Chapter Two: Rocket Man
. June 8th, 2007 AD.
The afternoon bell of Urban International High School rang as the clock struck three, signaling the end of the school day. At this, students began to pour from their classes, eager to escape the rigors of academic work and enjoy the rest of their day to prepare for the upcoming weekend. Chatter filled the halls as students conspired for what activities they planned for tomorrow as well as hint at plans for the upcoming summer break a mere three weeks away.
One of these students was Luis Calabasas. The sophomore, a young man of Hispanic origins with black hair, was just exiting his last class of the day, honors physics, as he fell into the tide of people moving towards the exit. In his head, he reviewed last minute notes from class, notes which would prove useful for the upcoming exams at the end of the year, but like many of his peers he was also thinking about plans for the weekend.
He eventually found himself in the courtyard, the national and provincial flags of Canada and Ontario flapping in the wind as the sun shone down. Students began to disperse here, either heading for the buses or embarking on the walk home from the school while others hung around the courtyard conversing. Luis peered into the crowd, attempting to locate two faces, those of his friends Emily and Ethan. He had planned to involve them in his plans for tomorrow, but now he just had to find them.
"Hey, Luis!" a voice called from the crowd.
Luis looked to see Emily Lonartae, a girl he had known since middle school and had become good friends with, making her way towards him. The petite redhead was accompanied by her twin sister, Miranda, who wore her hair long in contrast to Emily's short pigtails to differentiate the two. Luis noted that Emily was carrying a notebook with a variety of cute animals printed on the cover, an indication to the girl's deep-set love for animals of all kind.
"Hey, Em", Luis called back as the two girls approached. "Miranda."
"Hey, Luis", Miranda said with a wave.
"So, what's up?" Emily asked as Miranda parted ways to join with a group of girls on the other end of the courtyard.
"Oh, nothing much", said Luis, scratching his head. "Well, I do have a little something planned, that is if you don't already have any plans for tomorrow."
"Well, Miranda might have something going on", Emily said after a moment's thought. "But I don't have any plans."
"Ah, good", Luis said. "Because I was hoping that you and Ethan could help me with a little project I was working on."
"Really?" Emily said.
"Yes", continued Luis before stopping. "By the way, speaking of Ethan, have you seen him?"
Emily was about to say something before a familiar voice called out "Heads up!" before a football whizzed between the two, bouncing and tumbling as it hit the ground. The next thing Luis knew he felt the impact of two-hundred pounds of human muscle as Ethan plowed into him, causing them both to crash into a nearby bush.
"Ow", groaned Luis as he felt twigs poke into his sides, as well as what he assumed was Ethan's elbow pressing into his abdomen.
"Oops, sorry dude", said Ethan as he got up and, instead of helping him up as Luis was hoping, ran over to where the football had landed and threw it over towards a group of boys across the courtyard.
Luis sighed. Ethan Bolato, school jock and town meathead, was a stocky young man with broad shoulders and a few inches taller than Luis. Like Emily, Luis had met Ethan in middle school, under surprisingly similar circumstances as he recalled as Emily helped him up from the bush, which now sported a large dent in its former uniform cube shape.
"Catch you guys later!" Ethan called over to the guys he had just thrown the ball to, fellow members of the school's football team. He then felt a small pain in his arm at Emily punched him, her small hands doing nothing more than catch his attention.
"You jerk!" Emily scolded, arms crossed as she stared the larger boy down, or rather up as Ethan was a full head taller than the redhead.
"Hey, not my fault he was in my way", Ethan said, hands up in a mock defensive gesture. However, it was obvious this answer was unacceptable to Emily, who continued to glare up at him. "Fine", Ethan relented as he walked over to Luis. "Are you okay, Luis?"
"Besides a few bruises, yes, I'm fine", Luis said as he brushed a few remaining leaves off his shirt.
"Luis was just wondering where you were", Emily said, somewhat satisfied with Ethan's display.
"Really, what's up?" Ethan asked.
