My Name is Ulysses - 2. Chapter 2

Even after a month Ulysses had yet to step inside the library but he was actually surprised to see it was some what crowded. There were several students milling around, some working at the large round tables that were strewn about the lobby. Others sat at a bank of computers, and from the few glances Ulysses was able to steal, none of them were looking at school sanctioned material.

Liz waved at an middle aged woman who was standing behind a large counter and going through a stack of books, waving a barcode pen at each of them. When she saw Liz wave she smiled back and returned the gesture.

“That’s Mrs. Druss, she’s the librarian,” mentioned Liz in hushed tones. Ulysses had already come to that conclusion. The narrow face, the beady eyes, a pair of reading glasses resting on the bridge of her sharp nose; she fit the image of “librarian” perfectly.

Liz continued on leading Ulysses through the rows of books until she came to what he only assumed was the back wall of the library. There were half a dozen doors evenly spaced along its length, each one with a small sign sticking out from the upper left corner of the door frame; “Study Room.” She stopped at the third one, and peaked through the small window to the left of the door.

“Here we are,” she said as she opened the door and stepped aside to allow Ulysses to go first. “After you.”

The room was fairly small, setup for students to have a quiet place to work or to do small projects. There were two tables about four feet in length and sitting parallel to one another across the width of the room. On the far wall a white board was hanging from the wall, the faint impressions of long erased diagrams and project notes were still visible on its dulled surface. At the far table sat a boy who looked to be Ulysses’ age, his nose buried in a book. Next to him sat another young man, who was also buried nose deep in a book but it was obvious he was not enjoying it as much as the other boy as he scribbled notes madly into a notebook. At the other table there were two girls. One was sitting at the right hand end, a drawing tablet propped in her lap, pencil in hand and busily working. The other girl was sprawled out on her stomach on top of the table. She was propped up on her elbows and idly chatting with the other girl.

All eyes turned to Ulysses, save for the two boys, as he stepped inside and he gave a friendly if somewhat awkward little wave. Liz pushed past him, failing to do any introductions, and made her way to the table with the two boys.

“Well who do we have her?” Asked the girl on top of the table. She pulled herself up, rearranging herself so that she was sitting at the edge of the table with her feet dangling just above the floor. She was obviously a fan of black, it was impossible to tell what exactly she was wearing because the only bit of color was a pendant with a bright red bauble in its center. Beyond that it looked as though her sweater was black, as well as her jeans, shoes, and the little wrist band. Her matching raven black hair, which Ulysses was sure was dyed, was cut short but tastefully tussled about giving her a disheveled look that was now pretty popular among anyone who spent time in the mirror in the morning. Yet for all the black attire her face was refreshingly free of black makeup; just a little eye liner accented her silvery grey eyes.

“This,” Liz said, finally getting to the introductions , “is Ulysses.”

“H... hi.” He stammered. Liz just rolled her eyes at him as she sat down between the two boys.

The girl in black nudged the chair next to her with her foot. “Well I have to say that's quite the name. Greek hero, President to our fair nation... those are some big shoes to fill."

“That’s Sarah,” offered Liz as Ulysses hesitantly took the seat offered. The now named girl in black offered her hand. “She bites,” added Liz.

Ulysses’ eyes darted from the offered hand to Sarah’s mischievous grin. “Don’t worry, “Mr. President” my bark is worse than my bite.”

Ulysses reached out and took her hand, and she proceeded to start barking. Liz and the still unnamed girl both started laughing, and Ulysses couldn’t help but join in.

“I take it back,” said Ulysses turning to Liz, "she's the brazen one."

Sarah made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Have people been talking about me behind my back," she asked, shooting a look at Liz. Sarah turned back to Ulysses, "you mustn't believe a word of it," she winked and let the hand shake linger until Ulysses turned red. “Oh he’s adorable,” Sarah said to no one.

“I’m Tina,” offered the still unnamed girl. From where he was sitting Ulysses could only see what wasn’t obscured by the drawing tablet, which was only the upper half of her face. She had a small button nose, and her eyes were a deep shade of green like an earthy jade. She didn’t do anything with her hair, a light brown, which was just combed back and kept in place behind her ears with colorful little hair clips.

“Nice to meet you,” offered Ulysses again.

“And over here,” Ulysses turned back to Liz who was pointing to the boy next to her, “is Hector.” Like Tina, Ulysses couldn’t make out much of Hector, just a crew cut of jet black hair, and matching bushy eye brows, the rest was obscured by the book he was reading. Ulysses couldn’t make out the title of the book Hector was reading but it must have been quite the page turner as he didn’t even acknowledge Ulysses. “Don’t worry,” sighed Liz, “you can meet him later. And here we have Ryan,” she motioned to the other boy who didn't look up from his frantic note taking.

"Hey," he mumbled.

"And that leaves our only absentee, Jeff," said Liz.

Tina scoffed from behind her drawing supplies. “Don’t even mention that ass. He’s wearing that damn hat again, and he won’t stop talking like… God I don’t even know what to call it!”

Ulysses just looked on confused. Liz and Sarah were both laughing; Hector continued to read his book seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him while Ryan scribbled on

“Is Jeff your boyfriend?” Asked Ulysses. Liz and Sarah’s laughter transitioned into outright guffawing, while Tina visibly blanched at the inquiry.

“Oh god, no! He’s my brother and he thinks,” she paused, obviously embarrassed about what she was going to say, “He’s a cowboy.”

“That’s only if your definition of cowboy includes a five foot five pencil thin geek who thinks everyone in the Wild West spoke like Clint Eastwood.” Said Sarah trying to compose herself from all the laughing. Tina didn't seem to find it all that funny though as she stewed behind her drawing pad.

