The New Beginning and Us

The first ring. How many thoughts and feelings this shrill sound evoked in him. The echo of the first ring on the first day of school in the new year was something that brought back so many beautiful and important memories for him. This ringing had now announced the new year for him ten times, six of them in Texas and four here in New York. The ringing seemed to be exactly the same in every state, but this year was something special. It wasn't just the first ring of the new year, no, it was the first ring of their last year at John Quincy Adams High School. Their senior year! Exactly twelve months separated them from college and the big wide world outside. A thought that filled the students in their last year with excitement and euphoria as well as great humility and some worry. Lucas was no exception. He tried to drive away his thoughts about the uncertainties of the future with things that were absolutely certain. The most important certainty of all by far: his friends! They had promised each other this at the beginning of high school four years ago, when the incredible size and sheer complexity of this higher education institution had overwhelmed them all. He and Zay had even been literally almost killed by the football team on their first attempt to make the team. Back then, this new world had almost torn their little clique apart, if three seniors hadn't been kind enough to teach them all a valuable lesson: In a big world, it's the little things that you can't lose sight of. These three giants, who even to him seemed really huge at the time, and who to Lucas at first seemed more like typical ruffians, had shown them how important it was to stand together as friends in order not to get lost in the faceless mass, and that's exactly what they had done. The six had promised each other back then that no matter what happened, they wouldn't let it destroy their friendship. They have now kept this promise, and have done so for three years. Even complicated crises like finding love and almost moving to London hadn't been able to change that, even if it had been a close call a few times. These were also memories that flashed through his mind when he heard the ringing. Memories that made him shake his head and grin. When you were young, almost everything seemed like the end of the world, but the older you got, the more time passed, the more you realized that it was your own thoughts that made life so difficult. He pulled out his cell phone and read through his friends' last messages again.

Today, 7:20 a.m.

Sent by Farklestein: Hey Lucas, Smackle and I are five minutes late for class.During our last experiment...a few...complications arose.Since then, Smackle has needed a little longer to stick on her fake eyebrows until her old ones have grown back.And somehow the left one keeps slipping.

Today, 7:23 a.m.

Sent by Farklestein: Forget the last message.Stupid audio correction.I meant our driver was late.

Today, 7:25 a.m.

Sent by Izzy: Dear friend Lucas.Please don't be surprised if I look at you with a questioning look over my head for the next few weeks.Rest assured, it has nothing to do with you, although I continue to find many of your decisions, like those of most others, puzzling and ill-considered.Nevertheless, I look forward to being able to interact with you and the others in person again. And then his response.

Today, 7:30 AM

Sent to Izzy: Of course.I'm excited too, Smackle.I've missed you all so much.

Today, 7:32 AM

Sent by Izzy: STOP FLIRTING WITH ME!

Today, 7:32 AM

Sent by Izzy: Just kidding.Please never stop flirting with me.

Lucas smiled and replied to both messages with a thumbs-up emoji. Farkle and his girlfriend Smackle had both spent the summer taking additional courses at the Science Learning Center of the Office of Educational Program at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Both had their sights set on studying particle physics there one day. In the hope of either opening a functioning time machine or at least a portal to another dimension, as Farkle had told him. Even if it was with far more technical terms than he could ever accurately repeat. He swiped further down in his data storage and tapped on the last message from Zay.

Yesterday, 7:23 p.m.

Sent by Z-Man: Hey Lucas, I'm looking forward to seeing you again bro.The summer here in the south was great.I saw Tombstone again and he says If you ever feel like a second round, he'd be there in a heartbeat.

As an attached file, he had sent him a picture of this four-hooved machine of destruction. The huge bull was staring directly into Zay's camera. Even two thousand miles away, those dark eyes burned a hole in his soul. Even three years later, every bone in his body still ached at the memory of his ride on the most feared animal in the Lone Star State. A risk that he had taken with great fear but also mastered with flying colors. Back when everything had become a little more... complicated. Zay had returned to his grandparents in Texas for the holidays and to his girlfriend Vanessa, with whom he had been in a long-distance relationship since last year. Riley's last message had reached him yesterday morning, in which she wrote to him that she and her family would not be returning to New York until very late and would not see each other again until school. She had flown to Europe with her family all summer and now seemed to have developed a habit of pretending to be French, judging by her collages of pictures of croissants, the Eiffel Tower and overpriced French snacks.

