what i learned in class

i remember sitting next to him that day a year ago. it was winter and it felt like winter. but i looked around and it didn't look like winter. especially with him next to me. he was from california and a bit foreign i guess. he spoke slowly and gently. i had just met up with him earlier - when he got off his red bike he didn't look at me, instead he pulled the rubberband from his wet hair. he kept his sunglasses on for a while and looked at me through them. he stood tall next to me, but when we sat down we were eye-to-eye. he showed me some sketches in pen, which he drew at the back of the room during class, where it was dark. that was the day that i learned his eyes were grey.