As Autumn Leaves (5 page)

“It’s not really a group. It’s just you and me.”

“A study pair, then. We can be a pair.” Kayla beamed at her.

Althea visibly swallowed, looking at her sandaled feet. She glanced at Kayla through her thick eyelashes. Her eye shadow was blue. She seemed unusually shy when she said, “You wouldn’t mind being considered that?”

“Study partners? Of course not.”

Althea’s smile waned a little, but she nodded. “Cool.”

“Yeah.” Kayla didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t like they spent a lot of time together, but a companionable silence fell over them for the last two floors. She followed Althea down the hall to the apartment. Althea then used her key to let them in.

“My dad is out too,” Althea said, “but my brother is here. He shouldn’t cause too much trouble.”

Kayla heard loud-blasting sounds from a television, and she followed Althea into the living room. The apartment had a slightly different layout than the one she and her mother had.

“It’s awesome you have your own room,” she said when Althea gave a small tour. “I didn’t know they had three-bedroom apartments in this building.”

“It’s why we moved here from the house we rented,” Althea said with a shrug. “Hard to find, but my dad looked for a new place because it’s cheaper.”

A loud boom blasted from the television, and Darnell pumped his fist in the air as his video-game avatar advanced.

“All right,” Althea said loud enough to be heard over the game, “turn it down! We have to do homework.”

For the first time since they came into the apartment, Darnell paused his game to address them. He seemed surprised to see Kayla standing at the edge of the living room. Kayla gave a little wave. “Hi.”

“Hellooooo,” Darnell said, dragging out the word as he looked her over. Kayla shifted awkwardly on her feet. This kid couldn’t be over twelve.

“Oh my God,” Althea said, picking up a small pillow off the nearest chair and throwing it at Darnell’s head. He laughed as he batted it away. “Don’t be a little pig.”

“Does Dad know you have a girl over?” he said, sticking out his tongue. “Don’t close the bedroom door!”

Althea glared daggers at him. “Shut up. You’re an idiot. We’ll sit at the kitchen table.”

“Wise choice,” he said sagely. He winked at Kayla and broke into a grin.

Kayla had no idea what to do with that.

“Turn the game down, or else turn it off,” Althea said.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll tell Dad you were disturbing our study session and he’ll take it away for a week again.”

He scrunched his nose but picked up the controller. “Fine, fine, whatever, you loser.”

“Come on, we’ll set up in here,” Althea said to Kayla, clearly done with her brother.

Kayla sat at the table and fished her homework from her bag while Althea disappeared down the hall. When she came back, she seemed quiet and withdrawn, more like what she was before they got to know each other. Kayla frowned—she wasn’t sure what she’d done to make Althea uncomfortable.

“So,” Althea said, looking at the printout, “want to go through
The Tell-Tale Heart
?”

“I love that one,” Kayla said. “We did it in eighth grade. I wonder why we’re doing it again.”

Althea shrugged. “Something to do with the project, I guess.”

“Should we read it separately and then go through the questions together?”

“Sure.”

Althea settled in and her eyes moved over the words of the story. Kayla couldn’t focus, instead staring at Althea, wondering what was wrong. She went over their meeting and arrival at the apartment, and then what Darnell had said… and what Hannah had told her at the volleyball meeting popped into her mind.

And oh.
Oh
.

Althea looked up as it crossed Kayla’s mind, and she frowned. “Why are you staring? Aren’t you going to read?”

“Can I… can I ask you a question?”

“About the story? I’m not done yet.”

“No, no, not about the homework. About you.”

Althea sat straighter, and her face schooled into a blank expression. Kayla didn’t like that look. “If you want.”

“What Darnell said… and at school Hannah told me… something.”

Althea visibly tensed, her fingers rustling the corner of the sheets in front of her. “What about me?”

“About your… preferences.”

Althea’s face turned stone cold. “Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. I’ve heard stuff about you too.”

Kayla took in a sharp breath, but tried not to let her harsh tone get to her. Clearly on the defensive, Althea went into self-preservation mode. Kayla could sympathize.

“I’m sure you have,” Kayla said, waving it off. “But I wanted to tell you—I mean, not that you need my approval, but if it was true, then it’s okay.”

