The Fall

The Fall 4:01

Dropping his backpack onto the floor, Kiernan pulled out his chair, peeking at the drawing that Winslow had set on the table in front of her. She dug through her backpack, reorganizing her notes, but smiled at Kiernan when he joined her.

“You drew this?” He asked, looking at the artwork. “It's really good!”

“Oh,” she said. “Thanks.” Winslow tensed as Kiernan leaned around her to get a better view of the picture. The piece was a stippling drawing of apples hanging from a tree branch. The assignment was to use one of a few select techniques to create different values, and she had regretted choosing stippling almost immediately. She could have done crosshatching way more easily, but she was proud of herself for committing to it.

Kiernan considered her work for a moment, then asked, “Is it for a class?”

“Yeah,” Winslow said. “I take drawing on B days. Your sister's in my class, actually.”

Kiernan smiled slyly. “I may have already known that.” His cheeks tinted pink and he slid into his chair. Winslow looked over at him in bemusement, but Miss Foster approached the table before she could question him about it. The teacher wanted an update on his textbook, and he asked to stay after class to talk about it.

The bell soon rang and the lecture started shortly after. Winslow dug through her belongings to find her bag of colored highlighters for the notes she'd be taking. She didn't see it in any of her backpack pockets, and she wondered if she had left it on her desk at home.

“Winnie, d’you need a highlighter?” Kiernan whispered, and Winslow nodded. She felt a small flutter in her chest from hearing him use her nickname. Kiernan leaned down and unzipped the front pocket of his backpack, pulling two highlighters from it and holding them up for her to see.

“Which one do you want?” He held a yellow one and a purple one.

“Ummm…” Winslow considered her options. “Always choose the right!” She flashed her green, shield-shaped CTR ring at him, the letters symbolizing the same sentiment.

Kiernan scoffed, but his eyes crinkled with a little bit of laughter. Their church placed a lot of emphasis on “choosing the right,” which really just meant making good choices, but Winslow also liked using the motto to help her make small choices quickly.

“My right, or yours?” Kiernan asked.

“Mine.” Winslow plucked the purple highlighter from Kiernan's hand, thanking him with a smile.

My right, or yours? The simple question stuck in Winslow's mind. It seemed stupid, but she and Kiernan each saw a different highlighter on the right. Neither of them were wrong, they just had opposite views. Until that moment, though, she had never fully considered that ‘the right’ might not always be clear or that it could look different for individual people. The church promoted the idea that there was always one true ‘right’ and that following the prophet would lead you there every time, but suddenly Winslow felt that it couldn't be so simple. She began to wonder how God would judge people's choices in the end. If someone truly believed they were doing what was best, would they get the credit, even if it wasn't necessarily what the church wanted from them? Don't the scriptures say that Heavenly Father knows your true intentions? She thought back to her talk with Cherry a few days prior, when she said that a person's comfort should come before arbitrary rules. Perhaps what's right for one person doesn't always line up with what the church expects. Is the ‘straight and narrow path’ to glory really so narrow?

Winslow pulled her church journal from her backpack and scribbled these thoughts down, intending to pray about them later. Kiernan looked puzzled when he recognized the notebook, but he didn't press the matter, and Miss Foster turned off the frontmost lights to begin the day's lecture.

After a long, brutal class of note-taking and trying to stay awake, Winslow went with Gwen and Marcella to the library for prep period. Reid had to go somewhere else to retake a quiz, and Winslow was secretly pleased about this— she hoped to distance herself from him a little bit while she figured things out.

The girls found a few seats while other students continued to file into the library, filling up many of the surrounding tables and rows of computers. Winslow had planned on finishing her stippling drawing during this free period, but she miraculously got it done the night before, so she was caught up on her work. Getting to sit and chat with her friends for half an hour would be nice.

Just before the bell signaled the start of the period, the chairs at the table behind Winslow scraped against the floor. She heard familiar voices and laughter as Kiernan and several of his friends settled in. Winslow glanced toward the boys, immediately making eye contact with Kiernan.

Realizing he had already been looking in her direction, Winslow laughed and asked, “Oh, enjoying the view?”

This was met with chaotic cheers and hoots from the other boys, as well as laughter from Gwen and Marcella. A bright red hue washed over Kiernan's face, but he laughed and accepted the hype from his peers.

The boys suggested Winslow and her friends come sit with them and the girls cheerfully obliged. Surprised that their invitation was accepted, Jacob insisted on giving up his seat so Winslow could sit next to Kiernan, but he received a slap on the arm from Kiernan for announcing it. The table that the boys chose didn't have much room, so once the girls joined the group, they had to cram the chairs together. Another of Kiernan's friends, Marcus, finished his work on a nearby computer and approached the group, receiving the classic hugs and fist bumps from each of the boys. Marcus soon insisted that Winslow scoot closer to Kiernan so he could fit his chair into the circle. No matter how much room she made, though, Marcus insisted it wasn't enough and gestured for her to keep going. He didn't stop until Winslow's chair was touching Kiernan's, and made sure to take up as much space as possible so she couldn't move back. Winslow made a show of rolling her eyes.

