A 1 in 33,000 Chance Of Us Meeting

It was probably then. On the day of the festival. Yeah, it was definitely back then. That was the day you took my breath away.

The hot summer sun shone into the classroom that morning, and the humid air was stifling. The homeroom teacher sat on his desk, fanning himself with loose sheets of paper. He wore his school-colored beige vest, though it was soaked with sweat. The class was nearing its end, and the students were diligently finishing their assignments for the period. His fanning came to a pause once the first student came to turn in his work.

“Good work Lawrence.” He said as the kid placed his work into the palm of his hand.

“Thank you.”

Lawrence made his way back to his own much smaller desk near the middle of the room. Before he could sit down, he felt a tug at the bottom of his school vest. Glancing back he saw the ever-grinning face of his friend Brett staring back at him. Lawrence shot him a confused look and Brett simply tapped his own worksheet with a pencil. Lawrence received the message but returned it with a do-it-yourself kind of look. Brett simply shrugged, took a glance at his work, and smirked. Before Lawrence could even settle properly in his chair, Brett was halfway to the front of the room. He proudly handed his assignment to the teacher and smugly rested his hands atop his spiky brown hair.

“Brett, why is half of this blank? Also, this is the third time this week you’ve forgotten to put your name on your work.” The teacher pinched the top of his nose in disappointment. “Come on Brett, this is your last year. Get it together.” the teacher said, knowing he was talking to a brick wall.

“Yes sir!” he replied maybe too enthusiastically given the situation he was in.

A few classmates chuckled at Brett's failure but Lawrence pretended not to notice. It wasn’t long after until the room returned to near silence, with only the sounds of scribbling filling the air. He tugged at his collar and took several deep breaths. The heat was getting to him, and his rigid uniform wasn’t helping the matter. Half a beat later, he reached into his old patched-up backpack for his notes. He was preparing to study diligently for the rest of the period, repeating a habit that began at the start of the school year. He was barely a second into his reading when the snap of pencil lead came from behind him. A soft voice followed after it. “Hey, sorry but could I borrow a pencil?” the girl a few seats behind him was turned smiling towards the desk neighboring her.

The other girl pulled out her pencil bag and set it on the still smiling girl's desk. For just a small bag, it sure did look overly decorated. “That's totes fine with me! You can go ahead and grab the one with the red pencil grip.” she said with a wide smile herself. Staring into the colorful assortments of writing utensils that her classmate sat upon her desk she hesitated to make the move to grab one. She turned back towards the girl neighboring her. “Actually I-” She was cut off.
“Oh, I totes forgot! You’re colorblind aren’t you? Whoops, that must’ve slipped my mind!” she interrupted, smirking as she did so. One of the other nearby classmates giggled slightly overhearing her. “Here,” she said taking the overly decorated bag back. She dug into it and pulled out two pencils. “Do you want the red one? Or the one with the green grip?” Before the other girl could respond, the pencil with the red grip was placed on her desk. “Sorry, I guess you wouldn’t care which one you got.” Another round of giggles was let out nearby. She forced a laugh, but still thanked the girl for the pencil and went back to work.

“You’re welcome!” she replied, making sure to draw the word out.

With the conversation behind him coming to an end, Lawrence went back to studying. This stuff happens all the time, and today was no different. The girl behind him just transferred in at the start of their last year so she had only been here a few months. Her name was Chio, but Lawrence only knew that due to the people behind him that occasionally picked on her for being color deficient. Neither of them had ever actually spoken to each other. He simply shrugged and went back to studying. They never really seemed to go overboard with it. To him, it looked more like playful teasing than the normal case of school bullying. Not to mention Chio doesn’t really mind it either. That was Lawrence’s thinking.

Their homeroom class soon came to an end and was replaced next by P.E.

“Hey, Lawrence! Do you plan on joining us today? I heard that we were having a class soccer game! I could probably get you a spot as one of the goalies if you really wanted.” Brett proposed all high and mighty.

“Thanks, but I'll pass again. I’ll just stick to what I normally do.”

He accepted his response and waved him off heading outside. “I’ll score a few goals for you then!”

Brett was almost definitely the most athletic student in the entire school. That paired with his endless supply of optimism made him a magnet for most classmates, but despite his fantastic social skills and gifted talents, he was completely empty in the head. He may be at the top of the class in sports, but he is at the bottom in academics. Even though he and Lawrence are complete opposites, they have somehow gotten along quite well their entire life. Neither one of them ever overstepping the boundaries of their long-lasted friendship.