Yesterday, 11:45 AM

Sent by PleascallmeGenevieve: Tourists may call it the City of Love but only people from here know that it is actually the City of Lights.

Backed up with a picture of her under a gazebo that seemed to consist only of burning lights. She wore a red wool beret on her straight dark hair. This would emphasize how much she had come into contact with the hidden cultured side of her for the first time in France. He had received a message, a short text, a picture or a voice message from all of his friends in the last twenty-four hours. All but one. He almost worried about it until a final message reached him a few minutes ago.

Today, 8:34 a.m.

Sent by Unknown: Hey Huckleberry, it's Maya. Don't be surprised about the new number, I lost my old cell phone yesterday at our last stop in Pottstown. They have the world's biggest yogurt cup here, even if the sprinkles parade was a little disappointing. I think I know exactly which trucker I confused my cell phone with. The thing is probably halfway to Minnesota by now. Just in case I suddenly start sending you pictures of cows.

Maya had hitchhiked halfway across the country with her parents. Hunter, no longer Hart, that was her new name after her mother's second husband, Shawn Hunter, who also happened to be Riley's father's best friend, officially adopted her as his daughter. She was still a tomboy, even though her reputation as a problem child was waning more and more with each passing year. Her grades improved, not only did she now live in an apartment where you no longer had to choose between light and hot water thanks to her stepfather, but she also had parents who could afford not to work every waking minute and who could help her with her studies. Her parents also had the luxury of being able to spend time with her, which prevented her from wandering around unsupervised like a cat, as she had for most of her childhood. She was now a fairly gifted student. Lucas had always known that she was extremely smart and talented, but now she could prove it, and that not only increased her self-esteem but also her ambition. Now she didn't just want to get through school, she wanted to stand out. Academically as well as athletically, for example by joining the girls' basketball team. She was small but also surprisingly agile with quick reflexes.

Today, 8:37 a.m.

Sent by Unknown: Hey, now that I have your attention. What does a stupid cowboy shout when you ask him a trick question?

Before he could answer, he felt a light tap on his right shoulder, which made him turn around. Two bright blue eyes and a wide grin shot out at him, whose lips formed the word "Ha-Hurr!" so close to his face that his eyelashes bobbed up and down with every octave. The high heels that she loved to wear could only partially hide the fact that she was shorter than the average teenager, but when she also stood on her tiptoes, stuck out her chest and smiled at him with confidence, it wasn't so noticeable.

"That's what I was about to say." He replied with a smile that was almost as wide.

"Ah, I missed that."

"I could hear that." Lucas said, shaking his head slightly so that the ringing in his ears subsided.

"How have you been, Ranger Rick? Have you grown a little since last year?"

"No, but you have. Your forehead almost reaches my chin now. Oh, no, wait, it's just the shoes."

"Yes, do you like them? I got them in an outlet store in Oklahoma and immediately thought of you." Maya said, emphasizing that she lifted her right foot. They were probably not real leather, but with the fringes and the black and white spotted leather, he understood what she was getting at.

"Nice. How was your vacation otherwise?"

"Oh, great, we went to the ten best sights in every state. Niagara Falls, the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge…"

"The Grand Canyon?"

"We almost didn't find it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Shawn has a terrible sense of direction. We probably drove past it three times. But it was still cool. And I'm glad to be back here. I've also improved my throwing technique. I hope I can convince Coach Bloom that I'd be even better as a small forward than as a shooting guard."

"Really?"

"Yes, I want to move more into attack." Maya admitted. "Being the all-rounder on the team isn't easy. I know what I'm talking about." He said lightly and grinned deeply to himself. After Thor graduated, Lucas took over as quarterback for their school team. He wasn't the biggest or strongest player like he used to be in middle school, but he was the most accurate thrower.

"Oh really? If I remember correctly, your last throw in the game against the Wild Cats cost me twelve yards." Maya replied.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault, my wide receiver had just gone through a breakup and played accordingly. Leo is probably the first player who had to be substituted specifically because of heartbreak. But we were still able to pull something off afterwards." Lucas defended himself.

"Oh yes, I saw that, especially your right knee when the tackle broke." Maya remembered with an even wider grin. "I can still hear it cracking when it rains today."

"I think you could use a little fresh blood in the team."

"Interested? Small forward is basically similar to running back." Lucas said.

