《When?》


 Chapter 1: Riot at the Pep Rally

    ¡°Is everyone ready to have some fun?¡±


    The upbeat teacher was only met with a small mumble from the less than amused crowd.


    ¡°I can¡¯t hear you,¡± She put her hand up to her ear and repeated herself, ¡°Is everyone ready to have some fun?¡±


    Today was the first pep rally of the semester at Manha High School. The entire student body, grades nine through twelve, were all seated in the gymnasium bleachers. The teacher stood with a microphone at the center of the gymnasium on top of the purple rhino mural on the floor. The gym was overpacked and stuffy, was it really that hard to believe that the students weren¡¯t all that excited to be here?


    The young teacher continued, not letting the dreary crowd lower her enthusiasm.


    ¡°Alright! Before we get to the fun activities we¡¯ll kick things off with an announcement from your student council president!¡±


    The lethargic crowd immediately erupted into boos. Unless someone had seen them just a moment before, nobody would believe that this was the same crowd.


    ¡°Quiet please. Please be respectful to your peers.¡±


    There was no stopping the enraged crowd. Their displeasure only grew in decibels.


    ¡°Everyone, this is inappropriate and very distasteful.¡±


    The roar of boos overtook the projected voice of the teacher, even with the help of her microphone. After a few more inaudible words, she snapped.


    ¡°EVERYONE SHUT HELL UP!¡±


    Her voice made the audio coming from the speakers above crack, but it had done its job. The rowdy crowd had fallen back into a slumber. It seemed that the uncharacteristic outburst from their teacher had gotten their attention.


    She patted down her hair and let out a small breath, recovering from her outburst. She gestured to her left.


    ¡°Thank you, now your student council president, Rose Visca.¡±


    The teacher began walking away from center court as Rose Visca went to take her place. During the intermittence, the crowd started to become a bit rowdy again. She whipped back around to face the crowd, with eyes bulging out of her skull. That was enough to bring the crowd down to a gentle simmer.


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    The student council president, Rose Visca, took the microphone from the worn out teacher as they crossed paths on the basketball court. She continued to the center of the gym, where the teacher had stood.


    She stopped on top of the purple rhino and swiveled herself to face the crowd of students.


    Rose was a little above average height for a girl. She wore a small black skirt along with a white dress shirt and a black tie. Her studious glasses were high on her nose. Her build would suggest that she played sports. Along with all of that, her blue eyes and blonde hair complimented her good looks, making her position as student council president seem fitting. She resembled a stereotypical popular high school girl. Although, from the crowd¡¯s reaction, she didn¡¯t seem all too popular. Or at least not popular in a good way.


    She brought the microphone up to her mouth.


    ¡°Thank you for the introduction Ms. Benson.¡± Her words matched her confident demeanor, ¡°Now, we are all gathered here today to celebrate our school pride. Homecoming is just two weeks away, I know that everyone is quite excited.¡±


    The crowd had settled after its initial outburst. They were back to being dull and unresponsive as they were at the beginning of the pep rally.


    ¡°The student council has planned some activities during homecoming week that I hope that all of you enjoy. I know I look forward to it. More information will come along with the schedule next week. Make sure to check the school newspaper for it.¡±


    She let out a sigh and began to read from a piece of paper she had been holding. She pushed her glasses further up her nose as she read from her notes.


    ¡°Now to fully enjoy such things as homecoming week, we must remember the main purpose of this school, academia. Everyone here is here to further their education and better themselves. Sadly, our most recent test scores have been historically low. That is why the student council has agreed to some changes to improve our institution''s education.¡± her voice wavered a tiny bit, although, her strong and confident voice still pulled through after a short pause, ¡°In conjunction with the school board, we have decided for all after school activities to be cut by thirty minutes and the school day to be lengthened.¡±


    The crowd immediately erupted. It might as well have been a gymnasium full of chimpanzees on crack. Yelling, booing, screeching, yodeling. Name the sound and it was most likely being made. Papers, pencils, books and bags were being tossed onto the gymnasium floor. Luckily for Rose, she was out of the majority¡¯s range of arm strength. A couple pencils were able to reach her, but they didn¡¯t cause her any harm.


    She buried her face into her notes and continued speaking, ¡°Including the adjustments stated before, the school will also implement a single block lunch instead of three that will be cut by five minutes. Passing times will also be cut by two minutes, going from six to four minutes. Schedules have already been fixed accordingly and will be sent to your school emails over this weekend. The new schedule will start next week¡­¡±


    The uproar washed away her words. The gym had broken out into a complete frenzy. Waves of students stormed down from the bleachers and onto the gym floor. The student council president quickly scurried off to the side of the gym as hoards of teachers lined up in front of the crazed students, trying to take control of the situation. The teacher¡¯s were engulfed in a sea of enraged students. They were as useful as a net trying to hold back the crashing waves from the sea.


