Whew! Hope you guys all enjoy this new chapter! Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.
To TheAsian: Yes, I myself am Vietnamese. Born in Vietnam in fact :).
After about a little more than week of school, I finally felt I was settling down. None of my subjects were too hard, and I was able to turn in all of my homework on time if not earlier than the due date. It was also nice to have some friends around to make things not as awkward as they could have been since, you know, I'm the new kid and all. I also found myself liking all of my teachers, which was something that's never happened before.
Waking up as I normally did, I made myself some toast while leaving out the eggs and cereal for dad and Rose to have later when they woke up. Grabbing some textbooks and putting on my shoes, I made my way to school. This time I wasn't walking alone. After finding out that we took similar routes, Lapis and I met each other at Victoria crossway, not too far from home.
"Heyo!" he said, coming towards me on his skateboard. I, in turn, saluted to greet him back.
"Hey there," I started, "I heard you finished your basketball tryouts?"
"That's right I did. They'll post the lineups after school so once class is out, I'm heading straight for the gym."
"Think you've made it?"
"I hope so. I think I did pretty well during tryouts. I'm hoping to at least be a starter on the JV team."
"Only on the Junior Varsity team? You don't want to be on the Varsity team?"
"Oh I do! Don't get me wrong, being a Varsity athlete as a freshman? Bro, that's a dream come true! But even if I did become one, the chances of me being a starter on the team is low since the Varsity team already has a strong squad. I don't know if you know this, but when it comes to sports, our basketball team is one of, if not the best in the country! Lots of pro athletes went to school here. Anyway, if I'm not a starter on the Varsity team, I'd rather be demoted to JV. At least there I have a chance to start."
"So you just want to play, huh? Not going after all that attention Varsity athletes get?"
"Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say that too. But getting my playing time comes first. No use getting attention if I don't enjoy it, right? Besides, it's not like bench players get that much attention anyway. Anyway, here we are. Did you finish the biology homework?"
"Yeah, wasn't too hard. Ready for the quiz?"
"Duh. Naming cell components is gonna be a piece of cake."
Mr. Grendel really meant it when he said he wanted us to know biology by heart. After a few days of learning about cells, he then gave us a quiz on the parts of the cell. Thankfully, all we had to do was match definitions with the correct cell component of both plant and animal cells. Nothing too hard.
"Everyone done? Alright then, please switch quizzes with your partner and let's start grading them!"
I switched mine with Lapis's and by the time Mr. Grendel was done reading off all the answers, we both earned perfect scores.
*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
Before we left, Mr. Grendel gave us a reminder. "Remember everyone, we'll be doing a lab next time we meet!"
Packing our things, we both headed out to our second periods.
"So, did you join any clubs?" Lapis asked.
"Well, I signed up for some. Why?"
"You didn't know? Club meetings start today! Ah well, I'm sure the announcements will post it up somewhere You should totally join some! Anyway, I gotta go. See ya!"
Club meetings, huh? Come to think of it, the reason why I signed up for some was because dad encouraged me to get involved, and because it would look good when applying for colleges. I didn't really know what clubs I wanted to be a part of or if I wanted to partake in any school activities but...well, it wouldn't hurt to check it out anyway.
Apparently, school announcements are typically shown after third period and before break daily to help students catch up with the news, so when there were about five minutes of class left, Ms. Pierce turned on the broadcast. On the screen were two people wearing our school uniform with one holding a microphone.
"Goooood Morning, MapleStory Academy! Ria and Tia here to get you guys up to date with the news with the first morning announcements of the year! First off, a big welcome back to our returning students, and an even bigger welcome to our freshmen! Get ready to experience the best four years of your lives! So Ria, what's going on today?"
"This week, clubs are now active so be sure to check the dates of your club meetings so you don't miss 'em!" The screen showed the names of hundreds of clubs along with the times and dates of their meetings in a matter of seconds. Apparently Key Club was to meet today in the multipurpose room during lunch. Guess I'd be heading to the multipurpose room since I signed up for it and all. Before I knew it, the screen then went back to the two announcers.
