Destined Encounters
Disclaimer: Don't own MMPR.
It was September 1992, and everyone was returning to school for a new year. Standing outside the doors to Angel Grove High, Billy was apprehensive and nervous, but not so much as when he went to Ulysses S. Grant and Kensington when he used to live in Philadelphia.
A letter had been sent to him a week earlier, letting him know about the Grade 10 Orientation Session, and that that's where he would pick up his class schedule. Right now, today was the day of the orientation session. With the map of the school's layout, Billy went in to find the gymnasium, where it was being held. He glanced up on occasion in order to keep track of whether he was going in the right direction, and took in how nice the school looked, and that it was much smaller than he anticipated. Just then, without realizing, Billy took a wrong turn. Oh no, Billy thought once he looked up. He re-examined the map in order to pin-point where he was. Billy took a few steps backward, and accidentally bumped into someone. It was a girl, and the book she was reading dropped out of her hands. "Oh, sorry." She said, bending down to pick up her book.
"It's not your fault. I wasn't careful in monitoring the direction I was heading." Billy replied.
"Don't blame yourself. I really got to stop reading books while walking. It's such a bad habit."
"I hope you didn't lose the place where you left off." Billy said.
"Yeah, me too." The girl replied, flipping through the pages. While she was doing that, Billy noticed that he no longer was holding the map he had. He looked around, trying to see where it had fallen. "Did you lose something?"
"Affirmative. It seems I have misplaced my copy of this school's map." She closed up her book after putting in her bookmark, looked down, and saw a white piece of paper by her foot.
"Ah here it is." She picked it up and handed it to Billy. Right then, Billy was intrigued by this girl. He liked her voice, her smile, she had a pleasant disposition, and her hair reminded him of Mariah Carey. But before Billy could ask her what her name was, three other girls came running up to her. One was Caucasian, the second girl was East Indian, and the third one was Oriental. "Kim! Sandy! Trini!" She shrieked excitedly when she saw then coming, calling her name, and gave them all a hug. "I was hoping you'd all be here. Oh," She turned to face Billy. "We kind of, bumped into each other. This is- I'm sorry, in all this excitement, I didn't get your name."
"That's quite alright. My name is William, but everyone refers to me as Billy."
"I'm Sarah, and these are my friends Kimberly, Sandeep, or Sandy as she likes to be called, and Trini."
"We better get to the gym. The session's about to start." Sandy reminded everyone. Sarah looked at her watch.
"Oh crap, I almost forgot about the time."
"Billy, why don't you come sit with us?" Trini asked him.
"Uh, okay. Yeah, sure." Billy replied. He surprised that these girls were inviting him to sit with them, let alone even talk to him, considering the common fact that most girls wouldn't be caught dead with him of all people. Along with the rest of the grade 10's, they went into the gym and found some empty spaces on the bleachers to sit down.
"So, you don't look like you're from around here." Sandy said to Billy. "Are you from another school in or around here or LA?" She asked.
"Negative. More specifically, another city." Billy replied. "I formerly resided in Philadelphia, but then we recently relocated as my dad accepted a new position of employment." His explanation was met with blank stares. Oh shit. Way to go Billy! Now they'll really think you're a nerd and won't talk to you anymore! He thought with a pang of anxiety. Although the girls were smart for their collective ages, Billy's big words flew over heads. Until...
"He said his family used to live in Philadelphia, but they just moved to Angel Grove recently because his dad accepted a new job." Trini said.
"Oh, okay." Sarah, Kim and Sandy replied, nodding their heads in understanding.
"Yeah. How did you know what I said?" Billy asked.
"Trini's always had a gift for languages. Even foreign ones." Kim said.
"Sarah and I have been teaching her how to speak Hindi." Sandy added.
"You speak Hindi too?" Billy asked Sarah.
"Yeah. My dad was a geologist, and we all lived in India for a while when he was working on an expedition there." Sarah replied. "And I was two at the time, and I just picked it up then. And because Sandy speaks Hindi, and Punjabi too, all the time at her house, that's how I can still practice. But Trini here, she just picked it up like that." Sarah snapped her fingers.
"I'm hoping to work as a translator, maybe at the airport or for Immigration." Trini added.
"Fascinating." Billy said, intrigued. He liked that Trini knew what he said, and had a feeling she would be a big help if other people didn't understand him. Billy also liked her delicate Oriental features. They were certainly attractive, but he didn't feel the same way about he as did with Sarah. There was something about Sarah that he really liked. It wasn't just that she was pretty, or that her dad worked in a scientific field. There was something about her personality, and Billy hoped that she felt the same way.
The orientation session began with Mr. Caplan, the school's principal, addressing the students and talking to them about what to expect during the coming year, and the various services available to them. He also introduced the teachers who worked at AGHS. He was finished with his speech in a half an hour, and so he instructed to everyone that their class schedules were arranged in alphabetical order to their last names, and that each letter in a group of two was divided into thirteen groups. Thirteen tables were set up, and the teachers looking after each table would hand out the schedules. Billy and Sarah walked over to the table marked, "C to D" since Billy's last name was Cranston and Sarah's was Duran. "Last name please?" The teacher at the table asked Billy when he approached the table.
