Cherry

Cherry
Chapter 4
(071219-071221)

St. Andrews was a strict Catholic school in the centre of the city. The attached chapel was used for Friday morning mass and the occasional confessional session for the students. Some of the more devout students went there to pray. Other students were at St. Andrews for its highly respected reputation and due to the hefty price tag that accompanied with such prestige, few students were very devout. At St. Andrews, there were a few things that were established fact.

The smarter you were the lower in the food chain you were. If you were one of the noticeably more intelligent students you were automatically an overachieving loser who made other people look bad. While Autumn certainly was an overachiever she didn't mind being a loser. Being a loser wasn't an issue because a large portion of her free time was spent either studying or catching up on her reading list. In Autumn's honest opinion, being a smart loser now would get her further in life than any amount of prettiness would.

Another established fact was that the more active you were in school sports the more popular you were. Autumn was bad at sport. She had terrible co-ordination and no amount of practice would help her. The only sport she had ever been good at was tennis and that was mostly due to April. April had joined the tennis team a few weeks into high school. Now, suddenly in an infinitely competitive environment, April needed a sparring partner to keep her on her feet. Autumn, who deviated between loving and hating her sister, had complied and they spent every second Sunday at the indoor tennis courts.

The last truly memorable fact that was established at St. Andrews was that the intellects and the losers spent their time in the inner courtyard while the jocks and the sluts occupied the hallways according to sub group. For example, the soccer boys generally hung around in the science corridor while Sarah McKinnon and her group of friends spent their time in the hallway that was near the science corridor and fronted on the courtyard.

The St. Andrews chapel faced the inner courtyard, blocking it in from one side. Three of the main departments surrounded the other sides of the courtyard, successfully blocking it in. The other buildings and classrooms branched out from these departments, weaving out across campus, the inner courtyard forming the centre of the school's social hub.

St. Andrews was undeniably cliquish. It sounded like something out of a bad movie, but it was true. Autumn sat in the courtyard, on one of the small retaining walls that blocked the grassed area from the hallways. Some days she sat with April, her sister coming to join her for lunch. Other days, she sat with Michelle Rider, the girl her human biology seating plan had put her next to. Sometimes she had lunch with the Lucas girls, Stephanie and Elizabeth, the Richards family's neighbours. And other days she ate alone, stretching out under a tree to read until her sister came along to bully her sister and her nerdiness.

The day in question was neither of these. It was unusually warm for winter, the sun high and bright in the sky. Autumn was about to go to the physics lab to tweak her final experiment when she passed the open doors of the chapel. She glanced in by habit and stopped in her tracks. Dominick was alone, sitting on a pew near the front, his head held low and with a long look up the hallway she stepped into the chapel. She didn't want to pry and made her way up the side aisle to the small area where the candles stood.

The candles were lit for loved ones who had passed and while she had forgotten its name, Autumn knew its purpose. Autumn lit a candle for her grandfather before turning to Dominick. He was watching her, his face calm and neutral as she made her way over to him, the heels of her shoes clicking against the tiled floor. She bowed her head as she approached, stopping near his pew.

"Sit." There was an audible slide of cloth against wood as Dominick slid along the pew to make room for her.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she tucked her skirt beneath her, smoothing the top pleats over her knees.

"I'm fine." He answered, fingering the rosary beads in his hands. They were beautiful, finely crafted rosary beads that appeared to be made of a dark red gem that resembled garnets and the beads were joined by a fine filigree chain. He wrapped his fingers around the beads, his blunt nails scraping against the edges.

"Are you alright, really alright?" She asked, resting a hand on his shoulder as he turned his face towards her. Autumn had never seen him look so sad. His eyes weren't as bright as usual and his skin had lost some its colour. He was strangely pallid and he looked like he had leukaemia. His cheeks were sunken and he was pale and forlorn.

"Honestly, no." He answered, his left hand reaching out for Autumn's. He gripped her fingers tightly as he tucked his rosary beads away into his blazer pocket.

"Anything you wanted to talk about?" She offered as she squeezed his hand back. he looked at her, his blues eyes brightening visibly. It had been nearly seven weeks since the Incident in the hallway and nearly two weeks since the Encounter in the library and this was the most contact they had. Immediately after the Encounter on that Wednesday afternoon, Dominick had withdrawn, becoming cold and distant and Autumn had consequently avoided the library like the plague. Dominick was one of the few nice soccer boys and after that day he had snapped and snarled at everyone and Autumn had begun to worry about him.

"My sister." He handed her a picture of him and a girl, his fingers sliding in and out of his breast pocket easily. She was a young girl, about fifteen with long dark hair and pretty, green eyes.

"She's cute." Autumn told him as her fingers slid along the worn corner of the photograph.

"She's sick. Brain tumour. Risky operation. A couple of weeks ago I went to see her at the hospital and we took a walk. She collapsed in the rose garden, the doctor's say not to get our hopes up." He held her hands tighter, his nails digging into her skin painfully.

"How old is she?" Autumn asked, ignoring the pain in her hand.

"Just turned eleven on April Fools Day." He answered thickly and Autumn felt her chest tighten as she watched his Adam's apple convulse, bobbing in his throat as he swallowed repeatedly.

"I'm sorry. I know it may seem hopeless but she'll get better."

"You don't know that. Hell, even the doctor's don't know that."

"All I can say is that sometimes believing is enough. And I'm sorry, I really am."

"I don't know why you're apologising to me. Everything I was ever taught about how to treat a lady flies out the window with you. If I'm not worrying about my sister or shoving information for exams into my head I'm thinking about you."

"Dominick." She passed him the photo back and he slid into his pocket again as he released her fingers to run the pad of his thumb in small concentric circles against her palm.

"I don't know why I think about you, I can't even pinpoint when it started, all I know is that I think about you twenty three per cent of the time. And none of it's clean." He chuckled as his fingers continued their path against her hand. Autumn tried not whimper or shiver, her eyes fluttering as she flushed, trying to ignore the looming alter and tabernacle in front of the pair.

"Some days, your hair's a mess." He said softly causing Autumn's hand to come up and pat at her hair.

"Your hair's a mess and you're naked and golden, wrapped in my sheets. Silk sheets. Blue or maybe green. Bet you look spectacular in green." His eyes were unfocused, his irises glassy as his fingers danced against her skin, moving to her wrist to press against her pulse, his warm fingers rubbing against her veins.

"Other days you're in your uniform, this uniform. Your skirts pushed up to your waist and your shirts unbuttoned and you're school ties wrapped around your eyes."

Autumn pressed her thighs together and she rested her forehead against his shoulder, her heart beating erratically.

"I just realised how inappropriate this conversation is in a church."

"I know." she answered softly.

"Hey Autumn, what are you-" Dominick's question was cut short as the school bell rang out, signalling the end of lunch.

"Come on you two, time for class." One of the school's many nuns’ came out from a door on their side of the chapel and ushered them out to go to class.

Autumn and Dominick stopped just outside the large doors that led into the chapel.

"Well, I'll talk to you later." Dominick set off down the hallway to his locker. Autumn's locker was in the opposite direction and she smiled, her cheeks tightening.

"Yeah, later."

~*~*~*~

Hello my darlings,
Sorry about the wait but Dominick is being a pain in the arse and not talking to me and Autumn is starting to get bitchy.
I WAS on this big massive writing streak but things are slowing down and I can feel writers block creeping up on me again.
Sorry my lovelies.

Love always,
Alice.