Cory looked over his new class. Ever since the semester had started they'd been restless, barely able to focus. There was a nervous energy brewing beneath the surface, located right in the center of the room. The familiar faces: Riley, Maya, Farkle, Lucas, Zay, and now Smackle, too. All of them fine, for now, but it couldn't go on like this. Cory looked at the board one last time, erased the lesson title he'd written, and turned to face them.
"Let's talk about science for a minute, eh? Do you guys know what causes a volcanic eruption? I'll give you a hint. It's mostly about pressure."
"Like the pressure that makes diamonds, sir?" Lucas asked. There was a quick glance that flickered between Riley and Lucas. She smiled a little and folded her hands.
"Not exactly, Mr. Friar. This is a different kind of pressure. More internal than external. We already know that pressure can make or break you, but I think we've yet to see what happens when the pressure coming from inside gets the best of us. When something is building and building with no way out."
"We're still doing this? Even in high school this man is just teaching whatever subject he wants and we're gonna stand for it?" Zay stood up in his seat, looked around the silent room, and then sat back down. "I guess we're gonna stand for it."
Riley's hands were now fidgeting in their place on the desk. The clock's ticking seemed louder to her, the room smaller. Her breath was suddenly loud enough for her to notice every inhale and exhale.
"When a volcano erupts, it can change everything about the landscape that it took up. It destroys towns. It wipes out populations. Sometimes ash fills the sky miles and miles away. When pressure that powerful is in play, it's hard to escape the damage."
"So why would we want that to happen to us?" Riley caught herself off guard, her voice louder than she had intended and almost cracking.
"No, really Matthews, what happens after an eruption? What do you do once a volcano erupts" Maya leaned forward in her desk, her eyes wide. She'd been starting to understand that some feelings find a way out, whether you want them to or not.
Cory looked down at Riley, now focused on her hands rather than anyone else in the room, and shook his head a little. "I think we're going to find out soon, Maya."
Again, there was a tremor just under the surface.