The Boy No One Remembered

Lately, my seatmate had been looking at me strangely. Whether we were going to the cafeteria or heading to P.E., she kept her distance like she was afraid of me. I finally couldn't take it anymore and asked her, "Did I do something to offend you?" She flinched, backed several steps away, and avoided my eyes. "No. It's not your fault!" But the next day, she voluntarily transferred out of the honors track and into a regular class. Confused, I went to ask her what was going on. The moment I arrived at the door of her new classroom, she'd been chatting casually with other students. Then she saw me, started shaking all over, and screamed in terror. "It really has nothing to do with you. Please stop looking for me. Please!" Chapter 1 At some point, I realized my seatmate, Grace Bell, had started looking at me strangely. At first, she only nudged her desk a little farther away from mine when she thought I wasn't paying attention. Then she simply moved her chair all the way to the window. I tapped her shoulder, trying to remind her to pay attention in class. I didn't expect her to fall straight off the chair in fright. Her face was full of panic. She scrambled up from the floor on all fours and bolted out of the classroom. I was completely confused. I wondered if I'd somehow offended her. I planned to ask Grace about it the next day and clear up the misunderstanding. But when I came to school the next morning, the seat beside me was already empty. Our English teacher told me, hesitantly, that Grace had applied on her own to move from the honors track to a regular class. Our class was the best honors class at Eastbridge High. We had the strongest teachers in the school. Grace had told me more than once how hard she'd worked to get in. The fact that she'd voluntarily transferred to a regular class was way too strange. I still couldn't hold back. As soon as class ended, I found out which classroom she'd moved to and went there with an expensive apology gift. Even though I didn't know what I'd done wrong, my attitude was sincere enough. Grace was sitting by the window, laughing and chatting with the classmates beside her. While I hesitated outside the window, one of her new friends spotted me and nudged her shoulder. "Grace, someone's here for you." The smile on Grace's face froze the instant she turned around. As that smile faded, her expression twisted into something uglier than crying. Her whole body began trembling violently. "Ah! It really has nothing to do with you. Stop looking for me. Please, I'm begging you, I'm begging you!" The students in the classroom saw her hysterical state and assumed I'd been harassing her. They quickly drove me away. I had no choice but to carry the gift back to my own classroom. When Theo Whitaker saw my dejected face, he'd already guessed how the apology had gone. He walked over and patted my shoulder. "Forget it. There's no point forcing yourself to keep someone who isn't a good fit. "Your seat's near the front. The teacher will definitely move someone from the back to sit beside you. "Maybe the new seatmate will be better." I sighed. "I hope so." Would my new seatmate really get along with me? My new seatmate was Connor Ward. He was cheerful and outgoing. It only took us two class periods to go from awkward strangers to the kind of friends who'd make plans to play games together after school. We clicked quickly. But after lunch, he suddenly went quiet. When the teacher called on him to answer a question, Connor, who was usually quick with jokes and answers, actually froze for two seconds before standing up. With a blank expression, he told the teacher he'd zoned out and didn't know the answer. Our English teacher was displeased. "First Grace, now you. One after another, none of you are focusing on your studies. What's going on?" Connor's eyes seemed to flick toward me by accident. It was only a split second, but because I'd been unusually sensitive lately, I caught it. I suddenly realized Connor had also started acting strange. He began avoiding me, intentionally or otherwise. One day, during nap period, I opened my eyes in a half-dreaming haze. And I found him staring at me, dead still. Chapter 2 His mouth was twisted, and one finger was in it as he gnawed on his nail in a frenzy. The nail that had once been whole was now bitten ragged. White powder flaked along the broken edge. When he realized I'd accidentally caught him watching me, he seemed deeply unsettled. His bloodshot eyes rolled in their sockets as he quickly backed away. He kept retreating until he and his plain white shirt almost blended into the cherry blossoms outside the window. Only then did he press a hand to his chest with difficulty and turn his face away from me. The huge gap between how he'd treated me before and how he acted now ate away at my nerves. I rushed forward and grabbed his hand. "Why? What exactly about me makes you uncomfortable?" "No, no, it's not your fault!" Connor was almost five foot nine, but he screamed outright and flung my hand off like I was something untouchable. As if I were some kind of monster. I felt hurt. Why? I clearly hadn't done anything. I'd treated them well. But first Grace, then Connor. Both of them treated me like this. I took out a mirror and looked at myself from every angle, but I couldn't find anything wrong. Teenage skin wasn't perfect, sure, but it wasn't so bad that people should find me disgusting. I lowered my head, suddenly self-conscious. When Connor saw that, he seemed guilty and wanted to comfort me. Then all at once, he sprang up in terror and started clawing at his own back like he'd gone insane. He shouted nervously, "Sorry, sorry." Then he turned and tried to jump out the window. I quickly rushed over with the other students who'd woken up and pulled him back. After that, I worried about his mental state, so I didn't keep pressing him the way I'd pressed Grace. I only watched him quietly, afraid he'd do something foolish. Then one day during P.E., I noticed Connor was missing. Worried, I searched everywhere for him. In the end, I found him in the classroom, sitting in my seat. With a crazed expression, he was rummaging through my desk. My eyes widened. "Connor, what are you doing?" He seemed not to hear me. At last, after finding a piece of paper, he suddenly let out a scream. When he