struggling love

The early morning grass was crunchy with a layer of ice. Regardless of it being early summer, Leanne’s voice came out in floating puddles of fog. “How’d you sleep?” “Not very good” said tom, “I was worried about Jo Dee”. “I know, I was too. It’s been nearly a month since Tim...” “Yeah” neither tom nor Leanne wanted to talk about how Tim had violently died. “You think she’d turn to her friends at a time like this” said tom. Leanne shook her head “I don’t know if she considers us friends anymore. After what you did to Tim, she might hate our guts” “I hope not”. Leanne shivered a little. Tom reached for his jacket, but stopped. When Leanne looked over at tom, he was busily picking something off his jacket. “She was a wreck last time I saw her. Maybe she still is” continued Leanne, remembering when she ran into Jo Dee in the girls bathroom. Her eyes were red and puffy with dark circles, her hair was a mess, and she just looked horrible. “I’ll see if I can track her down at lunch today and see how she’s doing”. Tom nodded. The school bell rang loud and clears in their ears.

“Seen Jo Dee yet?” tom set his lunch sack on the table across from Leanne. “No, I was just about to go look for her, after I eat”. “Sounds like a plan. Last time I heard she hanged out by the girls’ bathroom, with some other girls” Leanne nodded and took a second bite of her apple. “I’m surprised you haven’t run into her more often” stated tom. “Well, I usually use the north restrooms. I’m assuming she hangs out by the south ones”. “Last time I checked” confirmed tom, biting into a sandwich. Leanne finished her apple and rose. “I’m going to go look for Jo Dee; I’ll see you in sixth period and tell you if I find anything out”. “Sounds like a plan” approved tom.

Leanne more than likely wouldn’t have seen Jo Dee had she not caught sight of Jo Dees red hair. She was standing among some other ninth grade girls, looking good as new. Her hair was in a fancy bun, she looked happy and energetic and…. Leanne hesitated to call out to Jo Dee for a moment. There was a look on her face as she laughed at something another girl said, then leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. The other girl now laughed. There was something wrong with Jo Dee, not that she looked unhappy, she appeared quite the opposite, but there was something different about her. “Jo Dee! Hey!” Leanne smiled and waved her hand in the air at Jo Dee. Jo Dee abruptly stopped and looked at Leanne. For a moment no one did anything. Leanne thought she heard someone say “who the hell is she?” After a minute a grin slid onto Jo Dees face. “Leanne” she said, “I haven’t seen you in such a long time. How is tom doing?”. “He’s good. You look great” Leanne smiled. “Yeah, I don’t blame either you or tom for what happened to Tim. now I think I’ve found a real guy. Someone nice, this time” all the girls around Jo Dee sniggered. Leanne shifted her weight a little. Then, out of the blue “you know, you and tom make a really nice couple.” Leanne blinked. “We’re not… I should go, I’ll see you later”. “Ta ta for now, Leanne” all the girls giggled again, Leanne hurried away.

The sound of basketballs slapping the asphalt was almost hypnotic. Six sweaty guys were playing three on three in the hot afternoon sun. Leanne watched the ball intently. She loved basketball.