“Sorry about them,” Kiernan whispered to her. Their friends had begun arguing about the best way to fit all the chairs, but Winslow genuinely didn't mind the close proximity. Plus, both of them choosing to stay out of the debate made it feel like they were in their own little bubble.

“Do you think they know the table we were at first is bigger?” Winslow had her chin propped up on her hand, but nodded towards the other table.

“Hard to say.” Kiernan glanced back at Jacob, who was trying to convince Marcella that it was the size of the chairs making it a problem, not the size of the table. Winslow couldn't tell if Jacob was pulling her leg or not.

The debate eventually died down, with Antonio and Jacob electing to just stand, and they moved the conversation towards anything else that could possibly entertain the girls. They each showed off scars that they had— Kiernan revealing two that he had on his elbow— and tried to decide which of the boys would do best in a triathlon. Winslow admitted that she couldn't swim, and Marcus argued that she should be more impressed by the winner if that were the case. Russ piped up, saying she only needed to be impressed by Kiernan, who promptly elbowed him in the ribs.

After hanging out for all of prep period with Kiernan and their combined group of friends, Winslow found the rest of her Monday to crawl by at an incredibly painful rate. Nothing else could quite compare to sitting with a bunch of friends and listening to them ramble.

Walking into the seminary building after her chemistry class, Winslow found Kiernan already sitting quietly in his seat.

“Hey,” she said. “Reid's at the doctor. Want to sit here today?” She patted the desk next to her.

Kiernan began gathering his things to move, but Brother Roman walked in and said, “Don't get too comfy, brothers and sisters! We've got a special activity planned with Sister Kilroy's class, so we'll be in her room today!”

Seminary was still enjoyable, but Winslow didn't get to sit with Kiernan during the activity. This was immensely disappointing— she had been looking forward to talking to him again after their prep period together, especially since Reid would be missing class.

Winslow then wanted to sit with Kiernan and his friends at lunch, assuming they'd let her— though she had a sneaking suspicion that they'd be thrilled if she asked. However, Reid got back to school at the end of third period and was waiting outside the seminary building when class ended. Her heart sank a little when she saw him, knowing that any hope of sitting with Kiernan's friends died instantly. She couldn't bear to imagine how that conversation with Reid would go.

When Tuesday afternoon rolled around, Reid invited Winslow to come with him as he took his little sisters to their dance class. She accepted, knowing it had been a long time since she'd seen any of his siblings and they would be incredibly excited to see her. She still took the bus home, asking Reid to pick her up on their way to their class so she could do her chores first. He offered to help with her chores, which was sweet, but she declined in the name of alone time with a playlist. Really, she didn't want to be stuck with him all afternoon.

In the early evening, Winslow heard a car honk from her driveway. Reid had arrived. She grabbed her phone off the kitchen table and shouted that she was heading out.

“Okay, I'm leaving! Love you!” She didn't know who was listening, but hoped someone got the message.

Letting the door fall closed behind her, Winslow trotted down the walkway towards the minivan that Reid's mom normally drove, waving a friendly ‘hello.’

“Hi!” She opened the passenger door and climbed in. A chorus of excited chatter echoed back to her from the three little girls in the back.

“Hey,” Reid smiled at her, putting the car in reverse as Winslow clicked her seatbelt into place.

A nearby high school held the girls’ junior ballet class in the gymnasium, so Winslow and Reid sat together on the bleachers for the duration of the hour. The class was split into two groups by age, but both troupes met in the gym, meaning Winslow and Reid could keep an eye on all three girls at once. Leslie and Kira were in the older class, and Millie was in the younger. Reid had another sister, Hattie, but she was still too young for ballet, and their other brother, Connor, would rather do anything else than be dragged to something like this.

Reid had his flaws, but Winslow could tell he really did care about his family. He'd agreed to take the girls to their dance class so his mom would go to a city council meeting and his dad could work late, but the girls were overjoyed that he was the one chaperoning them, especially since he brought Winslow. At one point, Millie fell and shed a few tears, holding her ankle, and Reid got up and ran onto the gymnasium floor to see if she was okay. Winslow stayed on the bleachers to keep an eye on the older girls, but kept sneaking glances at Reid fussing over Millie.

 “See, he's not a bad person,” she whispered to herself, watching him pick his sister up and hug her. “He just has bad moments sometimes.” She recalled that seeing the way he'd interact with his siblings was one of the things that made her fall for him in the first place.

After the time allotted for ballet had ended, Reid took the girls out for treats. His sisters each got an ice cream cone and he made them promise not to let anything drip on their leotards, saying their mom would be furious at him if she found out he let them eat while wearing them. He and Winslow both got milkshakes, and he even let her taste his and refused her offer to pay him back.

By the end of the night, Winslow had felt a lot better about being in Reid's company. She knew he had a lot of redeeming qualities and felt bad for overlooking them at times, so she told herself to start making more of an effort to give him credit where it's due. Maybe he would even get along with Kiernan if they spent more time together. She would try to slowly encourage the matter going forward, hoping they could all become good friends.