"What? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Oh my God..." he said again. "This is going to sound weird, but is your name Kelly Bartolacci?"
"Yes," I said cautiously. He wrapped me up in a big hug.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"I'm--"
"Kelly, get back in here," Chris said. He pulled me in. I tried to get a last glance of the guy, but I couldn't.
"Who was that?" Melissa asked me.
"I don't know, but he knows me apparently."
"He's a glue sniffer," Chris said. We all got a laugh out of that one. Then, the bell rang. I ended up taking a really long way to math and made it just before the bell. I sat in an empty desk. The guy who hugged me outside the band room was there.
"Hi class, I'm Mrs. Engelhart. Please stand up, as I call roll, I'll show you where to sit." We all got up.
"Ted Andrews?"
"Here," he said. He took a seat in the front.
"Kelly Bartolacci?"
"Here," I said. I sat right behind Ted. She went on. All of a sudden, I got a bloody nose, for no reason at all. That happens to me a lot. The teacher thought it was serious and sent me to the nurse. I was out of the room before she called the mystery guy's name.
The nurse had me sit with my head forward to drain all the blood out. I've always put my head back, but I didn't start anything with her. After it stopped, she gave me some water and sent me back to class. I don't know how the water was supposed to help. When I came back, the class was working on a worksheet. I saw a few papers on my desktop. One was a curriculum overview. One was a list of class rules. One was a worksheet on graphing. Yay. Ted turned around.
"You all right?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm cool," I said.
"All right. You didn't miss too much at all."
"You two, in front, no talking, please," Mrs. Engelhart told us. Ted turned around and went back to work. I turned towards my desk and began to do a little work. I saw the mystery guy. He sat at the row next to me, one desk behind mine. He was working hard on his math. I started mine, too. I finished all of the graphing stuff in about 20 minutes (math is not my best subject). The bell was about to ring. The guy came over to me.
"Kelly, you never got to find out my name," he said.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"You...Kelly," Mrs. Engelhart said. "I've already told you once about talking. If I have to tell you again, it's out in the hall for the rest of class."
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
"Same for you too, young man."
"Okay," he said. I turned to my desk and I pulled out a notebook. I opened it up and I started to play MASH. Finally, the announcements came on. We all stood up and stretched. The guy tapped on my shoulder.
"After this class is over, we gotta talk," he said.
"Okay," I responded. A few minutes later, the bell rang.
"Have a great day tomorrow!" Mrs. Engelhart said to us. I went out into the hall. I waited for the guy.
"Lets go to the commons," he said.
"Okay." Suddenly, I was afraid. Who was this guy? What did he want with me?
We walked down to the commons, not saying a word. I saw a few of my friends and I waved hi. Finally, the guy and I reached the commons. We sat down on a bench. He looked at me.
"Kelly, do you remember who I am?" he asked me. I looked at his face. I gasped. I knew who it was. I reached for my bookbag. It wasn't there.
"I'll be right back here, I left my bookbag in the math room, don't leave," I said. I ran up the steps and to my math room. Andy saw me on the way and grabbed my shoulder.
"What's the hurry, Kelly? What's wrong?"
"I can't explain. Just wait for me, this is very important."
"All right, but try to hurry," he said.
"Okay, bye." I didn't wait for his answer. I ran into my math room and I opened the door. Mrs. Engelhart was at her desk, working.
"Kelly, I was wondering when you'd be coming for your bookbag," she said.
"I'm sorry, I was in a hurry and--"
"Today, you got off on a bad foot. Lets try to make Thursday a better day, okay?"
"Yes ma'am," I said. I ran out of the room and I flew through the hallways. Mr. Harrison grabbed me by the back part of my bookbag.
"Slow down, Kelly, it's not a race," he said.
"You don't understand," I said.
"What's wrong?"
"I'll explain later. Thanks!" I said. Mr. Harrison let go of my bookbag. I ran down the hallway and down the steps to the commons. The boy was still there. I sat down on the bench and took a few moments to catch my breath.
"Are you okay?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. I looked the guy in the face. I pulled out what was necessary in my bookbag. I looked from it to his face, back to it, back to his face. I had to ask it, I was almost positive I knew who it was.
"Isaac Hanson?"
Chapter 3
Chapter 1
Those Were The Days
Kelly's Hanson Stories