Althea’s mouth parted in surprise. “Okay?”

“Well, sure,” Kayla said. “I mean, to clarify, I heard—”

“I know what you heard,” Althea said.

Kayla paused. She tapped her fingers on the tabletop. Althea didn’t go forward, so Kayla gently asked, “Is it true?”

Althea’s posture was perfectly fight or flight, like she was ready to take on the whole world by the determined set of her jaw, but the fear in her eyes could make her run a million miles away to escape it all.

She took in a deep breath, but when she exhaled, her shoulders slumped like all the fight had left her, leaving her nervous and unsure. Kayla didn’t want to see anyone like that, let alone her new friend.

“Yes,” Althea said quietly. Her head bowed a little, but she kept a strong gaze on Kayla’s face. “Yes, it’s true. But I don’t tell lots of people. I mean, my close friends know and I think most of the team, but….”

“You keep it on the down low?” Kayla supplied. Althea nodded. “Okay. Cool. I can do that, if it’s what you want.”

“You… you don’t mind?” Althea asked uncertainly.

Kayla shrugged. “No, why should I? You are who you are, right? Cool by me.”

Kayla felt like a hypocrite. Here she was praising someone for admitting who they were, when she couldn’t tell anyone how awful and alone she was being like she was. But Althea? Completely different. She liked girls, and assumingly wanted to be with girls, and Kayla didn’t know who she wanted except that she didn’t want sex. It wasn’t the same, she didn’t think, and she had no clue how to explain it.

She could be supportive. It was the least she could do, given it was all she would’ve wanted for herself. “I won’t tell anyone if you’re not ready to do it, but thank you for telling me.”

“It’s not that I’m not ready for them, but it’s not any of their business.”

“I understand.”

“You do?” Althea asked, a little hopefully.

“Sure,” Kayla said. “All that matters is you’re happy, right?” Kayla tried not to let the envy take over her heart, instead focusing on being a positive support. “If I can ask again… so, your family knows?”

“My dad and brother, yes,” Althea said. “They’re pretty great with it.”

“Really?” Kayla asked. “I mean, great! But it’s not always… typical?” She had no idea how to express what she meant, but she’d heard stories about gay kids who had tough home lives because of it. And her mother probably wouldn’t react well. She had no idea what her father would think, but she wasn’t close enough with him to spill the beans anyway.

“We go into the city once or twice a month, to this support group? For kids like me, but family and friends too.” Althea looked uncomfortable again, staring at the homework in front of her. It must have been difficult to talk about, especially with someone she wasn’t a good friend with. Guilt started to wash over Kayla for pushing Althea into this. “It’s helped them understand. And for me to understand who I am.”

“That’s… good.” She didn’t know where else to go with it.

Even so, Althea glanced up, and a smile started to blossom on her face again. “It is. Makes things easier at home, anyway.”

“Now if only our school wasn’t full of closed-minded idiots,” Kayla said with a roll of her eyes.

Althea burst out laughing. “No kidding. Teenagers are assholes.”

“Yes we are. Not all of us, but mostly,” Kayla said, grinning.

“Not all of us.” Althea’s eyes went soft as she looked at Kayla. As if catching herself doing something ridiculous, she sat straighter and focused on her paper again. “We should do our homework before it gets too late.”

“Right! Right. Homework. Ugh, I shouldn’t have left this until the last minute.”

“Life is busy,” Althea said in agreement. “But it shouldn’t take too long to read.”

“Nah, it won’t,” Kayla said. “Let’s get to it.”

They fell into silence again, but warmth and happiness spread throughout Kayla. Pleased she’d worked up the courage to talk to Althea, she admired Althea for admitting what she had. Maybe it meant Althea considered Kayla a friend, willing to admit it to her, and that was the best part of all.

“SO!” MR.
March said happily from the front of the English classroom. He clapped his hands together. “What do you think?”

The class sat in their groups, and there wasn’t a lot of chatter. Kayla looked at the assignment and marks rubric. The assignment was fun and interesting, but she doubted everyone else saw it that way.

She glanced to the front and caught Mr. March’s eye. She smiled and nodded. It seemed enough of a response for him to get moving, although no one else said or did anything.

