Chad exited his first class of the day a bit later than he usually would. The difference of a few minutes still irked him but he had to press forward.
He would usually finish his homework during math class. One of the reasons for this was that it was more time efficient to finish homework at school instead of at home. Chad would schedule time after school to do homework, but he didn’t have to do it during that time. He made sure to have contingency plans if he were to be successful on a certain day and walk home with no work to be done.
There was a specific reason why he wanted to finish his Calculus homework more than homework from other classes. Compared to all the textbooks he had, the calculus book he owned was by far the heaviest and most cumbersome. If he could shed the pounds from his backpack he would find a way to.
Chad walked to his locker with that sole purpose in mind. Lockers were on the border of being extinct. Most students didn’t use their lockers and opted to just carry their backpacks from class to class. Chad did this as well but his math textbook was the exception. It was worth the detour to his locker to shed the weight. It was also worth the hassle of-
“Hey Chad, what's good?”
Ugh, Peter.
“Hey.”
Peter Phillip was the only person in Manha High School that he would potentially call a friend. They both transferred to Manha this fall and their lockers just so happened to be adjacent to each other. Peter would often take advantage of when he returned his textbook and talk to him.
Peter was quite a bit shorter than him and had slicked back blonde hair. It was a bit jarring when they stood next to each other given Chad’s messy brown hair and tall stature.
“How did first period go? Anything interesting happen?”
“It went,” Chad shrugged, “There was some girl who mouthed off at Mr. Gredge. That was pretty interesting.”
“Woah, that sounds awesome!”
Awesome? More like mildly intriguing.
“Who was it?”
“Um…”
Chad had essentially just met her that morning. “Meeting” her was putting it kindly. He obviously didn’t know her name. He probably couldn’t name a single one of his classmates. Peter should’ve known this but he still asked.
Wait. Mr. Gredge said her last name when he sent her to detention.
“I think her last name was Hunt, but I’m not too sure. I don’t really know her.”
Peter’s upbeat smile wavered.
“Do you know her?” Chad asked.
“Not really. I’ve just heard bad things.”
He was a tad curious as to what bad things Peter was referring to but he was pressed for time. Chad wasn’t about to be late for the second period just to learn more about some rude girl.
Shutting his locker after putting his textbook away, he began walking away from Peter.
“Nice talking to you. See you later.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait up! You want to go to hang out after school? Some people I talked to are interested in hanging out with us.”
Peter always asked Chad to hang out after school and he would always turn it down. Chad was a bit puzzled as to why he kept on asking him. This time Chad had a legitimate excuse. He was on the student council and would have to meet with them after school. He wasn’t about to say those words out loud. He went for his usual reply.
“I’m good, thanks for asking,” Chad walked away but gave some parting words to his friend, “Don’t be late for class.”
“Will do! See you Nosmith.”
Why use my last name?
He continued on to his next class as Peter still stood at their lockers.
***
Peter Phillips stood at his locker that neighbored his friend, Chad Nosmith’s locker. His friend had just left for his next class after a short yet expected interaction. He didn’t mind how Chad acted. He actually found it quite interesting.
He’s like a machine, no a program. Wait no, a robot. Chad is most definitely a robot.
He smiled at the thought of his friend who went about every day the exact same way. For him this was unimaginable, but for some reason he was fond of Chad. He liked talking to him even though he could predict his responses. It just made his unpredictable responses all the more exciting.
Peter had always heard that opposites attract and that was most definitely true. He and Chad were the best of friends. They didn’t hang out after school but this was the type of friendship that didn’t need extended periods of time together to be close. They were close just based on their unalike personalities.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Even with a great friend like Chad, he still sought out new ones. He constantly bounced around from friend group to friend group, trying to find people he cliqued with but he had no luck so far. Chad was his sole friend at this new school.
He puffed out his chest and made sure his hair was slicked back and kept. Keeping up a good appearance is a great way to make friends.
He left his locker that neighbored his friend’s and walked down the hallway. It seemed a lot less crowded than usual for passing time but that was to be expected with the stupid new rules the student council put in place.
Is that a bottle?
Trying to keep good posture, Peter had a tendency to look upwards. He spotted a plastic bottle that was halfway stuck in a ceiling tile.
“That’s sick, but how’d somebody get it up there?”
He pondered that question. The ceiling was quite tall and would be hard to reach even for someone of his friend's height. He stood no chance of placing something in a ceiling tile.
“Hmph. This is just a challenge. I’ll show you! You may be all cool and stuff putting that bottle up there but I’ll knock it down!”
Not a soul in the world knew who Peter was talking to, but there wasn’t anyone around to hear it. The hallways had emptied out, leaving him alone talking to a bottle stuck in the ceiling.
