Shaughnessy by jinx

A short man with five o’clock shadow and white, sterile gloves rifled through the locker, the lock injured and in pieces on the floor. Passing students looked on in boredom, some in mock concern. They all stayed behind the yellow line.
And then a brown-haired girl with green eyes and bitten fingernails stepped forward out of the crowd. There was nothing special about her. Except that she stepped forward. Touching him politely on the arm, she begged, “may I finish?" over the chatter that bubbled up from Mrs. Carlson's last period biology class. Her heart broke in his eyes. “Please, sir?”He looked at her in hostility for a moment, then dropped his expression entirely. “Fine by me," he spat. “Books in here, and loose papers in here,” he motioned to a garbage bag and a cardboard box respectively. And then he sauntered off as though he was the last living relative of jesus fucking christ.
A yellow masking tape line separated bottles of disinfectant and several books piled in boxes from the mass of apathy that wandered by. Stepping over it, she reeled. A few inches closer, and suddenly it was true: He was dead. And she was emptying out his locker.
Stepping up to the door, she ran her finger over the embossed 1127 and a tear dug a groove into her right cheek. Not knowing what to do, she decided to just start doing something - she kneeled right in front of his nearly vacant locker and tenderly picked up his copy of 'Horizons: Canada Moves West', lifting the front cover. Shaugnessy Virtue, Div. 933 - #125868. Written oh, so neatly in a dark, bleeding blue, the letters told his story:

Morose and dissapointed, Shaughnessy was dizzy from the immense number of frantic thoughts colliding and exploding within his brain. Breathing as deeply as his smaller-than-average chest would allow, he began his solemn kamikaze march. A glittering collection of tenth-grade girls giggled and then stared in disgust as Shaughnessy approached and began to speak.
"Hi, um, Valerie. uh, uh, i'm, um, Shaughn. Can i ask you a question?" Valerie rolled her eyes.
"One, you just did. and two, i dont give a shit what your name is."
"oh, yeah. i'm Sorry. but um, would you, maybe... sometime, want to, maybe.... go to a movie with me? ... please?" Valerie pretended to gag.
"Ew, you little freak! i can't belive you would even ask! could you just, like, leave? you're gross-ifying my air."
Used to this kind of shame, Shaughn simply let his long hair fall into his eyes and turned to leave Mrs. Carlton's class. Without going back to grab his books from his locker, he dragged his sneakers through the rain-soaked grass until he was home.
Shaughnessy spent hours in the attic his father had converted into a bedroom before his mother said a word to him. "Shaughn, darling, what's the date?" she shouted up the stairs.
"march 23rd, mum." Shaughn droned. "my birthday."
" oh, that's right. it is, isn't it? happy birthday sweetheart"
And that was that. Shaughnessy went back to attacking a canvass with passion and blue paint, and Mrs. Virtue went back to clipping coupons. Shaughn had no idea that the contents of his locker were 1.7% less air and 1.7% more paper than the last time he had opened the door.

"Shaughnessy,
We have only spoken to each other once. Four and a half weeks ago, in Mrs. Carlton's biology class, I asked you if I could borrow your pen. I want to apologize for my lack of clarity. I meant to tell you I love you.
I still have your pen."

Monday morning at eight-seventeen Shaughn dragged his sneakers through the doors of Clairmont Secondary School and dripped a lonely trail of rainwater through the hallway to his locker. Carelessly flipping through his combination, 27-36-9, he let the door swing open and noticed that his locker smelled different. There was love inside his narrow metal box.
Shaugn picked up a small square of paper that was folded carefully in half diagonally so it would fit through the slot at the top of the door. He unfolded it but didn't read it. He knew it was from Kylie. He knew exactly what it said. He flipped the square over to write his acceptance of her aplology, and realized - he didn't have a pen. No matter. Shaughn walked down the halway to locker 1066 and waited. Finally, after an hour and fifty seven minutes, Kylie casually but determinedly picked her way through the muddy pool of stupid jocks and worn-out cheerleaders. She saw Shaughnessy, but felt it best no to show the look of relief hidden under reclusively low-cut bangs. Arriving at 1066, she pulled a dark, rich blue pen out of her over-the-shoulder school bag and placed it gently between Shaughnessy's fingers. Holding it between his hand and hers, he spoke almost silently, "let's go," turned, and took off at a run.
Kylie was tired of balancing each formula for each action and each consequence. Her heart burned with self-loathing, and she was tired of questioning each choice the world forced her to make. So Kylie did not let go of Shaughn's hand. She forgot that an Acid mixed with and Alkali makes a neutral solution, and she just ran like hell. They didn't stop until neither of them could remember why they were running. They collapsed on the boulevard accross the street from Memorial Park.

"Why are we here, Shaughn?"
"because this is where we stopped."

"Do I have to say, Shaughn? Do i really?" Kylie wanted him to stay.
"I'm going to have to leave really soon. And I love you Kylie."
"If you don't wait for me when you get there, Shaughn, I'm going to be really pissed."
"Kylie, i'll wait forever. But I have to hear it. I can't go until I hear it."
"Alright, fine. I noticed you, Shaughn. I really did."

He leaned over and placed a single unromantic kiss on her lips, and it was so sweet a kiss that it lingered in that spot in the air forever. And then Shaughn got up, and left.

As he tried to find his way Home, he stared at the blue uniball pen in his hand. He should have let her have it, but it was too late now. He flipped it over and turned it as he walked. He didn't see the truck; and the truck driver didn't see him.

Kylie walked alone back to school. She'd missed second period, but that didn't matter. Arriving back 1066 she sat down and waited. She didn't know how long it had been since he'd left, but finally Mr. Avery spoke over the PA system.
"Attention, students. This is your principal. It is my proffessional duty to inform you of a tragedy at this time. A student enrolled at Clairmont Secondary has been found dead at the corner of Sparrow and Inverness streets. His name was Shaughessy Virtue, from homeroom #23. A support group for friends of Shaughnessy will be held in the ESL room this afternoon. That will be all, you may resume your classes"
Mr. Avery left the school for the airport early that day, so he wouldn't miss his flight to Brazil. The ESL room was empty all day. Kylie got up to get her backpack out of her locker and go home. Valerie opened the locker besider her and asked "who the fuck is Shaughnessy Virtue?" The final bell rang. Kylie shook her head. "I haven't got a clue". Down the hall, a short man with five o'clock shadow and white, sterile gloves rifled through Shaughnessy's locker, the lock in pieces on the floor.