"PEACH!" The nickname acted like the starting whistle of a referee, unleashing the concentrated power of the athlete, who was just waiting to push his opponent aside in order to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, he was standing right between the girls at that moment, which made him the opponent, and caused Maya to push him aside with more cruel force than one would ever expect from someone of her stature, without regard for his health, and to practically ram the elbow biogen into the lockers to his left.

"PUMPKIN!" Maya screamed and ran into her best friend's arms. Lucas had to brace himself against the wall to replace the air that had been forced out of his lungs. He wasn't sure, but he thought that with a little more use of her elbow she could have easily broken one or two of his ribs.

"I'm sure you'd be a good fullback too." He said and meant it.

"Oh, I've missed you so much." What probably started as a loving hug could just as easily have been a wrestling match between two anacondas trying to squeeze the air out of each other's bodies. Even with a crowbar you couldn't have separated the two and if they had held a piece of coal between them it would now be a diamond.

"Oh, and I love you even more. What did you bring me from Paris?" Maya asked after they separated again.

"A really stylish pair of Girotti shoes. What did you bring me from San Francisco?" Riley replied.

"A top by Claudie Pierlot that I had to fight half a dozen times for, but it was worth it."

"And what did you two bring me?" Lucas turned to the two of them. Riley and Maya exchanged two uncertain glances.

"Both of us." Riley said, spreading his arms with a somewhat guilty smile.

"Exactly what I wanted." He was the only one who had stayed at home in New York over the summer. While all his friends had flown out into the world, he had taken a job here in the city. The only thing he had wanted was to have them all back here. And they had granted him his wish, which is why hugging them both again was enough of a souvenir for him.

"Well, I would have preferred a T-shirt, but I'll take what I can get." Zay burst in, which made the trio a quartet again. He had actually grown a little. Or was it just because of the boots and the hat on his head.

"Vanessa gave it to me, even though I think that was more of a gift for you." He said and nodded his hat slightly in Maya's direction.

"Ah, she's the best. Treat her well or I'll have to give you a black eye." Maya warned him.

"Watch out, she has a nasty right hook, I speak from experience." Said the better half of what was probably the smartest couple in the world.

"Farkle." Said Riley and Maya in unison.

"Ladies."

"Smackle." Said Lucas and Zay in unison.

"Stop flirting with me!" She replied with a stern look. But only for a moment, then her posture relaxed again and she nodded her head in the direction of her boyfriend. "As long as he's there, I mean."

"Hey guys, how was your internship?" Riley wanted to know.

"Very exciting. We learned so many things, unfortunately we had to sign a few non-disclosure agreements so we can't tell you otherwise you would all mysteriously disappear without a trace. So, how was Europa Riley?" Smackle replied. She let out a long, dreamy sigh.

"Ah, too wonderful to be true and too far away to be fair."

"Yes, I know that feeling. I think that every time I come back from Texas. But just one more year and Vanessa and I will be together permanently." Zay said, chest puffed out with pride.

"Are you both still going to study together in Houston?" Farkle asked.

"Yes, four years just her and me. College will be a dream."

"Oh, that's sweet. The term papers will tear your fantasies to pieces." Smackle replied.

"Yes...probably."

"But don't listen to her too much. The only thing that matters is that you and your sweetheart are together. Then everything will be fine." Riley cheered him up with her lifelong, unclouded optimism for which she was so well known and loved by others.

"Oh hey, look at that six-headed hydra. All together again." There were some people who seemed to enjoy being a stereotype, fulfilling clichés and keeping evil prejudices alive. At this school, one of those people was Missy Bradford. What started as a youthful squabble between two little girls had grown into a real rivalry over time. Missy was president of the prom committee and Riley was president of the debate club. Missy was captain of the cheerleaders and Riley was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. In the competition for the position of student council president, they had both lost to Darby Walker, but rumors said that she would resign from the position in her final year. What had once started with a naive crush on Lucas had now become a competition for almost everything else in which neither of them gave the other anything.

"Hey, look, the self-proclaimed queen bee is back. Hide the honey, everyone, and by that I mean your friends." Maya replied with a fake smile.

"Oh, your watchdog hasn't lost any of its bite during the holidays, good for you. What would you be without her?" Missy replied with a completely fake and badly faked smile, turning to Riley.

"I don't know, we'll never find out, because Riley and I will remain best friends forever and never part." Maya said, standing firmly by Riley's side and taking her friend's hand to practically rub it in Missy's face.

