This chapter is a little longer than the first, but none the less, still interesting. In this chapter, Seth begin's his college studies at Fillmore! Again, helpful criticism is always welcome! Hope you enjoy!
Ch 2 - Fillmore, where new 'Trainers' emerge..
As I got closer to my destination, I quickly realized my lack of energy. I never seem to notice how I'm feeling when i'm working or things like that, but it'll always hit me later on. I decided, since I hadn't filled my tank in three days, and that I would eventually need to fill it after school, I figured i'd just go in and buy an energy drink, since I clearly forgot to make myself coffee. After filling up and chugging down the last of the drink, I was then on my way.
When I arrived at the parking garage where I park my bike, I took a few stretches, followed by a quick conversation with one of my classmates on some of the finals material, because, like me, he tends to procrastinate on his studies on the occasion. After we parted ways, I made my way over to the garage exit. The school parking lot was always VERY expensive to park in, so I just opt for a parking space like the one I'm in. It's just one less thing I have to dish out cash for. I made my way around the block corner and down the street to the school parking lot. 'Fillmore, an institution of intelligence!', read the plaque on the front of the building, just above the second floor windows. I never really got that stupid plaque. First of all, Fillmore isn't exactly a 'Grade A' kind of school. It's awesome and all, but they act like their school is IVY league or something. Anyways, it was about 7:30 in the morning, and lots of people were already here, even though classes don't begin until 8:00. I opened the door of the main entrance, and as always, a wonderfully clean, almost candle-like smell filled my nose. One thing this place does very well is sanitary. You can almost bet on that one. After I walked down the main hall, I was slapped on the shoulder as I was making my way to the lobby, and then a familiar voice spoke up. "Hey, lookin' good Seth. You look like you had a nice weekend." "Oh, shutup Colby, you always say the same old crap." I sort of just laughed in a retarded kinda way. "Anyway, what's good, you studied for your finals bud?" He stated with a grin. Damnit, that grin. He always got me with that thing. "Well, to put it this way.." I tried to come up with an excuse for why I hadn't finished, but those somehow never materialized. "I studied as much as I could. I was kinda busy this weekend." That was the dumbest answer I could probably give, and unfortunately, didn't work. "Hey, come on now Seth. You and I both know you got bored after studying for about a few hours and decided, 'Hey, Call of Duty sounds great right now!'. But it's alright, I didn't get much done either haha." He said, sort of lightning up the mood. "Well, you want to catch up a bit for the next 30 or so minutes? We can get a little more done?" I tried to get back on the work topic, but as always, we both didn't care too much, so we passed it aside. "Nah. I think i'll just finish the rest later today. Only got some basics left, maybe like 2 more hours of studying left, and I should ace this thing." He always tries to sound confident, but you can always tell the opposite is true for the most part. "Hey Colby, wanna grab a quick hot chocolate? Im buying." "Sure, that sounds great!" We headed down the rest of the hall into the main lobby, where there was a starbucks on the right-hand side of the cafeteria. We ordered our drinks, then sat down at a nearby table. Colby and me usually like to talk and discuss random things, such as 'What pokemon I want to get', or 'What things we're doing over the weekends', or things like that. Colby is probably one of the coolest people i've ever met, and the best friend I'll ever have. We share some of the same huge interests, such as certain games, motorcycles, and things like that. We just get along very well, and we tell each other everything, whether something's wrong in life, or if I need help with something, Colby's always there. We sat for about 20 minutes, talking about random stuff, with Colby mentioning the upcoming 'Blizzard' later in the week, and how we need a lot of food, water, and supplies in case of power outages. I told him it was probably not AS bad as they say, but that you can never be 'too sure', I guess. "Welp, Seth, looks like first class begins in a few minutes. See you in math later, i guess!" "See ya!" I told his, as we made for our first periods.
