When We Love

I look around as he calls out each name to see who answers, trying to memorize names, with no success.

When he calls out Johnathan's name, I look at him. Johnathan smiles brilliantly as he glances back at me.

Mr. Johnson has an easy teaching style and I find myself totally immersed in what he is saying. Some of the things he is talking about, I have heard before, but he makes it seem so much more interesting and fascinating.

When the bell goes, a soft chiming noise, I am sorry his class is over. I gather my books while Anne waits for me, smiling friendly, and together we walk to our next class.

Anne is very soft spoken, and I have to strain to hear when she speaks and, to be honest, if not for her, I would have gotten lost, in the myriad of passages and stairways, even after memorizing the floor plan of the entire college grounds.

Walking between classes take us a while though, because every now and again we stop to talk to someone. She introduces me each time, but after a while, many faces and names get all mingled up, and mostly I just stand next to her, waiting and trying not to listen to her conversations.

Secretively I find myself looking for Johnathan.

At lunch break, I join Anne's group of friends, where they are all sitting on the grass in a circle under a great big oak tree. She does not introduce me, but they all introduce themselves to me, smiling friendly.

I notice Johnathan sitting next to an extremely skinny, blonde-haired girl.

Sitting down, cross-legged, in a vacant spot, I notice from the corner of my eye Johnathan is getting up, stretching and then he walks toward me.

He unceremoniously squeezes himself in between Adam and me. "Come on, Adam, move up - you are not leaving me with a lot of space here," he says.

Adam sighs but moves up without saying a word.

I see some of the kids look at each other in that knowing way, and I wonder amused if Johnathan is the 'player' of The Christian Academy. I ignore Johnathan and look at the others, interested, listening to their happy laughter and chatter, while pulling at bits of grass in front of me.

Johnathan suddenly leans over me and pulls a long piece of grass out of the ground in front of me, and then he puts it halfway into his mouth, chewing the end.

I look up at him sideways and smiling, I say, "That's just gross, you know."

" No, it's not. The grass here is specially cultivated and is cleaner than any public toilet."