    The pep rally was strategically scheduled for the end of the day. The other pep rally activities were naturally canceled. After the riot simmered down, the students were released and sent home for the weekend. The school had hopes that the weekend would give time for the students to calm down.

 Chapter 2: The Amazingly Bland Life of Nosmith

    Dull steps of worn out sneakers on a concrete path repeated itself. Chad Nosmith, a second year high schooler was coming back from a pep rally. He had moved to this school at the beginning of the academic year and was still trying to get his life back into a normal rhythm. So far he had done a decent job. He would wake up, have breakfast, go to school and go home. Not all too impressive since that was his exact schedule before he had moved to this new school, but he did expand a bit on his schedule this year. His mother made him get a job. So on Saturdays he worked at the local library and on Sundays he would go to church with his mother. The monotonous routine gave him comfort and he looked forward to further getting used to this schedule.


    Chad kicked a pebble on the sidewalk. It bounced down the pathway making satisfying noises as it rolled further ahead of him.


    ¡°That whole thing was quite interesting.¡±


    The pep rally that was held at the end of the school day ended in a borderline riot from the students. Chad of course wasn¡¯t a part of this riot. He was upset that the scheduled pep rally had disrupted his consistent schedule, but that could be forgiven since he still left school at the same time. What had caused the hysteria was an announcement from the student council president. She announced something dealing with the shortening of afterschool activities and the lengthening of the school day. He wasn¡¯t sure of the details since the crowd¡¯s yells overtook the student council president¡¯s voice. Or was the reason why he didn¡¯t remember the details because he was sitting in the back doing homework? Either way, he at least heard the main announcement that led to the bedlam.


    The shortening of afterschool activities didn¡¯t affect him in any way. He wasn¡¯t in any sports or activities and it wasn¡¯t because he had just transferred to Manha High School this year. He just felt that it was such a bother to communicate with other people. Even if he was interested in playing basketball or doing arts and crafts, he just didn¡¯t want to deal with the other people that came along with those activities. I wonder if there is a sport or activity where I don¡¯t have to interact with anyone? Chad cataloged that thought for later.


    The lengthening of the school day was the other big adjustment the school was making. This one was mildly annoying to him, although his classmates seemed to be a lot more upset about it than him. He figured that they couldn¡¯t just reschedule all of the students'' classes during the middle of a semester, so he deduced the school would just lengthen the classes he was already in. He was alright with this since it wouldn¡¯t ruin his routine too much. Still, being at school for any longer than he needed to only allowed for more opportunities for people to interact with him. But again, this was only a mildly annoying adjustment for him. Overall, these changes seemed like they wouldn¡¯t affect him too much so he didn¡¯t worry about it. He would just make sure to check his email over this weekend for the adjusted schedule so he could get acclimated to it as fast as possible.


    Only after about five minutes of walking, he arrived at his house. The house he moved into was only a stone''s throw away from his high school and with the shortcut he took it made it feel like an even shorter distance. This made it so he didn¡¯t have to take the buses to school allowing for less chances of interacting with other people. The house itself wasn¡¯t anything to write home about. It was big enough to comfortably fit him and his mother with a bit of elbow room to spare. It was in a small neighborhood, but luckily he hadn¡¯t run into any overtly outgoing neighbors. People seemed to keep to themselves which he enjoyed.


    Chad walked into his house. The door was unlocked and his senses were hit with the smell of onions, peppers and spices meaning¡­


    ¡°How was school sweetie?¡±


    His mother, Rebecca Nosmith was laying on the couch with her feet up. Her laptop was propped on her knees and she wore her reading glasses towards the tip of her nose. She had a glass of red wine on the coffee table that matched her knitted crimson sweater. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail and her eyes peaked over her glasses at him. Overall, Ms. Nosmith was quite an attractive woman for her age. His friends at his old school would constantly remind him of this. That irritant was just one of many reasons that he didn¡¯t and still doesn¡¯t invite people over to his house.


    ¡°School was school.¡± Chad shrugged.


    ¡°Is that all I¡¯m getting?¡±


    ¡°Uh, you''re home early I guess?¡±


    ¡°I never left.¡± she replied with a smile.


    His mother was an editor for a publishing company. This often allowed her to work from home. She still got called into the office. Her work schedule often puzzled him with the arbitrary hours she worked. She had to be ready to meet with a writer or coworker at any time. He couldn¡¯t fathom how his mother could deal with such a chaotic and unorganized schedule. Hearing his mother talk about her day would often make him agitated. He enjoyed talking to his mother, but when she would reiterate the disorderly conduct of her coworkers it made him tense up.