"We sure have a lot of clubs meeting today, so be sure to check them out! Anyway, Tia what can we expect from the weather?"
"Thanks, Ria. Well, we're still in summer so you all can expect sunny hot days for a few weeks. Not so surprising, right? But if anything comes up we'll be sure to let you know. Moving on, the basketball and Volleyball seasons will start soon. Lineups have been finished and their very first game is in less than a week! Get your tickets early so you can get the best seats. Gooooo Maplers!"
The microphone was once handed over again.
"Well, MapleStory Academy, that's all we have for you today. Eat well, study hard, and enjoy the rest of your day! This is Ria and Tia, signing out!"
Well now, guess I know where I'm heading for lunch.
The multipurpose room was more crowded than I thought. In fact, it was so crowded that I could hardly find my way through. I had to admit, I didn't really expect a community service club to be so crowded.
"Yo, Ronnie!"
From the crowd, I could barely see Joe try to make his way through to me.
"Hey! You're in Key Club too?" he asked.
"Yeah, I signed up during orientation just to see what it was all about. Same with you, right?" I replied.
"Yeah...You thinking of participating?"
"Well, why not? Nothing bad comes out of helping the community right? Provided my dad let's me go of course."
"True, true. But your dad's got you on a tight leash, huh?"
I recoiled at his choice of words. "Bruh, it sounds weird when you put it like that. Please don't. You make it sound like...nevermind."
Joe simply laughed it off.
After a few minutes, we could hear the voices of several other students trying to calm the crowd down. Once the crowd had become quiet, we were then asked to sit down on the floor. With everyone sitting down, I was finally able to make out the faces of those who calmed the crowd down, as they were still standing.
Immediately, a couple of them grabbed out stacks of paper and started handing them out to each of us. On it were a list of the club leaders and what seemed to be a list of upcoming service opportunities. Sweeping the streets, aiding in carnival games, collecting water...huh. Didn't seem that bad. Once all the sheets were handed out, the short, pink-haired girl finally spoke up. "Well hello everyone! Welcome to the very first Key Club general meeting of the year! I'm Mar, a Maplestory Academy Senior and your Key Club President! As your president, I'm in charge of all the planning, organization, and carrying out of responsibilities related to this club."
Another guy soon stepped forward. He wore his uniform loosely, had ruffled hair and a band aid on his cheek as if he had recently gotten into a fight.
"I'm Shoon, a senior and your Vice-president. As your vice-president, I assist Mar with all her presidential duties since there's no way she can handle everything alone. That's why I'm here, so I can make sure she doesn't break down crying due to her responsibilities." At his remark, Mar gave him a soft slap on the shoulder.
Several more members then stepped up.
"I'm Mumzy, a Junior and your Treasurer. Of course as a treasurer, I keep track of the club's money and what it has gained and lost. I'm also responsible for setting the prices of our goods and using the money for club-related projects and items. I also provide the financial reports to Mar whenever she asks for them."
"I'm Shumi, a sophomore and your Secretary. As your secretary, my duties are to prepare meeting agendas, record all the board discussions, etcetera etcetera, but the most important of all, my duties is to maintain healthy communication with all of you club members, so if you guys have anything you want to talk about pertaining to this club, don't hesitate to ask me anything!" She said, making two peace signs.
"And we are Wing and Rowen, both seniors and your two Kiwanis Liaisons!"
"Well then," Mar started, "Before we continue, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you all on what key club is all about! Now you may be thinking that this is just some ordinary community service club, but that's not true at all! We are much, much more than that! We're a club that's part of Key Club international, which is an organization dedicated towards improving citizenship and all of humanity. Being apart of this club gives you the chance to be part of this organization and from there you'll be allowed to attend and participate in rallies and conventions with other schools, allowing you to build friendships and connections that will last a lifetime along with finding out more about your service, and even yourself!"
