not the perfect afternoon, OPEN

[Morgan Archibald]

ONE MORE TALLY MARK IN LIFE

He had failed. For the fifth time in a row, Morgan had failed. The angry red “F” marked in the corner of his most recent Pre-Calculus test mocked him now. The boy sighed and folded the page over, tucking it away into his book. The sleeves of his black, button down shirt were rolled up the elbows, and Morgan sat forward to lean against the picnic table and closed his eyes. He had sought out the shade of this particular oak tree, this particular table. There was nowhere else the young man could be found in the late afternoon.

Numbers had never been his strong point, even if he did have a secret love for the classroom. It was good he didn’t mind learning, that scholarship of his was dependent upon his grades. Pre-Calculus might just be the thing to drown him at the end of the semester. Morgan sighed deeply, opening his eyes and ran a hand through his short hair. He thought of a moment of his sister, quiet Raleigh who sat behind him in that same class. A year younger had she had already surpassed him in most of their classes. Though there had to is one child in the family gifted with brilliance. She just happened to be it.

The boy put a hand down on his black backpack, halfway thinking of getting up and heading back to the dorms for the afternoon. But something stopped him after a moment. Morgan sighed again, rubbing his palms against his jeans. He was restless, not wanting to stay and not wanting to go. It was unlike the boy to feel this way. Why was he letting a bad grade cause him grief? Because he knew it could take a damper at his chances here at Minute Hill?

“Damn…” He murmured, resting his hand in his chin as he gazed out across the grass.

[Erin Lily]

Outfit

Unlike Morgan, Erin was very happy. She had memorized all her lines in Romeo and Juliet, which was a pretty hard feat, seeing at the nurse was one of the big parts. Obviously, it wasn't as big as Juliet, but it was still pretty big. It surprised her that she had gotten the part at all, having only been in two plays with Mr. Ange before, and one of them had been a musical she'd been in the chorus of. Erin was thrilled, of course, since she had been in tons of other plays, but she always had this fear of forgetting her lines on stage.

She walked out onto the front of the building to find it almost deserted, save one good looking boy sitting on the bench over there.

Good looking boy? Well, Erin was not one to go and ignore boys! She skipped over to where he was, to see that he looked pretty darn unhappy. Darnit. Well, Erin was still happy, maybe she could cheer him up. She wondered why he was upset. Maybe it had to do with that paper in his hand. It probably held some sort of bad news. Well, the best was to find out was to ask, which was what Erin did. "Are you okay? You look upset." Erin asked. There, that wasn't too intruding, was it?

[Morgan Archibald]

ONE MORE TALLY MARK IN LIFE

With his mind a million miles away, Morgan might not have even heard the question. But he saw the young brunette approaching before he had heard her. He lifted his chin from his hand, sitting up a little from his spot at the picnic table. There was a smile on her face, a bounce in her step, and for a moment she reminded him of Raleigh. But she was someone he had never spoken to before, maybe seen somewhere about in the halls though Morgan couldn’t place a name with the face.

“Are you okay? You look upset?” The question seemed innocent enough. He watched her for a moment, tilting his head to the side at her unweaving attitude. Morgan hadn’t realized that his bad mood over the grade seemed to radiate to other people. The boy pushed the textbook on the table away from him, almost trying to distance himself from that mocking red grade. It wasn’t like him to be caught in a moment like this.

“Uh, not really.” He told her after a moment, leaning back and trying to give a smile. “Just school, ya know? Not always the most fun.” The boy even offered a chuckle at this. He watched the girl for a moment longer. She looked to be younger than him, her leather boots and mess of bracelets around her thin wrists. Perhaps she was less like his little sister than he had first guessed. Morgan wiped a hand on his own shirt. A black button down, jeans, and a pair of white and black tennis shoes. Typical for him, it hardly ever changed.

There was a moment of silence as Morgan reached for his Calculus book and slipped in into his bag next to him. He looked back to the girl standing in the grass before him. “Or maybe it is just because you are too happy.” There was a tinge of sarcasm in his voice, he hoped she would hear it.

[Erin Lily]

Slightly taken aback by the boy's comment about her being too happy, Erin made an odd looking confused face. Then she realized he was being sarcastic. Typical of Erin not to pick up on that for a sec. She smiled and laughed a little. Maybe that was an inappropriate thing to do, if he didn't turn out to be joking. Erin had terrible judgment about such things. She had terrible judgment in general, actually. She was one of those people who was always told that "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Well, at least she tried to do the right thing.

"Oh, okay then. I'll be depressed," Erin said, making a big obviously fake, frown. That was one of her odd talents, she could frown like than Mr. Yuch from the poison control stickers, only without her tongue sticking out. More seriously, Erin said "Well, sorry school's going bad for you. Oh, and do you mind if I sit with you?" Erin asked. She figured he wouldn't say no, but Erin didn't like to intrude on people, so she always asked if she could sit with them before sitting down.

[Morgan Archibald]

ONE MORE TALLY MARK IN LIFE

Morgan grinned. He had always been told one of his biggest faults was his sarcasm… Sure, it might take a little thought to decide if he was joking at first or not, but he had never been the type of person to outwardly insult a person. He had not been raised that way, it just wasn’t something he could do and still feel alright with himself as a person. Concentration, something he strived to avoid in life.

He founded himself laughing then at her terrible impression of mock depression. Morgan shook his head, reaching up to scratch his neck. “School is always something that has gone bad for me,” he responded in all honesty. He was an intelligent young man, though just not in any of the right areas. When she asked to sit, the boy looked up. “Oh, sure.” Pulling his bag to the side of the picnic table, he made room for her across from him. It wasn’t the first time he had been approached, and honestly, Morgan never minded company. It just felt odd to have it this afternoon, at this time. He hadn’t expected to find someone with nothing better to do than sit at a table and chat with a complete stranger.

That was when he realized he did not even know her name. “I’m sorry,” he told her with a smile. “I’m Morgan. I don’t think I caught your name though.” It was a simple attempt to be friendly.

[Erin Lily]

Erin smiled. Morgan. Wasn't that a girl's name? Oh well. She didn't tease people without reason. Sometimes people thought Erin's name was Aaron, so she could sort of understand. "Erin. Erin Lily," she said. "And that's too bad about your grades," Erin said, sitting down on the bench in the spot Morgan had cleared for her. "What subject is causing you trouble?" Erin asked, curious. Then she quickly added "Or would you rather not say?" so to not sound nosy. That was something hard for Erin to do.

Erin looked at the trees. Their leaves were just starting to turn red. The days were also getting a little cooler. Not enough to need to wear a jacket yet, but a little. Erin couldn't wait for winter, even if it was only late September right now. She imagined this place blanketed with snow. How wonderful would that be! But, sadly, right now it was still early fall, Erin's least favorite season.