“Sup Tommy?” said Carlos, a petite Mexican kid who was also in tom’s English class. “Nothing much, I was on my way to talk to Leanne.” Carlos nodded his approval. “Well I wouldn’t want to stop you” said Carlos with a smug grin, walking away towards some other guys trading baseball cards. Tom began to make his way over to Leanne, who was sitting on a bench, but stopped. Six guys were playing three on three, good looking guys. And Leanne was watching. “Hey Leanne, what’s up?” tom jogged up to Leanne and stood in front of her. “Nothing, just watching some basketball”. “So she is watching the guys” thought tom to himself. “Cool, I was just about to go join them you know” tom gestured behind him to the guys playing ball. “But, I thought we were going to talk about Jo Dee” said Leanne. “Oh, yeah, well, we can do that later, cant we?” Leanne nodded, and followed tom to the court, stopping at the sideline. “Hey, can I play?” “Sure” said a big guy, “but we need another person then”. Tom looked around and spotted Carlos, “hey, Carlos, want to play some b-ball?” Carlos nodded and jogged over. “K, you” the big guy pointed to tom, “on Cameron’s team” he pointed to a super tall guy with jet black hair. Carlos was put on a burly looking guy named Jeff’s team, and the ball went flying. Carlos caught it, only for it to be smacked out of his hands a split second later, in the process of which the guy nearly broke one of Carlos’s fingers. The guy dribbled down the court, but was blocked by a massive guy on the other team, and passed to Cameron, who shot it. WHOMP. The ball slammed the backboard and dropped through the net. Now Cameron brought it back to mid court. Everyone moved into action as he poised himself to pass, by the time he was ready, everyone on his team except a lanky blonde kid was blocked, and he was nearest. The ball was passed, and tom caught it, but once again it was taken. This time by the massive guy, who jammed his elbow into toms ribs, knocking the breath out of him. It hurt like heck, but tom could still feel Leanne watching him. He took a deep breathe and ran for the ball again. Someone shot it, and missed, tom was going to get the rebound, but when he was less than a foot away from that beautiful, dirty orange sphere, someone stuck out their arm just low enough, so that it made contact with toms lower ribs, the same place where he’d been elbowed. Tom howled with pain and surprise as he went toppling over the guys arm. Before he knew it he was laying on the asphalt, squinting up at the merciless sun, his lower ribs on fire, and his left leg bending at a bizarre angle.

Tom woke up to florescent lights, and stunning pain. He was laying on something uncomfortable. A cot. He was in the nurses’ office, in the backroom. He was surrounded by posters of the spinal cord, diagrams of the respiratory system, there was even a skull sitting near the sink. “I don’t know his name; he was some really big kid, with brown hair and blue eyes. He stuck his arm out in front of tom, and tom sort of fell over his arm; he was going to fast to stop. Is he going to be okay Miss Patricia?” Miss Patricia was the nurse; Leanne was talking to her in the front room of the office. “Yes, but he broke his leg horribly, the worst case I’ve ever seen, and cracked three of his lower ribs. If we find the culprit, he’ll certainly be expelled. This is absolutely terrible!” a minute later Leanne walked in with miss Patricia. “Oh tom, you’re awake dear, I’ve called your parents, they’re on their way” tom nodded. “I feel kind of drowsy”. “Yes, you should, I gave you some pain killers, you passed out because you were in so much pain”. Leanne smiled down at tom, concern in her expression. “It really doesn’t hurt that bad” said tom. “Well, you’re still definitely going to get a cast, and I’m sure the doctor will do something about those ribs of yours. Anyways, your parents should be here in a couple minutes” the nurse laughed a little “meanwhile, Leanne has been worried sick about you.” tom tried not to smile too much, Leanne turned pink. Everyone suddenly jumped as there was a loud gagging sound in the front office. “Oh dear, that must be jimmy, he’s been getting sick all week” Miss Patricia hurried out.

“Oh, Thomas!” a petite brunette lady scurried to toms side. “How are you feeling honey?” “Alright, I’m fine… but as my death wish, could I get up at nine on Mondays instead of seven?” tom added with a sly grin. “Pfft” Mrs. Leroy turned to face the nurse. “He’s fine. What happened?”. “Joined in a game of basket ball to make it short. According to Leanne here, all the other guys were a lot bigger and played a little too rough” tom closed his eyes as if he was resting, could feel his face getting hot. “Three cracked ribs, and his leg’s broken”. “Three?!” “That’s right, tres”. “And you said he broke his leg?” Mrs. Leroy turned back to tom before the nurse could answer, and nearly fainted. Tom’s leg was bent beyond belief. Miss Patricia clucked quietly and walked out of the room only to return with an old wheel chair. A few minutes later they had tom loaded into it, and his mother started pushing him out the door. “Wait” said tom “isn’t Leanne coming?” “No dear” Maggie Leroy laughed a little, “Leanne has to get back to class”. “Oh no she’s not” intervened Miss Patricia,”she’s going home. I don’t want her getting stressed out over tom at school, I’m calling her mother”. “But, my mothers at work” interjected Leanne. “I have a much better idea” stated Mrs. Leroy, “why doesn’t Leanne come with me and tom, if that’s alright with Leanne of course. It’ll just take a second to call her mother and confirm it.

Maggie Leroy whipped out her cell phone, punched in a few numbers, and in less than two minutes flat it had been agreed that Leanne would go with the Leroy’s.