"That's right," Shoon continued, "We all promise to make community service fun for everyone. I'm positive all of your perspectives of community service will change after joining this club. Then again, if you're here because you want your college application to look good, that's fine with us too. Whether or not you put in your minimum effort just to fill up those hours, both you and the community are benefitting from it, so it's a win-win situation...I highly discourage putting in your minimum effort though."
We all chuckled lightly at that.
"We're all apart of this community aren't we? Let's keep it clean and friendly."
Despite looking somewhat like a hoodlum, it was refreshing to hear Shoon talk about a friendly community. Heck, I already wanted to sign up for an event right away.
"Anyway, enough with the introductions. How about you all look at the schedule we just gave you?"
Doing as I was told, I noticed that the sheet contained contact information of the board members along with some upcoming service events.
"As you can see, the sheet contains the contact info of all the board members from e-mail to phone number, so please save all of those in case you have any questions. We also already have some community service events ready despite it being early in the year, so don't hesitate to sign up. The earliest one we have so far is 'Help Sweep Edelstein's Streets!' and the head of this event is Mar, so I'll let Mar handle this."
"Thanks Shoon! To already have an event during our first meeting! Isn't that exciting? This is actually an even that's been going on for years at this school, where the Janitor, Brighton, asks students from this district to help him clean the streets of Edelstein since waste flows down the street often and kids there often make messes around. Although it's gotten better throughout the years, Brighton hasn't been getting any younger and the messes still persist, so we thought it'd be better to offer him our help! The event starts this friday at 3:30 pm and ends at 5:30 pm. So that'll earn you two hours of community service. Don't stall guys! Sign up even if you're not sure if you'll go before spots run out! I'll see you there!"
The other event was headed by Shoon. It was an event that called for students to work at carnival booths in Monster Park. Since it was on Monday and started at 8:00 and lasted until 11:00, however, I made a mental cross on that event. Way too late for me.
"You signing up for anything, Ronnie?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking of sweeping the streets. Occurs not long after school and doesn't end too late. I'm sure dad would at least let me stay out this late. You?"
"I was thinking the same thing. Carnal booth sounds fun, but it's way too late for me…" I heard Joe mumble something after that, but decided not to question it.
I was surprised how easily dad let me go to the event. Sure, he was no stranger to letting me do community service, but in middle school, most of the service I performed was in the school itself. You know, making sandwiches for the hungry and what not. This here was probably the first time I was allowed to go out of school for service. Well, the first time in a while anyway.
Edelstein was only a fifteen minute drive away from home. Looking around, you could see technology everywhere. Brick buildings were often mixed with solar panels, turning gears and high clocks. There was probably one factory every few blocks producing who knows what, and while there were traffic lights around, several police officers stood at intersections, guiding the traffic and bowing as cars passed by.
"Talk about industrialization…" Dad said. Nevertheless, our destination wasn't too far away from the entrance into the town. Once I saw a group of familiar faces, I asked dad to drop me off and let me walk there.
"Nhớ nhe, nếu cần gì thì gọi ba!" dad then waved at me before driving away. (Remember to call me if you need anything!)
"Ronnie!" Spotting Joe, I walked over and stood by him. After a few minutes, a man pushing a cart full of brooms appeared from one of the buildings. He was also helped by Mar who pushed the cart along with him. Once all the carts were outside, Mar then gathered all of us.
"Hey everyone! Thank you so much for attending this event and helping sweep the streets! Before we get started, I'd like all of you to please head over to the tables near the entrance to the building we just came from and sign in. From there, we'll know who you are and keep track of your service hours! After that, just go ahead and grab a broom and start sweeping. We'll also be handing out some trash bags to everyone later so you guys can all collect the trash and throw it away. Sound good? Good. Well anyway, before we get started, would you like to say anything, Mr. Brighton?"
The man nodded his head and slowly stepped forward to the crowd.
