Day one, that could only mean he had Family Studies first. He closed his locker and looked at his watch, 8:26, he might as well head towards class, the big locker rush would be starting soon.
Lately Bradin had been avoiding large crowds. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being around a lot of people, he just preferred to be alone for a while. News of his break-up with Callie flew around the school over night. Girls were moths to a light around him hoping that he'd pick one of them, he wasn't, he just wanted to be alone.
He trudged down the hall avoiding as many people as possible. "Hey Bradin," a group of giddy girls called out to him. He looked their way, nodded, smiled and continued on his way. The girls started talking excitedly about Bradin acknowledging them and how perfect his smile was.
Bradin continued his way to class. Turning the corner he saw her, Callie. He stopped suddenly and his slight smile slowly vanished, he just watched her, hoping she'd sense his presence. Callie continued to talk excitedly to her friends. He watched her as she adjusted the shoulder strap of her backpack so it wouldn't fall off. He watched her until one of the friends turned her around to face Bradin. Their eyes met for a second, then she turned and led her friends to an other hall. He hoped he could still talk to her as a friend, but obviously she didn't. Bradin lowered his head and walked into his class. He was the first person there, same as any other day for the past week. Bradin checked his watch, half an hour before class started, time to go over homework.
Being the last month before school ended Bradin could feel the pressure his teachers were putting on the students. They would be handing out projects soon, as a final culminating task. Exams were coming up, but it was too early for moratorium. Teachers still were trying to cram in as much new knowledge as possible. If you couldn't keep up, you were screwed.
As he worked people started to file into the class. The bell would be ringing soon, he wanted to finish as much work done as possible. He cursed himself for not doing it the night before instead of staying on the beach, he was already behind. Maybe skipping Phys. Ed. would be a good solution. Jay would understand, but Aunt Ava might not.
The bell sounded and the teacher started the class. Ms. Johanson was her name and Bradin disliked her with a passion. She had this annoying high-pitched witch-like voice that reminded Bradin of the character Bette Midler played in Hocus Pocus. Her hair was an untamed red frizz and she wore clothes that clashed drastically with her hair and each other. Susanna would cringe, thought Bradin as Ms. Johanson walked in sporting one of her bazaar outfits. Not only was it mix-matched, it was also about twenty years out dated. Bradin was used to her weird habits, but he couldn't stand her long, boring, pointless lectures on a perfect kitchen or home.
Like most of his school mates, Bradin hated when teachers spoke the words 'assigned-group projects'. Always afraid he'd be paired with the over weight person who didn't know anything about hygiene, or the nerd in the back that picked his nose. This time though he had a sense of excitement. He didn't abandon his initial fears, but he knew the sooner he got this project completed, the sooner he'd be rid of this class, besides how hard could it be to write about family?
"This culminating task will be an assigned group project meaning I will be assigning two people to a group and there will be no trading partners or asking me to switch partners," Ms. Johanson explained to a groaning class. "now as soon as you find out who your partner is I want you to get together and brainstorm the topic you will pull out of this jar." She held up a fish bowl, full of folded pieces of paper, for the class to see. "When I call your name, come up and draw a topic, then I shall tell you your partner, Meghan Averino." A shy girl rose from her seat and walked to the front, took a topic, and was paired with her friend.
One bye one names were called and people were paired together. The noise level grew with each new group. Bradin could barely hear his name when it was called. He rose from his seat and picked a topic. The remaining girls listened intensively to the teacher in hopes their name would be called. Bradin scanned the room to see who was left, mostly giddy girls or people who would leave all the work to Bradin. He could barely hear Ms. Johanson speaking beside him. "Who?" asked Bradin. "Gabi, dear," replied Ms. Johanson.
"Who's Gabi?" asked Bradin confused, he thought he knew everyone in the class.
"She's sitting over by the window." Bradin looked over to the windows. They were open to let in the cool summer breeze. Looking out you could see the ocean. Waves crashed onto the beach just waiting to be ridden. He could feel the ocean calling to him. Bradin jerked his head away from the window before the waves could completely hypnotize him. He walked up to a girl who was staring out the windows. "Are you Gabi?" he asked her. She didn't respond to him and continued to stare. "Gabi?" he tried again a little louder. She jumped and turned to faces him.
"Yes?" she asked, he had startled her. "Sorry, did you want something?"
"Ummmm, we're partners for this project."
"Really? What's the topic?"
"Uhh, I'm not quite sure, haven't looked yet." Bradin handed her the folded piece of paper. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. "This is going to be tough," mumbled Gabi as she read the paper. "The topic is what does a home mean to us?"
"So how do you want to set this up?"
"Maybe we could say what we think a home should be and get other students opinion on what a home is."
"Yeah that sounds good. We could talk about our families and what they are like." Gabi stayed silent and just nodded. Time passed in awkward silence.
"To you what is a home?" she asked suddenly. "To me what is a home?" he questioned not knowing if he heard her properly. Gabi nodded. "Umm, well a home is-" Bradin didn't get a chance to finish, Ms. Johanson started talking over him. "I am handing out the outline to the project. You shall read it and I shall explain it." She walked around handing out little booklets of paper. "As you can see on the front page is how this project will be marked. You will be given marks for creativity, content, and being realistic. I don't want any part of this project to be made up. If I find out of fictional stories you shall receive a mark of zero. So don't jeopardize your mark or your partners mark. The content must be written out with subtitles separating different topic. There is no limit to topics, but you must have a minimum of three. Be as creative as you want, but make sure you can complete before the due date. The project will be due the first day of moratorium. This will give you three weeks to finish the project. I will not be accepting late assignments due to the amount of time I am giving you," Ms. Johanson looked at the clock. "If you have and questions come talk to me if not, class dismissed."
The class scrambled to get out the door. Bradin waited for Gabi to finish putting her books in her school bag, and walked out of the class room with her. "So what are you doing after school?" asked Gabi.
"I have surf practice, but I don't think I'm doing anything after that, why?"
"Just the project that's all. I don't know about you, but I think this project is going to be hard."
"Why is that?"
"Well ummm, the uhh idea of a home is umm different , for everyone, and uhh," she stuttered.
"Ok? So do you want to get together after practice?" he asked.
"Depends, how late will practice go?"
"Usually 4:30-5ish. Do you want to meet at the pier? If you can come that is."
"I'll try, I might be late though, but if I'm not there by six, I'm not coming. I'll apologize now if I don't show up. It's just that things are a little complicated right now and I don't know if I can get away," she explained.
"No problem, if you can get away you can, if you can't you can't, it's not a big deal, I'd just see you tomorrow. So what do you have now?"
"English with Mr. Brown," she replied. "You?"
"History- Ms. Mattina," he said in disgust. Gabi made a face as if she just smelt something really bad. Bradin laughed at her.
"I feel for you, history is the worst, but Mattina, she's nice." Gabi smiled at Bradin. "So I'll see you later, maybe." Bradin smiled.
"Yeah, maybe." She turned and walked off towards her next class. As she walked way Bradin couldn't help but think the same thought. She reminds me of someone, but who? But who? This question circled in his mind along with many others.