John Brisal ground his teeth together, the grating noise almost as irritating as the traffic jam in front of him. Parking in David Roy High’s lot was not usually this much of a trial, but John was having a bad Monday
“John! You’re parked behind me, and I need to leave now! The patients at the hospital won’t wait!”
He had scrambled to move his truck to the street. His mom’s job as a trauma surgeon didn’t leave time for her to be late. After parking the truck again, He had 15 minutes to dress, scarf down some cereal, and fly out the door while saying goodbye to his dad. Then he discovered that a tree fell on the usual route he took, so he had to wind through neighborhoods to get to school. Now, he was waiting for the rest of the student body to get parked instead of being comfortably early. In all, not a great start to the third week of his junior year
John finally managed to get to his parking spot and backed in swiftly, a glance at the truck’s clock showing he had a scant 3 minutes to get to class. He hopped out and slung his backpack over his shoulders. As he walked to the door, he saw his friend Case approaching.
Waving, John called out, “Hey Case! How’re you doing?”
Case sped up to walk beside John, “Pretty good. You ready for the English test?”
John groaned, “Urgh, don’t remind me. I stayed up late rereading the book and overslept. I should have just cut my losses and gone to bed.”
Shaking his head, Case reassured John, “It should be fine, I talked to some of the folks who took it yesterday, it’s really straightforward.”
John smiled, “Well, that’s good to hear. What have you got going on today other than the test?”
Scrunching his face up, Case thought before responding, “I’ve got a new unit in math and the football lift after school, but nothing other than that. You?”
“Rugby practices don’t start till next week, I’ll probably hit the gym after school. Do you feel like doing anything?”
“Probably but let me check with my folks before I make any commitments, I remember them mentioning something tonight.”
Case pulled out his phone and rattled off a text as they walked into their English classroom. The pair split, and John settled in for the test; mentally reviewing what he’d read the night before. The rest of the class was already in the room, waiting for the bell to sound and the test to start.
Their teacher, Mrs. Woodbeir, walked to the front of the class, bouncing giddily. She was carrying a stack of paper. John made eye contact with Case and rolled his eyes. Mrs. Woodbeir was very personable and a fun teacher, but she was a hair too enthusiastic about giving out tests.
“Alright, class! I’m pretty proud of this one! It’s thirty multiple choice questions and a small essay prompt that you should find engaging! Once I’ve passed out the tests, eyes stay on your own desks, okay?”
The class nodded as a chorus of “Yes ma’am” came and went.
“Great! Good luck everyone,” exclaimed Mrs. Woodbeir, a wide grin plastered on her face.
The rustle of paper hitting desks started. John twirled his pen anxiously. He reassured himself, my grade’s high enough to tank a C, it’ll be alright. Mrs. Woodbeir put a test on his desk, and he focused on it, the background fading away.
When John was done with the test, he felt more confident about the result than he had expected. He’d breezed through the multiple choice, and the essay prompt was engaging and relevant to what he’d focused on the night before. He figured he had a pretty good chance of an A. Alright, time for anatomy. Here’s hoping it’s not a total snooze fest.
“Bye Case, text me if you’re free, yeah?” John called out to Case on the way out of the room.
Case turned around and responded, “Of course bro, see you later!”
The two separated and walked in opposite directions, off to their second classes of the day. John was not looking forward to anatomy. He had taken it on his mom’s recommendation in case he wanted to pursue a medical career, but the teacher was miserably boring. He entered the class, waved hello to the teacher, then sat down and retrieved his notebook.
The one upside to the class was that his friend Jen was in his block, but she was absent today, at an event for her automotive club. John glanced at the empty seat next to him, sighed, and braced to stay awake for the rest of the block. The presentation was about the nervous system, so maybe it would be exciting. Hah! As if. At least Mom’s happy I’m taking it. The lecture started and John began writing notes.
It turned out that John had made his judgment too early. The lesson was actually pretty interesting. They’d learned about the nerves in the arms and torso. The teacher showed the class how to make their funny bone, really the ulnar nerve, tingle by pressing a specific part of their elbow with a ruler, and explored what nerves were impacted by different injuries. This was the first time John left the class with a smile on his face that was related to the content and not Jen’s jokes.
