Innocence

Well, she dared him.

           “See you later, masturbator!”

           “After a while, paedophile!”

           His mother, putting the last box away, did hear what he said, and in a movement that was truly a form of ballet, managed to slap him upside the head without dropping a single thing. It was a thing of beauty.

           Had she heard her words?

           Maybe…

           But he looked back at things and did not care. He only looked at the reasons why he was doing this today.

           Why was he always tempting fate like this? It was not the first time he had said something that got him slapped, kicked out of class or even suspended from school. He remembered the brilliant play on a teacher’s name that gave him a clue that he had some sort of talent for insult (Mrs. Gizard never had a chance). The only reason why he had tried it, if he was honest, was to impress a new girl in the class whose hair smelled like strawberries and smiled at him as she walked past him and took her desk at the front of the class.

           This was no different. After five years and several classes where they were split up into different levels, there would be a bigger change coming after the summer was over. He had to take her dare. But there was something that bothered him.

           He wondered sometimes if she would remember her line. They had never rehearsed it, but somehow they always knew what to say to each other at the end of another long day at school.

           “If your mom finds out...”

           “And if your father has a bad daughter...”

           She punched him on the arm and smiled.

           Elementary school had ended for the summer. He knew that in September they would start in different high schools. He was thinking about this, a new backpack, and all of the courses he already had planned on taking once he started. Maybe there would be time to go to the mall this weekend before starting his summer job. Maybe she would be able to pass by the office and see him while he was working (what was she going to do with all that time, really?). Maybe they could find some way to hang together...

           Maybe...

           “Whatcha doing for the summer?”

           Her face turned. “Already told you.”

           He looked at the uneven sidewalk under them as he shifted from foot to foot. Her family was around the corner in new lots down hill; some of the older forest and scrub land would not last with the new homes about to be built. There were a lot of homes on the edge of a brand new park that he used to play in. He remembered when they moved out of his neighbourhood. The new place, his mother tried to argue, would be better for the both of them. But he had a hard time believing what she said as they drove up to their new home. It was amazing to think that anyone needed all that space. It was really strange to think about that; especially when he thought about just the father and his only daughter living nearby. Why did they need so much? It was like a castle, he thought. He never stepped inside their place to see it.

           “Yeah. Vacation time.”

           “Like usual.” She looked down the street toward his place. The townhouses were quieter than usual. Only one argument could be heard from their corner. 

           “I have to work.”

           She kept staring down at his side of the street. “I know.”

           It was a half-day of school, so he knew his mother wanted him back as soon as possible. They were going to clean the place up from top to bottom and he would have to talk about the report card as soon as she saw the percentages. He had done well, but not in the classes she felt were “best for the academic future”. They were going to go back and forth in the car ride out.

           “When I get back, we`re gonna hang out.” She turned and swung her braids at him. “We are gonna do whatever we want before it’s autumn and we don’t see each other again.”

           There was some sort of fruit in her perfume he could smell dancing in the air, something he had not really noticed before. She must have started to put it on just after her birthday. That was two weeks ago and he had been invited. So had some of the other kids in the school who had tried to beat him up, so he knew that he’d give her a card on the walk home and that was it. But again, he did not go into the house. They all met in the backyard and he saw the faces of friends and enemies staring at their hands. At least she got his card.

           “Yeah.”

           “And I owe you for the math stuff. My dad said so. Wouldn’t’ve passed without you.”

           “Right.”

           He realized that they were just standing there, facing the afternoon ahead of them without making any kind of move. His backpack was beginning to strain his back with all of its papers and books. He shrugged it off, setting it on the ground next to him as she put a barrette into her pink gym bag.

           There was something humming in the long grass leading off into the fields.

           “Wait.”

           “What?”

           She felt very loose in his arms. It was a short hug, something that they had not done before.

           It was strawberry; it was definitely strawberries in her hair and skin. He stepped away from and stared.

           “We aren’t going to see each other again. You know that. It’s summer now and we are going to different schools soon and we won’t see each other.”

           “You said...”

           “Yeah, I said a lot of things.” Was she crying? He had never seen her like this before and wanted to do something.

           “Remember what I used to say when we went to classes, when the bell rang?”

           She wiped her face, smiling at him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

           “Really?”

           “Yeah, not with your mom right there. No chance.”

           “Sounds like a challenge.”

           “It is. An official dare.”

           As he bent down to pick up his bag, he turned away, not wanting to hear what he was hearing but to say what he needed to say. It faded with his quick walk, but he sensed her body now, sobbing into the silence around them, wondering why things had to change.

           “See you later...”