Here, Here, and Here

Chapter 2

Prohibition! Whatever That is...

The shrill sounding of the bell aroused the other students from their dreamy-stares into empty space. As everyone began to collect their belongings and leave, our history teacher, Mrs. Celeste cries out, "Stop! You will be dismissed in and organized fashion and only when row is called!"

Mrs. Celeste`s instructions we either not hear or not taken seriously. Whichever of the two, no one was leaving the classroom in any kind of organized fashion. As I collected my drawing supplies and headed towards the huge mob of teenagers forming at the door I hear Mrs. Celeste`s impatient voice calling my name, "Nicole! Don`t leave just yet."

I was pretending I had a sudden lapse of hearing and starting to walk away but I made the mistake of looking back. Mrs. Celeste was holding her finger close to her face and wiggling it back and forth in a "come here right now" gesture. Dragging my feet the whole way, I eventually made it back to my history teacher`s desk.

"Have a seat," Mrs. Celeste motioned to a small plastic and metal chair. I pull it up behind me and visibly slouch, hoping to show her just how thrilled I was to be here.

"Now, Nicole..."

"Tommie," I interrupt, "My friends call me Tommie."

"Nicole," she ignored my correction and continued, "Now, I know you are a smart girl," I scoff. Thats how they always start, I think to myself, "and very well capable of at least a B average in my class, but your grades have been slipping as of late." I comb a hand through my short, dark hair and lean back in the chair.

"Alright then chief, what`s the damage?"

"Well, you are currently holding onto a..." Mrs. Celeste paused to turn and look at her computer and when she did so, her mountain of white hair whipped around and smacks me in the face. I swear, it`s a wig; it just doesn`t feel natural. Swiveling in her desk chair, she gave me a pointed look over the rim of her glasses.

"You are averaging a low D." I cross my arms, fill my cheeks up with air, and then let it out through the side of my mouth. Well, all that drawing practice was worth it, I think, trying to stay positive.

"Now, in my class, I require at least a C for a student to pass." I could already sense where Mrs. Celeste was going with this.

"Alright," I say, leaning forward in my seat, "what can I do to bring my grade up?"

"That`s just what I was getting to," she whirls around in her chair again and begins to sift through the papers scattered on her desk.

"Okay," she says turning to face me again, "You have two options, you can either, prepare a visual presentation for the class to watch, or you can write an essay."

In my mind, the words "visual presentation" translate to "costumes, acting and a shit load of work", if I write an essay, I would only need a bit of research to spread across a couple pages... much less trouble on my part.

"I`ll do an essay." I say confidently. Mrs Celeste nods.

"Now, for your essay, I`ll give you a choice of three topics. You may write about, the Civil War," War between the states, North and South, classic conflict but a rather boring subject, "Prohibition," she continues. No idea what that is, but it sounds familiar and it could be interesting, I think, "or World War two." she finishes. War World II was the last in the latest chapter we had learned. I recalled that Mrs. Celeste really didn`t appreciate my drawings of American soldiers chasing after the Axis Powers men, even if they were decent sketches. I tap my fingers in a slow tempo across my chin thoughtfully.

"Im gonna go with Prohibition!" I decide, trying to sound happy about the opportunity to bring my grade up.

"Okay," Mrs. Celeste sighs. "Your essay must be no less than three pages, typed, and include a bibliography of your works citied. I will give you until the end of this semester to complete it."

Alright, I think to myself. "Sure, I think i can do it by that time."

"Ok well I know you will do your best" she says. I got up and dragged my feet back across to the other side of the room where the huge mob used to be.

I open the to door to familiar sounds of my classmates and the rest of the school. I could hear a gaggle of girls gossiping in the corners between hallways, a few immature boys making strange dinosaur noises, and a couple close friends laughing at untold inside jokes.

I finally make it to my locker to pick up all of my drawing supplies and I think about heading home. Maybe I should start now on this paper. The faster I'm done the better. I usually never plan ahead for anything, I favor waiting until "the eleventh hour" as Mrs. Celeste puts it but I have a feeling this is something I should take seriously. It does decide whether I pass this class or not, and really don`t feel like re-taking 10th grade history next year. So, I decide to make my way through the afternoon crowd and into the hallway leading towards the library.

I push past the enormous double doors that eventually give way to a high ceiling room with towering book shelves. Making my way past clusters of studying students or teachers looking for new material, I notice a familiar face.

"Devin!" I shriek excitedly, (to which I am scolded by the librarian in response) and sprint to my friend. He turns around just in time to see me screech to a halt before him.

"Hello, Tommie," Devin says softly using my much preferred nick name which I had earned in preschool for being such a tomboy. Not much has changed since then; Devin certainly didn`t get any taller, I think laughing on the inside even though I`m not exactly a sky-scraping giant myself.

"Hey, Devin. What brings you to the library this fine day?" I laugh and ruffle his spiked hair.

"Stop!" he whines smacking my hand away from the top of his head, "and I`m here to get some peace an` quiet so I can finish my math, but now that you`re here I don`t think I`ll be gettin` anything done." I smirk and set my sketch book in between two of the library`s computers next to where Devin was sitting.

"Wait," he asks, turing from his math homework to me, "why are you in the library?"

"Ah psht," I wave my hand in a dissimilarly manner and log in to the computer. "Celeste`s got me doin` this report thing so I don`t fail outta history. No big deal"

"You`re failin` history?" Devin shook his head in mock shame.

"Shuddup. It ain`t my fault the class it so boring." I mumble and cross my arms. Maybe sketching the whole time wasn`t such a good idea...

"Still, it sucks ya have to do a paper. What`s it gotta be on anyway?"

"Uh, Prohinition or somthin` like that." I answer him, trying to remember what just exactly I`m supposed to be researching. I see that the computer has loaded up all the way and open up the internet.

"You mean Prohibition?" Devin corrects me, "do you even know what that is?"

"Of course I do! Its when some people did stuff in history with... ya know and that time where..." I sputter out random ideas realizing I had no clue what this "Prohibition" thing really was.

"Ha ha, no." Devin chuckles and then was suddenly serious, "It`s was when the U.S. Government prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol." he states, sounding a bit too much like our history text books. I give him a blank stare and he continues,

"Also, people like Al-"

"Ah, get on with your work, I`ll find the rest on the internet." I spin back towards the glowing light of the computer and click on the google icon.

"Also, I hear that museum a few blocks away from here just got a small American history exhibit. You could check that out." Devin suggests.

I shrug and begin to type the word, "Prohibition" into the search bar.

"I`ll think about it." I say hearing Devin sigh and return to his work. The Natural History Museum, I say to myself, mulling over the name. I had passed it a few times on the way to and from school but never been inside. Well, I suppose it couldn`t hurt to take a look tomorrow after school, I decide and continue my search for Prohibition- whatever that is...

Author`s Note: Ok so chapter 2! thanks to everyone that reviewed and read this story, it means a lot to us! we currently have 3 chapters of this written so there might be a bit of a wait for chapter 4, but we will get it out eventually. It takes a little while because we don`t want to get any historical errors because even though TheGirlinTheBigBox (the editor and Boxie for all of you from the forums :D) checks for them we might still miss some. And if we do happen to over look any, please feel free to tell us about them; we really don`t want to put out any incorrect info XP that would be bad. So ya, we don`t own anything you recognize. Oh and the next chapter will be were the natm stuff really starts to come in. We will be asking for a few review before we post the next chapter. It doesnt have to be a lot, just 3 or 4 would be nice. thanks!

-the u.m.