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Rain
A/N: This was inspired by all the rain in NYC a week or so before the end of school. There's more that I haven't typed up yet. Based on, but not up to yet, stuff that actually happened.
Thunder rumbled angrily overhead. Mem glanced up.
"We should probably head back," she commented, "It looks like rain." Ava tossed the bag of goldfish to Francesca.
"We've got time," Ava said. Francesca grabbed a handful of goldfish and was just about to eat them when she realised what she was doing.
"Why did you give me these!" Francesca squealed, "They're probably the worst thing we could be eating right now; they're powdery cheese!" Mem and Ava laughed. Thunder boomed again, much closer this time.
"CRAP!" Ava shouted, "I felt rain!" And sure enough, it had started raining. Francesca squealed again and put her pocketbook on top of her head. Mem and Ava quickly grabbed their bags and they headed back up to the school. The rain was coming down steadily. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled the second that the three closed the doors behind them. Ava looked back out the door at the torrent growing outside.
"I feel bad for anyone out there now," Ava said. Laughing, the three girls made their way up to the sixth floor.
---
"Aren't you going to take that off?" Ava asked, indicating Mem's stud cuff. Both were dressed in black and white concert attire, and Mem's hair was still damp from the rain.
"No," Mem replied, "Do I ever take this off?"
"Eh, true." They headed down the grand staircase and across the first floor to room 133. It was quite early, so very few people were there yet. People crowded through both the main entrance and the bridge, trying to get out of the rain. Mem sat down cross-legged on a desk by the window.
"I love the rain," she commented as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt. Ava nodded, humming along with her CD player. There was a small commotion going on outside the room; Mem and Ava looked up as the door banged open.
"Alex?" Ms. Hall shouted as she stormed into the room, "Alex Kelber!" She caught sight of Mem and Ava. "Mimi, baby girl, have you seen Alex?"
"What, he's not here?" Mem asked, confused, "No, I haven't seen him since this afternoon."
"He's probably up at Starbucks or somewhere with Akia." Ms. Hall mispronounced it, as usual, as ÔIkea'. "I hope he has the good sense to stay out of the rain. If you see him, baby, send him to me." Ms. Hall stalked out. Mem wasn't worried, Zalman was playing a big concerto that night, he'd be back.
"What was that about?" Came a new voice. Georgia came in and plopped down in a desk next to Ava's. Ava paused her CD player and took off her headphones.
"Ms. Hall was looking for Zalman," said Mem.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know," Mem replied, "Why would I know more than anybody else would?"
"Sure, Mem, sure..." Georgia commented with raised eyebrows. "Wanna play cards?" Georgia drew a deck of cards out of the front of her bookbag. Soon a game was started, then another, and another, until finally room 133 was full of people and Mem had to go back across the room to the altos.
Still no word on Zalman.
---
Zalman Kelber was not having the best of days. He had not been able to concentrate on any of his classes that day, not that that was any different than usual. He was rather nervous about his concerto, and those kind of nerves made him more antisocial than usual. And it was raining. Hard. On any other day, Zalman loved thunderstorms. But on any other day, right now he'd be at home listening to Ring Cycle storms on his computer rather than stranded at the Winter Garden on the far side of the park on the night of a concert. He stared out the large glass doors of the world financial centre, clutching his concerto score and chorus folder, evaluating. Finally, he thought to himself, what the heck? And decided to brave the storm.
Carefully, Zalman pushed the door open and stepped out into the rain. He walked down from the Winter Garden to the park and was very quickly soaked. As he walked, he pushed his wet hair out of his eyes many times, though there wasn't much of a point as his glasses were covered with water drops and he could barely see out of them anyway. Using the railing along the promenade as a guide, Zalman felt his way back across the park towards Stuy. As he reached the ramp leading from the park up to the street, he decided that we wanted to slip back into school unnoticed, retrieve his suit from Akia's locker, change, and get to chorus before Ms. Hall could yell at him fir getting caught in the rain. He heaced open Stuy's large front door, flashed his ID at the security guards and headed silently toward Akia's locker when he heard a familiar cry of "Zalman!" He sighed. Mem. He should've known.