As I made my way to my first period, History, I noticed a pokemon hiding behind the door, sort of peeking out. I knew that one from a mile away. As I approached, he jumped up at me, landing right in my arms. "How ya' doin' Dash?" I said. "Pooch!" he barked lightly at me. Dash was my professor's' pet, a poochyena, who always plays with us during classes, or at least, tries to, but the teacher always locks him in his little cage, as to not disturb us during lessons. He's such a cool pokemon to have, and i'm sure my professor loves him just like the rest of us
. I guess Mr. Sash left the room for a bit, as there was only about half the class, and no professor. Mr. Sash is an awesome history professor. He knows almost everything he teaches without the book, and that's something that takes literally a lifetime to study, considering our books range from ancient times, to about modern times. He really is a master at history. When the first period bell rang, there was still not a sign of Mr. Sash anywhere. He can be late sometimes, so we didn't worry that much. " I'm very sorry class! I'm afraid I had a conference this morning that went a little off-schedule. Please take a seat so I can begin to take roll!" He said with a mix of nervousness, and what seemed like happiness at the same time. He always tries to come up with some excuse whenever he's late, but most of the time, he screws it up. As he took role, we pulled out our textbooks, along with our laptops or tablets, and some writing utensils, preparing for another day of note taking before semester finals tomorrow. "Ok class, what I thought we would do today, since finals are tomorrow, is to quickly go over everything we've covered so far this semester, up to about the 1890's, so if you would, turn in your textbooks to page 18, and just skim through what we've covered so far up till about page 563." These kinda days I actually enjoyed quite a bit. All we have to do is 'skim' through anything we need to remember for the test. should be easy enough. I hope. As the next 40 minutes went on, the class was busy skimming through their' books, writing down any info they thought they should study beforehand, as well as I myself, although I already knew most of this stuff anyway. There was only about 10 minutes left in class, when the professor gave us a break for the rest of the class time. Mr. Sash is always a nice, laid back individual, even while sounding and acting professional. He just has that way of helping you through certain things, diving into discussions with you, rather than just skimming the surface. In fact, all of the professors at Fillmore were some of the nicest and smartest people around. If you needed help with anything, they were the ones to ask.
As first period ended, the day had gotten a little shorter, and the rush of students to their classrooms was even more hectic than a regular day, with very little 'hall conversations' as usual. I went down the corridor, almost in a hurry like everyone else in the building, except I wasn't really in a hurry, just very bored, wanting to get setup early in my next class. As I made my way to English, I bumped into this girl from my first period, Sara Hibbs, who looked at me as if she needed some help with something, but didn't say anything. She apologized, sort of embarrassed, as we both went our different ways. I feel like she always bumps into people, as if she's trying to tell them something, but can never seem to get it out. It's strange, if you ask me. What can she possibly be trying to get out? 'I'm lonely, and I need a date'?
With second period starting in 10 minutes, I arrived early, setting my book, laptop, and utensils onto my desk, same as before. Most of my notes are taken on my laptop, but I keep a notepad handy just incase. I like to keep a external HDD in my bag, keeping all my notes safe, incase of something happening to my laptop. I'm usually not the kind of person to be over prepared, but hey, you never know what can happen. As the bell rung, my professor, Mr. Hickory, started roll. After what seemed like an hour of calling names, he finally said something otherwise. "Ok class. As you know, finals are tomorrow, so I assume you're all well prepared for the test?" He said with a smirk on his face, sort of grinning. The entire class, including me, had that look of 'We have most of it done, I think..' on our faces. I hate it when a teacher asks those unnerving questions that you just get sucked up into. He's basically telling us, 'Ok class, let's study all period, because I don't think you all even studied but half of the test materials.' As annoying as that was, it was, for the most part, true. As expected, he saw that on our faces, and told us to study the entire period, to make sure we wouldn't screw up the test. Some students tried to get out of it by asking for a mini quiz, but he was prepared for that one. He asked them what some of the hardest vocab words were, as well as some quotes, and who they where from. Some of them got away with it, but the majority proved they in fact did need more study time. As for myself, I was pretty much prepared for the test, as I took about an hours worth of notes at home, writing down any vocab or things of the sort I might need to remember. As class went on, right as I was finishing a few more notes, there was an announcement on the loudspeaker: "Attention all Fillmore students! We will be having our annual 1v1 pokemon tournament at the battlefield arena in the battle training area in 2 months. Everyone is encouraged to participate, as there will be quite the prize for the 1st place winner. 