“Humph!”
He jumped as high as he could, trying to reach it. He got decently close to it. Even with his small stature, he was quite athletic. He would always excel in gym class and was even recruited by the track and football teams. He didn’t like the structure and order that came with being part of a team. Track somewhat intrigued him with being more of an individual sport, but that would mean he would have to give up any after school shenanigans and surrender them to practice. That wasn’t about to happen, especially with the recent lengthening of the school day.
“I- almost have it. I swear I’ll reach you even if it’s the last thing I do!”
After another failed attempt, he took off his backpack and set it against the wall. Besides a couple random notebooks, there wasn’t much in the backpack, but shedding any weight right now could be the difference between reaching his goal and falling short.
He took three long steps backwards. He would need to muster up as much momentum as he could get.
“This is it. You’ll meet your end now, bottle.”
After the small quip, Peter took off in a short sprint. He stepped into a two legged jump, bending his knees so that he was close to the ground. Then like a compressed spring, he shot off the ground into the sky. The amount of force he was able to generate was quite impressive. He stretched his body to its limitations needing every centimeter he could muster. He flew in the air like a pro basketball player jumping for the ball.
“Ha! I got it!”
He was able to graze the very bottom of the bottle with his index finger. Feeling this, he instinctively moved his fingers, knocking them into the stuck bottle. He did it. He was able to touch the bottle.
His landing wasn’t as graceful as his liftoff. He tumbled forward a bit, needing to brace his impact with both his legs and arms. After recovering from his great fall, he looked back up at the ceiling and grimaced.
The bottle was still there, looking down at the failure of Peter.
“Damn you! Don’t look down at me like that!”
His anger boiled. The bottle had won and was now gloating. He reached for his bag and opened it. He wasn’t against playing dirty.
Grabbing one of his flimsy notebooks, he held it above his head and locked his aim onto the target.
Wait.
The bottle was now looking down at him from a different position. It was still stuck in the ceiling tile, but now, instead of being halfway into the ceiling, only the cap was stuck. The bottle now hung lower.
He laughed at his weakened opponent, “I’ll get you now!”
“Hey you!”
“Hmm?” Peter turned around to the source of the voice that disrupted his final showdown.
There was a girl standing down at the other end of the hallway. She wore a black skirt and white dress shirt with large glasses that covered almost half her face. Her brown hair was tied into double braids that ran down either of her shoulders. She carried a clipboard in one arm and a pen in her hand.
“What are you doing out of class?”
He looked around and finally noticed that the hallway was emptied.
Did the bell ring already? I didn’t even notice.
“Show me your hall pass?”
Aw shit, it’s the feds.
Peter snagged his backpack and tossed it onto his back. He began sprinting down the hallway away from what he could only assume was a hall monitor.
“Hey wait! We got a runner!”
Turning corner after corner, he did his best to lose his pursuer.
Damn a dead end.
With trying to ditch the annoying girl chasing him, he didn’t keep track of the direction he went. A wrong turn must have landed him at the end of the English hallway.
Footsteps from the other end of the hallway started coming closer signaling the end to this chase.
Damn damn damn. This isn’t where my story ends. It can’t be!
He glanced to his left.
Perfect!
There was a bathroom right at the end of the hallway. It made for the perfect place to hide.
He quickly ran in and shut himself in one of the stalls. She would never find him here.
Ten seconds later, he could hear the light footsteps of his pursuer outside of the bathroom.
“Hey! I know you’re in there.”
Peter smiled. Even if she knew he was in there it didn’t matter. This was a male restroom and females weren’t allowed to go in. His plan was flawless.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing. I’ll just wait out here until you come out. There aren't any other exits, you’re quite trapped.”
That’s what she thought but she would be wrong. Peter had incredible patience. He would wait until the second period was over, then students would start to fill the hallways once more. Due to the shortening of the passing periods it was speculated that the bathrooms would be a lot more crowded since the students didn’t have much time to spare. When a sufficient number of other students had entered this bathroom, that would be when he would make his great escape and lose his pursuer in the sea of students outside. The chaos created in the hallways from the shortening of passing periods would be the downfall for this hall monitor.
He couldn’t help but to snicker while in the stall. Nothing could stop him, not even this hall monitor. His plan was flawless and he could never be caught.
Peter Phillip was quite the mischievous student. His grades would be well below average at most schools, but Manha High School was a bit of an exception. Besides some of his odd quirks, he wasn’t too far off from the average student here. He didn’t hesitate to skip a class just on a whim and his grades were quite poor. This school had a lot more to improve upon besides just their academic performance. Improving the behavior of their students would also be a main objective.