Lawrence chose his usual spot in the bleachers, preferring to use this time to study in the gym rather than participate in the activity outside. He brushed his brownish blonde bangs aside and picked up where he left off during homeroom. Lawrence had the whole place to himself, finally enjoying some much-needed peace and quiet…though that peace was occasionally broken by the cheers of his classmates watching Brett dominate the field.

Lunch came next. He only ate a few bites of his homemade turkey sandwich before stuffing it back into his bag to continue studying. Brett however somehow devoured three different servings of the cafeteria food. He soon got sick from overeating and spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office. Every class after lunch was roughly the same: Lawrence would listen to the lecture presented by the teacher, finish his work, then study diligently until that class came to a close. He would do the same thing, next class. This repeated up until the school bell finally released them to go home. Lawrence got up out of his desk to grab his bookbag, but before he could even grasp the handle, he received a large blow to his back. “I'm back and better than ever! Ready to head home?” Brett said, appearing from out of nowhere.

Lawrence struggled to regain his breath before snapping at Brett.

“Could you not do something like that?!”

“Ah sorry, sorry…by the way, did you copy any notes for me?” he grinned

Lawrence clicked his tongue, but still reluctantly handed Brett his share of notes from the classes he missed.

“Heck yeah, I knew I could count on you!” he said, cheerfully.

“I can’t keep doing this every week you know. You should start watching what you eat.”

“No can do my dear friend. After all, that would defeat the purpose of my strength training!” Lawrence knew Brett was a meathead, but he also knew he was a good guy at heart.

“Hurry up and let's head home, this heat is killing me.” Brett said, eager to get moving.

Lawrence finally grabbed his bag and went to follow Brett out of the room. “Actually, Lawrence, do you mind staying? I need to have a talk with you.” their homeroom teacher asked. Hearing this, Brett gave Lawrence a farewell wave and headed outside. Lawrence placed his bag on top of his wooden desk and waited until the classroom became empty. There was an awkward pause, and the two stood there in silence for a moment. Lawrence beside his desk while his teacher once again fanned himself with old papers. The teacher twisted his mouth and sighed. “I guess I’ll get straight to the point. Your grades are good, honestly. Close to the best in the class. But about the school you wanted to get into...” his voice trailed off. The homeroom teacher stopped his fanning and looked Lawrence in the eyes. “I just don’t think you’ll be able to get in with your grades.” Lawrence slightly bit the inside of his lip. “I enjoy your aspirations, really, I do. But this school just has too low of an acceptance rate. I would hate for you to put all of this effort into this and not procure any type of results.” he paused for one second before finishing off his statement, “Does that make sense?” Lawrence released his lip. “Yes sir, I- thank you for the advice.” He picked up his bag once again and turned to head outside the classroom.

“Lawrence, look, I understand it’s hard for you. But this is your last year. You should try to enjoy it as best you can. Times like these don’t come by so often.”

Lawrence rested his hand on the door handle and paused for a second before responding. “Yes sir, I’ll try my best.” With that said, he left.

Lawrence took a step out into his gray world with the sun blazing down on him. He pulled out his flashcards held together by a metal ring and followed his normal path home. The outskirts of town only had the occasional house here and there. He mostly walked past long stretches of green lawns that went on for miles. Even though flowers were blooming all around, he could scarcely notice them. His path took him across the town's long, red bridge that stood above the river splitting the town. Minutes later, he arrived at a crossroads marked by an old junkyard. Normally this would be where Lawrence would turn right and head straight home. Although this time around Lawrence spotted something, no someone, at the junkyard that would usually be barren. Due to the beige vest and grey skirt a few inches above the knee, he knew they attended the same school as him. After taking note of her short black hair, and the bright red hair clip that was attached to the front he was able to figure out that it was Chio. Yet what caught Lawrence’s attention the most wasn’t his classmate in an unusual place, but who she was with. Sitting behind her barely visible to him was the local hobo. Aka, referred to by the younger generation as Hobo Bro. Lawrence found it unsettling, but after staring for a second, maybe two, he realized it was none of his business and took the turn to head home. He looked back down at his flashcards and flipped one over while he continued walking. What exactly was she doing with Hobo Bro there? Lawrence shook the thought out of his head. He took a couple more steps. Tugged on his collar, and let out a grave sigh.

Dangit! I can’t study like this! He turned on his heels and marched back towards the Junkyard. I’ll just take a quick look. Just to get the thought out of my head. She's probably just being nice to him and handing him money anyways. After I confirm that I’ll head straight home and go back to studying. Yeah, just one quick look.