"Hmm, who knows, we'll see, the year is still long and life after that is even longer. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." Missy said, leaving her standing in the hallway again.

"You know, a wise man once said that people change people." Riley said as she looked after Missy.

"Yes, but unfortunately not always for the better. He forgot to mention that…"

"A wonderful good morning, our hope for a better tomorrow." Mr. Matthews interrupted her in a good mood.

"…best teachers in the world." Maya finished her sentence quickly and returned the smile of her teacher, which she seemed unable to shake off since middle school. Not that she ever really wanted it.

"I hope you remember to come to class on time. This year we're covering the entire twentieth century. The wars, the crises, the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall…you'll never guess how it all ends."

"With the twenty-first century." Farkle advised.

"If that comes up in class, please act surprised." Matthews said.

"I was really surprised when I first heard that. I can easily get that face back. It was something like that." Farkle said, raising his eyebrows to the sky and his lower jaw to the floor, which stretched his whole face.

"Perfect." Matthews said and left the six where they were.

"Hey Brian, good to see you buddy. How's my best running back doing?" The boy Lucas had spotted as he passed by was good a head shorter than him. Brian Adams, named after his mother's favorite musician as he knew, had always been quite skinny but he was also strong and fast like a greyhound. The best running back on the team, nobody could ever catch him. Lucas was all the more surprised when he saw him again for the first time after six weeks of vacation. He had lost weight, he could see that despite the loose clothes he was wearing. His cheeks were sunken and the bags under his eyes looked overworked. Had he overslept and skipped breakfast and then run straight to school? Several times in a row, because that's more or less how it looked to Lucas.

"Oh good, everything's fine, buddy. Nice to see you. You guys too." He greeted the rest of the group behind Lucas.

"Hey Brian. I hope you haven't neglected your training. I still want to break your running record." Zay reminded him of their little, private competition to see who was the fastest on the team at JQA High. A close race whose last lap Brian won.

"Sure, I can't wait, buddy." Brian replied, smiling, but somehow it didn't seem very sincere, Lucas thought. He almost asked him about it right then and there, but the next bell forced them all to disperse and rush to their classes. To do this, they had to walk through the doors marked "Senior Hall," because that's exactly what they were now. The once freshmen were now the oldest. The most experienced. The kings of the high school who also dined in the halls designated for them.

"I've been waiting for this for three years. What do you think it's like behind those doors?" Riley rushed ahead of the group, practically jumping forward and blocking the doors to the Senior Hall with her body to force them to pause for a moment and enjoy the moment.

"Riley, we're still late for class. I mean, I wouldn't care, but you would." Maya reminded her.

"It's worth it. Everyone, stop for a moment. Because when we go through those doors, our last year of high school officially begins! And these doors are the first step to our big moment! What exactly do you think lies behind them? Go on, guess!" She urged her friends.

"Riley, we have to go." Lucas insisted.

"Nobody can get past me until you come up with appropriate fantasies." She said, wedging herself onto the door handles with both hands.

"Get out of the way, Riley." But that didn't stop Miles, their center on the team, who was half a head taller than Lucas, from simply pushing them out of the way to get through the doors.

"Okay, not Miles, he can go in, but otherwise everyone who comes through here has to tell me what they think is waiting for them behind these doors…"

"Get out of there, Matthews!" Andrew and Jack, both guards on the team, twins and judging by their build, their ancestors were gorillas. They also pushed Riley aside with no more than a light shove. Well, a light shove by their standards, but for a lightweight like Riley, it meant that she flew almost half a meter through the air and had to brace herself on the door frame to get back on her feet.

"Okay, football players are exempt, but otherwise…"

"Move aside, Riley." At almost six feet tall and with her slightly raised shoes, Riley was actually one of the taller girls in school, although Kim, the center of the basketball team, was just taller and more athletic at almost six feet tall.

"Okay, well, you have to guess." Riley corrected herself after she got back on her feet.

"Riley, it's just a hallway." Maya said.

"Au Contraire, Mrs. Hunter, it's not just a hallway. It's the symbolic prelude to our grand finale here in these hallowed halls. I heard that every student from this level gets their own electron microscope." Farkle began to fuel Riley's optimism.

"I heard the chairs there all have massage functions." Zay joined the two.