"I've been sweeping these streets for over thirty years, starting from when this town was first started all the way to now. I've seen people come and go, I've seen kids grow up, and I've seen all the technological improvements occur. But one thing hasn't changed, and that is the disregard for the environment. I mean, I'd be without a job if the streets were always clean, but as someone who lives in this town, I'd like to see some more of us care for it, you know? That said, I'm thankful for your service. I know most of you here are probably here to get your hours, but regardless, you all did take some time out of your lives to help, so I'm grateful for any amount of effort you put in."
Nodding one last time, Brighton silently went back to sweeping the streets.
"Thanks, Mr. Brighton!" Mar said. "Well everyone, let's get to cleaning!"
After signing up for both myself and Joe, I grabbed brooms and dustpans for the both of us. I then walked down to near the school with Joe and together we started sweeping.
"Dang, talk about dirty…" Joe mumbled.
Mr. Brighton was right, the streets were pretty dirty. Paper stacks, leftover oil, some unusable gears and coal, to think that he had to deal with this nearly everyday of his life…And in less than ten minutes, we had already formed a pile.
After receiving our trash bags from Mar, we then loaded everything we had sweeped up, filling up the bag about three-quarters of the way.
"We really need more of these…" I sighed.
"Yeah…"
Despite all the sweeping though, it was nice to see the streets getting cleaner. Moving through the town, we saw other students sweeping the streets like us. Based on their white dress shirts, purple sweater vests and black ties, it was obvious they weren't from MapleStory Academy.
"Seems like we're not the only school helping out."
"Yup! Looking at their uniforms, they're probably from the Private School for the Gifted. A lot of our extracurricular activities often coincide with theirs so it's not surprising we see them around." Joe said. "A lot of them have friends who go here, so it's not even surprising to see them at school either."
"You seem to know a lot about that school. Where'd you get all that info?"
"My friend goes there, you know, the one I talked to you about."
"Oh, you mean your not-girlfriend?"
"She is not-wait, yeah. She's my not-girlfriend. She's...just a friend." Joe then scratched his head and looked elsewhere. "Oh look, there's some more trash."
He didn't really sound too confident when he was saying she wasn't his girlfriend, but it didn't really matter to me. What did matter to me, however…
"So...are you going to introduce me to her or...you going to introduce her to me…? Bruh, I feel like I'm being left out of something here."
"Ehh...yeah. Maybe when she's open to making more friends. Don't worry, you'll get to meet here soon...just don't expect her to be nice."
Joe didn't say anything more about her after that. But at least now I knew there was some reason he was hesitant to talk about her. Nevertheless, we sweeped a few more streets until our two hours were nearly over. Loading the last of our trash bags in the dispenser, we then headed back to where we once met.
"Chop chop everyone! Let's get the last of those trash bags in! What's taking you all so long?"
Looking back, I could see a group of students from Seoul's Private High School for the Gifted head to the trash dispenser. They were mainly boys huffing and puffing in a single file line, except for one girl who was by the side, directing the line. The boys were all sweaty, with their ties mainly loosened and those who had managed to throw them into the dispenser all sat down and breathed heavily.
"Something wrong, man?" Joe asked.
"Uh, no, not really. Why don't you go ahead, I'll catch up later." I replied.
"Alright. I'll see you then."
As Joe ran off, I could see the last guy struggling a bit with his load as he constantly took breaths while lifting.
"Here, let me help you with that." I said, lifting the bag along with him to lighten his load.
"Thanks," he huffed. With one final grunt, we managed to throw the last trash bag in. As soon as it went in, the girl who was directing the line instantly huffed.
"Francis, I can't believe you actually let a student from a rival school help you with such a menial task! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
To my surprise, the boy's look only drooped for about a second before it brightened up again. "I'm sorry Miss Orchid!" He saluted. "I'll try harder next time."
"You had well better, you didn't just embarrass the school, you embarrassed me as well!"
