It took him a while to regain focus, to realize that Kylee was there with her arms around him. Bill, Ryan, Jamie and Michelle were there too. Theo realized that these were the only people left for him in this new world. They were his friends and they were his family too. He reminded himself of his promises to Mark. That saddened him but anchored his concentration and strengthened his resolve at the same time. Theo reached for Kylee’s hand. He panned the room, looking at his friends. “Guys, I think it’s time to go.”
Chapter 11
The residents of Atlantic Island had grown all too accustomed to burying lost loved ones. Though Theo and his friends tried as best they could to make time and space for mourning Mark’s passing, the forces of necessity and order pushed them back to work and school. They attended a small ceremony for Mark as his body, wrapped in a sheet, was placed on some kind of a hastily constructed floating platform and set adrift off the north end of the island.
Bill and Jamie sat on opposite ends of the line formed by the group of teens. Theo knew that Mark’s death had made them ashamed of the growing feelings they had shared. He wished there was something he could do to bring them together. He knew they needed each other if they hoped to come to terms with their shared loss and move forward.
Theo waited until a few days after the funeral to take Bill aside. Something in his face must have signaled his intent because Bill backed up a few steps. “Don’t start on me man, I can’t take it right now.”
“Bill,” said Theo, “I’m not going to push you into anything. I know how you feel about Jamie and I know how you felt about Mark. I see what’s going on and I’m telling you, it’s no good for you or her.”
“I can’t feel right about this! I can’t feel right about anything. Every time she crosses my mind or I see her I think about how close we were getting while Mark was dying in a goddamned hospital bed! I was wrong, Theo. Wrong and awful to my friend.”
“Not one person would say you were wrong, or that you’ve done anything to disrespect Mark. You stood by him to the very end and so did Jamie. If you were telling me that there was no feeling left between the two of you, if you didn’t want her… maybe I’d say that’s fine. But that’s not how it is and you know it. The two of you are choosing to avoid each other. You’re running and hiding from your guilt and I’m telling you, it’s crap.”
Bill’s face turned red. He was getting angry. “How can you say that? How can you say that me even thinking about a girl when Mark is floating in the ocean isn’t disrespecting him? Let alone the girl he wanted when all of this happened to begin with!”
“I know you’re getting pissed at me,” Theo said, choosing his words carefully. “Like I said, I’m not going to push you. I just want you to realize two things: one, we all need each other, whether it’s friendship or love or whatever. Nothing about this life here is easy or simple and we need to all be together in this. Two, I knew Mark almost as well as you and I am telling you he would want you to be happy. Jamie makes you happy Bill. You don’t have to run to her this second, but think about it. Making a conscious choice to run away from her is not going to help anybody.”
As Theo spoke, Bill had tightened his fists and Theo thought there was a reasonable chance that his friend was going to take a swing at him. When he finished, he waited cautiously as Bill processed everything he said. Bill’s hands opened and his shoulders slumped, defeated.
“I get it,” he said. “It still doesn’t feel right to me but I get your point. I won’t make a huge effort to stay away from her, okay? But somebody needs to tell Jamie the same thing.”
Theo smiled. “Kylee’s already on it,” he said.
Classes began the next week. Theo wasn’t aware of anyone getting moved up or down a grade, though he knew few people well enough to discuss such things. He was more suspicious than ever that the tests had ulterior purposes, but none were made apparent as the students received class assignments.
Theo noticed that just as the test had neglected history, his schedule did not include any history courses. He could understand that the new country had very little history to draw from. Everybody there could remember the Event of a few months ago and what had transpired since. Still, Theo remembered learning about the ancient Greeks in a class in tenth grade. There was value in learning about those ancient societies and their traditions and customs, or at least he thought there was. It seemed someone had a different idea.
His schedule only contained four courses, held at locations scattered around the school floor of the Palace. Theo had math with Bill and Kylee. Ryan and Michelle were way beyond his level when it came to arithmetic. The class, conducted by a very short man named Mr. Stevens, seemed to be a general overview of Algebra with a bit of Pre-Calculus thrown in for good measure. One hour of Mr. Stevens droning on about two variable equations and Theo longed for the weekend and the feel of a hammer in his hand.
Theo’s wandering mind pondered Mayor Lucas’s offer about the council. He hadn’t spoken to Lucas since he overturned Bill’s sentence, but Theo knew the mayor was keeping tabs on him and his friends. After all, he knew about Mark’s fatal turn before any of the rest of them did, and had even sent them transportation. So where was any notice about the council, or any notice about anything for that matter? Ryan had said they were close to getting a closed circuit television signal up and running, Theo thought. Maybe that would allow the mayor to keep in touch with the citizens.
Theo was startled as the other students stood up and got ready to go. Kylee grabbed his arm. “Rise and shine!” she laughed.
“I didn’t realize it was over,” Theo said.
“No kidding,” said Kylee. “You were in a totally different zone.”
Bill, who seemed to be happier as of late, punched Theo lightly on the arm. “Bro, if I have to sit through this, you gotta be there with me.” He showed Theo his notes, which though written in a nearly illegible scrawl covered most of both sides of the paper. Theo uncomfortably showed them his own paper that only had a few equations scratched out on the top half.
“I’ll get with it next time,” Theo said, “I don’t really know what happened to me.”
“Ah, it’s cool,” said Kylee, “Mr. Stevens is pretty boring.”
“X squared plus Y is verrrrrry interesting,” said Bill in a perfect impression of the teacher’s slow drawl.
“Yeah, well it’s not like they had much to choose from,” Theo said. “They couldn’t exactly put out a hiring bulletin online.”
Theo tried his best to pay attention in his next three classes. He found Physics fascinating and Geology was a subject he hadn’t been exposed to since middle school. His final subject of the day was Government. Theo realized that none of his friends had that on their schedules. He walked all the way down the long hall of classrooms until he found the right room. He was immediately struck by how small the room was. He could only see two armchairs but no desks. Theo looked down at his schedule. He was certain he had confused the room numbers.
“If you’re in the wrong place then so am I,” laughed a voice behind him.
Theo spun in place and saw Mayor Lucas smiling from the doorway.
“Mayor… what are you doing here?”
“I’m your teacher, Theo,” said the mayor, “though I daresay we will be teaching each other.”
Theo tried to smile. “Sir, I don’t understand.”
“We have a few ladies and gentlemen on my advisory council who aren’t as…open, shall we say, as I am to a young man like you being onboard. I decided we could spend this period discussing some things that are crucial to the operation of the island. This way, I help prepare you to hold your own when you join the council, and I give you ample opportunity to express your views and concerns just in case the other members try to steamroll over you.”