Hi. I am the "writer" or "author" of this story, whichever you prefer. I may not be good at this, nor may I be bad, but nevertheless, please bear with me. I am just a normal person, still in college, trying to get that degree to hopefully secure a job in the future.
But right now, it is the summer vacation─ the end of it anyways─ so I found myself writing this story. I've always had friends, at least I think of them as friends. We all hang out, tell each other crazy stories, cheat on tests, get each other into silly situations, and the like. When I find myself during the summer though… everything turns quiet.
It's as if my life goes into stand still whenever the last day of school ends.
Like one summer, during high school.
The usual beeping of messages from my peers turned to the sweet vibration of "Don't lay in bed too long" from my father, who was and is at work most days of the week. My ringtone turned into the loud footsteps of my brother outside the hallway of our shared room. He'd be off going to God-knows-where, while I lay in my room playing video games on Facebook, reading articles online about my interests.
I got used to it though.
My boredom became my life.
My life became boredom.
What's worse? I was set to transfer to another school. My old friends (I'm not naming any) would disappear from my life. Who knew what kind of people will there be in this new school? It was never my decision to transfer though. It was my father's. He said it would be for my own good. I know he loves me, but that didn't make his decision of forcing my life to get uprooted a good one.
And so, there I stood. The new school. The grounds were very open. Trees were scarce, all of which dotted the border of the field, acting like a fence that separated the school grounds from the outside world. I stood nearby the parking lot where many of the students, including myself, got off their cars, and got ready for a brand new year.
They were all laughing. It was a brand new day for them. They all got together, friends got together with friends, high fives all around and much kindness wafted through the area. They all welcomed the new year. I didn't.
But whatever, right? I was there. My father already paid the tuition to get in, I had taken the test and passed regretfully. I was here, and there was no turning back.
The campus had many buildings, I guessed some of which handled the business side of the school, some handled the educational side, while others tended to the students.
I dotted the perimeter of the field, tracing my fingertips on each tree as I passed them. Once I cross this border, there's no turning back, heck there was no turning back the moment my dad announced to me that I was transferring! So what am I doing stalling?!
I crossed the field.
I instantly regretted that decision. I wasn't thinking. My shoes! The grass was newly cut and my shoes! Oh my brand new shoes ruined by the green hue of decoration. I hurried over to the closest building I could find. The registrar, or office or principal, or dean─ whoever it was that was in charge of new students─ should have been my first priority. But right now, I must save my brand new shoes.
The inside of the building was open. Very open. The hallway was gigantic with a ceiling that looked one and a half stories high! What kind of school was this? I never had a chance to take in my surroundings further than that. I had one thing on my mind "Get this green gunk off my beloved shoes!"
I saw on the corner of a wall, a small insignia that designated a bathroom, you know? Those little people with floating circles as heads and the females had triangle shaped bodies? I dashed for it, attracting the attention of one good looking security guard. But before I was stopped, I opened the restroom, and the guard seemed to understand my predicament, thinking I probably had to uhm… urinate.
I quickly took out my emergency kit from my bag. Grabbing the cotton swab, and lightly putting some water on one end. I dabbed the green stains on my while shoes. That's better. After a few more altercations and mishaps and repairs, they were fantastic. And it only took me…
Oh my God…
I am sooo late for the debriefing and the meeting in the junior commons. Shit I silently curse to myself. No wonder no more students were piling into the bathroom, class was almost starting! I dispose of the unneeded and store the others in my bag, gracefully putting my shoes on in the process.
When I exited, the good looking guard stared at me with crooked eyebrows. Oh what an impression I have made. Now everyone is going to know me as the student who stunk up the bathroom on day one.
When I finally got there, the gigantic room was already filled, chairs were all occupied, the tables were already sat upon and so were the nooks and crannies between them, leaving me a small space in between the door and the wall to listen to the dean, at least I thought it was the dean, talk about student conduct and expectations.
The kid next to me looked amazing. Hair all combed properly, blemish free face, and an attentive look on their face with ears pointed towards the dean, unlike me, whose hair got very much messy after all that running. I really shouldn't have stalled in the parking lot. If I didn't everything could have gone well.
"Hey, what's your name?" The shorter kid next to me asked. "Are you new?"
I simply nodded, forgetting the first question.
"Then you better find a place to sit," Kindness was present in the kid's voice. "This isn't your group."
The boy nodded over to an empty seat at the far corner of the room, right in front. Wait─ how did I not notice that? Anyway, Geez! I'd have to either go through a sea of students to get there, going around the perimeter of the room, or be noticed by everyone and disturb the whole lecture by passing the front. I thought about it, and as if my day couldn't get worse, I quickly speed walked over to the open chair, passing the dean.
The debriefing in one of the biggest classrooms in history didn't take long after I arrived. Everything was very much common sense and in the student handbook. I'll just have to look over the thing so that I know what to do and what not to do.