"I heard the periodic table there has additional elements." Smackle said with a high squeak. Lucas sighed and admitted defeat.

"I heard chocolate milk comes out of the water dispensers." All five looked at Maya expectantly. She sighed slightly, rolled her eyes and then grinned.

"I heard the teachers there carry their students to their seats on their hands. And give themselves detentions if someone is late." Riley took her hand, took a deep breath and was the first of her group to push open the doors to the senior halls. And on the other side of these magical portals to the world of the future, maturity and adulthood lay... a hallway like any other. The same lockers, the same doors, even the same flow pattern on the floor. Riley even went back to the normal wing just to be sure. She then stomped back to them, a little disappointed, and put her hands on her hips.

"Well, as the editor of the school newspaper, I am extremely shocked by the dubious reporting of the hallway gossip. I don't know who the sources behind these claims were, but I will find out and hold them accountable for making false claims." Riley swore loudly as they walked to class. And although they were all a few minutes late for class, all in all it was a successful first day of senior year. At least that's what he thought until he came into the boys' team's locker room a little later that day. Usually he was the first to get to practice, he had a free period before practice, which he always liked to use for warm-up exercises, but not this time. Brian was already there before him, clearing out his locker.

"Brian? Hey man, what are you doing?" Lucas walked straight up to him with a questioning look. Brian didn't even bother to look up from his work. He continued to stuff his jersey and equipment into his bag with an icy expression and cloudy eyes.

"I'm leaving the team." He finally said after a brief hesitation.

"What?"

"I already told the coach this morning, he'll explain it to the others...later at training. Zay will probably be my successor." Lucas swallowed hard. He almost asked why, but...then he remembered.

"Does it have something...to do with what happened during the holidays?" He finally asked the one question he had promised not to ask.

"No." He lied to him, but without trying very hard to sell it as the truth. The two shared something, a secret for a secret that no one else knew about.

"Come on, team or not, we're friends. You can tell me anything." Lucas insisted, cautiously but also determined not to let himself be fobbed off again this time.

"How's your father?" Brian asked at some point after what felt like an endless silence.

"It could be better, but...it could also be worse. At least for now." Lucas was the only one in his circle of friends who had stayed in New York over the holidays. Not to earn a few extra points for school or to look at colleges with his parents like others, no. His father was ill. He had been diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the nervous system. He had spent a third of the holidays in the hospital after the first severe attack had literally knocked his father out and left him confined to a wheelchair. During a visit to the hospital, he had also run into Brian by chance and from then on, several times at regular intervals. Just him or sometimes with his mother. Why? He had never asked. Until now.

"Good." He didn't really know what to say now, he might as well have left, but that didn't seem right to him, so he just sat down on the bench between the rows of lockers and waited patiently until Brian had packed his bag.

"Hey, do you remember the game against the Rhinos last year? It was raining and the ball slipped through my fingers?"

"Yes, I know, I almost had to carry it from the line to the front. And then in the second half when those two huge mountain oxen ran me over." Brian replied with a thin smile.

"It was only one." Lucas corrected him.

"How should I know, I saw everything twice afterwards." Brian defended himself.

"He broke your collarbone, didn't he?"

"No, the collarbone was the only thing that wasn't broken."

"But we still won and it was only thanks to you. Please don't tell Zay, but I could always rely on you the most on the field. Quarterback and running back, the coach always said that there was a magical bond between the two of us. And he was right, no matter how strong the others were or how bad the mood in the team was, you could always be relied on." Lucas said, which was true. Brian finally overcame his clear reluctance and turned his head just enough in his direction so that their eyes met.

"I wish you knew that you could always rely on me too."

"I…I do." He said with a heavy swallow. His lower lip trembled slightly, it always did that when he was under stress, which didn't happen often. Especially not to this extent.

"Good." His voice sounded monotonous. Brian left the bag where it was and slammed his locker shut. He sat down on the bench next to him and supported himself with his hands on his knees. From the side he saw tears reflected in Brian's eyes

"Bianca." He said eventually.

"Who is that?"

"That...that's me."

"What?"

"That's my new...that's...my name. Now or...more precisely, always. Only...now I finally know. That's why...I went to the hospital to get...advice." He turned his head in his direction to look at him directly. He waited for an answer from Lucas, but he honestly didn't know what to say. So he simply put a hand on his friend's shoulder and applied light pressure to his grip to make it clear that he would not let his running back down.