looked up at me, his eyes were wide, and his pupils trembled violently. Before P.E. had even ended, he'd rushed into the faculty office and told the teacher he wanted to change seats. The teacher was helpless. "That seat's perfectly good. It's at the front of the room. Now you want to move to the middle?" "Yes. I don't want the front. I don't want the back either. Please, teacher!" As he spoke, Connor kept glancing anxiously out the window. Then he happened to see me standing at the door. A tall, sturdy boy like him burst into tears on the spot. "Please, teacher. I'm begging you!" The teacher lost patience. "I also have to consider the other students' needs. You're making so many demands that I have no way to satisfy you." Connor looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. His legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees. He looked like he couldn't wait to run away. But when he saw me standing at the door, he didn't dare come out. I sighed heavily and turned back to the classroom. The seat beside me stayed empty. Connor never came back. The next day, the teacher announced that he was taking leave from school. "Connor says he's feeling unwell and needs to take some time off." I couldn't understand. Connor had always been healthy. How could he suddenly be sick? The teacher tapped the blackboard sternly. "Even though you're only juniors, you still need to focus on studying. Forget the excuses—keep your head clear, and everything else falls into place." She said that, but I couldn't stop thinking about the reason behind it. As soon as class ended, I turned around to find my best friend, Theo Whitaker. The two of us went into the hallway to talk. I clenched my fists and said, "I have to figure out why this is happening. Otherwise, I'll keep thinking about it." Theo rested his chin in his hand with a troubled look. "I have no idea either, but if you want to investigate, I'll go with you." Chapter 3 Theo was the first to think of the paper Connor had found when he snuck back to the classroom during P.E. and searched my desk. "He must have had a reason for doing that." "Yeah, but I can't think of one at all." Feeling helpless, I showed Theo the sheet of paper. "It's just an ordinary health screening form. It says everything's normal." I'd racked my brain but still couldn't figure out why Connor would dig through my desk to look at my health report. Theo's frustration was written all over his face. "Was he afraid you had some contagious disease and would infect him?" I looked down at myself. "I'm clean, healthy, and look perfectly fine. How could I be sick?" "Nonsense. Of course I know you're not sick." Theo rolled his eyes. The whole thing was too strange. I suddenly remembered that a few days ago, I'd asked the class president whether there was anything odd about me. He'd looked me up and down in confusion and said I seemed normal. So at least in the class president's eyes, I wasn't strange. Maybe I could ask him for help. Thinking of that, I turned to find him, only to discover that the class president had come to talk to me first. "Mason, have the things with your last two seatmates gotten to you lately?" I said miserably, "It's still pretty annoying. They're acting like I'm some kind of plague." The class president comforted me. "It's not your problem. The teachers were even wondering if that seat's cursed, or if the cherry blossom scent is too strong and messing with people's heads." I knew he was joking to cheer me up. "It's fine. I know this probably has something to do with me, so don't try to comfort me. "Grace was one thing. Maybe girls can be more sensitive. But what happened with Connor is probably because of me." The class president asked, "Do you remember when their attitudes suddenly changed?" I thought carefully. Grace started acting strange when the cherry blossoms bloomed. That was just a few days after this semester started. Connor went from warm and enthusiastic to cold and terrified in the span of one lunch break. The class president caught the key point. "When the cherry blossoms bloomed, did you do anything?" I thought about it. "I dragged her and Theo to the little grove behind the school to look at the cherry blossoms. Does that count?" "The grove? Isn't that off-limits? Why'd you go there?" A trace of reproach flashed across his face. A moment later, he suddenly looked extremely frightened. He gave me a strange look, his legs started trembling, and then he ran straight back to the classroom. Theo's mouth twitched. "The school only banned us from going there because there are too many bugs, right? Why's a grown boy so scared?" But I had an epiphany. "So it's all because of the grove. Why don't we go take a look after school?" Theo spread his hands. "Up to you." Once again, after lunch, I came back to find the classroom still empty. I stood at the door and saw the class president sitting in my seat, frantically searching for something. Blood-red veins filled his eyes. Sweat slid down his forehead. Finally, he pulled out a sheet of paper. The instant he finished reading it, he looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. Then he looked up and saw me standing at the door. His legs went weak, and he screamed in terror. I jumped because of him. "Why are you screaming? The teacher asked me to ask you about getting me a new seatmate." "Go ask the teacher yourself. I don't know!" Seeing him like that, I was honestly afraid I'd scare him unconscious if I took another step inside. I had no choice but to turn around, go to the faculty office, and find my homeroom teacher. "Ms. Keller, I really don't know what the reason is." She comforted me. "It has nothing to do with you. High school students are under a lot of pressure. It's normal." She said that, but her words still hinted at something. She wanted me to think about how I interacted with my classmates, to yield to others more, and to respect female classmates. It made me feel terribly wronged. "Then how about this, Ms. Keller? Since no one's willing to sit with me anyway—Theo's my best friend. Why not move him beside me?" At least Theo wouldn't dislike me. Ms. Keller's fingers, which had been tapping on the keyboard, suddenly froze. Then she stopped in confusion and turned her head to look at me. "Theo? "Who's Theo? "Do we have someone like that in our class?"