As Leanne rolled tom up the walkway to the hospital, his second favorite person at that moment was probably Nurse Patricia. “Hey Leanne” “yeah” “what’s your favorite color?” “I dunno” Leanne said absentmindedly. “Why?” toms’ wheel chair went over a crack in the pavement. “No reason” “well, I guess it’s purple. It reminds me of a field of lavender”

Mrs. Leroy sat on an old ripped up sofa next to Leanne, nervously drumming her fingers. “Don’t worry Mrs.’s Leroy, tom will be fine. I’m sure you’ll take great care of him” Mrs. Leroy stopped drumming her fingers and smiled vaguely at Leanne. “Thank you. You are truly one of toms’ nicest friends”. At that moment a door opened, and out hobbled a patched up tom, sporting crutches with ugly yellow foam handles, and a new purple cast. “We did what we could about his two ribs, and his leg should be fine in about two months. We’ll call you if we need you to bring him back in” with a nod, the doctor went back through the door. Tom hobbled over to the old couch with some apparent difficulty. With even more trouble, he bent over and began to rummage through his backpack, which Mrs. Leroy had been carrying around. Tom pulled out a sharpie.

Tom looked at the clock on his nightstand. It read 8:35. He shuffled some papers, put them down, picked some lint off his shirt, itched his ear, looked around, and looked another time at one of the two signatures on his cast, which felt like a million tons. Right where his toe was, in plain black writing it said:

Tom-

Hope u feel better, know u will, lots of love,

Leanne

“Feel any better?” asked Leanne, pushing tom up the walkway to the school. “Yeah, a lot actually, thanks for asking”. “How’s your mom by the way? I hope she wasn’t too worried” “you know how moms are” laughed tom. The melancholy ring of the school bell started another day, and Leanne and tom took their usual seats in Mr. Jacobs’s science class. Everything was usual. Mr. Jacobs got to class ten minutes late, walked in, either didn’t notice the rude drawings on the board or didn’t care, set his briefcase down, spilled coffee on his tie, wiped himself off, then sat down and explained the day’s goals and labs.

What was unusual though, very unusual, was that Jo Dee sat with them. “Do you think he’ll even come today?” Leanne dodged a paper airplane. “I hope so- things are getting a little out of”. “Hey guys, mind if I sit with you?” it was definitely Jo Dee speaking, but it wasn’t Jo Dee in a way they knew. She just sounded different. “Sure” “definitely” tom and Leanne assured Jo Dee of their approval. Leanne pulled out the chair on her right side and smiled up at Jo Dee. Tom noticed how the way she’d put up her hair showed off her face more. Jo Dee frowned for a second, before she realized tom was watching. “Oh, Leanne, I’m sorry, but I just can’t see the board that well unless I’m sort of…in the middle, of the room. You know how Mr. Jacobs writes so small. “K, sure thing” Leanne switched spot with Jo Dee. Tom looked blankly at his desk. Leanne gazed intently at a paper. Jo Dee smiled.

“Ahem, now children, please get out your measuring tools and some writing utensils. There was a harmony of clicking and clattering as the youth of Mr. Jacobs cluster science class pulled out rulers, pencils, pens, and what not. Tom pulled out his scale from the desk and fished a pencil out of his backpack. Leanne pulled out a green pencil with a picture of a stone structure. “What’s that?” asked tom, pointing to Leanne’s pencil. “It’s Stonehenge. I got it when I went to London a couple of years ago. It’s my favorite pencil”. “That’s awesome”. “By the way, how’s your arm doing?” “Its good” said tom, “just really itchy. “Oh, don’t worry tom, I’ve had a cast before, I know just what to do” cooed Jo Dee. Neither tom nor Leanne had time to turn before Jo Dee snatched Leanne’s Stonehenge pencil out of her hand and poked it down toms cast. Leanne stared blankly at the pencil protruding from toms cast, so did tom. “Yeah, you just stick a pencil down the cast and use that to scratch”. Tom carefully drew out Leanne’s pencil, which was now covered with flakes of dead skin and chips of cast plaster wet with sweat. Jo Dee was to busy scribbling something in her science notebook to pay any more attention to tom, who was having the first awkward moment he’d ever had with Leanne since he’d met her. “Leanne, I’m sorry, she shouldn’t have-““oh, no tom, its fine”. “Excuse me, will the two love birds in the front middle row please be quiet, so as not to disrupt the other students who are working so hard, such as Jo Dee there. Tom and Leanne looked up. “Sorry Mr. Jacobs” “sorry sir”. Jo Dee frowned and glared down at her paper filled with tic-tac-to grids. She was the o; Leanne was soon to become the ex.

