Prologue:
Halcyon Days
The subtle cool breeze from the windows flows in from the cracked window next to my seat.
It was days like today that makes me angry at those people who say that global warming was a hoax. Early december in Maryland and a slightly cool 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
My rage at climate deniers helped drown out the chatter around me from my fellow students and the droning of my History teacher Mr.Crowe.
Nice guy but as boring as watching paint dry and that boringness only multiplies when he the second to last class to the last day before Winter Break.
As time passes by I stretch a bit in my chair while I stare the window as the row of houses not to far away from the school, wondering if any people I know are skipping now and have already headed home.
I yawn rather loudly only to realize that the class has gone deathly silent, if not for the low talk and rumble outside the classroom I would have thought I had gone deaf. I could feel the gazes of students and Mr. Crowe follow my arms as they stretch and my Yawn as If I was some type of dangerous wild animal that was in captivity but not fully tamed.
It was invigorating to not be seen as the brown skinned beanpole for the first couple of weeks but not it was just sad and a bit depressing to see everyone be so apprehensive around me.
Not like I attacked them, It was Kiesha and Aaron’s crew that I jumped outside that movie theater, not them. Just the Thought of those assholes makes my blood boil, their cavalier attitude towards Sheila as she was just getting her start at this school as an English Teacher…… The things they said they would do to her…..
I bang my fist down loudly on my desk in rage at the thought and I hear someone in the room hit the floor while a few others whimper out of fear.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I forgot myself in anger again. Sighing, I slowly rise from my seat while gathering my books into my backpack and head on out into the hallway. No one says anything, no one challenges me….. Not even Boring Mr. Crowe.
I’m not sure how I feel about it but I do know it doesn’t feel good to be object of fear like that. You put 6 or 7 people in the hospital and spend a year in Juvenile detention changes everything for the worse. Nothing I say to anyway changes what it looks like on paper.
I wander the halls until I find Myself outside my next class, Homeroom. Just 15 minutes to make sure all the students didn’t skip but it does contain my favorite Teacher at the school for the moment, Sheila.
And almost as If I summoned her, she opens her classroom door and walks right into my chest.
She slowly looks up and see’s my face and now I’m unsure what type of face I’m making but she obviously doesn’t like because she takes my hand and begins to lead me towards the teachers Lounge.
“Class Rep, Put up a sign in sheet on my desk, taped down so my homeroom can write themselves in!” Sheila’s voice was quiet commanding as she yelled back into her classroom before dragging me off.
She did always seem to know when I was sad when I was a munchkin and it didn’t seem to have lessoned from our time apart.
It was heartwarming really.
“Sheila I’m fi-”
“No your not William, You always get 3 wrinkles in your forehead and come see me when youre sad. Atleast when your sister wasn’t around.”
That gets a smirk from me, yeah those were the days. Young, fearless and dumb. That reminds me.
“Hey are we still going into the mountains for christmas? I’m still not keen on mountain climbing and being stuck in the woods with You and Tricia. Lord only knows what prank you will come up with this year.”
She chuckles a bit and flexs her arms, pretty well defined by years of her hobby of backpacking.
“Of course it’s still on! I bought new gear and everything! Oh and before I forget, William You might get a bit of a surprise this year because Nora Cruz is coming to hang out this year. Remember I told you she just got divorced? Well I may have let it slip that I’m going to a cabin with some friends for the week and maybe kinda agreed to let her come along.”
Wow so now my Gym teacher was going to be with us ,at least for part of my holiday break, god this was looking like the weekend was going to start off in the dumpster.
“Jesus Sheila the cabin only comfortably held four people and now we got a sixth person? Where the hell am I going to sleep now?”
Maybe she heard the indignity in my voice or maybe she remembered me having to sleep in a sleeping back next to the fire place last time but she visibly winced before opening the door to the teachers lounge and sheepishly ushering me in.
“Don’t worry about it. I got a pull out bed/couch set since the last time you were there. Only thing is that your going to have to sleep with your sister this year as Nora is going to be bunking with me.”
I groaned, A week sleeping next to Tricia….
Yeah this was going to be the death of me …….