He reached the junkyard he had previously abandoned. It wasn’t too big, but it had enough scrap metal and junk to almost cover the place up. Lawrence crouched down and sat behind a large wooden box just in earshot of them.

“Yellow!” Chio said with full confidence.

“Nah it’s not that one either.” Hobo bro said with a scruffy voice.

“Okay, what about orange for this one.”

“Nah”

“It has to be blue then!”

“It's pink actually.”
“What does that look like?”

“You ever seen eh panther?”

“A panther?” Chio asked, confused.

Is this a new form of charity work or something!? Lawrence thought, trying to figure out the bizarre situation in front of him.

“Look girl it's gettin’ late and around these time those stray cats start to come out, and we're on bad terms ya hear?”

Chio looked at him with a face of disappointment. “We’ve only been here for around twenty minutes.”
“And anymores of that, them cats will be out, yah understand? Hurry and pay up will yah.”

Why is money involved!? Lawrence was not able to comprehend anything that was happening in front of him.

Chio reached into her bag and gave him what she promised. Hobo Bro reached out and grabbed onto the bill, but Chio's grasp never came undone.

“One more and we can call it a day. Yah hear?” she said mockingly.

“Yer pretty rude for such a young lady.” Chio became flustered and instantly regretted her actions. “A-anyways we’re doing one more okay?”

Lawrence was too far gone at this point. If he left now he wouldn’t be able to study for days, maybe even weeks. He shifted his body a little to the left and turned his head to try and get a good look at what was actually going on.

“Red!” Chio yelled. Before Hobo bro could give an answer, Lawrence clumsily knocked over a cardboard box filled with scrap metal. It clanged loudly, and both Chio and Hobo Bro instantly looked over in his direction.

“What'd I tell Yah! Them cats are already here!” Hobo bro said quickly making his way out of the junkyard. Lawrence ducked back behind the wooden box to avoid being seen. You idiot Lawrence why did you go and do something like that! He pushed his back against the box with a red face slightly flustered at the mistake he just made. If she sees me like this my life is over! Lawrence imagined the scene in his head. Chio saying something along the lines of “Ew you creep.” The whole class staying away from him at school. He would go up to Brett as a last resort only to have him go “Sorry you aren’t the Lawrence I know.” and worst of all. To put the icing on the cake. He would be rejected from his dream school due to his inappropriate actions! No matter what I can NOT let her see me! Lawrence heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Crap she's coming this way! You got to be kidding me! Panicking he looked all around him to find something of use or a place to escape. But then he remembered, I’m in a freaking junkyard! He had to resort to the only option available. The option with the highest chance of success, the only surefire way of protecting his future. Lawrence took a big gulp of fear and understood his goal. To act like a cat so Chio decides to leave! Lawrence focused his mind and took action. With all his heart he let off the best impression of a stray cat he could muster. “Meow…” There! That had to have worked! He thought while turning his head to the side only to meet the one fate he wished to avoid.

“Um-” Chio let out standing right next to Lawrence with an aura of disgust. Lawrence's face turned pure red as quickly as he jumped up and darted off, sprinting away from the scene of pure embarrassment.

“Eh! You’re really running!?” she said, taken aback by what just happened.

Sadly though Lawrence was able to only make it about fifteen feet before collapsing to his knees and frantically gasping for air.

“Are you that unathletic!” she said, shocked.

Lawrence continued to fight for air until reaching into his bag and pulling out his inhaler. He took a quick puff of it and calmed himself down.

Something clicked in Chio’s mind. “Oh! You’re that kid with a bad case of Asthma in our class, right? The one that always sits inside the gym during P.E.” Lawrence had been caught. He ended up surrendering to the fact that he was found out and went inside the Junkyard with Chio to sit down.

“Is everything okay now?” she said, handing him a bottle of water.

Lawrence leaned up against one of the more sanitary piles of junk and took a sip. “Yeah, I'm better.” he quickly recalled the awkward moment he had just initiated and began to grasp for straws trying to keep his mind off of it. “Hey! So uh, what exactly were you doing over here.” He said, sounding like a robot.

Chio looked over at the large tin she was staring at earlier. “Are you talking about that?” She pointed at the large tin set upright with a dozen or so collared magnets latched onto it. “I was practicing seeing colors.” Lawrence let a small amount of water slip out of his mouth when he processed what she said. “Practicing?”

“Yeah, like how if you can’t swim you practice swimming. It’s somewhat similar to that.”

It’s not similar at all!