"Right", Luis said, flicking a twig from off his shoulder. "I had just asked Emily to help me with a project I had been working on and was wondering if you would want to help me with it."
"Project, huh", Ethan said, pushing his blond hair back. "You mean that do-hickey you've been working on these last few days?"
"The very same", said Luis. "And I would like you two to assist me in its launch."
"Launch?" Emily and Ethan said in unison.
"Right, I'll show you", said Luis. "Come on."
With that the three friends made their way off school grounds and down the sidewalk towards Luis's house. The three of them were an odd bunch, three completely different personality types somehow coming together. Luis, the intellectual of the group, though Ethan referred to him as nerd, was involved in many extracurricular activities but always found time to pursue his love for videogames and sci-fi flicks. Emily, while somewhat short in stature, made up for her vertical shortcomings with her maternal attributes, especially towards the nonhuman inhabitants of the world, and had gained Luis's respect with her ability to almost keep up with him during gaming sessions. Ethan, the athletic one of the group, while somewhat brutish and emptyheaded, to which Luis accredited multiple blows to the head during football practice, had moments of levelheadedness and a sense of humor which could more than make up for it all. Regardless of what it as that had kept the group together despite their seemingly different walks of life, they were glad of it and enjoyed each other's company.
Finally, the three arrived at the Calabasas household. Luis led Emily and Ethan up the driveway to the small garage on the side of the single-story house beneath a large maple. Inside, amongst the gardening tools and bits of old furniture, was a large table at the very back of the building, upon which sat a tall object covered in a tarp.
"Lady and gentleman", Luis said. "Allow me to introduce you to my pride and joy."
With that Luis removed the tarp revealing a white rocket nearly three feet tall. Red pinstripes marked the top of the rocket, its jet-black nose shone in the sunlight from the small window above, four large fins supporting the rocket.
"Wow", Emily said, moving closer to the rocket.
"Yeah, cool rocket, bro", Ethan commented, looking the thing over.
"Thank you", Luis said, pride in his voice. "But this is no ordinary rocket, my friends. This is an Orbit King 3000, customized to my specifications."
"Uh-huh", Ethan said. "So, why do you need us, again?"
"Well, as I said before, I need both your help to launch it", explained Luis. "It is my hope that I'll be able to launch this baby into low earth orbit where, thanks to my modifications, I will be able to launch my own personal satellite, which I will monitor from here." Luis motioned over to a white desktop computer on the edge of the table.
"Neat", said Emily.
"Alright", said Ethan, clapping his hands together. "Let's set this baby up."
"Not so fast, big guy", Luis said, standing between Ethan and the rocket. "We can't just launch a rocket willy-nilly into the air, we need to wait for the perfect conditions."
"And when will that be?" asked Emily.
"Tomorrow morning at approximately…" Luis looked over to a notebook next to the rocket. "Six-o-nine a.m."
"You can't be serious", said Ethan. "There's no way I'm getting up that early to watch an overgrown firecracker."
"Come on", pleaded Luis. "I can't do it alone, my folks don't know anything about this and Emily won't be enough, and plus you're the only one strong enough to lift it."
"Oh, so you asked me to come along to be your pack mule", said Ethan, crossing his arms.
"Well", said Luis, rubbing his arm nervously. "I wouldn't but it like that, but..."
"Come on, Ethan", Emily said. "It'll be fun. Please."
Ethan looked down into Emily's pleading eyes. Those two green portals, flecked with hazel, pierced through his resolve and made him rethink it, if not to please her. Darn it, why was she so persuasive?
"Fine, Em, I'll do it", said Ethan, producing a smile from Emily. "But", continued Ethan, looking to Luis. "You owe me, rocket boy."
"Will breakfast at the Snack Shack suffice?" asked Luis.
"Deal", said Ethan.
"Alright", said Luis. "The Eagle is a-go for launch." He put an arm around the two as they looked at the rocket. "Guys, believe me, tomorrow will be a day you'll never forget."