    With a small grunt he took off his shoes and began heading to the stairs. His mother¡¯s eyes went back to her laptop, but she continued to converse with her disinterested son.


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    ¡°There¡¯s chili in the crock pot whenever you want any.¡± Her fingers started to clack on the keyboard.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll be back down to grab some later.¡±


    ¡°No rush.¡±


    With that simple interaction with his mother, he had reached another point in his meticulous schedule. Rest. On the second floor of their house was his bedroom. The room was quite clean and organized for a male high schooler. The fact that there wasn¡¯t much in the room to begin with helped with that.


    In the room was a small desk with a pencil placed aligned with the edge of the desk. There was a swivel chair that he would often put his school bag on when he came back from school. After placing his bag there, he collapsed onto his bed. His body was tired even though he hadn¡¯t done much that day. He looked up at the white ceiling and then to the gray walls.


    I managed to finish all my homework at the pep rally.


    This was usually the time he blocked out in his day to finish his homework. He often finished quickly and had some free time to himself, but not this much freetime.


    Chad looked over next to his bed, his face pressing against a soft blanket. There was a large bookshelf filled with books. He enjoyed reading, but this bookshelf had mostly books he hadn¡¯t read yet. Most of them were from the publishing company his mother worked at since they would often send her projects she worked on for free. His eyes scanned the bookshelf, titles such as Dog¡¯s Best Friend, Where the Hell am I? and Fragments caught his attention, but he had already read those.


    I don¡¯t really feel like reading anyways.


    He laid his head back down on his bed. He reached above him and grabbed one of his pillows, holding it against his chest.


    A nap sounds pretty good right now.


    He could always fit a nap into his schedule. His contacts were still in, but he would take the chance of losing them behind his eyelids for an hour of rest.


    The sun outside and the room lights berated his eyes, but he was too tired to do anything about it. The light seemed to help shut his eyes and keep them closed. He focused on the repetitive sound of the ceiling fan. It helped clear his mind of any thoughts and worries. The wind gently flowed over him like a cooling blanket, a smile slowly grew across his face.


    This. This is nice.


    All of his muscles relaxed, his body sunk further into his bed. The gentle hands of sleep reached out to him. He was so close. So close to reaching a nice nap that would fit nicely into his schedule.


    Ding-Dong


    His eyes snapped open.


    Well there goes that.


    He sat up, hunched over and tossed his pillow back to the head of his bed. Even though he didn¡¯t actually sleep, he still felt groggy as if he had been awakened from a deep slumber.


    He heard his mother call for him from downstairs and reluctantly stood from his bed, dragging his feet to the bedroom door and opened it. He called back down to his mother.


    ¡°Yea?¡±


    ¡°Someone¡¯s here for you.¡±


    Who the hell could that be?


    Since moving to this school, Chad had met one person who you could maybe call a friend, but he didn¡¯t know where he lived. Could it be his boss at the library? What business would she have coming to his house? It wasn¡¯t logical. She had his phone number if she needed to get a hold of him and he would be at work tomorrow if she needed to see him in person. So who could it be?


    The curiosity woke him up a bit from his almost nap. He walked out of his room and down the stairs. The bottom of the stairs faced the main entrance of the house. On the last few steps he saw his mother next to the opened front door smiling.


    ¡°Chad you aren¡¯t keeping a secret girlfriend from me are you?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    Next to Rebecca, in the entryway, was a girl around the same age as him. She wore a white sundress with a blue floral pattern covering it. A small silver purse hung from her shoulder that matched her earrings. Her curled blonde hair seemed to glow from the sun in the background. Her glasses daintily drooped down to the tip of her nose with her blue eyes looking over them at him.


    ¡°Oh, s-so you¡¯re Chad Nosmith?¡± The girl hesitantly said.


    Who the hell is this? Does she know me?


    She seemed to be familiar with his name, but didn¡¯t particularly know him. He scoured his brain to match the person in front of him to anyone he recognized.


    Wait. This girl looks a lot like the student council president.


    That couldn¡¯t be right though. Their physical characteristics were extremely similar, but their vibes were polar opposite.


    He didn¡¯t pay too much attention at the pep rally, but the student council president just naturally took a hold of people''s attention. It was just the way she was. She confidently strode out in front of the entire student body without a hint of hesitation. Her voice was strong and didn¡¯t waver. The girl currently in front of him bared no resemblance whatsoever. She seemed uncomfortable in her own skin, twiddling her thumbs in front of him and avoiding eye contact. Well, he had been staring at her without saying a word for a little while, so that could be the reason why. Still, there was no way that those two girls are one in the same.


