I thought for a second. “…It’s May.”
“Yes Quinn, it is,” Morgan replied in an almost pained voice.
I stared at her for a bit and my eyes returned to the shelf, where hers were. “Ooookay…” I slowly exhaled. “How about… Uncharted 4? It might be a bit ‘old news’ in July, but maybe you can give him his gift early. Since you’re here early and everything. It’s a new release.”
“What’s it about?” she asked.
“Oh, it’s about, um… an adventurer. Like, he goes to — he’s a treasure hunter. The game plays like Tomb Raider, but with more action-adventure elements and somewhat less puzzles.”
“So it’s like Indiana Jones?” Morgan asked.
Defer. “Hey James, is Uncharted like Indiana Jones?” I turned to ask him.
He was already looking at us. “Kinda. Same macho hero thing going on. It is the fourth in the series, though. If he doesn’t have the other thr-”
“I’ll take it,” Morgan interrupted him.
I shrugged at James. “Sounds confident,” I remarked to him, or just out loud to myself. I took the case off the shelf and went behind the desk, looking for the disk. I rung it up, and Morgan paid for it, saying very little all the while. The rain poured on outside the store, the sky dark, the atmosphere in the store an almost audible grey.
“Okay, you’re all set. Good to, uh, see you, Morgan,” I awkwardly told her.
“Yeah,” she agreed quietly. She turned to leave and then turned back, then exhaled. “It was good to see you too, Quinn. Can I ask a really weird favor?”
“Um…” I fumbled. “Yeah, s-sure, go ahead.”
Her eyes flickered to the ground, then back at me. For the second time since she arrived, her brown intentful eyes were staring at me. “Can you… not tell Taylor that you saw me here, please?” She clamped her teeth together in response to what she just said. “I mean, like, if anyone else asks, that would be… fine… just not Taylor. Don’t ask why. Is that okay?”
The dominant part of my mind was absolutely baffled. This was her favor? Why? What could she have possibly gained from asking this? Why did it matter?! Why would Taylor, of all people, give a shit that her friend was at Gamestop buying a game for her brother’s birthday, two months early? Why did Morgan assume I was telling Taylor about the intricacies of my job? What in the hell was going on with that group??
On the other hand, it dawned on me right in that moment that I also had completely forgotten something. Whatever Morgan’s goals were, swearing to secrecy was in my best interest too. I had agreed to not talk to Morgan at all, and quite frankly, I fully forgot about it until now. Hell, according to Taylor, Morgan was the one spreading rumors about us, so maybe Morgan was worried about Taylor… getting even using this? Was “hey, my tutor/fuck buddy saw Morgan buying a video game” even drama? Was this drama? Was this what drama was?
“Uh, yeah, you got it,” I replied lamely, not understanding anything anymore.
“Thanks,” Morgan replied, giving me some version of a small smile, before turning exactly one-eighty degrees and powerwalking out.
As soon as she was outside, James turned to me and shook his head, laughing. “Jeez.” He raised his eyebrows at me, as if we were sharing a joke. “Enh?”
“…What?” I asked. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh my god, you don’t know?” James laughed and turned away, shaking his head. “Rain Man. Fuckin’ Rain Man.”
“Stop calling me that!” I protested. I didn’t even know what that meant. Was the fact it was raining significant? Why the hell did everyone seem to know everything that was going on but me?!
***
“Does ‘Rain Man’ mean anything to you?” I asked Kevin, approaching the school with him.
“Nah, never seen it,” he replied casually. “Hey, you doing well?” he tossed over his shoulder to someone walking past him.
“Oh, so it’s a movie?” I asked him.
“Yeah. Two autistic guys go to the casino or something. I dunno. Again, never seen it,” Kevin replied.
Oh. So, was James being mean? I was used to the ‘haha you have autism’ jokes from classmates that didn’t like that I knew classroom answers but not social skills, but I always wrote it off as something immature shits that didn’t know anyone with autism said because they wanted an excuse to say the r-word without getting in trouble. Using ‘autistic’ as an insult was something I was expecting to be free from when I finally entered university. Not only did I deserve better, but autistic people deserved better too. I didn’t expect James to be like that. But then again, I didn’t know what his intent was. Maybe he didn’t mean all that. After all, I didn’t even know it was a movie until now.
“Y’know,” Kevin began dryly, “this is why I’m worried about you. I give you the elevator pitch for a movie and now the look on your face tells me you’re thinking of ending your life.” He playfully shoved me. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I just got a lot on my mind,” I admitted. “Want to do lunch today?”
“Ah, dude, I’d love to, buuuut, I got plans,” Kevin gingerly replied. “Tomorrow, though! Enh? Tomorrow.” He pointed at me in his confident preppy way and walked away backwards, pointing at me the whole time. I rolled my eyes and made my way to my locker. I was just about done with getting my stuff when I heard a shy “hey,” from behind me.
Without moving my body, I turned my head around to see Milo. It was odd seeing him without the group, but I guess at this point I’d seen practically everyone from that group solo, or at least in pairs, so why not.
“Are you saying hey to me?” I asked him. He nodded. “Well, uh, hello, Milo,” I replied.
“I was wondering if we could talk about something,” he said, shuffling his feet.
“Class starts in ten minutes, but I guess I’m available for lunch,” I replied. Thanks, Kevin.
“It won’t take that long. But I just wanted to ask you in private, if that’s okay,” he continued.
Where even was ‘private’ in a public school? “What’s it about, do I get to ask that?” I asked as I turned around.
Credit to Milo, I think he could sense my discomfort, and also sense how fed up I was about my particular situation. “Okay, so, it’s about Taylor, and-” I started to protest but he held up a finger. “-it’s super quick, possibly just one question, and depending on… stuff… it may contain stuff that I really think you should know.”
In American History class, I recalled my teacher, Mr. Anton, talking about World War One. He taught us that World War One happened not because there was a clear-cut good guy and bad guy, but because of the domino effect of treaties and the Powder Keg of Europe and rising tensions between countries. World War One itself was like an entity, a dark fog hanging over Europe, sucking in countries and forcing them to fight and do horrible things for causes the countries themselves didn’t believe in. The war itself was the terror, not the people involved, and if anyone got too close, they were not just a victim of the war, they were also now a part of it, keeping the war going.
…Anyway, that’s how I felt about high school drama in that moment. I clearly just got too close to Taylor, the Austria-Hungary of our school, and now Serbia was dragging me into this mess too.