Winter

It seemed autumn had finally decided to end. Snow had already lightly dusted the grounds, but more kept falling. The weatherman said we would get at least four inches by tomorrow morning. I wondered if we were going to get a snow day.

I should ask if Chloe wanted to spend the night. If we got lucky and tomorrow was a free day…

Hands in my pockets, I walked down the halls. My destination was a moving target, but she couldn’t escape me; her noise an steadfast beacon.

“Chloe.”

Turning, she had a granola bar wrapper in her mouth as she shuffled things around in her bag. She caught the bar as it fell, giving me a big smile. “Jake.” Letting out a sigh, she pushed things back into her bag and zipped it up.

“Something wrong?”

“Just grabbing lunch,” she said holding up the granola bar victoriously.

“Didn’t pack?” I asked as she grabbed me and pulled me down the hall.

“I overslept.” Her noise rippled with something too quick for me to see. I stopped her, gently pushing her towards the wall. Leaning down, I put my face near hers. She was blushing wildly, eyes darting around. “J-Jake…”

My fingers brushed her cheeks as I searched her features. “You look tired.” I stared at her. “Are you feeling sick?” The back of my hand pressed against her forehead.

“Jeez. I’m not sick,” she said pushing against my chest. “I just haven’t slept that well the past couple days.”

I didn’t let her escape, stepping in close. She was looking around, but I didn’t care if other people saw us. All I could see was her. “How about staying at my place tonight?” I whispered, leaning in closer.

“And just how is that going to help me sleep?”

My fingers ran over her forehead, brushing the hair aside. “Who said anything about helping you sleep?”

Grinning, her finger pressed against my nose pushing my face away. “I need to separate you from Alexis. She is a bad influence on you.”

“I don’t think she’s the bad influence.”

“Are you implying I’m the bad influence?”

“You most definitely are.” I leaned in for a kiss. Her eyes closed as her head tilted slightly. The moment our lips touched a sharp noise cut in.

“Ms. Reed!” We separated and I looked down the hall to see Mr. Palmer moving toward us. Annoyance circled his noise. What caught my attention were the cracks in his noise. “My office. Now,” he ordered, not slowing as he marched past us.

Fear spiked in her noise as she looked up at me. She was doing her best to keep her smile up. “Guess we’ll have to do a rain check on lunch.” She glanced out the window. “Or snow check,” she giggled.

“Chloe,” I said, lightly grabbing her wrist as she went to follow after Mr. Palmer. “Be careful.”

“It’s fine. I’m not doing that stuff anymore. Some people must not have gotten the memo.”

“I don’t like it. His noise—” Her eyes were looking up at mine, patiently waiting for me to continue. “He’s going through withdrawal,” I said trying to keep my voice low. “There is no way of knowing what he’ll do.” Her eyes widened in understanding.

“I’ll be careful,” she said before standing on her toes. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek. With a brave smile, she turned and headed down the hall.