Trinity (41)

I push open the bathroom door, still a little dazed. “Sister Bertha was just out there…” I start to say, then stop. What else could I say? She told me to come in here and help? That doesn’t sound true.

But somehow it is.

Pearl’s still crouched next to Henry, whose legs are drawn into his chest, his head resting on his knees. “Crap, she is?” Pearl asks, looking up at me. She stands.

I shake my head. “She’s gone now. Back to the chapel with Katherine.”

Pearl blows out a sigh of relief, then glances past me. “I’m going to get a bottle of water. Stay here. Just talk to him, ok?”

She’s about to step past me, and I suddenly realize how foolish I am, being here. How am I supposed to help? What am I supposed to do? I grab Pearl’s forearm, stopping her. “What do I talk–”

She puts a hand over mine and flashes a small smile. “Have him talk about one thing. Anything. Other than…” she tilts her head at the door. “Her.”

I pull my hand back slowly and nod.

A moment later, I sit next to Henry on the bathroom floor. Which, to be honest, is probably disgusting. I try not to look, just make a mental note to wash this skirt before wearing it again.

Henry’s breathing is rapid and sharp, and he flinches when I say his name.

“Uh, Henry, it’s me. Um.” I look around the bathroom, but find no inspiration. The walls are bland and dingy, the mirrors are scraped and cloudy. I look back at Henry.

“Where is that from?” I ask, pointing at his wrist. A silver chained bracelet hangs from it, plain and charmless. I’ve never noticed him wearing it before, but then again, why would I have?

He takes a few beats to look down at his wrist. He stares at it as if it’s not a part of his body, as if he’s never seen a wrist before. “Jackson gave it to me.”

I’m not sure if this is helping, but I continue. “Oh, cool. When was that?”

He touches the bracelet with his other hand, spinning the chain left and right along his skin. “It was a month ago, just about. It’s his, but he told me that since I liked it, it’s mine.”

I can barely imagine it, someone liking you enough to give you their things. “That’s nice of him. So, you like bracelets?”

Henry laughs a little, and I wonder if I’ve ever heard him laugh before. “Not usually. But I thought it made him look badass. That made me like it.” I smile and watch him fiddle with the bracelet some more.

After a beat, he continues. “It’s cold. Metal. But it was warm when he put it on my wrist, because he’d been wearing it.” From the distance in his voice, it sounds like he’s recalling a memory.

“Was he wearing other bracelets, too?”

Henry breathes out deeply, thinking. “No, just the one. I remember because that made me more surprised, that he’d give it to me. His one bracelet.”

The bathroom door swings open then, and we both jump, but it’s just Pearl with a plastic water bottle in her hand. She hands it to Henry.

None of us return to the school service, and no one interrupts us. Henry focuses on the bracelet Jackson gave him, and his breathing returns to normal. Pearl tells me later that focusing on an object helps, that it grounds him.

I’m just glad when he’s standing again and feeling better.

. . .

The next day, everything returns to normal, for the most part. I still feel like Sister Bertha’s watching me, but now I know she is, and I’m not sure that’s any better. I keep scouring the halls for her, expecting her to pop out and laugh and point and tell the whole school about yesterday.

Now, of course that wouldn’t ever happen. But.

Katherine doesn’t look at me, or Pearl, or Henry, or even Andrew. The hallways run rampant with rumors that Katherine and Andrew have broken up, that Andrew is dating Flora. I hear these rumors mostly from Maggie, as you might expect.

Somewhat surprisingly, no one talks about Henry. I guess Katherine hasn’t said anything. I wonder how long she's know that he's gay. I wonder a lot of things about her, now.

Henry ducks his head but smiles at me when I pass him in the hall, and I smile back. Funnily, Kelly does the same thing.

.

“No, I didn’t finish the history homework, I’ve been practicing for the talent assembly!” Maggie and Mary Kate are fighting again, or something. Mary Kate dumped Charles Lee at the beginning of this week, and he’s been moping about school, but she seems to have forgotten about him.

I glance over at the history worksheet Maggie’s working on now. It’s on the Civil War, because, of course it is. I swear eighty percent of our history lessons are on the Civil War.

Mary Kate sets down her pudding cup and licks chocolate off her lip. “Look, the dates are all right here,” she says, pointing at the textbook spread in front of them. “Do you really need to practice that much?”

Maggie sits up and squares her shoulders. “Yeah. It’s a scene from a play; I need to learn my lines.”

As if on cue–maybe it is on cue–Erica starts muttering lines. Abbey claps her hands. “Oh, I’m so excited to see you guys act it out!”

Rachel shakes her head. “It’s going to be miserable,” she says into her planner. “I can’t believe I agreed.”

Becca holds up a hand. “Is Charles still helping us? You know, since he and Mary Kate…”

Mary Kate shoots her a glare, and Maggie sighs and shuts her textbook. “Listen. We can practice this weekend.”

“No you can’t!” Abbey interjects grinning, and I accidentally catch her eye. She doesn’t look away until I give her a confused smile back.

Erica and Becca giggle about something, and Mary Kate sulks behind one of her graphic novels. I eat my cafeteria pizza slowly, observing.

“It’s my sister’s birthday, remember?” Abbey says, louder this time.

Maggie looks up. “Oh, darn it. It is, isn’t it? I completely forgot.”

“I reminded you, like, ten times this week,” Abbey says with a little laugh. It’s true, she had mentioned it. But no one had been listening at the time.

Becca turns to me. “Wait, Trinity doesn’t even know your sister.” I shrug, because it’s true, but I’m not sure if that matters.

Abbey’s eyes light up, and she begins to chatter excitedly. “She’s in college now, but she’s super cool. She still comes home, when my parents aren’t around, which is, like, all the time. And she’s got cool music and cool friends, too.”

Rachel shakes her head. “I don’t think I can come. Last year was crazy, and I’m not doing that again. I have to study, also.” She punctuates her statement will a long sip from her water bottle protein shake.

Maggie chuckles. “Casey knows how to throw a party, I’ll give her that.”

“Oh, but you’ll all come? You said you would!” Abbey pleads. She’s looking at me again. I look at Maggie.

With a nod, Maggie replies, “Oh, of course. I’ll be there. Mary Kate?” Mary Kate rolls her eyes and sucks on her pudding spoon, but agrees in the end. “Trinity?”

I laugh a little. “I don’t know if I should go to a party…” I say tentatively.

“It’ll be fun,” Abbey says.

“It was fun last year!” Becca adds.

“Oh. Well. Ok, then.”

At the time, I didn’t know what I was signing myself up for.

.

.

.

(first part: https://theprose.com/post/432343/trinity)

.

(previous part: https://theprose.com/post/458624/trinity-40)

(next part: https://theprose.com/post/459929/trinity-42)