One hour a day, five hours a week, twenty hours a month, 240 hours a year, and 3,120 hours in all thirteen years, which is 130 days. 130 days of my life that I am required, by law, to waste in science class. Is there no justice in this world!? Is there some unwritten law that my life just has to suck!? Is it really fair to make me waste my precious, little time on earth bored out of my mind learning about the intricate workings of the pancreas? I think not!
Link slammed his locker shut with all the strength he could get out of two fingers while the other three expertly balanced two textbooks. Papers fluttered against the locker door as they were caught in the small gust of wind. Just as an extra precaution, Link gave the locker a good hard kick as he heaved up his bag and spun around in the direction of the next well thought out, pre-planned torture awaiting him. However, before he could even take a step towards his readied doom, he was met with a small exclamation of surprise as he spun directly into a slight, blonde boy.
"Oh, damn, I'm sorry!" Link quickly tried to apologize as the boys things tumbled to the floor and cascaded over his feet.
"No, no, that's okay, it was my fault," the boy replied in a slightly musical, alto voice.
He was an inch or so shorter than Link, and his hair was a lighter, softer shade of blonde. It fell in a random, messy array around his face, stopping a little past his chin in a layered, windblown look. His face was angular, but still not so much that it looked abnormal, and his eyes were squeezed shut in an angry, or possibly sad, lull.
The boy quickly bent down to pick up his things, a sheen of blonde falling over his eyes. Then, faster than Link thought possible, he stood up and hurried down the hall, obviously distracted over something as he almost tripped twice successively.
Link sighed, frustrated, and flicked his bangs to the side in an attempt to shake the drama of high school away from him. He heaved up his book bag and started a half run, half walk to his next class, which would be starting in 34 seconds. Of course, the goddesses favored him, so it was conveniently located directly on the other side of the school. "Perfect", he thought, recalling Mr. Varnes's threat to give him detention the next time he was late.
As the bell rang overhead, Link broke into a full out sprint, book bag thumping rhythmically against his side as the hall seemed to tunnel out around him and he focused solely on the closing door at the end of the hall. He was almost there, he was going to make it, he was going to escape detention and, "shit!" He thought as Mr. Varnes door clicked shut. He threw his hands up in defeat.
"What more can go wrong today!?" He called out to the seemingly empty, red bricked hallway.
The whole day had been a whirlwind of stress. First, his alarm didn't go off because he'd accidentally set it to PM instead of AM, like the genius he was. Then he'd arrived at school 20 minuets late, which of course went over beautifully with the office lady, old hag. Then, after that, he'd arrived at English just to realize that their essay which was due tomorrow was actually due today. And to top it all off, he had forgotten his lunch, and his sweatshirt on the kitchen table in his rush to get to school, so he was now hungry and cold, two of the worst possible combinations ever, in his opinion.
"Well," a voice snapped him out of his reverie, "You just stepped in a beautiful little wad of pink bubble gum," the amused voice rang out from behind him in answer to his rhetorical question. Link spun around to see his friend, Tim, leaned up against the wall with an amused grin plastered on his face.
Tim was Link's best friend. He was funny, rude, and sarcastic 99 of the time, but there was just something about him that made all of his rude and sarcastic comments make you love him more. He was one of those guys with an ego bigger than the galaxy, but with Tim, it was okay, because in a funny way, he was bigger than the galaxy. His hair was blonde, and it fell over his eyes in a cocky little flip that he frequently used to his advantage. He was tall, really tall, about 6' 2" to be exact, and he wore blue and brown glasses, which he claimed were just for fashion, but Link knew that he really did need them, he just preferred the image of being totally nondependent like the cocky bastard he was. And to top it all off, he wore the classy jeans with a button up shirt, or a sweater, but always, ALWAYS, with a nice striped scarf. He was loved by the entire student population, and the staff. "What a lucky guy," Link thought, a bit sourly, "he's got it all goin' for him, wish he could give me a bit of that personality that the teachers adore so much."
"Lovely! Just wonderful!" Link said as his voice cracked with a hint of grief. "Gum," he thought, "Just what I needed to brighten up my day!"
"Awwwww," Tim chuckled, "It's okay, calm down drama queen. So I take it you're locked out too?"
Link nodded dejectedly and replied with an unenthusiastic, "Yeah." All teachers here had a 20 minute rule. If you weren't to class on time, you got locked out for the first twenty minuets, ensuring they could catch your tardy, because fairness is policy, of course.
Tim slid down onto the floor in a fluid motion and patted the red brick next to him. "Come, join me in my glorious tardiness," he sang in a sickeningly happy singsong voice that could brighten anyone's day. Probably exactly why he was friends with everyone in the entire school.
Link snorted, sliding down towards the brick next to Tim, "I'll probably have the joy of joining you in detention Saturday too," he said.
Tim smiled and patted him on the back, "Wonderful!" he exclaimed, "the more, the merrier!" Tim's smile was huge and corny, the pinnacle of comedy. "Goddesses, what a dork!" Link thought warmly.
Link sighed, and shook his head, a smile betraying his amusement. Tim just cocked his head to the side and made a comical parrot noise.
"So what's eatin' at you?" Tim asked after a couple minutes of silence.
Link sucked in so much air that he was half sure his lungs would explode. "Oh, just, I dunno," he replied in a half hearted, airy manner, "Life, y'know, all that good stuff."
Tim raised an eyebrow at Link's confusing reply, "Whoa, careful there, don't try to make it too obvious," he said, turning up his lips in an encouraging smile. Link's mouth turned up in a half hearted attempt to match Tim's. "Well, nothing really. Just the hectic rush of school and life. It all kind of sucks, and now my Saturday's been damned too," Link finished a little angrily, punching his bag.
Tim gave a mock hurt look, "Hey! Helloooooo, I'll be there too!" "Is he implying?" Tim spoke to himself, "That my presence has no affect whatsoever on the outcome of his day? I feel so hurt and ………..unloved…." he trailed off, by this point just barely containing his fit of giggles.
Link laughed, "Yah, but you're ALWAYS in detention Saturdays, and you're used to it." This was totally true. Tim probably had detention written down on his calendar for the entire year.
Tim gave an offended little gasp, "Are you implying that I'm a troublemaker, Link?"
Link grinned, "Oh, of course not, you're the absolute pinnacle of good behavior; you should probably be getting an award from the president soon." They both laughed at that, knowing full well that Tim would rather drop out of school than be thought of as a perfectly behaved, 4.0 student.
"Oh Link!" Tim let out his trademark girlish giggle. "Just because we're not all perfect little 3.98 teachers-pet suckups, doesn't mean you have to get all prejucidal on me," he finished, giggling like mad.
Link smirked up at Tim and gave him a light punch to the side.
"Oh, owwwwwww, doctor, doctor, help me!! I think I'm hemorging!!!!" Tim exclaimed in his ever sarcastic tenor voice.
At that moment the door to the right of them swung open, and a very prude looking Mrs. Smith glowered at the both of them. Tim's smile faltered only slightly as he grabbed his bag and patted Link on the back, whispering, "Talk to you later, buddy," before disappearing behind the door. The only time he was ever treated anything less than warmly by the staff was when he was tardy, which, consequently, was quite frequently. Link grabbed his bag as well, and went to join the rest of his class in slightly higher spirits as Mr. Varnes sent him a death glare from down the hall. Perhaps life doesn't suck quite as much as it appear to, he thought.