Lawrence took a breath and composed himself from the absurdity.

“So what exactly are the colors you can see?”

Chio seemed puzzled at what Lawrence asked her. “Hm? None as of right now.”

“So you have achromatopsia?” he asked, surprised.

“You know the word for it?”

“It’s just common sense right.”

“What exactly is common sense to you?” she said somewhat hoping to not receive an answer.

“I thought you had something similar to deuteranomaly or protanomaly. I didn’t expect you to have complete blindness to color.” Lawrence racked his brain for a second. “If I'm not wrong isn’t it close to a one in thirty-thousand chance to have it?”

Chio was surprised at how much Lawrence knew. “One in thirty-three thousand.” she said.

He pulled out a notebook from his bag and proceeded to write down the new information he learned. “One in thirty-three thousand.” he muttered to himself as he wrote. Seeing this Chio started to burst into a wave of laughter, grabbing her stomach and unable to keep her eyes open while in this state.

Lawrence stopped his writing and looked up at her confused.

“Sorry sorry!” she was barely able to get out. “It’s just I didn’t expect something like this to happen.” She still was only slightly able to control her laughter. “I mean you were behind a wooden box making cat noises, what's with that anyway?” she started to laugh harder just recalling the incident. As for Lawrence, his face grew red, and he became super embarrassed.

“And now you’re writing down the types of color blindness! Sorry, it's just.” She calmed herself down and looked Lawrence in the eyes. “I just didn’t expect any of that today is all.” Lawrence avoided contact and darted his look off to the side.

“Hey! If you don’t mind. Could you help me with this?” she asked with a bright grin pointing at the tin behind her. Lawrence didn’t know why and he didn’t really know what it was. Yet for some reason. Her smile was warm. It was like her mood had completely changed since he first arrived. Like she was almost glowing.

Lawrence shook off the previous embarrassment and stood up. “I don’t have time for that. I have to get home so I can continue studying.” he said still not making direct eye contact. He started to make his way towards the road to continue on his journey home.

A smirk grew on Chio’s face, “Aw that's too bad. Although it sure wouldn’t be good if the class found out there was a stalker near the junkyard who preys on school girls.”

At this point, Lawrence couldn’t keep up with how many times he had turned red today. But it soon faded away as the words of his homeroom teacher came back to him. “I just don’t think you’ll be able to get in with your grades.” Those words circled around his head like a swarm of flies. His reason became flawed and his mind foggy. He bit his lip and turned towards Chio. “Sorry, but I don’t really have time to focus on an unrealistic goal right now.” He tightened both of his fists. “Not everyone can be as carefree as you.”

Lawrence once again turned around and headed back to his normal everyday path. On his way, he didn’t hear another word from Chio. He reunited with the road he once discarded and headed back down his usual route. Trying to forget most of what happened at the junkyard. The walk was quiet. Only a few birds singing and the far-away sound of a car coming over the bridge he once passed. The sun was starting to calm down but he was still forced to tug on his collar every once and a while to get a good breath in. His peaceful walk soon came to an abrupt stop. Lawrence stood in the middle of the sidewalk and took a deep breath of fresh air.

Why did I even say something like that! He threw his hands around his head in frustration. Man! That was so embarrassing! She's probably getting a kick out of what I said and laughing like crazy! Lawrence furiously ran his hands through his hair hoping to lose the thought, but no dice. He decided the best course of action was to get out his flashcards and go back to studying, hoping his multiple embarrassments today would fade away like a distant memory. At least that's what he would have done if he actually had his book bag with him.

Crap! I left my bag over at the junkyard, and it’s with that weirdo Chio to make things worse! Lawrence knew the immediacy of the situation and decided it was best to hurry. He began to speed walk his way back.

He finally arrived. It took him longer than planned since he had abandoned the speed walking plan halfway through. His breathing was rapid but his main worries lay in whether or not Chio was still there, and if she wasn’t, would his bag still be where it once was? Before he could even finish his thought on what she would have done with his bookbag a voice cut him off.

“St-stay away!” as Lawrence looked around the corner the view in front of him came to light. On top of a large mountain of scrap metal that reached almost above the tall rusted chain-link fence that surrounded the place, was Chio holding onto his bookbag. Below were five, no, probably six stray cats slowly making their way up the pile to her. Their fur was raised and their fangs were out, every few steps up the pile of scrap only made their hisses louder to her ears.

“Chio what's going on?” Lawrence yelled

She looked up stunned at the fact that Lawrence was there. She clutched onto his bag tighter. “I don’t know! After you left, these cats started going through your bag so I stopped them, but now they have me surrounded!”