3rd place will receive a pokemon medical kit, equipped with lots of health care equipment, 2nd place will receive a ticket to the pokemon showcase finals in Denver, with exclusive VIP seats and food, and the 1st place winner will receive a mystery prize. Stay tuned to the Fillmore news for more information! That is all for now." Everyone stopped their studies for a good 5 minutes, thinking about the event. What could this event's first place be? That was on all of our minds, but for me, I was just wondering about the event. I've never owned a pokemon before, let alone have a pokemon battle to begin with. I thought to myself for a moment, if maybe I should get a pokemon. I mean, it couldn't be that bad, honestly, What's the worst that can happen? It dosen't like me? I thought to myself for a moment what having a pokemon would be like, having battles, doing things together, enjoying life together, going on trips. All this sounded amazing to my ears, but I should probably ask someone with experience on the subject. Particularly Cody. having a talk with Cody, who has his very own pokemon, a Luxray, would provide for me some first hand experience on what it's like to have a pokemon partner.
After 2nd period, I walked down to Cody's second period class, hoping to find him there, but he wasn't. He usually stayed to packed up for a few minutes before leaving, but I guess he was in a hurry, because I didn't see him anywhere near his 2nd period. "Well, I guess i'll just ask him during lunch break then. Where the hell did he go so fast?" I said to myself. Period 3, Science, went almost the same as the last two. Studying for about the whole period, then taking a break towards the end. After what seemed like lunch would never arrive, it was lunch break. Cody and Me always ate at the Subways, right across from the starbucks for lunch. I was sort of on a little diet, so a nice little sandwich from subway does the trick. I was waiting in line, with about 20 people in from of me, when Cody came up next to me. "How were your first 3 periods? Anything but studies?" He stated. "Not really, just boring studying all damn period. I'm sick of these finals." He could tell by the sound of my voice, today was a boring day. My voice is quite easy to take expressions from. "Well, we're pretty much done dude. Only two more classes: Pokemon and Math. Anyways, you hear about that pokemon 1v1 tournament their' doing in a few months?" "Funny you should mention that, I was just going to ask you something.." He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Would you like to come over later? I want to discuss something with you." He looked at me, knowing what it was about before words made it to his lips. "You want me to help you with your first pokemon, don't ya?" "Well, yeah. If-If it's not a problem.." I kinda felt strange, like what I was saying shouldn't be said for a reason. "Dude, i've been waiting for this day forever! I'd love to help ya out man! Besides, i'll bring over Tackl if you want. That way, I can show you a thing or two about owning a pokemon, so that you're prepared." He took the words out of my mouth. It was like he was waiting to say that for a long ass time. All I could do was give a blank stare, dreaming of what my first pokemon would be. After what seemed like a while, Cody asked me something that snapped me out of my state. "Dude, you alright?" I instantly looked at him. "Yeah, just thinking about something, but yeah, if it's ok with you, you can come over at 4, and bring Tackl too. I'd love to see him again!" "Alrighty! I'll be there." As we finished lunch, we threw our trash away, and headed down the hall together, as we had the same 5th period pokemon class. As we walked, Cody kept mentioning how excited he was that I was thinking of getting a pokemon, and which one I was planning to get. I kept saying though that I wasn't sure about it yet, but to be honest, he didn't care. I was just happy that, for one, I too, like my friend, might get a partner of my own, and would also have the chance of trying out a competition. Although, let's face it. What pokemon was I going to get? What stuff would I need to take care of one? Will it like me? So many questions that need an answer, and there's no way I can possibly be ready to battle, let alone win even 3rd place in just 2 months, can I? Only time will tell.