    After a bit too long of a silence, he finally replied.


    ¡°Uh, yea that¡¯s me. And who are you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry for not introducing myself. I¡¯m Rose Visca, Manha High School¡¯s student council president.¡± she said while politely bowing her head.


    No. There is no way this is the same girl from the pep rally.

 Chapter 3: A Failed Recruitment?

    Rose Visca? The student council president? There¡¯s no way.


    Chad Nosmith was face to face with a dainty blonde girl at the front entrance of his house. She was claiming to be the student council president. Their physical traits were quite similar, but they just didn¡¯t seem like the same person. Besides her claim to be Rose Visca, the voice was the only other thing that made him think she could really be the student council president. She spoke in a much more gentle voice now then at the pep rally, but the general tone sounded similar enough.


    His mother, not handling the awkward silence well, tried to push him to reply.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were friends with the student council president. You sure make some big friends quickly.¡±


    Chad looked at his mom.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t friends. Hell, this is the first time I¡¯ve spoken with her. I wouldn¡¯t have even recognized her if she didn¡¯t get booed at the pep rally today.¡±


    Rose winced as she looked at the ground, ¡°Yea, that happened I guess.¡±


    ¡°I am so sorry to hear about that,¡± Rebecca took her hand and guided her further into the house like an old friend. She glared at Chad, ¡°If I hear anything about you partaking in any of that-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was doing homework the whole time. I didn¡¯t even really pay attention at all.¡±


    Whap


    She slapped the back of his head, ¡°It¡¯s still rude to not pay attention to someone while they''re speaking. You¡¯re no better than those other hooligans.¡±


    ¡°Oh it¡¯s completely alright Ms. Nosmith,¡± Rose smiled anxiously, ¡°If more people at our school had Chad¡¯s study habits I probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten stampeded?¡±


    ¡°Stampeded?¡±


    Rose quickly explained the events of the pep rally where the entire student body stormed the gymnasium floor and how they had to cancel the rest of the event because of it.


    ¡°They threw pencils and charged you?¡± Rebecca was taken aback, ¡°What kind of school did I send you to?¡±


    ¡°A jungle.¡± Chad meagerly replied.


    Rose sheepishly nodded in agreement to his comment.


    She couldn¡¯t seem to find the words to reply, but Chad did. It was uncharacteristic of him to continue a conversation that didn¡¯t need to be, but a curiosity burned inside of him. Usually, he would¡¯ve liked to just go back upstairs and ignore this whole interaction entirely, but a question slipped from his tongue.


    ¡°Why are you at my house?¡±


    The question came out quite bluntly, perhaps borderline rude. Before his mother could reprimand him for his poor behavior, Rose replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m here for you,¡± she held out her arm, pointing directly at him, ¡°I¡¯m here to recruit you to join the student council.¡±


    ¡°Yea, I¡¯m good.¡±


    He started to do what he should¡¯ve done from the beginning swiveling around on the back of his heel and taking a step towards the stairs.


    ¡°Ow ow ow ow.¡±


    Chad stopped in his tracks. A stinging pain radiating from the bottom of his neck. He was all too familiar with it. His mother had him in one of her signature holds, the hair twister. It was where she firmly grabbed a bushel of hair at the bottom of his neck, holding him hostage. With any movement he made, she would then twist his hair, holding complete control over him. She often resorted to this when she physically wanted him to stay somewhere. Since she was quite a bit smaller than him, she relied on this technique a lot.


    ¡°Now sweetie,¡± A chilling smile smeared across her, ¡°Don¡¯t be so rude to our guest. At least hear out her proposal. You never know what the consequences of your reply may hold for you.¡±


    ¡°But I would nev- OW! Ok fine!¡±


    ¡°Wonderful!¡± Rebecca¡¯s sadistic smile transitioned to one resembling joy, but he wasn¡¯t sure there was much of a difference, ¡°I already made dinner but give me a couple minutes to set the table.¡± she gave him a glare while heading towards the kitchen door, ¡°Keep your guest company Chad. Don¡¯t scare her off.¡±


    She exited the room leaving him with chills. He and Rose both stood awkwardly next to each other.


    His eyes went to her, still not comprehending that this girl was the same as the girl at the pep rally. She seemed uncomfortable being next him, how could she have gone up in front of the entire student body with such confidence?


    She continued to sway back and forth while clicking her heels together. His eyes continued to take in her physical appearance, comparing and contrasting it to earlier that day. She eventually gave in to the pressure and broke the silence.


