Chapter 1

Tired Minds

The next morning, my mom walked into my room and ripped the covers off my bed. Then she 'persuaded' me to get up and get ready for school. After she left to go start the car, I warily glanced at my alarm clock. On Monday, the day before, my older brother had given me shit for setting my alarm on a Sunday and not on a Monday. I was pretty sure that I had set it, but either way I made absolutely sure that I set it that following night. It didn't matter though, because I still didn't hear it. Add in another sleepless night and you get a mind on overload. All I wanted was to go back to sleep, but my mom had made up her mind. I was going to school.

My mom gave me some money so I could get something to eat. I spent most of it buying a breakfast burrito in the cafeteria, which I ate on the way to class.

Now, before I continue the story, I'd like to explain my school's interesting schedule system. You see, the order of classes rotates on a daily basis. On Mondays, the class order is 1,2,3,4. On Tuesdays, it's 2,1,4,3. On Wednesdays, it's 3,4,1,2, and so on and so forth. Friday is mystery day. It changes every week, so one week it'll be Monday's schedule, and the next it'll be Tuesday's schedule. Today was a Tuesday, which meant that I had my easier classes first. It also meant I could get some shut eye if needed.

The first half of the school day went rather quickly, and no, I didn't fall asleep; even though I probably should have. I went to the computer lab when the bell rang for lunch. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't bother with my lunch bag. About half way through lunch, I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to drink. At this point, the cafeteria was pretty empty and quiet, which meant there wasn't much of a line at the cash register. I walked up to the beverage fridge and slid it open. It contained the usual suspects, milk, juice, bottled water, and an assortment of soda. Then I saw it, placed on the shelf above the milk. I reached in and grabbed it. It was a can of Iced Tea, my favorite. In the year and a half that I've attended this school, and all the times I have looked in that fridge, I've never noticed the line of Iced Tea cans. As far as I was concerned, they didn't start selling it until recently.

"Whatever," I said with a sigh. I turned and walked toward the cash register, letting the fridge door slide closed behind me. I went down the isle that lead to the cashier, and found myself behind a black haired Asian girl who was buying a burger and fruit juice. The back of her black hoody had some kind of spiral design on it. Setting my drink on the counter, I waited for my turn.

"That'll be four twenty-five." I heard the cashier say. The girl set the food on the counter and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the cashier. The cashier was a woman that looked to be in her fifties. She had brown hair that was tied back into a pony tail. She rung up the purchase and opened the money tray, placing the bill in one of the slots. She was about to hand the girl her change when she realized that the girl had grabbed her food and started walking away.

"You forgot your change!" she called, but the girl kept walking. It was odd for someone to just walk away without their change, but hey, there's a first for everything. I was reaching into my jean pocket to retrieve what was left-over from my previous purchase, when the cashier stretched her arm in my direction. In her hand were three quarters.

"Will you be a dear and give her her change?"

"Huh?" The request caught me a little off guard, but I figured I was too much of a nice guy to say no. "Uh, sure."

I took the change and jogged after the girl. She was walking through the main lobby when I caught up to her.

"Excuse me." No reply. "Hello?" No reply, again. "Earth to girl?" Still no reply. She just kept walking, giving me the cold shoulder. "Would you just stop?" I placed my hand on her shoulder, thinking it would get her attention, and boy, did it get her attention. As soon as my hand made contact, she spun around and swung her fist at me. I managed to dodge her, but I tripped and landed flat on my ass. "Ow!" I looked up, expecting her to throw another punch, but she just stood there breathing heavily. She was in a fighting stance and her right fist was suspended in the air where it almost came in contact with my face. The silence that followed was incredibly awkward. I was sitting on the floor, she was standing there like a statue, we were staring at each other (at least I think she was staring back), and the stares from the passing students were beginning to hurt. So I stood up, adjusted my glasses and broke the ice. "So, you treat everyone like that or do you have something against good samaritans?"

"Good samaritan?" she said quietly. She went back to a normal stance and seemed to relax a little.

"Yeah, I'm just a good samaritan."

"..." She looked at me like I had just stepped through a wall.

"Anyway, here's your change," I reached my hand out, "you left it at the cash register." She sheepishly reached her hand out and grabbed the coins.

"Thanks..." And now her cheeks seemed red, as if she were blushing.

What is with this girl?

I was about to turn and leave when I noticed something.

"Hey." She jolted. "What happened to your food?"

"It's in my pocket." She didn't make eye contact as she pull a burger from her hoody pocket.

"Oh, okay." I turned to leave. "See you around."

Did that really just happen? That's the one question that went through my head while I walked back to the cafeteria. Something had just happened in my incredibly boring life, and my mind was reeling. The last time someone threw a punch at me was in elementary school when I tried to stand up to some bullies; and the way she acted, on edge and shy, it was almost like she wasn't expecting an average everyday person to walk up and say hi.

When I got back to the cash register, I found that the kind older woman had been replaced by a red haired chubby woman in her thirties. I also saw that my Iced Tea was still on the counter.

"You gonna pay for it?" Her voice sounded impatient.

"Pay for the drink?"

"Well, duh!"

"Yeah, one sec." I dug my hand back into my jean pocket and fished out the money I needed. I was about to it over when I noticed. On the can of Iced Tea and under the main lettering was the word "DIET" in big, green, hand-written letters.

"Diet Iced Tea?" I picked up the can to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Yeah, we only sell sugar free soft drinks, something about how diabetics should be able to drink them."

"Okay, but Diet Iced Tea?"

"Hey, I don't make the rules." I can understand the idea behind it, but diet Iced Tea is a bit much, not to mention that diet sodas are much worse than the original product. Anyway, the whole 'diet' thing was a deal breaker. I put my money back in my pocket and walked back to the fridge, placing the can back in the fridge. I then walked out of the cafeteria and down the hallway toward the Milk-to-Go vending machine.

"Great, it's completely sold out."

Half-way through my Italian class, I realized that I couldn't stand the idea of another class standing between me and the end of the school day. So when the bell went at the end of third period, I pulled my umbrella out of my bag and made my way downstairs instead of going to Math.

It had been raining all day, grass was muddy, roads were slick and parked cars were coved in tiny pellets of water. Cars sprayed up mist as they drove passed. I was walking down the country road that passed by my school on the way into town. The sound of the rain and passing cars were somewhat relaxing.

I walked through my front door about half an hour later. I hung my soaked umbrella on the coat rack next to the door and dumped my bag on the storage bench next to the stairs. I was in the process of untying my shoes, when I heard the door bell ring.

I opened the door to find an ox of a man standing there, his uniform soaking wet.

"Is your name Aidan Daniels?" The man asked.

"Yeah."

"Sign here." He handed me an electronic clip board. Writing my signature on the small digital display was like trying to draw with a computer mouse. It looked really messy. Once I was done, I handed back the clipboard and in turn was handed a yellow envelope that was slightly larger than a DVD case.

"Have a nice day." The man muttered as he proceeded back to his truck.

Closing the door, I ripped open the envelope. Inside was the copy of 'Raw Danger' for PS2 that I had ordered off of Amazon. The case was a little roughed up and the cover insert showed water damage on the edges, but the disk inside was in pristine condition. I raced into the Rec room and popped the disk into my bulky PS2. I then spent the rest of the day playing the first story campaign instead of doing my homework.