Quiet Observations
It was the start of sophomore year at Highland High School, and there was an absence that no one had openly acknowledged.
In Mr. Van Driessen's tenth grade Literature class, most of the students from last year were present. Granted a couple were in the next hour class, and those two weird boys had been taken away by men in dark suits during the summer to the concern of no one.
But there was one absence that no one had really commented on.
Cassandra adjusted her new glasses and glanced at the desk in question, it was occupied by a new kid with dreadlocks named Taylor, but she could remember who had sat there the year before.
'I hope Lawndale works out for her.' Cassandra hoped privately, 'Then again anywhere would be better than here.'
As Mr. Van Driessen finished taking role and began getting into the year's syllabus, Cassandra had to remind herself that the weird boys were gone and wouldn't make any dumb comments.
'It feels kind of nice to be in class like this,' she admitted to herself, 'It's oddly normal now that they are gone and Van Driessen got rehired.'
She flipped open her notebook and jotted down a random thought in blue ink, 'Two mutant boys wind up in Area 51. Still manage to destroy all that is good in the world. Expand?'
It was obviously much too complex to be a poem, maybe a short story? Cassandra decided that it needed more thought.
She sat her blue pen down and grabbed the black one since their teacher was now handing out the year's handbooks, and everyone would be required to sign a waiver saying that they had received the book and that they would read it.
Not that anyone ever did, unless they were being punished, or were trying to figure a way out of a punishment.
Cassandra barely managed to hide a grimace, legalese was never her thing, and the eternal promise that it would get worse as she got older did nothing to endear her to the system at large.
'But then again is anybody ever really free?' Cassandra pondered, letting her mind wander a bit.
As Van Driessen wrapped up the boring intro to the new school year, Cassandra found herself hoping that the next three years were like this.
Nice, quiet, and above all else...
Normal.
Or as normal as Highland could manage, but she suspected that the absence of those two boys would be a good first step in the right direction.