Hi. I felt like writing a new story. Here we go. One-shot, by the way. I don't own Virals, but hey, creativity.
Assume this story can slot in any time after Virals, but that Ben is still at Bolton. Thanks.
A Day in the Life of Hiram Stolowitski
6:00 in the morning, and Hi's mother swept into his bedroom.
"Hiram!" cried out Ruth Stolowitski. "What are you doing still in bed?"
"Uhmgh," replied Hi, rolling over.
"Wake up!" snapped Ruth, switching on the light and leaving the door open.
6:10, and Hi finally dragged himself out of bed. He hopped in the shower and blasted himself with cold water to wake himself up, then adjusted the temperature to something slightly more preferable while dousing himself with handfuls of scented body wash. Wouldn't want to disappoint the ladies.
6:26, and he tottered downstairs in his boring uniform, made slightly snazzier with the inversion of his school blazer. He followed the scent of pancakes into the kitchen. His mother fiddled with his uniform and complained about the weather while Hi scoffed as many pancakes as time would allow, swimming in maple syrup. Gotta run on a full stomach.
6:34, and Ruth was checking his bag and reminding him to bring his homework and packed lunch, and hurrying him out the door, while his dad rushed around with his shirt on backwards looking for his bag. Hi permitted his mother to kiss his cheek and left.
6:35, and Hi was rushing back in to pull his iPhone off the charger. He ran out of the door.
6:36 and he was halfway to the dock. Hi could see Ben and his father already waiting. Shelton and his parents were almost there, walking about thirty yards ahead of him, and Tory and Kit were running to catch up from behind - predictably late.
By the time everyone had reached Hugo, it was 6:37. Hi joined Shelton, Ben and Tory on the boat. Mr Blue waited until 6:40 exactly, even though no one was going to join them - gotta run on time.
6:59, and Hugo docked at Loggerhead. The kids waved off their parents and Mr Blue pulled away from the dock.
"I didn't do the history homework," Tory announced. "Cooper ran off while I was walking him. Took me hours to catch him. And I was working on chem..."
Shelton rolled his eyes and pulled out a three ring binder which contained his history.
"Thanks," Tory told him, beginning to copy out Shelton's answers. Shelton whipped out a Rubix cube and offered it to Hi. Hi twisted it randomly, mixing up the colourful squares.
7:03, and Tory was halfway through her homework. Hi handed back the Rubix cube. Shelton frowned at it for a second, then began to twist. Ben started his stopwatch.
"Tada!" Shelton held up the Rubix, its colours neatly sorted. Tory looked up and smiled, then resumed her work.
"Twenty-six seconds," Ben told them.
"Aw, man," complained Hi. "Someone get me a refund. This thing's got to be rigged."
Shelton smirked and checked the time on his phone - 7:04. "Keep telling yourself that."
At 7:30 exactly, Hugo docked and they disembarked, thanking Mr Blue on the way past. The four of them shouldered schoolbags, adjusted blazers, and off they went.
By 7:48 they had reached the massive gates of Bolton Prep. Hi shook his blazer to fan himself - summer in South Carolina, what can you do? The Virals hurried onto campus and headed towards their lockers. They dumped their bags, grabbed their books, and hurried off to class: first lesson, AP English.
8:00 triggered the first bell call - Hi, Ben, Tory and Shelton took their seats and started a casual conversation as Mr Edde walked in briskly and dropped his bag on the desk.
"Quiet," he told the chatting students. "I hope you all have your books, we're starting on The Importance of Being Earnest today, as I told you last lesson - don't tell me you forgot, Madison."
Maddy Dunkle twisted her blonde hair through her fingers. "Yes sir."
"Run and get it then! Don't just sit there!"
The lesson properly started at 8:15, and by the time it ended - 9:00 - half of the students were asleep. Hi doodled vaguely in his copy of the play by Oscar Wilde as Mr Edde made some concluding comments about satire.
"Now for your next assessment, you'll be drafting a new segment of the play. Due in six weeks." Mr Edde handed around a task and criteria sheet. "Don't lose it," he warned as he passed it to Hi. "And I don't want to see your assignment written in red pen next time."
A few people sniggered, and Hi bowed dramatically to them. Shelton made a face. Tory turned around and mouthed purple at him. Hi snickered quietly, imagining his teacher's face if he handed in an assignment written in purple.
Tory had done that once. She'd been vaguely annoyed at their science teacher for some reason, and so when she'd submitted her printed report, she'd done it in dark purple ink. The teacher hadn't noticed. Hi had been a bit more daring with his most recent persuasive essay.
Hi adjusted his inverted blazer and started piling his books up, counting down the seconds. The bell rang for change of period when he was on seven. Ben beside him snorted. "Smooth, Stolowitski."
"Be jealous, Blue."
"Give up, you two," Shelton told them.
Tory ignored all of them. "Anyone need a locker stop?"
Three headshakes. Next lesson, elective. The subjects on offer included music, art, drama and computer technologies. The tripod was split between the first three, so the Virals had CT free for themselves - CT was less popular than, say, art. Even drama got more attention than mindless Photoshopping.
The four of them made it to class reasonably early, by 9:02. They picked choice seats at the back of the room and booted their Macs while they waited for Mr Higgins and the other seventeen kids to arrive. Hi took a moment to clear his search history before someone called the FBI to stalk him or something.
Once Mr Higgins and the rest of the class were seated, they were instructed to continue working on their current project - logo design. They were working in pairs to create an effective logo for a non-existent company that created innovative furniture designs. It wasn't loads of fun, but it was mindless and easy, and gave them time to talk.