    ¡°So why were you so quick to say no? I¡¯m sure you would make a good student council member.¡± she hesitantly asked.


    ¡°I thought we were going to discuss this over dinner.¡±


    She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.


    Chad had perfectly executed something he had done many times, shutting down a conversation starter. It was one of his signature conversational techniques, or perhaps more fitting, anti-conversational techniques. This one was particularly impressive since it only took a single sentence to completely shut her down.


    With mom around I can¡¯t outright reject her offer. I must find a way to make her take back her offer, but if I am too overtly rude I¡¯ll be in for it. I have to approach this smartly.


    He concluded that the best thing to do was to bask in this awkward silence. Surely the student council wouldn¡¯t want someone who was socially awkward to join them.


    Rebecca doubled her pace in the kitchen, setting up dinner. She sensed her son in the next room wanting to ruin this great opportunity to make some friends. Not too long after he shut down the conversation, she opened the kitchen door wiping sweat from her forehead.


    ¡°Ok! Dinner¡¯s ready.¡±


    I don¡¯t think that was a long enough silence. Damn you mother.


    She guided the pair into the kitchen. The hardy aroma of chili made his stomach growl. In a short amount of time, his mother had set out a nice looking dinner. In the center of the table was a large crock pot. A bowl of shredded cheese sat on one side and on the other was cornbread stacked as high as the crock pot. Three bowls of chili were set out. Who was supposed to sit in each seat? Well that was obvious to Chad. He took a step forward, trying to foil his mother¡¯s plan, but she quickly slipped into the seat at the head of the table. This left the seats facing each other on either side of her open.


    What is she trying to do?


    She gestured for them to join her at the table. Rose graciously accepted while Chad reluctantly took his seat. He may have lost this battle, but he was determined to win the war.


    Rose¡¯s blue eyes glowed as she looked at the steaming bowl of chili in front of her.


    ¡°Wow! This looks amazing Ms. Nosmith. Thank you so much.¡±


    Chad scoffed, ¡°It¡¯s just chili. It''s not all that impress-¡±


    Smack.


    Rebecca hit the back of his head with a precision slap.


    ¡°You are so welcome dear. And please, call me Rebecca. Better yet, Becca.¡±


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Wow. First name basis already?


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s pray.¡±


    She put both of her hands out. Rose and Chad took hold of each of them. He bowed his head and waited for his mother to start praying.


    Ok maybe this seating arrangement isn¡¯t so bad afterall.


    ¡°Ahem.¡±


    He looked up at his mother glaring at him. His vision then went across the table. Rose was holding her hand out towards him.


    Oh come on.


    He reluctantly took hold of her hand, deciding to choose his battles smartly.


    Her hand was soft. It was also quite small which surprised him since she was quite tall for a girl. Maybe it was just because he was a guy and he didn¡¯t know the relative hand sizes of women. For all he knew this could be the average size. Although, comparing it to his mother¡¯s hand, who was quite small in stature, they were similar sizes. Maybe she does have small hands. Or maybe his mother has large hands. He would need more data points to come to an accurate conclusion.


    ¡°Chad.¡±


    He opened his eyes. Rebecca and Rose had already released each other''s hands while he still had a firm grip on each of theirs.


    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡±


    He quickly released his grip from both of their hands. He saw a faint smirk on his mother¡¯s face.


    Don¡¯t read too much into it, old lady.


    Everyone dug into their meals. No conversations had started yet. Was Rebecca lulling him into a false sense of security? Maybe this was normal to not have conversation when you first start eating. He didn¡¯t quite know, but he was content with the silence. He also noted that Rose was particularly fond of the cornbread. She had already finished the two pieces on her plate.


    ¡°Rose dear, would you like some more cornbread?¡±


    Oh no, is this¡­


    ¡°Yes please,¡± Rebecca handed her more pieces of cornbread, even though she was further from the plate than her, ¡°Thank you Mrs. Nosm- I mean Becca.¡±


    the start of¡­


    ¡°No problem... So Rose, what is it like to be a part of the student council?¡±


    a conversation?!?


    Rose took the napkin from her lap and wiped some crumbs of cornbread from her mouth, ¡°It is a great way to improve your resume for college applications as well as a way to better the education of your peers.¡±


    ¡°And the education of our peers is going so well.¡± Chad rolled his eyes in response.


    He brought up a spoonful of chili to his mouth but it never reached his taste buds. He dropped the spoon due to the pain from being kicked in the shins by his mother under the table.


    ¡°Chad dear, don''t be so clumsy.¡± She gave a sinister glance at him.


