Wren

She's gone.

  My only real friend moved out of apartment 308 and didn't even leave me a note or a message. How could she do that to me?

  I have two people at school I'd consider friends, but even they would turn on me at the drop of a hat. That's high school. Joey and Kyla are in my grade and they are in some of my classes. They grew up together, whereas I just met them in September, but they seem cool. They let me sit with them in class and at a lunch. Sometimes they give me their extra sandwich or something. They know I'm poor. They don't know my father's been gone a week now.

  I don't talk about my father.

  The school days are long but I like being there more than back at the apartment. I don't have anything to look forward to now. I used to hope the day would go fast so I could go visit Julianna. I looked forward to the bowl of strawberries or the cookie she'd give me. I liked talking to her and hearing about her life and her job. I didn't share too much about my life, though now I wish I had.

  It's mid October and the buzz at school is the fall dance. It's coming up this weekend and I feel jealous about all the kids in my classes talking about it. Talking about who they are going with and what they are going to wear. Not only can I not afford a ticket, I wouldn't have anything to wear.

  My school is a public high school near Central Park and it's nothing fancy, but it's still Manhattan. I'm the only poor kid, at least as far as I'm aware.

  "Did you get a ticket to the -" Joey says, Tuesday afternoon.

  He stops because Kyla is shooting him a look. I notice it, even though she doesn't know.

  "Kyla.. I mean.. did you get your ticket?" he goes on.

  She nods and then changes the subject. "Calculus test in twenty minutes. Who else is going to fail?"

  Joey laughs and I shrug, then try to cough to hide the fact that my stomach is growling. Kyla must hear it because she digs into her bag and pulls out a granola bar. Without a word, she slides it across the table to me.

  After school, I grab my sweater, lock my locker and then spin around to leave. Just because it's my bad luck, I smash right into someone. His binder and books go flying out of his arms and when his eyes look up and meet mine, my face flushes.

  "Yo... you okay?" he asks.

  I should ask him that but I can't find any words. I don't know him, and I wonder why he's in the freshman locker hallway. He's tall and thin and wearing a blue baseball hat.

  I nod as he picks up his books and then steps back. "Are you a freshman?"

  I nod again.

  "What's your name?"

  "Wren." My voice sounds like a baby bird.

  He makes a face. "That's a different name."

  I nod once again.

  "I'm Ollie. Sophomore."

  I step back and press my back against the row of lockers. I don't know what to do or say.

  "Sorry about... that." I finally tell him.

  "No harm done." He smiles. "See you around?"

  Even though a part of me hopes for a different outcome, my father is still not back when I get back to the apartment. I lock the door when I get inside and go over to the fridge, praying he was here. Maybe he brought some food. But the fridge still only has butter and ketchup and an empty carton of orange juice. He hasn't been here.

  I need food, so I go on the hunt for any sort of money in this apartment. I never go into my father's bedroom, but by this point I don't feel like I'm even invading his privacy. He hasn't been here. In there, I find a five dollar bill in the closet and some change on the dresser. In my sock drawer, I find two one dollar bills. It's not much, but it will get me something.

  There's a market type store across the street, so I slip back on my shoes and go. I'm practically drooling by the time I get there and realize I have enough for bread and a small container of peanut butter, and some bananas. Thank God.

  Back in the apartment building, I can't get back to the apartment fast enough. I need to eat. I take the stairs, even though the elevator is running, and when I push open the door at the third floor, I crash right into something. Or someone.

  My groceries fly from my hands just like Ollie's books did earlier, and I just stare at them for a minute on the ground, by my feet. Before I can react, the man is bending over and picking them up.

  "Sorry about that," he says, and I realize then it's the guy from Julianna's apartment.

  I saw him on Friday, last week, when I knocked on the door and not again since then. He's wearing black pants and t-shirt and he's got a back pack over his shoulder.

  "I take the stairs, too. The elevator is so slow," he says, as if we talk all the time.

  I nod in his direction and reach out to take the bread and peanut butter from him. He's still holding my bananas.

  "Do you need a hand?" he asks me.

  "What? No, I'm fine," I spit out.

  "I can carry this down to-"

  "No.Thanks," I say, shaking my head.

  "Alright."

  I take bananas from him and tuck them under my armpit, then spin around quickly. It's still unreal to me that Julianna is gone, just like that. She told me she was going to be out of town for a couple of days, but she must have lied. She didn't want me to know that she was moving, but why? And the fact that this guy, this young man, lives in her apartment is throwing me off.

  I don't want anything to do with him.

  I eat a peanut butter sandwich and then half a banana, but curse myself for not saving it for tomorrow. I don't have a cell phone and there's no phone in the apartment - my father took his cell phone wherever he went. I'm used to being alone, it's been a constant in my life, but it doesn't mean I like it. When I turn on the TV, I realize the cable has been cut off. He hasn't paid the bill, I guess. That's when I start to freak out. What if he doesn't pay the rent for next month? What if he never comes back at all? After a mini panic attack, I go to my bedroom to read. There's a library near my school that I get books from these days and it's still my favourite thing. My getaway from the real world.

*

I must be imagining this. It can't be real.

  I'm at my locker the next morning and as I turn around to go to my first class, there is the same guy that I bumped into yesterday. He's standing right there, at my locker, as if he was waiting for me. I remember his hame - Ollie.

  "Hey," he says, his voice like a comfortable blanket, wrapping around me.

  "Hi," I squeak out.

  "Wren, right?" he asks, smiling.

  I look around to see if anyone else is seeing this, but the hallway is mostly cleared out. This is my first encounter with a boy like this, and he's a year old than me. Is this really happening?

  "Yeah."

  "I was wondering... are you going to the dance on Saturday?" he asks, but the words don't quite make sense to me at first.

  Why is he asking me about the dance?

  "Um, no," I say slowly, but then it hits me.

  "Well, would you like to go? With me?"

  And there it is. The invitation. He is smiling and still standing close to me. He's not laughing or joking or making fun of me. I haven't really been bullied as much as I've been ignored, over the years. This is all new to me.

  "I... yeah... I would like to..." I say, stuttering. "I don't have a ticket."

  Ollie smiles again and sort of lets out a breath. "I'll get the tickets. Um, my friends are getting together before the dance... can you meet me here at 7PM? On Saturday?"

  My heart's beating so fast and I just start nodding like a fool. He smiles again and then nods back.

  "Okay, I have to get to class. I'll see you..." he tells me as he starts walking away.

  "Yeah... bye," I finish.

  The rest of the day, I feel like I'm floating on a cloud. I got asked to go to the school dance by a sophomore? I want to tell Kyla and Joey, but I don't see them at lunch or at the end of the day. I don't even care that when I get home, the apartment is the same way I left it. There's two a couple of bananas, and some bread. There's peanut butter. I'll eat that every day until it's gone and I won't be mad.

  I got asked to the school day.

  Holy crap.