Gabe - Twelve

Gabe

            Erich and I made it through our first two shifts as fire wardens without speaking and without any real incident. He didn’t throw me off the roof and neither of us froze to death. I mark that as a success.

            We discovered our bonus after the first night, completely by accident. The two of us didn’t get in until five in the morning, which left us about two hours of sleep. And, of course, though he had already done plenty of snoring on the roof, Erich passed out cold in British History. Professor Lefebvre (who was, ironically, French) rapped on the desk with his ruler and Erich tipped backwards in his chair. He was about to throw Erich out of class, and I really, really did not want to research our midterm essay alone.

            “Sir!” My hand shot up in the air and a hundred faces in the lecture hall turned to look at me. “Amery and I were on fire warden duty last night, sir,” I squeaked. “Surely you can forgive his… um… fatigue,” I said hesitantly. Hersch and Jim snickered into their books and I knew I looked like an idiot.

            Erich glared at me as he climbed back into his chair. Professor Lefebvre looked at us from under his glasses and informed me he did not appreciate being interrupted. Then he excused us both. My stomach dropped with embarrassment, thinking I had been thrown out of class for sticking my neck out for Erich. But on our way out he told us he would make a note of our absence for the remaining Wednesdays and Fridays of the term.

            I practically skipped out of the lecture hall, so happy to be free. “Erich, did you hear that?” I said, excessively giddy. “No more Brit History! Wednesdays and Fridays, amico!”

            He swatted at me and I immediately swallowed my smile and fell into step behind him. “I could have handled that by myself. I didn’t ask for your help,” he muttered.

            This was irritable even for him. I figured he was just exhausted; I was too. So I just didn’t answer, watching his massive back walk away from me as we headed back to the dorm for some well-deserved sleep.

Author's Note

Another "take it or leave it" chapter that might go away unless I get really positvie feedback

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I like the feel of victory surviving duty with Erich. The story is getting better. I like the direction of this story. Can feel heading to a interesting ending. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Jake Donald Stephens]

Keep it. An occasional short chapter isn't bad.

.novelists.elite.info.
.display. .jake.006.
.memberID. 006
.name. Jake
.username. DesertKing
.novels. Cliff, The Cult, Back To The Shack
.status. Admin, Role Model, Novelist, noelwrimo Champion
.noelwrimo. 30,271
.join date. 03-24-2011

[Arianna]

i like it. it shows how irritable erich is. KEEP IT!:)