LITMIR.BIZ

       PARTICULAR SHADES

      ANOTHER PERFECT CALIFORNIA day. There were plenty of them throughout the year, so many that they were nearly indistinguishable, a string of blessings that were mostly taken for granted, except for when there were three or four chilly days in a row and everyone suddenly longed for perfection again. So when Mr. Patch, Dave and Julia’s AP English teacher, decided to have class outside, it was less an impulse to take advantage of the weather and more of an excuse to allow everyone to waste an hour.

      They were supposed to be working on practice essays, but even Mr. Patch was lying against the tree where most of the seniors gathered for lunch, pretending to keep an eye on things. Some people from class were sitting at the picnic tables near the cafeteria, their notebooks (paper or computer) nowhere to be seen. A handful of people had put in their earphones as soon as they’d stepped outside. Julia and Dave separated themselves from the class immediately, and they laid out at the edge of the soccer field, where a little hill faced out at the blacktop and the rest of the school. Julia was resting her head on Dave’s stomach, her pink hair just as bright as when they dyed it. The weight of her against him was like warmth added to the day. It quieted everything, as if the touch of her head on his stomach was a mute button, and all that existed was the two of them.

      In the days since the hair coloring and the shenanigans with Marroney in the Chili’s bathroom, Julia had been in a fantastic mood. All she wanted to do was plan out the rest of the Nevers, starting with Dave’s prom king campaign. It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement. Yes, he’d sat next to Gretchen during their last two classes together, and walked with her to her next class, even though his was on the other side of school and he’d arrived late. She was fun to talk to, and the more he found out about her, the more colorful she seemed. But this was Julia, and a maybe-crush could not compare.

      Another class joined the unofficial festivities. An art class, judging from the large sketch pads the students carried with them. The teacher was reading a paperback as she walked, smug in her knowledge that if anyone could get away with having their class outside it was the art teacher. Dave spotted Gretchen among the art students, a dark green sketchbook with a pencil in the spiral binding tucked under her arm. She was talking to Joey Planko, a junior soccer player who, from what Dave had heard at the Kapoor party, was already getting scholarship offers. Frankly, he looked like he could receive scholarship offers solely for having muscles. He looked like the human version of a sports car.

      Dave watched them walk across the blacktop, passing in front of where he and Julia were lying. He kept preparing his arm to wave at Gretchen when she noticed him, but her eyes were turned in Joey’s direction. The two of them and a couple of other people made their way across the lush soccer field to the far goal, none of them casting so much as a glance in Dave and Julia’s direction, and Dave was somewhat thankful to not have to explain to Julia his newfound friendship with Gretchen, or whatever it was.

      “Debbie’s been trying to kill the pink spots on her tail. Sometimes I catch her looking at my hair and I can just tell her brain is whirring, making the connection. She’s going to come after me soon.”