Lawrence took a step back for a second. Is she actually trying to protect my bag? He asked himself. Maybe he was wrong about Chio. But why would cats be after his old school bag in the first place? He then immediately found the answer to that question.

“They’re after the turkey sandwich in my bag that I didn’t finish at lunch! Throw it over the fence!”

Chio gave him a nod of understanding and with a large heave, tossed his bookbag over the fence into the river behind it. The cats quickly ran out of the junkyard to follow. Chio made her way down the junk pile seeming very relieved. “That actually worked!” she said once she finally reached the bottom. She walked over to Lawrence using her hands to brush whatever dirt got on her gray skirt and stood in front of him looking pleased with herself. Like she had accomplished a great deed.

“Chio.”

“Yes!”

“You remember when I told you to throw it over the fence?”

“Yup!”

“I was talking about the sandwich, not my entire school bag.”

Chio’s sense of self-satisfaction instantly broke. She frantically tried to think of a way to apologize but nothing could come out beside a mealy. “Sorry.”

But that wasn't enough for Lawrence. Today wasn’t a good day. It wasn’t a day that Lawrence could put up with this. His fatigue from constantly studying and the talk his homeroom teacher had with him was slowly weighing him down. “Your grades are good honestly. Close to the best in the class” his mind once again went foggy, and only one gray word could be made out. “Close”

While Lawrence was trapped in this state Chio was finally able to find the right words to apologize.

“But look at it thi-”
“Honestly how idiotic can you be!” Lawrence snapped.

Chio was startled but still tried to sort things out. “Hey…I’m sor-”

“Does sorry help my family buy back a three hundred dollar Inhaler! What about all the notes and flashcards I had in there! That took time you know! Pens, paper, ruler, calculator, they’re all cheap on their own but put together they cost a ton!” He kicked the ground in frustration sending a few particles of dust away from the area.

Chio started to get frustrated herself, after all at least she was trying to help in some way.

“Well if you hadn’t left it here none of this would have happened anyways!” Lawrence quickly responded, “The only reason I was even here in the first place was because you were trying to achieve some childish dream!” That was when Lawrence realized he went too far. That was when he realized all the build-up he was carrying wasn’t worth releasing onto her. He realized he made a lapse of judgment, but his pride wouldn’t allow him to apologize. Not to someone like her. He turned his back on Chio and walked off. She watched quietly as he left.

Yet he was only able to take a few steps away before turning back around. Lawrence’s morning routine is to study. His afternoon routine is to study. Even his nightly routine to study. Not because he enjoys it, but because studying is the only thing someone like him can do. He isn’t as athletic as Brett, and he isn’t as optimistic as Chio. The only way he can secure his future is to study constantly. “Close to the best in the class”. Yet Lawrence is only able to make above-average grades. Once his mind is focused on something he is unable to focus on anything else. So when he takes tests he is incapable of getting a perfect score, simply because he is too focused on trying to do so. And right now, Lawrence knew he wouldn’t be able to study at all. At this moment Lawrence was too focused on something else. On how much of a loser he was. Yelling at someone who was only trying to protect his belongings. Crushing someone's dreams that they are working hard for. He was mad. Mad because Chio was the version of him if he didn’t give up. But a part of that is what gave him hope.

He stepped back into the junkyard avoiding eye contact at all cost. Chio still remained silent and only watched what he would do next. Lawrence approached the board with the colored magnets and pointed at the one close to the top. “This is the one you tried to guess before I interrupted you.” He said, finally looking at her. “Do you remember what color you guessed?”

Chio still continued to hold her tongue, but only for a little. “I’m…not sure.”

“You said red. You guessed that the color of this magnet was red.”

Chio stared at him with wide eyes.

Lawrence took a deep breath and raised his head high. “It’s red. You got it right.'' After saying those words he broke eye contact and looked toward the ground below him. His face started to turn red just like the magnet he was pointing to. “Also…I’m uh…sorr-”

His sentence was cut short. Chio had grabbed both of his hands and stared into his eyes with hers starting to light up. A wide smile was brought to her face. “Lawrence let's be friends!”

“Huh?”

“I said let's be friends!”

“Yeah butt-”

“You can help me cure my color blindness!”

“Huh!?”

“And in return!” Chio leaned in close, her eyes shining bright with her smile to match. “I can help you cure your breathing problem!”

The gears in Lawrences he was turning, but the only thing he was able to let out. Was a single, “Huh…?”