    ¡°Oh-,¡± Rose blushed a bit, ¡°The students¡¯ academics have been suffering as of late, but we are trying our best to improve that.¡±


    ¡°So do you think extending the school day will really help with that?¡±


    He reflexively tucked his legs under his chair, dodging the kick from his mother. He looked at her.


    ¡°That was a serious question. I wasn¡¯t trying to be sarcastic or anything.¡±


    He didn¡¯t care too much about the school day being extended. Sure it kind of sucked, but it wasn¡¯t all that bad. He was just curious if it would actually help anything.


    ¡°Well,¡± Rose set down her cornbread and began twiddling her thumbs, ¡°that wasn¡¯t necessarily the council¡¯s decision. We were actually against the proposal but the school board overrode our decision.¡±


    ¡°So why did you claim that the student council came to this decision in conjunction with the school board?¡±


    ¡°So you were paying attention at the pep rally?¡± Rebecca gave her son a mischievous smile.


    He ignored his mother¡¯s teasing, focusing on the reply.


    ¡°The board thought the proposal would be better received if it came from us. They said ¡®having a group of students already agree to these conditions will help the rest of the student body accept it.''¡±


    ¡°That didn¡¯t work out too well.¡±


    ¡°Yea,¡± she shrugged, looking down at her empty bowl, ¡°We are really just a way for the school board to try to connect with the students.¡± she shook her head, ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯m here. The school board also believes that having a male on the student council would help us be better received by our peers. Especially the male students.¡±


    ¡°So why me?¡±


    Before she could reply, a ringtone went off. Rebecca took her phone out from her jeans.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have to head to work. Chad, can you clean up when you two are done?¡±


    ¡°Yea.¡±


    She quickly stood up and left for work. Before leaving the kitchen she gave him a glare that sent chills down every vertebrae in his spine. No words were spoken, but he could only imagine the hell he would face if he said no to her offer.


    I can¡¯t say no, that means I have to make her not want to recruit me anymore.


    A little silence lingered after his mother left for work, but he did something he usually would never do. He resumed the conversation.


    ¡°So-¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit late to go to work?¡± Rose asked with cornbread crumbs surrounding her mouth.


    She had beaten him at resuming the conversation. Not that he really cared, it was just an interesting observation.


    ¡°Uh yea, she¡¯s an editor of a publishing firm. Her hours are the definition of irregular,¡± he tapped his empty bowl with his spoon, ¡°I sometimes hear her coming back or leaving at God forsaken hours of the night.¡±


    ¡°She must have an incredible work ethic.¡±


    Perfect, I can use this.


    ¡°She sure does. Sadly she didn¡¯t pass that gene down to me.¡±


    Rose tilted her head, ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yea,¡± he leaned back on the hind legs of his chair, ¡°I¡¯m as lazy as lazy gets.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re not going to clean up the dishes like you said?¡±


    He froze.


    I can¡¯t imagine what that woman would do to me if I left the kitchen a mess.


    ¡°O-of course I¡¯m going to do the dishes, but that has nothing to do with work ethic-¡±


    ¡°I think it does.¡± her voice began to have more bass to it, similar to how it was at the pep rally.


    She pulled out a notebook from her purse and opened it. She pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose closer to her eyes.


    ¡°Chad Nosmith, age fifteen, a sophomore at Manha High School. You transferred here this year and have an unweighted GPA of 3.8. You never submitted an assignment late nor have had any unexcused absences. You also work part time at the library to help support your single mother while also doing volunteer work on Sundays.¡±


    Shit, she pulled up with the receipts. Wait, this is really stalkerish.


    ¡°H-how¡¯d you get all that information?¡±


    She snapped her notebook shut. She peered into his soul. Her hesitant and dainty demeanor had been tossed to the side and an aura of confidence surrounded her.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that you are the perfect candidate to join the student council. You may come across as lazy on the surface, but you are a hard worker like your mom. You may try to act like you don¡¯t really care, but you do.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯ll make a terrible council member. How am I supposed to help all those shitty students raise their grades?¡±


    She stood up from her chair and slammed her palms on the table. She then leaned forward, intensifying her gaze.


    ¡°You¡¯re not trying to reject this proposal because you think you¡¯ll make a poor council member. Hell, you¡¯re not even saying no because you don¡¯t want to do it. You¡¯re saying no because you¡¯re afraid!¡±


    He looked quizzically up at Rose leaning over the table. Afraid of what? After a brief moment of silence, she stood back up on the other side of the table. Her glasses slid back down to the tip of her nose and she switched back to how she was before.


    ¡°Uh¡­ so... can I count on you to join us?¡±


    What the hell is this girl¡¯s problem?