"I considered taking music," Tory commented as she duplicated a layer and applied a mask. "But I didn't want to do a subject by myself, and then I found out dearest Ashley took music..."
"Stick with us, kid," advised Hi wisely, applying a filter and adjusting the polarity. "Plus, music?"
Tory shrugged. "I learned viola when I was younger. In grade four I swapped to cello. Then I changed schools and we sold the cello, but then I discovered percussion."
"Letting your frustrations out on the drum kit?" Hi speculated, laughing at her as she threw an eraser at him. It bounced off his arm and landed on the floor.
"Eh. Cello was more fun. I did pretty well at it too, got to grade seven - but from then on you need music theory, and I don't sing."
"What is this, confession hour?" Asked Shelton from beside her.
"I admit it. I'm actually James Bond," Hi said, holding his wrists out. "You got me."
"Dope," Shelton smacked him on the side of his head.
When ten o'clock rolled around, Hi and his friends trooped off to their lockers for their half-hour break between periods two and three, and then to grab their language textbooks. Spanish. The joy of life.
"Especially with Senor Schmidt," agreed Ben, when Hi voiced his warm and fuzzy feelings. "Pretty sure 'Schmidt' is a German name."
Ben had been learning Spanish for two years longer than the rest of them, so while he hurried off to his senior class, the others procrastinated all the way to their intermediate lesson.
They suffered through till eleven thirty, when lunch hour began. They met up with Ben again by his locker, having already grabbed various lunch items from their own lockers, and continued on to the cafeteria.
Hi shovelled a burger into his mouth as fast as he could, then mentally prowled his table for something else to eat. Shelton had some sort of curry. Ben was sipping slowly at a cup of coffee, and Tory was eating corn on the cob. She noticed Hi eyeing the yellow vegetable dubiously. "Fries at the counter," she told him.
"Mother dear decided I should bring a packed lunch today. Apparently, the prices are going up."
Ben tilted his head at the counter. "Dollar twenty?"
Hi shook his head forlornly. "I'm clearly not to be trusted when there's hot food for sale. Don't have a single penny to my name."
Shelton sighed and forked over some of his curry.
Twelve thirty saw the Virals already seated for AP History. Hi still didn't think that was a thing, but hey, he wouldn't complain. It'd probably look better applying for uni anyway, and wasn't that the point of school? Other than the ladies, of course. Tory sneezed loudly into her elbow. Never mind.
Mrs Dalton strode to the front of the classroom and called the register, then announced the impending Marking of the Homework. Tory flashed a grateful smile at Shelton.
"Stop making eyes, you two," Hi hissed, and Ben snorted quietly. Mrs Dalton looked at them sharply and turned away.
"Benjamin."
"Present."
"Ashley."
"Victoria."
"Present."
"Shelton."
"Present."
"Madison."
"Here."
Mrs Dalton sighed. Her eyebrows spelled out the words of course plainer than if they'd been written in pen across her forehead.
The rest of history passed as uneventfully as the register marking, and it was so exciting, Hi could barely stay asleep. He told his friends so in as many words as they left, at two-thirty. They headed to the final class of the day, AP Calculus. Hi sat next to Ben and they talked through the lesson on combining basic Pythag with simultaneous equations.
By three thirty, Hi was so ready to jet.
They made a final locker stop to dump their Calc textbooks, grab their bags and made a break for it.
Mr Blue wouldn't be expecting them on the ferry until about four, and they had fifteen minutes, so a mutual decision was made to go and buy sundaes. Hi was prepared to steal Shelton's and run, but to his surprise, Ben rolled his eyes and paid for two. Hi thanked him by gobbling his newly purchased sundae as fast as possible and attempting to steal the rest of Ben's.
Shelton wisely stayed behind Tory until his ice-cream was finished.
At four on the dot, the teenagers piled on to Hugo and Mr Blue pulled away from the mainland in the direction of Morris. Shelton began fiddling with his Rubix cube, and Hi pulled out his phone and succumbed to the nightmare that was Flappy Birds. He heard Ben and Tory talking quietly and a smirk crossed his face.
It was four thirty when they reached the complex, four thirty-two when Hi made it inside. His mother fussed over him until he managed to escape to his room, and reluctantly pulled out his Spanish homework. Hi had the worksheet done in ten minutes, so he opened his Mac and went in search of Doritos. When he returned with said chips, he booted Call of Duty and spent the next few hours playing that, interrupted only by Tory starting a group call to discuss whatever heist she had planned for tonight. Hi agreed vaguely, knowing he'd never get out of this, and took a nap before dinner so he wouldn't be completely dead tomorrow morning. With any luck.
After dinner, Hi returned to his COD and then, dressed in appropriately dark clothing, slipped outside for a 'walk'. He assured his mother that he'd be back soon, and yes, he's be with the gang, and no, they wouldn't be attacked and yes, they'd bring the wolfdog. He met the others near the bunker and they hitched a ride on Sewee to god knew where. Tory then proceeded to break into a building and steal a USB stick, and they left, feeling mildly triumphant and extremely bewildered.
"Maybe she's just practising?" Shelton muttered to Hi. Hi agreed that they didn't seem to need a USB stick very drastically at the moment, so it was possible they were just polishing the B&E skills.
When they got back home, it was barely ten, but Hi figured he needed to catch up on sleep from the last time they'd had overnight activities - what, yesterday? - and he took a shower and went to bed early.
Twelve hours sleep for Hiram Stolowitski - maybe he needed the beauty rest.