Fragmented Dreams

Chapter 15: Open House

After school, I went to show my art teacher, Mrs. Gomez, the canvas and she flew into fix-it mode, telling me she would attempt to repair the rip and re-frame it for me by tomorrow's show. I'm embarrassed to say I cried when she made the offer and she gave me a big hug in an attempt to console me.

The school was abuzz with excitement on Friday and everyone in my class seemed to have trouble focusing on our classwork, despite our teacher's insistence that we buckle down and concentrate. I had packed up a bag of clothes to change into, planning on traveling to Zola and Sunita's dorm room to change before returning to school for the open house. I figured it was faster than traveling all the way back home and then driving with Grandpa. I was terrified of being late since I was in the showcase for the art club and I had to be there to meet and greet any parents coming to look at our work. Also, it was a chance to hang out with my friends so that was always good.

Our last class of the day was wrapping up and everyone was itching to go, stuffing their books and other supplies into their bags early, which was annoying our teacher, Mr. Burke, immensely.

He looked up from his desk, glaring at each row of students as he spoke. "If I hear one more zipper before that bell rings then I am making you all stay ten minutes after class."

The classroom got deathly silent as now everyone was afraid to even turn a page in their books too loudly thanks to Mr. Burke's threat. The bell rang and the frantic packing began, everyone was excited to go goof off before having to return. Not every student had to attend the open house but most liked to mingle on the school grounds out of uniform and check out all of the other clubs.

"Mr. Reynolds, please come here," Mr. Burke called out. I stopped in my packing, glancing over at the young man sitting next to me. Casimir nodded and stood up, walking to the front of the classroom. The teacher spoke in hushed tones, pointing at Casimir a few times, his brow furrowed. Zola and Sunita glanced at me, wondering, I'm sure if I wanted to wait for him before heading downstairs. I couldn't see Casimir's expression or feel his emotions so I had to wait for him to walk back to us before figuring out what was going on. Zola managed to wait until we stepped foot out of the classroom before asking.

"What did Mr. Burke want?" she pressed.

Casimir hesitated, looking somewhat embarrassed as he spoke. "I got in trouble for my hair again. He said if I didn't have any parents going to the open house then I shouldn't bother coming, especially if I didn't change my hair."

"What?!" Zola cried out, glancing at the top of Casimir's head. Our school had no rules on the length of hair but they were strict about dyed hair. You couldn't have any 'unnatural' colors, killing my secret dream of having purple or blue hair. Casimir's color was a natural reddish-brown, but I was guessing it was the bleach blond part in his bangs that the administration had a problem with. Casimir ran his fingers through the front of his hair with a sigh.

"No one believes that this is natural, the sun just does this to my hair," he insisted. I raised an eyebrow at him and he nodded his head at me. "No, it really does. I used to have baby pictures to prove it."

"Aw, I wanna see," I admitted. I was curious as to what his parents looked like.

Casimir chuckled at my comment. "My dad has them all now, sorry."

Our conversation took us through the halls of the school and we continued to chat happily as we made our way outside. Soon we were heading down the walkway to the front gate and on towards the train station. We were waiting at a crosswalk when the normally shy and quiet Sunita spoke up.

"So will you be coming to the open house?" she asked with a hint of concern. She had been growing used to having Casimir in our group but still rarely spoke directly to the boy. I hated to admit I was excited to see her engaging with him