be late to school if he didn't hurry.
Opening the big door as quietly as he could, and closing it just as gently, he thought he had made it back in time to be unseen. With just enough time to walk upstairs andâ he then saw Aunt Polly looking at him from the kitchen.
"Forget something, Tom?" She asked. He stared at her, nervousness pulling up through him. "On your way out to school." She elaborated. "Did you forget something?" She asked, walking towards him. Tom smiled.
"Yes, Aunt Polly, I... forgot my bag." Tom said, walking quickly up the creaking stairs.
He changed his clothes and grabbed his bag and went back down, praying she didn't notice. "See you, Aunt Polly."
"Bye, Tom. Say, you just changed your shirt." She said confusedly, and Tom slowed.
"Yeah, I, uh," He faltered for a second, adjusting the shirt, tugging at the bottom of it. "I thought the other one was dirty so I switched it out. See you, Polly." He said quickly, leaving and closing the door behind him before she could notice anything else.
And then he was out and back in the street, walking to school. An elation filled his chest on not getting whipped for staying up and out all night, and on how soon he would be with Becky again. He ran down the streets he had been in a few hours ago, hurrying towards the school building.
He was almost late for class by the time he got there. There was no time to talk to Amy or to talk to Becky, yet. He just got a seat in the back and waited for class to be over.
The minutes were hardly minutes, stretching by. Every second, he thought the time would start passing faster. He thought it might go by in a blur, and he would be freed from this. These moments of staring at heads, seeing everyone either stilled completely or moving ever so often, turning their heads or scooting their chairs or pulling their hair back. Moments of exhaustion and restlessness and absolute, trapping stillness.
He watched the sun's light hitting and moving through the classroom, bright and white-yellow with a more amber edge, glowing into the shadowed room. Tom ignored the stinging exhaustion in his eyes.
The teacher's voice mixed and turned into a hum, a vibrating low noise in Tom's ears, hardly even a voice the longer it went on. It melted into a soothing, stretching, continuing noise. And the minutes went by, looping back to the same moments and feelings of learning and forgetting and waiting for sleep and to leave.
People were talking, Tom noticed. Whispering to each other in one corner of the room. It had overpassed the wave of noise of the teacher's voice, and Tom got out of his trance and looked around. In that one corner, people were packed together. He couldn't really see anyone's faces, but the familiar voices were all whispering and shushing and smiling.
Tom focused on their voices before he got bored, and eventually, that harsh bell started ringing, and they left. Tom packed up quickly, glad it was over. He hurried as best he could-- he needed time to talk to Amy.
Tom rushed out of the classroom, pulling past people and breaking apart groups to get through. He saw Amy with Joe and them, and noticed how most of the school was crowded over here in that one area, surrounding a group of people. It left his mind quickly, though. He just had to get to Amy.
And so he did, moving past and around people and walking faster than others, until he was standing right in front of her. She was talking to a few other people, but their faces were hardly a blur in his head. And she just kept talking, not even looking at him. He only had a few minutes until break was over.
"Amy Lawrence, I need to talk to you." Tom said. Amy had been in the middle of a sentence, and turned to him, the smile in her talking mouth vanishing to a closed, sad line. He didn't even look at anyone besides her.
"Now's not the time, Tom." She looked around, an uncomfortable laugh coming to her face.
"Amy." Tom started running a hand through his hair. "We're talking about this right now. So do you want it to be in front of them or not?" Tom asked, motioning towards the group without looking. Most of the school was over here, and so Amy looked around, a sheepish frown and a redness coming to her face.
She walked quietly away, and Tom followed until they were in a part of the courtyard away from most people.
"What do you want, Tom?" Her voice sounded tired. He was tired, too.
"Why did you tell Becky I kissed you back?" He asked. He hated the words. Saying it even now gave him an aching feeling. Amy just looked down at her shoes, kicking the dirt in wait.
"Amy," Tom sighed. He thought of Huck and thought of the boy from the woods. "Amy, I... I'm sorry. I just need to know. And what I said back at the river was harsh, and I didn't mean to make you feel like..." He paused again, and Amy looked up.
He could see a sad shine in her eyes. Tom glanced away. "I didn't want you to feel bad about it. I was just surprised. I didn't want you to kiss me." He said. He ran a hand through his hair, piecing together words and thoughts. Heat came to his face, his hands, and he continued messing his hair. Thinking of the whole situation made him feel a little sick. "I do love Becky, and... Well, I just wish things came out differently." He said. Amy continued kicking the dirt.
He glanced at her again. "I'm sorry I don't think of you the way you want me to. You've always been just so nice to me and to Becky, and so I thought we had both moved on. But, um, I guess I was wrong." Tom continued, hoping she would say something instead of just standing there; Hoping that bringing this all up wasn't useless; Hoping he fixed things between them.
Amy looked up, and he looked back at her, and they studied each other's faces.
"Tom, I..." Amy's eyes closed for a moment, and she kicked the ground again. "I'm sorry. I should've just minded my own business after you started dating Becky. I--"
"Really?" Becky's voice came from a few yards away.
Tom and Amy looked over, seeing her standing by the tree with her friends, staring at them. Tom's face flushed, and a violent quick buzz set into his stomach.
"Can't you two hang out somewhere other than right in front of my face?" Becky asked angrily. Her hair waved with the movement as she spoke. Tom's mind and heart skidded and he stopped thinking, seeing Becky huff and smooth her dress and quickly turn around, storming away with her friends, radiating that strong, angry feeling she gave off.
Tom took a step, but then Amy's hand came to his arm, pulling him back. She looked at him, and he looked worriedly back.
"I can talk to her for you." Amy said, then skipped and walked and ran in an uneven pattern, trying to catch up with Becky while also not drawing too much attention. Tom watched them both go until they merged through the crowds and they were lost. His body condensed and suffocated with everything that kept happening. At least Amy might help him fix this.
The courtyard filled with noise and with people, all swarming around someone he couldn't see or hear. He headed to Mr. Dobbins' class early, nothing else to do. Hopefully Amy would help him out. All he could do was wait and hope.