"Zalman, it's about time you got here," Mem said very quickly, "Ms. Hall's been looking for you and-you're soaking wet! Here, take this." She slipped off her Gryffindor jacket and tossed around his shoulders. "Please tell me you have dry clothes, Ms. Hall will kill you if she sees you like that."
"My suit," Zalman nodded, "It's in Akia's locker-" Mem grabbed his arm and began pulling it in the right direction. "...You know where Akia's locker is?" She stopped and looked back at him.
"...Maybe." By that, he knew she meant yes. Sighing, he resorted to walking beside her rather than risking anyone seeing him being dragged by a freshman. Unfortunately for Zalman, as Chamber Choir was coming down the hall and squeezing themselves in with concert chorus, Ms. Hall was outside in the hallway supervising. She spotted Zalman instantly. Zalman winced as he heard his name called.
"Alex!" came Ms. Hall's shrill cry. Zalman gave Mem back her jacket and headed over. Mem stuck close to him. He sometimes wished she wouldn't, but that girl just couldn't take a hint. He was used to it know, though, and found it rather amusing. At the moment he wasn't sure how he felt.
"Yes, Ms. Hall?" Zalman braced himself for the worst.
"Alex, son, why are you so late?" Ms. Hall said calmly in the southern twang that only appeared when she was annoyed.
"Uh..." He hesitated.
"Alex, how many times did Ms. Hall tell-" Ms. Hall put her hand on Zalman's shoulder. Then she looked at him slowly. "Alex," Ms. Hall said, "You're soaking wet." To anyone else, he would have said, yes, I suppose I am. But he said nothing, choosing to simply look at his feet. "I knew it. I knew it." Ms. Hall tugged on Zalman's wet sleeve, which was plastered to his arm. It made a sucking noise as it came up, and gave a squelching smack as it fell back into place. Ms. Hall caught sight of Mem. "Did I not-Mimi, did Ms. Hall not just say-Alex, you have no common sense, none at all." Ms. Hall put her face in her hand. "Alex, do you have dry clothes?"
Zalman nodded.
"A suit?"
Another nod.
"Where is it, son?"
"Aki-my locker."
"Well, hurry up and get changed!" Zalman turned to go, but Ms. Hall stopped him. "Why don't you let Ms. Hall hold your music, son." Zalman reluctantly handed Ms. Hall his scores. The edges were slightly damp, but the scores seemed to be the only thing that wasn't soaking. Ms. Hall gave Zalman a mild death glare as he headed down the hall towards Akia's locker, and called after him, "And do something about your hair!"
There was no sign of Mem. She had probably slipped into the chorus room for the warmup while Ms. Hall had been yelling at him. Uncharacteristic of Mem, but oh well. Zalman knelt at Akia's locker, quickly turning in the combination, glad that Mem wasn't there to make the situation more awkward.
"I bet you're glad that Mem isn't here to make the situation even more awkward." Zalman started, then sighed. Mem continued, "I had to slip away, or they would've made me go inside." Zalman turned around.
"Why do you know where Akia's locker is?"
"I've seen you here before." They stared at each other for a moment; then Mem realised what she had said and smacked her forehead. "I mean, I've been here before. I mean, you've been here before. I mean, I've been here before WITH you. There, awkward enough?" She smiled.
"Quite." Zalman turned back to the locker and pulled it open. As second term seniors, neither he nor Akia had many things to put in a locker, but the few they did have, plus his junk, plus her junk, had built up quite a bit. His suit hung on one side of the locker, held flat by a binder of last term's concert music which he knew he should probably give back. Ah well, he had said to Akia upon finding it, anything to give Ms. Hall an excuse to keep him from graduating. Zalman pulled the suit out of the locker and stood up. Mem waited expectantly.
"Mem..,"
"Yes?" She was smiling her big innocent smile that he didn't know what to say to. Why are you following me? Can you leave me alone for just a little while? No, apparently not.
"Let's go," he grumbled. He ducked quickly into the West Staircase, hopefully before anyone saw him. Mem tailed behind, a silent shadow. "You're enjoying this immensely, aren't you," Zalman commented.
"Yes, I am."
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