    He was thinking about what had just occurred in front of him. Rose had gone from a tentative school girl to a pissy boss at a corporation chewing out her subordinate and then back to the tentative school girl. How was he supposed to respond? He couldn¡¯t say no, otherwise his mother would probably kill him. He didn¡¯t want to say yes either. Not because he was afraid or anything like that. He just didn¡¯t want the responsibility. It would also mess up his schedule he loved so much.


    He grabbed his plate and began walking to the sink.


    ¡°Can I sleep on the decision?¡± The best option he could find was to push off the decision. He would give himself the weekend to figure out a plan.


    ¡°Oh of course,¡± she dipped her head, ¡°Thank you so much for that wonderful meal and listening to my offer. I look forward to your decision.¡±


    ¡°Yea sure, whatever.¡±


    ¡°Oh, and make sure to thank Becca for me as well.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    Are all girls crazy like this?


    After she left, he made sure to clean up the kitchen to avoid his mother¡¯s wrath. She still wasn¡¯t back from work after he finished, so he prepared for bed.


    ***


    Chad was in his bed, dozing on and off lightly. He usually had a little trouble falling asleep, but tonight was worse than usual. He had too many thoughts flowing through his neurons.


    What should I do?


    This kept on for a while, he drifted in and out of sleep. He then heard a car pull up into the driveway followed by the door opening. He could almost map out the steps of his mother coming home from work. Even with her chaotic schedule, she still liked her routines. It was one of few things that reaffirmed to him that he was actually her son.


    Into the kitchen. Then open the dishwasher. Yep don¡¯t worry mom, I washed the nice one you like. Yep, now grab the bottle from the top shelf and pour it in the glass. Yep, all the way to the top. Now be careful not to spill it on the way to the couch, it¡¯ll stain the carpet. Now grab your laptop sitting on the coffee table, take a sip of wine and relax. You deserve it mom.


    Although his mother could be a pain in the ass, he still loved her. He appreciated everything she did for him. She worked absolutely ludicrous hours to allow him to live a comfortable life.


    Chad turned to his side. He lifted up the face of his phone sitting on the bedside table. The time ¡°3:43 a.m.¡± shone brightly on his squinting eyes.


    ¡°Work ethic, huh.¡±


    His mind was finally at ease now that his mom was settled in. He found himself quickly falling into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 4: The Start to the Weekend

    At the response to an annoying alarm, Chad quickly snagged his phone and clicked stop. He rubbed his eyes until his vision turned to stars, but he was still extremely tired. He had quite a bit of trouble getting to sleep last night, leading to the bags under his eyes being more prominent than usual.


    ¡°Back to it I guess.¡±


    He slid his legs over the side of his bed and stood up with a small hop, heading to the closet. He put on a blue dress shirt along with a matching tie. The khakis his mother recently bought him slid on nicely. A snug fit, but not too snug. He grabbed his nicer shoes and carried them downstairs, not wanting to walk on the carpet with them on.


    After dropping off his shoes by the front door, he made his way to the kitchen. He opened the door to be greeted by a beautiful woman as well as the sweet scent of banana bread.


    ¡°Good morning honey.¡±


    ¡°Mmm.¡±


    If it wasn¡¯t for this being the usual, he would¡¯ve been surprised that his mother was up before him with how late she worked.


    Chad went straight to the pantry, pulling out a granola bar and immediately started chowing down on it. His mother was by the sink, slicing potatoes. She must¡¯ve been preparing lunch or dinner, he wasn¡¯t sure of which. With her mostly working from home, she made a lot of home cooked meals. Although, since she would get called into work randomly, she sometimes left only half finished meals waiting for him when he got home from school or work.


    ¡°Sweetie, did you end up joining the student council?¡±


    ¡°No-¡±


    Chop!


    A poor potato was mercilessly sliced in half.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry honey,¡± Rebecca turned towards him, holding her kitchen knife tightly, ¡°I don¡¯t think I quite heard you. What did you say?¡± Her cheerful smile didn¡¯t match the malice in her eyes.


    ¡°I-I didn¡¯t say no.¡± Chad pleaded, ¡°I- uh just asked to sleep on the decision.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she resumed her food preparation, ¡°Well I think,¡± Chop, ¡°That joining the student council,¡± Chop, ¡°would be a great thing for you.¡± Chop, ¡°And it would be terrible,¡± Chop, ¡°If you made the mistake-¡± Chop, ¡°Of not joining.¡± she glanced back at him, ¡°Does that sound reasonable sweetie?¡±


    ¡°Uh yea, reasonable. Very logical.¡±


    He usually didn¡¯t get intimidated by other people, but his mother was an exception.