Everyone, including pretty boy, exited Room 220 as it were and went to their secon period classes. I looked over my schedule and found that my class was room 302, one floor up. I grabbed my belongings that lay on the table and left the room with the group.
"So, how was your first day?" Pretty boy told me, I never really caught his name. "Excited?"
"I guess, but no clubs?" When I looked into the school's profile, the fact that it had no clubs didn't add up to it one bit. Music was and is my life, so naturally, I felt dejected it didn't have any.
"We have clubs." Before I could speak, pretty boy explained further. "But it's not technically sponsored by the school. We raise our own money, get our own stuff, and raise the clubs from nothing ourselves." That sounded familiar to me. "The list of clubs are in room 200, if you see something you'd want to join, feel free to go. If not, you can find a sponsor and make it yourself! It's very free spirited here." Just then, a couple of boys called him over. "So, Kurt, I'll catch you later okay?"
I waved goodbye to him as he was whisked away. I could tell he was a junior too, so I wondered how he knew other kids already.
So I guess you're wondering what kind of school this was? Well, the public schools of Lima thought it would be wonderful to have a select number of high school students experience college life early. So with the help of a local college, Murphy University, they did. By taking the junior and senior years of high school students, and combining it with the first two years of college. It's a complicated system, but it works.
My dad thought it was a wonderful idea. I didn't at first considering how expensive it would be, considering he still had medications to take after his most recent heart attack. But with his insistence and help from an outside force, here I was! In Murphy University. Standing outside room 302.
The class was mid sized, about 25 to 30 students sat in armed chairs. Half the room was covered in bunched up chairs, while the other half had a stage. Oh boy, Rachel would flip out if she were here. I looked around, and saw many new faces, sadly, pretty boy wasn't in my in this class. It was at that moment I realized, I never even got his name!
Before I could sulk even more, the teacher came in. Oh he was definitely gay. I could just see it in the way he moved. "Hello class, I'm Mr. Hamilton, and welcome to Drama I." A couple of students groaned, mostly the ones who didn't look like they belonged in a performing arts class. "Now, now class," Yep definitely gay. If the body language didn't say it, his speech definitely did. "I'm sure you all have different opinions about performing, but I'm gonna work hard to make sure that this is a fun class for you."
"Nuh-uh man." A male student sounded out from the corner. "I ain't getting taught by no homo." Oh boy, here came the Azimio copycat.
Mr. Hamilton strode over the corner to where "Azimio" sat. "What's your name young man?" He said in an overly sweet voice that kind of reminded me of Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka.
The boy didn't answer. Instead he looked up at Mr. Hamilton with a smug look on his face. That's when things got scary.
I saw Mr. Hamilton look down on the boy's schedule laid out on the armed chair. "Well then Mr. Jones. You have no choice." I felt his voice change, becoming more menacing each second. "Do you know how much your parents paid for this class? No you don't, you don't speak when I'm talking to you. They paid a lot. And since you don't have the arts requirement to graduate yet, you have no choice. So either you sit your butt down, shut your big mouth and listen and do what you're asked to do, or get yourself out of this classroom and waste about $5000 of your parent's money… Your choice." He bounced over to the stage in front of the class, not missing a beat. "So? Any questions?"
Not once did he yell, but he oh so told the boy off. No one else questioned the teacher before we got up and did our introductions.
The rest of the morning went exactly as expected, like a typical first day. Introductions throughout all my classes. My morning schedule included Trigonometry as my first period class, Drama I for my second, Physics for my third and British Literature for my fourth.
Second period ended without any more of a hitch. Jones boy exited the classroom without much of a peep, but still held a glare towards Mr. Hamilton who only waved at him with a "kind" smile. I saw Jones roll his eyes. I liked this teacher.
The high school part was small. To house another school, Murphy University gave up one floor of its main class buildings and two floors from one of their dormitories, so it meant that all classes would be on one floor. My next class, physics, would be just down the hall, room 318.
"Hi! You're Kurt right?" A girl, blonde, came up to me. She was short, about the same height as Rachel, and was as pale as me. She seemed friendly enough so I welcomed her presence.
"Yes, that's me. I'm sorry I didn't catch yours."
"My name's Samantha, but you can call me Sammy, or Sam, or Joe! Whatever floats your boat." She looked me up and down. It felt weird, not because she's a girl, but... She just checked me out! No one's checked me out before... "You know, I like you. I like you a lot." Before I could object, she continued. "No, not that way! What I mean iiisss…" I didn't even notice that we stopped walking until she started pushing me down the hall. "You owned that stage, you've never taken any acting classes before?" She must be talking about our introductions during drama class.
"No, not really, but I do sing."
"Ah, I see. So we got a countertenor huh?" I stared at her. "Oh shut up, with a high talking voice, I'm sure you're a countertenor. So what's your next class hotstuff?"
"Physics, you?"
"Me too! 318?" I nodded. "Cool! Let's go!" And thus, our friendship began.