Once they had calmed down Liz turned her attention back to Ulysses. “So tell us about yourself.”

“Oh yes, spare no details,” said Sarah coyly, her foot playfully grazing Ulysses’ shin.

“I don’t know what to tell you, there isn’t much to me.” Offered Ulysses. “Um I like to read, write, I enjoy a good movie here and there. To be honest I keep to myself.”

“Well when did you move here?” Liz pushed.

“We moved about two months before school started. My dad has job with a local engineering firm, my mom sort of works out of the house," offered Ulysses.

Sarah took over the questioning, “And why have you been sitting out there by yourself during lunch. You're much too handsome to be all by yourself." Both Liz and Tina snorted at the comment but Sarah ignored them, never letting her eyes move from Ulysses. He slowly started kneading his hands.

"Um, like I said I keep to myself. To be honest my dad's job had us moving a lot, this is my third school in three years. I was born in Boston and grew up there but when I turned twelve we ended up moving for the first time. Then it just kept happening each year, I'd finish school and then we'd move again. After a while you just sort of hate saying good bye, so I sort of stopped saying hello." He hadn't meant to drag the conversation into a somber tone and he blushed when he realized Tina was frowning at him.

“Well that's depressing," Sarah said bluntly. "And I don't do depressing. So listen her Mr. President... ."

"Please, my name is Ulysses."

"He doesn't like Jolly Green either," offered Liz. Ulysses shot her a look.

"Okay," continued Sarah, "no nicknames for the new guy. Ulysses it is."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, would you like to join our little lunch circle? Tina has Mr. Dobson's History class with you and she was the first one to spot you sitting out there all alone. She thought you might like to meet a few people.”

Tina smiled meekly at him from across the table and quickly went back to her drawing tablet when their eye’s met. “Well why didn’t you just ask me yourself," asked Ulysses.

“Because she’s a wallflower,” teased Sarah, “good at recognizing other strays, but little else.”

At Sarah’s words Tina shrank further behind her drawing tablet until she all but disappeared. Ulysses frowned at Sarah, who only seemed goaded on by his reaction. "Tell me Ulysses whose aid would you ride to?” She pointed to Liz, who continued to hide behind her tablet, “The lovely damsel, trapped in a tower…”

“Bitch.” Said Tina flatly from behind her sketchbook.

“Or myself, the seductive princess, who has lost control of her horse and yonder cliffs approach?” Sarah finished with her hands clutching at her breast, while batting her eye lashes at him.

"I'd go with the one less likely to give you an STD," said Ryan while still scribbling his notes. He looked up just long enough to smile at Ulysses and wink. It was the first time Ulysses had gotten a clear look at Ryan and he felt his brain pause. The smile was completely genuine but still hinted at some bit of mischief with the way his lips curled at the corners of his mouth. The wink only played up that aspect, but hid the sky blue irises for a brief second before letting them shine completely. Ulysses realized he was staring and his brain shifted back into drive but the few seconds of distraction left his speech unguarded and before he could stop himself he looked back at Sarah and frowned.

"You have an STD?"

The room fell silent save for the sound of Hector turning a page in his book and going on with his reading as if none of them were there. Sarah's head cocked to the left and her eye's narrowed on Ulysses.

"Fuck, I was kidding," Ryan threw out but it was to late. Sarah leaned forward, a scandalous smile spreading across her face as she brought her self a mere inch or two from Ulysses' face.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she cooed before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Ulysses swallowed hard, while Liz slapped Ryan in the back of the head only to have him complain it wasn't his fault.

"I'm sorry, it's not what I meant to say." Ulysses apologized.

"No harm," Sarah offered. She the began to slowly trail her foot up the outside of Ulysses' leg. "I'm sure we can find a way for you to make it up to me. Besides Ryan is studying, if that is what you would call Ryan reading a text book. He's only got so much going on upstairs and him trying to multitask must have blown a fuse."

"Hey!" Snapped Ryan. Sarah only laughed.

Ulysses turned back to Ryan, "what are you studying?"

"Chemistry, and I hate this shit," he answered as he slammed the book shut. "We've got a test this Friday and... god I hate Mr. Akles."

Liz patted Ryan on the arm sympathetically, "Science, of any kind, has never been Ryan's friend. Go on, ask him where you find atoms."

Ryan sighed, "I was nine years old!"

Sarah answered in a falsetto voice, "bombs!"

"You know, screw the both of you. I was nine years old and me and my dad had been watching the History Channel all week," he said defensively before going back to his notes.

"Whatever," fired off Sarah. "Math, English... hell any general form of educational material tend to stymie our little friend," continued Sarah as she leaned back on her elbows, flashing a nasty smile at Ryan. He responded with the finger.

"Maybe Ulysses could help you," offered Tina. "He has chemistry with me in Mrs. Vasques' class and he's always answering questions."

Ulysses shot her a look but she had never actually looked up from her drawing pad. Ryan though seemed to think it was perfect seeing as he quickly jumped on the idea "would you? I mean I'm desperate."

"Well," started Ulysses, unsure how he had ended up in such situation. An hour ago he was just going to eat lunch as usual, by himself. Now he was surrounded by half a dozen people he didn't know and one of them was looking for tutoring. He was prepared to say no but Ryan's face went from a look of optimism to one that was just short of out right pleading. Ulysses quickly looked away unable to match looks with the other boy's blue eyes, "Okay, I will."

"Thank you so much! I've got practice after school and I won't have a ride tonight. Tomorrow then?"

Ulysses pulled a notebook and pen from his bag then scribbled his phone number and address before passing it over to Ryan. "Come by after six."