The Tears Devourer

XVI

     The dining room was packed with students, as it usually is, and Michael endured martyrdom sitting alone at one of the tables set at the back of the room. His table was already almost glued to the gym doors, but at the same time, to the glass slide that leads to the backyard, so the smells of sweat and victory that emanated from one entrance were carried away by the other. It had already been a long ten minutes since the doorbell rang, but he was under warning about it. Rachel warned him that her literature teacher always delayed dismissal.

     Finally, after emptying the clear soda from its container, and eating a whole pot of applesauce, he saw her came from far away. She was accompanied by those two folks he already saw her with: Thom and Melissa. For the last week, Michael was extremely busy, as he had to hurry every time he knew, he had a chance to follow her. So at every recess, he always tried to be ready to shoot himself into Rachel's classroom. Over the past week, she noticed that they were both following her exhaustively. But he also noted the intentions of each.

     He divided the nine days leading up to the casual encounter with Rachel as follows. One day Rachel, one day one of the two friends, one day Rachel, and the next; the one missing from the trio. So, he learned a few specific things in both.

     Mainly, before Rachel, Michael had no idea that Thom Hopper existed. The boy was born in Dells, so evidently, he had lived there longer than Michael himself, who was still considered relatively new.

     Michael followed him, and wrote down his exact address, just in case. Patton signed up for the school's book club; a small group that also runs debating contests, since inquiring among the different students that he knew in advance that they had been born and lived all their lives in that small town, he discovered that there was a time - not too far away - in which Thom Hopper was vice president of that reading group, but no one knew exactly why he gave up his place and left the team.

     The evil tongues sang a disastrous affair with Jessica Hepburn, the president of that time, and the current one of the team. Patton was able to collect the entire tale, in which Jessica found poor Thom too immature and broke his heart before a state high school debate contest, so the wretched boy couldn't take the pressure on stage, giving up in the middle of the contest and retiring with his head down.

     Of course, others say it was out of sheer irresponsibility, lack of commitment, or pure ‘cold chest,’ as Richie Wilkinson, the current chess champion from icy little Wisconsin, called it. Wilkinson was close friends with Hopper in childhood and much of his adolescence. They met almost every day in endless feats with dungeons and dragons, along with the epic stories of the seventh art, such as "The Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter" itself.

     But of course, a friendship of that caliber does not last long when the rest call you a t**t. They saw them together for so long that several idiots at school labeled them gay. If they had sleepovers if they spent a whole summer afternoon in Wilkinson's mother's basement if they had a small folded tent where they slept together... Prejudices ended up perpetually damaging that friendship, and upset Thom's critical thinking, who started to walk away from his best friend just to avoid those kinds of deals.

     ‘Cold chest’. This is how Richie treated him at the time, and that is how he treats him now, because as much as it may not seem like it, for many, including Jessica - who, no one could confirm to Michael whether or not he had a relationship with Hopper, since that would have totally changed things — that's what he is, a coward who leaves behind what he proposes, or who he wants, just because of what the people around him would say.

     But of course, the possessive and jealous friend was not far behind. If we are talking about ‘cold chest’, here is a clear example. Melissa Sutton is a cheerleader with strange tastes, very unusual for someone with her stereotype of person. When Michael imagines a cheerleader, he thinks it would be someone without a future position or thought by her, perhaps, the only thing she has thought about her future is which athlete she is going to catch, get pregnant, and sue to become rich. It is the only concept that Michael plays with when investigating a simple cheerleader, whose life is based on smiling and showing enough butt in games with an audience.

     But when Michael entered Melissa's world, he realized how wrong he was, at least with her, since his way of thinking about the rest of the girls he questioned made him reconsider, that perhaps there are exceptions, but not new generalities.

     He discovered that Sutton once wanted to be a painter, as she approached asking for specific traits with the various cheerleaders when Melissa was not staying after practice - which was more often lately - using the excuse of a letter to college in a University of psychology - a trick that had worked for Patton more than once, and perfectly well - and it linked him to the first one, they all ate the whole thing and sang what the boy asked for. They all wanted to sign up, they all wanted to know what they were like because obviously, they had no idea inside who they really are, or how much they are worth. And when he got one of the ones Sutton is envious of, she just rubbed it all in Patton's face: that Melissa loved to draw, but her pencil stroke is just as dexterous as her back tuck on the field, that if she wanted to be an artist - they played the game of the first one who started with gossip - she had to first learn to draw full ups in the air, and not waste time on nonsense. Yes, there is team support, Michael thought, with so much s**t that her partner was thrown on behalf of every cheerleader.

     He spoke with her teachers, the ones who had been in the place the longest and knew many since they were little, and only one told him about Melissa's hobby. Apparently, the honey-eyes had a future, but she left it because her mother was a cheerleader, and then, as the family tradition - as stupid as it may seem - outweighs the dreams of your little princess, they decided for her.

     Yeah, maybe Michael thought that's being more of a coward than leaving your friend for gossip, like Thom’s case. Patton believed that if you let anyone violate your convictions, and gave up so easily — especially when you're about to come of age — it was much worse than what happened to Thom. Melissa was ‘cold chest’ because she didn’t know how to react, she didn’t know how to choose, and she still fears that they will not accept her for who she is, instead, Thom at least chose, horribly wrong, but he chose on his own.

     Both folks had s**t in their suitcases. And in love... Ops! in love. Jerk Thom is drooling over Rachel, and she's not interested at all. And there, like a dog that follows its own tail, is Melissa, who secretly fantasizes about Thom. Michael sees this as an advantage, and he will take it.