The Alchemy of Forever

thoughts, he clears his throat. “ Any way, I knew you were trapped in here, so I come bearing gifts.” He reaches into the bag and pulls out treats: a cupcake, a brownie, and a bottle of sparkling pomegranate soda.
    “Thank you,” I say, sincerely touched that Kailey had someone in her life who would sneak her cupcakes.
    “Sure.” He looks away and fiddles with the shoelaces on his worn sneakers. “It’s no big deal.”
    There’s another long silence, but I make no move to fill it. Experience has taught me that people will always start talking if the gap is long enough, and right now I need as much information as possible.
    “So where did you sneak off to today?” He looks me in the eye.
    “I didn’t sneak off anywhere. I just wasn’t in the mood for school,” I say curtly. “Did anyone ask about me at school? You didn’t say anything about my accident, did you?”
    He tugs at the collar of his button-down shirt, looking stung. “Of course not, Kailey. I promised.”
    I realize I’ve hurt his feelings. “I’m sorry.” I heave a sigh. “I’ve just had a long day.”
    He smiles again, brightening. “Yeah, I suppose a run-in with the law could take it out of you.”
    “You have no idea,” I admit. “Thanks for the cupcake, though. Chocolate is my favorite.”
    “Anytime. I guess I should leave you to your beauty sleep.” He flashes me another smile as he climbs onto the ledge, and I’m struck again by his deep blue eyes and strong jaw. “Oh! I almost forgot.” He jumps back down and picks up Kailey’s iPhone. “I assume you’re not allowed TV. What about phone?”
    “They didn’t mention the phone,” I reply.
    “Fair game, then,” says Noah, tapping on the touch screen. He hands it back to me. “Good night,” he says softly, slipping back out the window. I close and latch it behind him, shutting out the autumn night air, then look to see what he typed into Kailey’s phone.
    He’s opened Words With Friends, the free Scrabble-like application. I tap the icon and see he’s already started a game with me. His first word is “sneak,” the K landing on a double-word square.
    I look at my own letters: ZPJNMNY . No vowels at all. I build off his S , writing “spy,” then sit back down on the bed where he had been sitting. It’s still warm.
    I wonder what Noah and Kailey’s relationship was like—Were they actually friends? I pick up the jewelry box from the floor and return it to the dresser, turning on a lamp. A small framed photo catches my eye—it’s a picture of her and Noah when they were kids, maybe five or six years old. She looks impatient, hands on her little hips, her eyes looking straight at the camera with a challenging glare. I guess she didn’t feel like smiling.

fifteen
     
    Tuesday morning dawns gray and rainy, water coursing down the old wooden windows of the Morgan house. The morning plays out as the previous one did, except Mrs. Morgan is icy toward me and now Bryan makes me sit in the back, not because I’m an invalid, but a “criminal.” Little does he know.
    We drive in silence, listening to Noah’s new Broken Bells album, and arrive in the school parking lot much too soon. I check Kailey’s schedule for the umpteenth time, then get out of the car. Once again Noah jets away, but now that I know they share the same first-period biology class, I wonder why he runs off without his friend. Bryan motions me forward, and we hurry across the parking lot, dodging puddles, their filmy surfaces covered by rainbows from the oil slicks on the asphalt. This time—no doubt on his parents’ instruction—he waits to make sure I’m actually inside the building before he takes off with a quick “See ya.”
    Then I’m on my own. Taking a deep breath, I enter the fray. I’ve seen depictions of modern teen life on TV, but I’ve never actually set foot in a school. My first impression is that it’s noisy, students laughing and jostling, their shouts echoing off the bright white stucco walls of the various buildings. The architecture is an eclectic mix of 1930s to recent styles, and the student body is just as diverse.
    Which way to go? I try to reconcile the physical place with the map I’d studied and take a few hesitant steps to my right. Fat drops of water fall in my eyes from a leak overhead, and I quickly dodge out of the way, swiping at my eyes.
    A couple kids say hello to me, and I wave uneasily in return. I try to walk faster and with confidence,