As he left the room, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Case, reading “Sorry, my parents need me tonight, I can’t hang out.”
John replied, “No trouble, have fun!”
That was disappointing, but oh well. I should probably work on my ACT study stuff. Blech. John navigated to his third block, his college-level biology class. The class was interesting enough, he supposed, but it was mostly seniors and as a junior he didn’t know many people. He sat down while the teacher, Mr. Slanke, passed out papers. A quick scan indicated that the sheet was preparation for a lab, and John perked up. Mr. Slanke was known for making his labs fun and the school gave him plenty of funds to buy supplies. John cracked open his presently blank lab notebook and started following the sheet eagerly.
John left the classroom prepared to cut up flatworms and record how they regenerated. His phone had several notifications, one from Jen, a photo of her coated in grease and holding a wrench like the Olympic torch. John’s mouth quirked up. The next text was from his dad, asking him to do some chores when he got home. Easy enough. Finally, his rugby coach, Coach Frayer, had sent him the practice schedule for the upcoming season. John sent an acknowledgement and then arrived at the patio by the parking lot for lunch.
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He and Case sat outside with a couple of Case’s teammates from football. Evan Marit, a tight end who had been moved up to varsity with Case, and Andy Clark, one of the 2nd string wide receivers. They were all close, despite John having left football after middle school in favor of rugby. They chatted about how the school’s football season had been going, the upcoming start of John’s rugby season, and the English test they’d all taken that day.
The consensus was that the test was better than expected by far, the rugby team had pretty good prospects this year, and that it was extremely tragic that the star quarterback, Riley Ajax, had injured his elbow last week. They carried on chatting idly until the bell for fourth block rang, and they moved on with their days. It was another solid positive mark on John’s day. If he kept this up, it would shake out to win the Most-Improved Day Award!
He walked to his final class of the day, Calculus. Just thinking of it, John’s lips turned down. He didn’t mind the coursework but the teacher, Mrs. Aberdeen, was consistently unpleasant towards the class. A girl had cried over a lesson the other day, and Mrs. Aberdeen had hardly reacted. John hated it, and most of the class felt the same. The only bright spot was that he had performed well so far and had an A.
As he arrived, Mrs. Aberdeen handed him a folded piece of paper from a stack she held. It was their most recent test. John lifted the top half of the sheet and grinned. A bold, circled 92 awaited him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been worried about his test, but apparently for no reason. John settled down and took out his notes for the day. Let's see if I can keep the winning streak going. John chuckled and got out his pencil.
As he started writing the warmup question, a hand clapped on his shoulder. John swiveled his head around. The hand belonged to Danny Phillips, a member of the baseball team and someone who enjoyed the small infamy of being recalcitrant and obstinate with all his teachers.
“Hey Danny, can I help you?” asked John.
“I got a piss-poor grade on the test. So dumb! I’m gonna demand a bigger curve, see what happens. Help me out!” demanded Danny, his eyes sliding around, as if Mrs. Aberdeen would preemptively scold him if she noticed.
John hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, “No, I’m alright. If you want to piss Mrs. Aberdeen off, you do you.”
“Ugh, no fun at all!” Danny scoffed before he turned around and walked away.
John rolled his eyes then put his attention back on the warmup. He chatted with the people around him. Eventually, Mrs. Aberdeen walked to the front of the room and started speaking.
“Good afternoon, class. I hope you’re all doing well and got the scores you wanted on the test. Let’s go over the warmup que-”
“Miss! Miss! I didn’t get the score I wanted!” Danny interrupted and was waving his hands to draw attention. John winced, then settled in to watch the show.
Danny started up again, “I think there should be a bigger curve! Give me a C, at least!”
“Danny, sit down. The curve is final, it was calculated the same as every other curve I’ve done for the past 8 years. If you interrupt again, I’ll call one of the assistant principals to come and have a talk with you,” Mrs. Aberdeen scolded.
“Fine… ma’am,” Danny crossed his arms and sank down in his desk until his eyes were almost level with the surface.