"Cranston." Billy replied. He flipped through the box of files, mumbling to himself
"Channan...Chohan...Clarke...Clarke...Copeland...Ah, Cranston. William?"
"Affirmative." Billy said. The teacher opened the file and pulled out the copy of his schedule, handing it to him.
"Looks like you'll be in my Science class." The teacher commented. Billy looked at his schedule.
"You're Mr. Rosario?" He asked.
"That's correct." Mr. Rosario replied, putting away Billy's file. "Your last name please?" He asked Sarah.
"Duran." She replied.
"Uh, I'm sorry. Doran, you said?"
"No, Duran." Sarah repeated.
"Oh, Duran. Okay. Sorry, it's really noisy in here." Mr. Rosario said.
"The acoustics of most gymnasiums is most often very poor." Billy said. Even for Mr. Rosario, what Billy said even had him confused.
"I think what Billy means is, with the way gyms are designed, the sound is always loud when there's a lot of people." She said.
"Oh, right. I knew that." Mr. Rosario replied.
"How did you know?" Billy asked Sarah, surprised.
"Just a lucky guess." She said with a shrug. Mr. Rosario flipped through the files, looking for Sarah's.
"Dhami...Dhatt...Doser...Dostal...Dostal...Duran," He looked up. "First name please?"
"Sarah."
"Kassandra Duran...Kevin Duran...Ah, here we are, Sarah Duran." Mr. Rosario pulled out the file and opened it, handing Sarah her schedule. She and Billy went to find Kim, Sandy and Trini so that they could compare their schedules and see which classes they were in together.
"Oh, it looks like we don't have any classes together." Billy said to Sarah with a note disappointment in his tone of voice. He had been hoping Sarah would be in at least one class with him.
"That sucks." Sarah replied. They found Kim, Sandy and Trini.
"So, what do we have together?" Kim, Sarah, Sandy and Trini all compared their schedules with each other.
"Looks like you'll be in my Science class." Sarah said to Kim.
"We all have choir. Well, except for Trini." Sandy noted.
"That's fine. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket even if I tried." Trini replied with a laugh.
"Oh come on Trini, you have a good voice." Kim said.
"Eh, I guess." Trini shrugged. They all sat down on the bleachers, along with Billy, talking amoungst themselves, still seeing who had which class with which friend. Sadly, to Billy's disappointment, neither Kim, Sandy, nor Trini were in any classes with him. They didn't even have any spare blocks, like he did. Billy had the one spare, while they had choir and Trini had her Spanish class.
Slowly the crowd began to thin out as people went back home, and because it was getting close to when the Grade 11's came in for their session. Before they knew it, the gym was practically empty. "Oh, crap. Where did the time go?" Sarah looked up, seeing that they were the only ones in the gym. "The Grade 11 session is gonna begin soon."
"Yeah, we should get going." Kim got up, along with Sandy and Trini. "You'll meet us at the Youth Center, right?"
"Of course. See you then." Sarah replied as they left. She and Billy got up.
"I'm disappointed that we don't have any classes together." Billy said as he and Sarah walked out of the gym. "You were very helpful in showing me around."
"Well, maybe we'll see each other between classes." Sarah replied. "In the meantime, want to come down to the Youth Center with me? You'll get to meet-" Suddenly, they were interrupted by a wolf-whistle when they came out into the hallway.
"Hey, sexy!" Two boys were walking towards them.
"Oh no." Sarah groaned. She grabbed Billy by his arm and continued walking towards the door leading to the outside, her pace picking up speed.
"What's going on?" Billy asked, confused by this change in her behavior.
"Just, let's keep walking." Sarah hissed. But the two boys caught up to them. The taller one pulled Sarah aside and nudged her up against the wall. And he also had his hands on her breasts.
"Don't you know it's rude not to answer when someone calls you, sweet pea?" The boy taunted.
"I don't respond to chauvinism." Sarah replied sharply, removing the boy's hands from her chest.
"Oh come on sweet cheeks, I just wanna talk with you." He tried to run his hands up her shirt.
"Brad, I told you before, leave me alone." Sarah growled, her anger rising.
"But why? Doesn't someone as hot and sexy like you, want a handsome dude like me?" Billy watched as these two boys, Brad and his friend, continued to harass Sarah. He was afraid to step in at first, because they were taller, and possibly stronger than him. But then Billy remembered what it was like when nobody stepped in to help him when he was being bullied by Jarred and his gang. I better do something, Billy thought.
"Your vernacular not withstanding, " Billy said, stepping in between Sarah and Brad, "She doesn't want to make your acquaintance."
"What the hell? Who are you?" Brad sneered. He went back to Sarah and tried to run his hands up her shirt again.
"Hey!" Billy snapped, pushing Brad's arms away. "Cease and desist at once!" Brad's friend gave Billy a shove.
