Something in the Static

The bell had already rung, but Wyatt and Gary were still the last ones in the room. Mr. Rathgar was at his desk, stacking papers into neat, uneven piles and pretending not to notice them lingering near the door. The rest of the class had emptied out in a rush of laughter and whispered gossip, mostly about that scene.

Wyatt could still feel the heat in her cheeks. Her hands hadn't stopped shaking.

God. They'd almost kissed.

In front of everyone!

Gary adjusted his bag on his shoulder and looked anywhere but at her. "That," he said quietly, "was... mortifying."

Wyatt laughed, soft and melodious. "Mortifying's one word for it. You were really committing to Juliet there. I thought you were gonna—" She made a vague gesture toward her own lips.

Gary groaned. "Don't. I'm trying not to think about it."

"I mean, you leaned in first," she teased.

"I did not!"

"You totally did."

He turned to her, finally meeting her eyes. "You were Romeo. What was I supposed to do? Run offstage?"

Unable to stop herself from being flirtatious, she smirked. "Could've been romantic."

"Wyatt."

"Okay, okay." She bit her lip, trying not to smile. There was something oddly sweet about seeing Gary flustered. It was obvious that she shouldn't tease, that Gary wasn't coping well with the changes that had been imposed on his life, but she couldn't help it. It was intoxicating to see him blush, to see her best friend struggle to keep his eyes off of her cleavage, to hold her body like a lure, drawing him in deeper and deeper until she was ready to pounce.

A silence stretched between them. The sunlight from the hallway made long bars of gold on the floor.

Wyatt shifted her weight. "You notice how Mr. Rathgar keeps calling you Lisa?"

Gary sighed. "Yeah. You heard that too?"

"Kind of hard not to. Mr. Kirkling was doing it yesterday, too."

"I corrected him," Gary said. "He just... It was like he couldn't tell a difference between the two names."

"That's so weird," Wyatt said. "And you noticed nobody even blinked about you reading Juliet? Like it was the most normal thing in the world. You'd think they would have picked me for the girl part," Wyatt hoisted her breasts for her friend to stare at, "considering I've got all the girl parts."

Gary tore his eyes away from Wyatt's chest and looked down at his pink blouse and the pencil skirt brushing against his knees. He gave a half-hearted laugh. "Yeah. Well, maybe considering how I'm dressed, they're having a hard time keeping gender-roles straight."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and pursed her juicy lips. "No one's giving you crap about it, though, right?"

He hesitated, considering. "Actually… not really. Which is weird. Normally I get, you know—” He gestured vaguely. "Comments. Jokes. But lately... people just sort of smile and move on."

She tilted her head. "That's… good? Maybe the universe finally decided to give you a break."

Gary didn't answer right away. "It doesn't feel like a break."

Wyatt looked at him — really looked. The careful way he held himself. The slight distance in his eyes, like he was waiting for reality to shift again at any second. They had been best friends since they were young, and very quickly into their scholastic careers the pair had been on the receiving end of ridicule and cruelty from the 'ruling class' of students. Her transformation seemed to have not only freed her from the ire of the bullies, but also from the lasting effect of their ****. Wyatt's new life had improved in almost every way. She wished Gary could feel the same.

"This change," she began, "has been hard on you. I can see that. But I'll do everything I can to fix you. I don't know how, but we'll figure this out."

"Just me?" Gary locked eyes with her. "What about you?"

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the lockers in the distance. "I'm not sure I want to go back," she admitted to herself. "What was so great about my old life? Nobody's shoving me into lockers, nobody's tripping me in the hallway, nobody's knocking my food tray out of my hands at lunch... to be honest, I kind of like my new life."

"You're going to stay like that?"

"Am I that horrible to look at?" Wyatt struck a pose for her friend. "I thought maybe you'd like to have some eye-candy around."

Gary's face went red again. Wyatt loved it.

Behind them, Mr. Rathgar coughed politely — or maybe it was just to remind them he still existed. Papers shuffled. The clock ticked louder than usual.

"Come on," Gary said. "We should go."

They stepped into the hallway before stopping again, still in view of the classroom. The chatter of other classes echoing faintly in the distance. Everything lately seemed charged, like static before a storm.

"Wyatt?"

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks. For, you know... not making it worse."

She smiled softly. "What, the tragic love scene or the gender confusion?"

"Both."

She laughed — and before she could stop herself, reached out to touch his hand.

Their fingers brushed.

A soundless crack lit up between them — not light exactly, not heat, but something that shimmered in the air like glass fracturing.

They both gasped and jumped back. The hallway lights flickered. A few lockers clanged shut down the hall, even though no one was near them.

When the glow faded, Wyatt's pulse was racing. "Okay," she said, catching her breath. "That… definitely wasn't just static."

Gary looked at her, wide-eyed. "No. But it's something. Maybe it's a clue about how to fix this."

She smiled — a nervous, curious smile. "Guess we're gonna have to figure it out together."

And as they walked away, their hands still tingling, the faintest shimmer lingered in the air behind them, invisible to everyone else — except maybe to someone watching, somewhere just outside of probability.