“Excellent!” he announced. “I’ll leave you all to discuss it amongst yourselves and don’t forget to use your brainstorming chart! It will have to be handed in with the assignment. I want to see where your ideas for your final project came from.”

Kayla turned to the other three girls, but they all remained silent. At its simplest level, the assignment wasn’t difficult—take one of the short stories they’d studied and adapt it into an alternate media presentation. Something with the theme, or the plot, or the characters, but the group had to make it its own, as long as the link to the original story could be identified.

It sounded easy, but as soon as Chantelle said, “I don’t draw, act or sing, and I
hate
poetry,” Kayla had a feeling it would be a little more difficult than expected.

“I made clay figurines once,” Hannah said. “They were a disaster and fell apart.”

“Maybe we should focus on what we can do,” Kayla suggested. When no one else made a move, she picked up her pen and opened her notebook, writing Brainstorming on the top of it. She glanced around at the group. “No ideas?”

“You dance,” Althea said, which startled Kayla. She hadn’t expected to be the one to have talents pointed out, even if they were true.

Kayla wrote it on the paper and pointed the end of her pen at Hannah and Chantelle. “You’re both in band class. You can play music. Hannah plays the violin, and what about you, Chantelle?”

“Flute in band class, but I also play piano.”

Hannah grinned. “We’re going through some pieces right now that are Halloween-ish. Kind of creepy. We could work together to record some and you dance to it?”

Chantelle nodded enthusiastically, apparently way more into the idea than she originally displayed. “That could totally work! I have a decent audio program on my computer at home. It’d be easy to set up the mic and record there. We can each record our pieces, and I’ll splice the different instruments together.”

“What about you?” Hannah asked Althea. “Do you dance?”

Kayla tried not to giggle, knowing exactly what the answer was before Althea started shaking her head vigorously. “No, no I do not,” Althea said. “No dancing here. Ever. None.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, disappointed. “We could’ve used a second person.”

“
The Tell-Tale Heart
has one main character,” Althea said. She smiled brightly at Kayla; maybe she thought about them sitting in her kitchen doing the homework too. “We can work with that theme, no problem. Kayla could choreograph something amazing.”

“And where am I doing this dancing?” Kayla asked. She made a face. “In front of the class? I don’t think so.”

“That’s where Althea comes in,” Chantelle said excitedly.

“How?”

“I’ll record it,” Althea said smugly. She and Chantelle slapped a high five; apparently they were in on Althea’s awesomeness. “I’ll record you dancing. And other random related shots. I’ll be able to edit it to the music, make it look all artistic. I have an editing program on my computer I can use.”

“She’s great at it,” Chantelle said. “You should see her fan videos online.”

“Yeah?” Hannah asked. “What’s the link?”

Chantelle blurted it before Althea could stop her. Althea seemed abashed but pleased when Hannah declared she would search for it.

“This could work,” Kayla said as she made notes. “Does anyone have a video camera? Or would we use a phone?” She made a face. “Mine doesn’t do great video.”

“I can ask my parents,” Chantelle said. “My dad bought a new one last year. I mean, he might not let us, but if not then we can talk to Mr. March and maybe he can talk to the film department.”

“I can’t
wait
to take that class in senior year,” Althea said. “They have great equipment and programs to work with.”

“We’ll make do with what we have,” Kayla said. She beamed at Althea. “You’ll make it fantastic.”

Althea smiled brightly at her, and Kayla didn’t miss the exchange of looks the other two gave each other. She didn’t understand why. There was nothing wrong with encouraging a project partner. “Anyway,” Kayla said, “so
The Tell-Tale Heart
? How do we make it our own?”

“Easy,” Hannah said. “Instead of a man killing some old dude, change it to a woman? Make it about a love story? And one of them being killed, and the other feeling guilty? I think our music would suit it. Think you can work with that?”

“For sure,” Kayla said. “I’ll need to hear it. I mean, I’ll work on it, but having the music would be better. How soon can you get it to me?”

Hannah and Chantelle conferred with each other, figuring out their schedules to arrange their piece and record. They didn’t think they’d need too much time, since they were both familiar with it. As they spoke, Althea leaned over, grinning, and said quietly, “We are going to rock this assignment.”