"Speak English, geek!" He said to him, with a laugh. Billy got in his face.
"You know what I said. Leave her alone." Billy growled. Brad grabbed Billy by his shirt and pushed him up against the wall.
"What if I don't want to?" He snarled.
"Get your hands off him!" Sarah snapped. She tried to pull Brad away from Billy, but Brad's friend stopped her. "Don't touch me pervert!" She smacked his hands away from her. "Let go of him!" She gave Brad a hard enough shove that he released his grip on Billy. Brad and his friend then backed off, slowly."
"I will not be ordered around by a girl." Brad growled. Then he looked at Billy with a mean sneer. "And your shouldn't stick your nose in where it doesn't belong, nerd. You just made a big mistake." They both walked off. Sarah and Billy picked up their things and went outside.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved." Sarah said.
"Who were those troglodytes?" Billy asked.
"Brad Stephenson and Greg Davis. I've known them since elementary school. They like to bully people, and ever since grade 9, I seem to have become one of their targets. But I just take it in stride. Thanks for stepping though, but I don't think you should have." Sarah explained.
"But what they were doing to you was disrespectful. I don't like it when girls are treated like that, like, objects." Billy said.
"Well, that's very sweet of you. Too bad you don't have any classes with me. I can see that you're really nice."
"Oh, uh, thanks." Billy replied, his face turning red.
"Now I'm worried that Brad and Greg will go after you."
"I've had worse happen to me. If it's just those two, I can handle it."
"I hope so." Sarah said. But deep down, Billy wasn't so sure.
Epilogue
Throughout the rest of September, and up to December, Billy would have occasional run-ins with Brad and Greg. But, not only them. There were two other bullies he also had to deal with, Bulk and Skull. It didn't help matters that Billy's newest acquaintances weren't in the same classes at the same times as him. And they didn't get many chances to meet up at break or at lunch, as Billy would hide out in the library to keep away from Brad and Greg, and Bulk and Skull.
But that all changed when Billy was on his spare block this one day in December. It was close to the beginning of Christmas break, and Billy was in the library on his spare block doing some of his homework. He had his Walkman with him that day and he was listening to the radio. "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran was playing, and Billy, without realizing it, was singing along. No one else was in the library, so there wasn't anyone to hear him. That is, until the Choir/Music Studies teacher, Ms. Otto, came into the library to get something for her class, and as she came close to where Billy was sitting, she could hear him singing along to his music, and went to investigate, as she liked how he sounded.
As Billy was doing his homework, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, making him jump slightly. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." Ms. Otto said, when Billy turned around, taking off his earphones.
"It was not your intent, though it was unexpected." Billy replied.
"I heard you singing along to whatever you were listening to." Ms. Otto told him.
"Oh." Billy felt his face getting hot.
"Don't be embarrassed. Has anyone ever told you that you have a lovely singing voice?"
"Negative. I'm more often by myself in my room whenever I'm singing, and also when I'm practicing on my bass guitar." Billy replied.
"You play bass guitar?" Ms. Otto asked.
"Affirmative."
"For how long?"
"I began playing bass in 1987." Billy said.
"Six years. Hmm, well, unfortunately we already have a bass player in the Jazz Band, but there's still some space in the choir. Have you ever considered singing in a school choir?" Ms. Otto asked.
"I've never really given it much thought. I wasn't sure if my voice would be useful."
"Not useful? As I said before, you have a really nice singing voice. I'd love to have you join the choir. I can assure you, that talent should not be wasted."
"But, all my classes have had their times and spaces pre-determined. Well, with the exception of this one. This is my spare block." Billy said.
"I teach the choir at this time, it would be perfect. Tell you what, if you want to join, and I hope you do, I'll fix it over the Christmas break so that you're in by January when the holidays are finished."
"Well, I'm not sure..." Billy replied, hesitant to give a definite answer.
"Okay, I know you're not sure right now. But, why don't you come down to the classroom, and just, simply observe what happens. We're practicing for the Christmas concert tomorrow evening. You would be like a practice audience for them, and if you like what you see, I'll work your schedule around, like I said, so that you'll be in the class in January.
"Well, okay. Why not?" Billy collected his things and packed up his bag. He left the library with Ms. Otto and walked down to her classroom.
"Class, I've brought someone here who's going to observe our practicing for the Christmas concert tomorrow. His name is," Ms. Otto turned around. "I'm sorry, what is your name? I don't think I asked."
"William Cranston." Billy replied.
"Ah, yes. William is thinking of joining the choir." As Ms. Otto spoke to the class, Billy found a chair so that he could sit down. Looking around the room, he carefully scrutinized each person, making sure there wasn't anyone in the class that he didn't get along with. Then he saw three familiar faces. Kimberly, Sandy and Sarah. When Billy caught her eye, Sarah looked up at him and smiled, and gave him a wink, making his face flush red and his heart race faster. Yeah, I hypothesize that joining this class will be a nominal idea indeed, Billy thought.
The End