These first few weeks of the sophomore year had been flying by so quickly, but now science class on a Friday afternoon felt like it was taking an eternity to end. Why can’t school be over already? I thought to myself while resting my head on the desk in front of me.
The teacher split us up into lab groups. We were learning how to identify different kinds of rocks and minerals today. Which was bound to be super exciting. Not. I was paired with my friend Autumn, and another girl named Lizzy.
“Do you think this rock is worth a lot of money?” Autumn asked as she picked up a small gold and silver looking rock.
“Probably not. I’m sure these were found outside near the school's garden or something.” Lizzy said with a sassy eye roll.
I looked up from the rock she had been examining and cleared my throat, hoping that they would pay attention. “Ladies can we please focus? Who cares where these rocks came from, let's get the task done so we can move on to answering the questions. I’m sure none of us want homework this weekend.”
“No I do not want homework this weekend, I have plans with my boyfriend and they will not be ruined by this dumb rock assignment.” Lizzy said while death glaring me.
“Then it’s settled, now quit talking and let's focus so we can get this done.” I said
Of course Lizzy had plans with her boyfriend. Those two seemed inseparable.
We continued to work on the assignment until the end of the class. The last bell of the day finally rang much to everyone's delight. Autumn and I walked out of the classroom together while talking about our weekend plans.
“Are your parents going to that car show at Lake George this weekend?” Autumn asked.
“No that happened a few weekends ago Autumn, I wish you paid more attention silly.” I replied in a humorous tone even though I was annoyed with her lack of memory.
“Sorry, I’ve had a lot going on with school and soccer. It's hard to keep up nowadays. Our lives seem to keep getting busier and busier as we get older.”
“Yes that's what my mother tells me all the time. She says I should enjoy all the free time I have now because as I grow up there is less of it.”678Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSIRn8g8g2
Autumn nodded in agreement.
We were walking past the front office when suddenly my eyes glanced over to a boy and an older man standing in the hall. They were talking to Mr. Jenkins, the principal of the high school. The boy had messy, dark black hair and was wearing a black shirt with a popular bands’ logo on it. I noticed the blue jeans he was wearing had tears scattered all over. The man standing next to him, who I assumed to be his father, had the same dark black hair.
Even though I know eavesdropping is frowned upon, I wanted to hear more of their conversation. My body reacted faster than my brain did. I stopped right before the hallway ended. Still able to see the boy and his father I knelt down and took off my backpack.
“Autumn I need to check something in my bag before we get on the bus." I said to her quickly.
Why was I doing this? I did not know this guy and I had no reason to eavesdrop on their conversation. What did any of their conversation mean to me? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m 99% sure that it was irrelevant to my life, and yet here I am eavesdropping.
“So my son will have 5 classes each day?” the man asked Mr. Jenkins.
“Yes sir that is correct. Three in the morning, and two in the afternoon. Of course there will be a lunch break in between the morning and afternoon though. We do treat our kids properly here.”
“Excellent, excellent. Do you have any questions for Mr. Jenkins son?”
I saw the boy look at his father, and quickly replied, “nope.”
Mr. Jenkins did not seem at all phased by the boys short answer and continued to speak in his normal manner.
“Well then, I hope you both have a good weekend, and I will be seeing you on Monday.”
With a nice little pat on the boys shoulder, Mr. Jenkins proceeded back into his office and the other two exited the school through the main doors.
“Grace hurry up, we are going to miss the bus!” Autumn said while she was poking me.
We both walked away, and all I could do was stare at the back of this boy. A boy I don’t even know.
“Sorry. Yes let’s go home.” I said in a small voice.
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My home life is always the same routine. Wake up, get ready for school, then go to school, come home, do chores, eat dinner, do homework, and then go to bed. Minus my daily school routine, my weekends were pretty much the same.
Yet this particular weekend was different. I did help out around the house and got a few homework assignments done, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that boy. I didn’t even speak to him and I barely saw him, and yet he was trapped inside my mind. I tried different ways to distract myself from thinking about him, but nothing seemed to be effective. Doing homework and playing video games usually takes my mind off of things, but even those activities were an ineffective answer to my current problem. I wonder if we would share any classes together. He did seem to be about the same age as me. Whether we had classes together or not, I was still trying to think of ways to interact with him.