“Tom really, it’s fine, it was just a pencil” assured Leanne for the fifth time in four blocks. “Besides, they only make them in London, you couldn’t possibly get one”. “Then I’ll find a better one!” declared tom. He wrinkled his nose “do you smell something burning?” Leanne realized that she subconsciously had for the past 15 seconds or so. “Yeah. Tom is your mom home?”. “Oh yeah” began tom, “she’s just baking-“no more need be said. Leanne raced tom up the driveway and into the kitchen, which was thick with smoke. “Mom” tom choked, “what happened? Is something on fire?” Mrs. Leroy had been hurriedly opening windows, but now stopped. “Oh, Thomas, don’t worry dear, I’m just making you some cookies” she said, flapping her hands frantically. “Mrs. Leroy, where are the cookies now?” Leanne sniffled, she was allergic to smoke. “They’re in the oven” Leanne grabbed some pot holders off the counter, opened the oven, releasing a phantom of smoke, and pulled out the tray.

“I couldn’t have been gone for more than a few minutes” Mrs. Leroy stated, “the timer didn’t beep”. “Mom, the timer wasn’t on”. Mrs. Leroy looked distraughtly at her batch of cookies, which really looked more like volcanic rocks. “I’m sorry Thomas; I just wanted you and Leanne to come home to a nice batch of cookies. I was making chocolate chip, the kind that came with the dough pre-made” Mrs. Leroy straightened out the covering on a sofa arm. “You know Mrs. Leroy; my grandma had a great recipe for chocolate cookies, made from scratch. I memorized it when she passed away. Maybe I could help you make some more cookies?” Mrs. Leroy’s eyes brightened, and she sat up a bit. “Leanne, that would be wonderful. Thomas can do his homework out here on the coffee table, while you and I bake a new batch”

The smell of melted chocolate and soft cooked dough wafted from the kitchen, along with the sounds of laughter. Tom was almost jealous of Leanne. She and his mother seemed to be having loads of fun, while he was stuck on a math problem. Tom laughed at himself, then erased his work and started over again. Not much time passed before a magnificent looking plate of cookies arrived. Mrs. Leroy placed them on the coffee table and took a seat in a comfy arm chair. “How’s your homework going?” inquired Mrs. Leroy brightly. Tom shook his head and tapped his pencil on the piece of math homework. “Cant seem to nail this one problem”. Mrs. Leroy nodded and chuckled. “Leanne here was just telling me the funniest thing…”

“So do you get it now?” “Yeah, I think I do” said tom, taking another bite of his cookie. Leanne smiled. “What?” asked tom, starting to smile as well. Leanne took the cookie out of toms’ hand. “You need to focus tom. There’s a quiz in math in two days. Mr. Smith spent half the period talking about it today. Don’t you remember?” he didn’t. He was one of the best students on campus, but that day he wasn’t thinking about Mr. Smith. Tom nodded. “Well, that’s a start” said Leanne, laughing. Leanne fed a bite of the cookie to tom, who nearly melted like the chocolate chips.

“Thanks for signing my cast Leanne” said tom. “No problem” Leanne moved one of her pieces a space to the right. “I really appreciate the note” tom stopped to contemplate what his next move would be in this rousing game of Chinese checkers. He spotted a move that would give him a good advantage of at least five moves if he hopped one of leanness pieces to the right. “My pleasure” Leanne smiled, tom caught a glimpse of her eyes. Big brown sparkly eyes. Tom, grinning like an idiot, moved one of his pieces to the left. “What did you do that for?” laughed Leanne “you could’ve won if you’d moved that to the right” Leanne shook her head and won the game with a final move. “Go again?” “Sure” they reset the board and launched into another game. “This is what? The 11th game?” questioned tom. “Yeah, it seems we’ve been playing for an eternity” tom thought about spending an eternity with Leanne. He wondered what he’d have to give to spend 2 eternities with her. “Tom, it’s your move”