Sky was certainly a weird kid, but not in a bad way. When I found out he was going to be my partner for the project, I thought it wasn’t going to work out. I thought he was way too shy to even speak with me even though I had tried my best to be friendly to him. I was glad to find out he forgot to be shy when he started talking about nature.

He clearly, obviously loved nature. I didn’t know much about animals, so in a way it was a jackpot for me to have him as my partner. Getting a high score from the project was another step towards my dream.

I turned to lie on my back. I was trying to do my homework, but it was getting late already. I had lost track of time while being at the coffee shop with Sky. We had read through the papers our biology teacher gave us, and after that, we made plans about how we were going to do the project.

I let Sky decide most of the details since I had no idea how we were going to follow a couple of owls. I really didn’t care much about nature. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been in a forest. I was more of a city person.

My biggest dream was to become an architect. I loved to create, and I loved buildings. My room was covered with posters and pictures of the greatest buildings from different eras. Some of them didn’t even exist anymore. I loved both old and new buildings equally, and I wished that someday, I’d be able to create something that combined the delicate beauty of the old buildings and the modern harshness of the new ones.

To me, nature was only an interesting detail next to the buildings. Like a tree or a batch of grass or something. I did believe keeping our earth clean was the way to go, and animals were fun to watch, especially when they did something silly, but I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal to Sky.

I turned my attention to the thick stack of papers we got for the project. I still wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of staying the night outside. Sky had said there weren’t any bears or wolfs around, but how could he be so sure about that? Also, even if it was safe to go camping, there were no toilets or showers or beds in the forest.

Usually I wasn’t such a whiny bitch, and I tried everything at least once before forming an opinion, but this time, I wasn’t sure if I could do it.

And yet, it wasn’t my biggest concern. The more I thought about it, the stronger I felt like picking owls as our subject wasn’t such a great idea after all. It sounded like a great subject, but how the hell could we study them? Even if we did find them, how were we supposed to see them in the middle of the night?

I sighed and tossed the papers on the floor. I could only hope Sky knew what he was doing.

*****

The next morning, I woke up at six, as usual. I took a quick shower before heading down to eat breakfast with my parents. They both worked at the same bank where they had met each other almost twenty years ago.

When I was younger, my parents had almost broken up. They never told me the reason why their marriage had been falling apart, but I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that my dad’s drinking problem had something to do with it. Dad had been sober for two years already, but his drinking problem had left a dent to their marriage. I wasn’t as close to him as I once was either, but he was still trying his best to fix things, so I tried my best to forgive him in return.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Mom greeted me, and placed a plateful of pancakes in front of me. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” I said with a yawn. “I could’ve slept a couple of hours more though.”

“I do believe that,” she chuckled. “You should be careful not to strain yourself too much. I still can’t believe I have to say this, but I think you should hang out with your friends more often and have fun instead of studying all the time.”

It was a kind of inside joke we had. She always bragged about needing to tell me to put down my schoolbooks once in a while and live like a regular teenager. She didn’t quite understand that I had to be the top of the best students to get where I wanted. Well, I guess I didn’t need to be that good, but I didn’t want to take any changes.

I had a plan to become an architect, and I didn’t want anything to ruin it. I guess I was slightly obsessed about it, but it was my biggest dream.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m going shopping with my new friend,” I told her.

“Oh? I thought you had football practice today after school,” she said.

“I do, but Sky’s going to meet me afterward so we can go get some camping stuff for me,” I said.

Mom tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Are you sure it’s safe to be camping in the woods?” she asked.

I was about to answer yes, but then my dad walked in, interrupting us.

“Don’t be silly, Alice,” he said cheerily. “I used to camp all the time when I was in the boy scouts.”

“But there might be bears,” Mom tried to object, but Dad just laughed lightly.

“Not in our forests. You worry too much,” he said, and kissed Mom on the cheek. She was still looking concerned, but she gave him a smile, eventually.

“So, owls. That’s an interesting project you guys have,” Dad said, sitting down at the table. “It’s not going to be easy though, but I’m sure you guys will make a damn good project.”

“We will,” I nodded, and tried to smile at him, but it never was genuine.

Even after two years, I still couldn’t let him back in my life. Not completely. He had never hurt me, but he had never been there for me either. He had been drunk for the most of my life, and that had left some scars in between us. I just couldn’t trust him to be my dad again. Not yet.

I finished my breakfast soon after that and went to get ready for school. A few moments later, I was standing outside at the corner of our street, waiting for the bus. When it came, I climbed in and searched for my friends. They were the noisiest bunch of people on the bus, so it wasn’t hard to spot them at the back.

Before I got to them, I saw Sky sitting all alone in the middle of the bus. He had his eyes turned out the window, and he didn’t notice me when I stopped to a halt next to him. He was pressing a schoolbag against his chest, like he was worried that he’d lose it.

“Hey, Sky,” I said when the bus started moving.

He turned to glance at me with a timid look in his blue eyes.

“H-Hi,” he muttered and looked down at his lap again.

“Max! Hey Max! Get your ass over here!” I heard my friends calling me cheerily. “You don’t believe what Troy did yesterday!”

I waved at them and turned to look at Sky. “I’ll see you later,” I told him and walked to my friends, trying to keep my balance on the moving bus.

I sat down and turned my attention to my friends. They started telling me about some silly prank Troy had pulled on one of the girls in our class, but I wasn’t quite concentrating on the story.

I turned to look at Sky again. I felt bad for the guy. He didn’t seem to have any friends at school. I had heard he moved from all across the country just over a month ago, so I didn’t believe he had any friends in our city. He always seemed sad and lonely when I saw him, and I knew the other students had picked on him. I’d seen people laughing at him when he was picking up trash at the schoolyard. I didn’t like bullying. I couldn’t stand it, and I wasn’t just going to stand by and watch Sky getting teased just because he was a little different. I didn’t understand why people cared so much about blending in.

“Max? Are you even listening?” Luke asked and tapped my arm to get my attention.

“Hm? Sorry, what did you say?” I looked at him, trying to remember what they had been talking about.

“Never mind,” Luke sighed. “So, you got the tree-hugger as your partner in biology. At least you’re getting an A from the project, but it’s too bad the kid is such a wuss.”

I grit my teeth together. “He’s a good guy,” I spoke.

“Dude, seriously. You don’t want to be seen with him,” Luke said. “I mean, have you seen his clothes? And he stutters all the time. I bet he still pees himself in his sleep.”

He was speaking loud enough for half of the bus to hear. Including Sky. Everyone around us were silent, except for Luke, who was chuckling at his own words.

“Uhm, we like Sky now,” Troy whispered to Luke.

“What?” Luke snapped and turned to look at Troy.

“Sky is my friend,” I said. “You got a problem with that?”

Luke looked angry for a moment, but then he turned to look away. “No...”

“Good,” I said, but I was still angry at him for what he said about Sky.

I didn’t like being the popular guy in school. I wasn’t anything special, but popularity did come with perks. I knew that by the end of the day the whole school would know that I was friends with Sky, and I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be a single person who dared to pick on him again.