Looking at the girl, I saw that unlike the boys, she had no marks anywhere on her uniform, skin, or silvery hair. Not even a trace of sweat. She had a black blazer draped over her shoulders and also held a cup of coffee in her right hand. It was obvious that she did little to no work. Although it probably wasn't my business, seeing the way she just ordered them around did tick me a little. Francis didn't deserve to be yelled at for helping the community.
"Oh come on, isn't this just community service? What's so bad about me helping out just a little? It's fine as long as the trash is disposed of and the streets are clean, right? No need to be so bossy."
For some reason, I noticed some of the boys (Francis included) looking at me in horror and shaking their heads as if I was committing some kind of grave sin. But regardless, I shook it off. I knew what I was doing was right.
"Excuse me?!" The girl said, walking over to me and looking at me in the eye. "Do you even know who you're talking to?!"
I won't lie, that loud yell probably would have been intimidating if she was taller than me, but as of right now, she hardly stood above my shoulders, so it was hard to think of her as any threat or authoritarian figure.
"No, but frankly, I don't really care. You know, if you wanted everyone to be done with their work earlier, maybe you could've at least helped them with the sweeping and cleaning? You know, instead of just standing around and yelling at those who are well, actually doing the work?"
To my surprise her hardened expression softened and she bursted out laughing.
"Ah...ahahahahahahahaha! Doing the actual work?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's hilarious!"
Okay, I really don't know what her deal is, but her laughing at me was really annoying me. The heck was so funny about that?! Nevertheless, she soon calmed down in a matter of seconds and grabbed me by the shoulder.
"Hm, you know, initially I thought you as some kind of uneducated peasant for not knowing who I am, but I've decided to look past that. You're pretty interesting and I kinda like you. What's your name? And while you're at it, why don't you give me your number? I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other often."
Uh…
"What...the…?"
What should Aaron do?
1. Give her his name and phone number. No harm in doing so. Maybe this was a rough start and they could be friends in the future. Besides, it's better to make some friends in a new environment rather than enemies.
2. Don't give her his name or phone number. Whoever she is, she definitely has some authority over the students in her school. She could use his name and number to spread some rumors. Best not to risk anything.
(First reader interactive chapter guys! Leave your thoughts in the reviews!)
*Sigh* So tired...now then, time to study.
Name: Joseph Emes (Likes to be called Joe, hates being called Emmie or Joey)
Gender: Male
Birthdate: December 22
Age: 14-15
Height: 5 feet 8 inches
Interests: Sports, music, kickboxing, also wants to start a Youtube channel.
Hobbies: Kickboxing, Playing his guitar, soccer.
Personality: Loyal and friendly. Also very outgoing; has a lot of friends from different places.
Appearance: Black shaggy-waxed hair, usually in skinny jeans and a leather jacket.
Favorite Bands: Orangutanz, TWO OK ROCK, Twelve Pilots, Bring Me the Sunset, All Time High
Interesting info: Aaron's childhood friend since kindergarten. Both bonded over their love of soccer and music and attended the same school until after sixth grade, which was when they both moved away due to their parents' jobs. However, they managed to stay in contact through phone calls, text, email, and eventually social media. His family is rich, since his father is CEO of Elnath Inc. and his mother a renowned doctor. However, their relationship is strained because they don't have much time for their son. They are always out of the country because of their work. Joe has been living alone in a medium sized house ever since he was fourteen, and his parents send him money for food and water every month while they themselves pay for the water and electrical bills. He also has an obsession with making friends due to his fear of experiencing loneliness, which is why he makes as many as possible.
Took up kickboxing in elementary school and was a Junior Kickboxing Champion for four years in a row. Because of his training, he possesses immense strength and reflexes faster than Aaron's. If they were to fight, he could take Aaron out in a matter of minutes. Regarding Aaron's father...who knows.
There's also a girl around his age who visits his house daily and even cooks for him. They even have sleepovers often, however, their parents seem to be strangely fine with it...