John couldn’t help but roll his eyes again. Now Mrs. Aberdeen would be incensed, and the tone of the class was set. She launched into the warmup in a rage, scarcely answering the class’s questions. The lecture was no better. Danny had ruined whatever mood she had been in, and the rest of them suffered. By the end of class, there were 20 sets of eyes glaring daggers in his direction.
When the final bell rang, John rushed out of the classroom and to his truck. He could hardly wait to be rid of that, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived at his car. Time to hit the gym, then get home and do chores for his folks.
By the time John pulled into his driveway, he was pleasantly sore and felt much better than he had after school and dealing with Danny. He waved to Mr. Sudeiki as he mowed his lawn before heading inside. He dropped his shoes into the closet, showered, then looked at the list of things his dad needed done.
Put the tents away, run the dishwasher, vacuum. Alright, should be quick, then I can do ACT practice. John went to the backyard, where 2 tents were upside down to dry out after the family’s excursion the past weekend. He took them down and packed them away, thankful that the forest they’d camped in hadn’t left too many leaves to clean off. Next, he advanced to the dishwasher, which didn’t have much that needed to be cleaned. The detritus from breakfast that morning was squared away quickly, and he pulled out the vacuum. When the last dust bunny was vanquished and the kitchen was spotless, John was done.
John ambled up to his room and sat down at his computer, loading the ACT practice problems his parents wanted him to do. They sucked, but John would admit they were probably helpful. He plowed through the practice questions for the day and started on his homework. By the time he was done it was six o’clock and his parents would be getting home from work soon. Since he and Case weren’t going anywhere tonight, John figured he would get started on dinner before his folks arrived.
As John cooked dinner, his mom Katherine arrived home. She hugged him and went to take a shower. Once she was done, she came out of the master bedroom and started cleaning up the dirty dishes.
“Thanks Mom. Do you have any idea when Dad will be home?” asked John, looking over from the pot he was minding.
Katherine’s face scrunched, trying to recall, "He texted saying he’d be about thirty minutes, and that was… oh, 15 minutes ago?”
“Sounds good, this’ll be ready by then” John nodded, happy they’d be able to eat together. Once rugby started, it would be rare for the whole family to be home at once for dinner. Well, the whole family that lives at home, John supposed. His older brother Cameron was in the Marines, and he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, a training base near the coast. Cameron was an administrator for the Marines, given a desk job after an accident damaged one of his legs to the point that he needed months of physical therapy. John figured he would text him that evening.
By the time John pulled the potatoes out of the oven and plated the chicken, his dad was home. George Brisal came through the front door, put down his briefcase, shed his jacket, and dashed to the bathroom with a dire look on his face. John was setting down plates and his mom was pouring drinks for herself and his dad, when George came out of the bathroom, looking relieved.
“Sorry folks, I got stuck in traffic and had to go. How’s everyone’s day been?” John’s dad asked, moving to hug his wife.
Katherine gave him a peck on the cheek then sat down, “Really well, honey, nobody came in truly messed up, so we’ll count it as a win. John, I’m sorry I woke you up so harshly, but I needed to leave. Did your day get better?”
“Oh yeah, it’s ok. I did well on an English test today and other than that it was a standard day. Someone got the calculus teacher fired up but hey, what can you do?” John frowned then shook his head, “Anyways, dinner’s hot, so grab some potatoes and carrots and eat up!”
The family dug in, weary from their days. John smiled; he had done a good job. His folks complimented the food, and they all left their plates clean. His dad volunteered to handle the dishes. His mom went to her office to handle some paperwork before her week off. John went back to his room and logged back onto his computer. He texted Case to see if he was online and got no response. John shrugged and booted up an FPS he’d been enjoying and settled into his evening.
A couple hours later, Case texted back, “Sorry dude, not going to be around tonight, dinner took forever. By the way, look out your window, there’s a storm and the lightning‘s asll sorts of weird colors.”
John typed back, “Ok, cool. Have a good night!”
John moved his window and peered out. Case was right, there was a storm brewing, and the lighting had a weird green tint. John fired off a goodnight text to his brother before brushing his teeth and heading to bed.