Monday morning finally came, and the bus ride to school felt much longer than normal. Of course on the one day I actually want to be at school the bus ride is taking forever.
Finally arriving at the school I hurried off the bus and into the classroom. Ms. Leona was one of the homeroom teachers for the sophomore year class and considered to be the best by many of the students of previous years. I was grateful to have her as a homeroom teacher for the simple fact that she was always laid back, and today, I needed school to be very laid back.
“Good morning Grace, you are the first one here today it seems.” Ms. Leona said from her desk, barely raising her head.
‘Yes it does seem so. I thought my bus ride was taking forever but in reality it went by quickly I suppose.”
“That appears so. Did you have any difficulty with the homework on identifying the rocks and minerals that were assigned Friday?”
Ms. Leona also happened to be the science teacher, and a very good one at that.
“No not really, it was all pretty straight forward for me.” I replied.
“Excellent, I’m glad to hear that.”
Other students started to arrive shortly after their conversation and I saw my friend Katy walking over to my desk.
“Hi Grace! How was your weekend?” she asked over enthusiastically.
“Non eventful. Thanks for asking Katy.” I replied in a much softer voice than hers.
Katy took a seat next to me and placed her backpack on the table.
“Well that’s good, my weekend was very eventful. I had Autumn sleepover at my house on Saturday night and we stayed up until two in the morning! We thought my parents would catch us staying up late, but nope. They were sound asleep the entire time. It was great!”
“Sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Yes, it really was. Did you finish the homework on identifying the rocks? I had some trouble with it but I think I did okay for the most part.”
I pulled the assignment out from my binder and showed it to Katy. “Yeah I did. I didn’t have too much trouble with it and I’m sure you did fine Katy. You’re always too hard on yourself.”
“I know, I know. Maybe one day I’ll have more confidence.”
At that point, Ms. Leona got up from her desk and walked to the front of the classroom.
“Alright everyone, please take a seat. Now, I hope you all had a good weekend, but once again it is time to focus and get our beautiful minds working again.”
As the lecture was just about to start, the boy who had not left my mind since Friday came running into the room.
“Sorry I’m late.” He said, Barely noticing that Ms. Leona was upset about his tardiness to class.
“Ah yes, the new student. Malum is your name correct?” She asked in a stern voice.
“Yes.” he said avoiding eye contact.
“Welcome to your new homeroom. We were just about to start our day, so if you would like to take a seat next to Grace that would be excellent.”
Those last few words made me snap back into reality. The mysterious new boy who I had been unable to shake from my brain the entire weekend was about to be sitting next to me. A million thoughts were buzzing around in my mind, but before I could focus on any of them Malum had set his bag down on the table and took a seat next me.
“Hi.” he said looking directly at me.
My ability to talk suddenly vanished.
“Oh. Hi.” I replied in a quiet voice.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak again, Ms. Leona began with her lecture. The next hour dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. I could not stop sneaking glances at him. I was so fascinated by him. Will he talk to me after class? Will I have other classes with him? Will he come to school daily or will he play hooky like so many of the other boys I know?
The bell to signal the end of the period finally rang. I cleaned up my belongings off of the table and placed them in my bag. Malum was already standing up and wasn’t moving towards the door yet. Instead he was staring at me.
“Do you need something?” I blurted out before thinking.
Damn it. Good going Grace. Now he’s gonna think I’m rude.
“No not really. Just waiting for you to finish packing up.” he replied with a smile.
“Why wait for me? You don’t even know me.”
“Well it's always good to make new friends in new situations, and seeing as how you’re the first person I had any sort of interaction with here, I figured mind as well make you my first friend too.”
“That makes sense I guess. I’m Grace by the way.”
“Malum, Malum Veritas. But I’m sure you already knew that since Ms. Science Wiz already announced that to the entire class earlier.”
I gave a slight chuckle, “Yes I suppose so. What class do you have next?”
“History, what about you?”
“I have it too. Guess this means we will be stuck together all morning then.”
We walked out of the classroom and into the busy hallway.
“Looks like it.”
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