    Wanting to flee from his sadistic mother, he quickly stuffed the rest of his granola bar in his mouth and grabbed a slice of freshly cooked banana bread from the kitchen counter.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to head to work now.¡± he said, still chewing his granola bar.


    ¡°Make sure to think carefully about your decision.¡± she gave him an eerie smile as he fled the kitchen.


    Does that woman just love to torture me or something?


    ***


    The local library that Chad worked at was a bit farther from his house than his new high school. He probably could walk that distance, but that would be too much of a hassle. Biking was the much better option.


    He rode down the small sidewalk. One hand on his handlebars, the other holding his banana bread. As he munched on his breakfast, he was scheming how he would get out of his situation.


    He could just tell Rose no and then lie to his mother that they actually ended up not wanting him to join. The likelihood of that plan ending in failure was high. That really shouldn¡¯t even be an option. The current option, that he was working on, is trying to convince Rose that he would be an awful candidate. At first he thought that could work, but after she uncharacteristically spat back at him last night, he started to doubt this plan. The final option was to accept the offer and join the student council. This, of course, would come with loads of responsibilities and drastically alter his precious schedule.


    ¡°Ha. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m joining. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll figure something out by the time Monday rolls around.¡±


    He kept riding along to his job. The school year was well into the fall season so the weather was a bit chilly, but the wind felt pretty good on his face. The tree¡¯s were turning a plethora of gorgeous colors including crimson red, rustic orange and bright yellow. It was pretty and gave him quite a view on his short commute. He didn¡¯t necessarily spend a lot of time outside, but he still admired its beauty.


    With a turn of a corner the library came into view. It was an older library and wasn¡¯t all that big. It was made of wood in a cabin style, similar to how a Lincoln log house looks. Instead of a wooden green roof, it wore tan tiles. The building fit comfortably in a small cove of trees touched by the colors of fall. Overall, the whole building and scenery would always be a calming sight for him. The bike ride into work was a good way of starting off his weekend.


    ¡°What the-¡±


    There was somebody standing in front of the library. As he approached he made the figure out to belong to a woman.


    ¡°She lost or something?¡±


    The library didn¡¯t open until nine and it was currently a little past eight thirty. The woman was just standing in front of a locked building. She didn¡¯t look like she was trying to break in or anything. She was just standing, doing nothing.


    He continued to ride along, the distant building coming closer in view. It did irk him that somebody was standing outside. He would probably have to tell them that they¡¯re closed until nine. What a bother.


    He took his attention away from the nuisance to come and focused on parking his bike and locking it to a bike rack not too far away. He then made his way by foot to the library.


    That can¡¯t be Yuna can it? I guess she could¡¯ve lost her set of keys. Wait a minute.


    ¡°Oh, hey Chad.¡±


    There¡¯s no way.


    ¡°Um... hey Rose?¡±


    Rose was standing outside of the library he worked at. She was wearing another sundress, a bit underdressed for the brisk weather. This one was pink with some sort of purple pattern. He couldn¡¯t quite tell if it was just some arbitrary pattern or if it was supposed to resemble something. Her hair was down similar to the night before, but this time instead of having curls it seemed that she straightened it. Her glasses sat all the way down at the tip of her nose, looking as if they were about to slide off.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He had a feeling of dread, but he had to confirm it.


    ¡°Why are you here? The library doesn¡¯t open for another thirty minutes.¡±


    ¡°I know, I was just waiting for you.¡±


    Now I¡¯m sure of it. She¡¯s a full on stalker.


    ¡°Did sleeping help you make your decision?¡±


    ¡°Well I-¡± Chad rubbed his brown hair, ¡°I was talking to my mom about it-¡±


    ¡°Oh, how is Becca doing?¡±


    ¡°Becca?¡±


    ¡°Your mother. Did you thank her for me? That cornbread was really yummy.¡±


    Oh right, that was a thing.


    ¡°Uh yea, She¡¯s doing alright.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. What did she say about you joining?¡±


    ¡°She said that it was a really important decision... and how I should really think about the consequences of saying yes or no. I¡¯ll need more time to make such an important decision.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± her voice turned a bit melancholy, ¡°Well, I think you¡¯ll make a great student council member.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± he grabbed his work keys from his pocket and opened the library doors, ¡°I need to get to work. Good seeing you I guess.¡±


    ¡°It was nice seeing you too Chad. I¡¯ll see you in a bit.¡±


    A bit?


    He walked into the library shaking his head. He didn¡¯t want to think too much about her last comment.


    Chad was a tad early to work. It was about ten before nine at the time he stepped into the library. He left his house this morning prematurely to avoid conversing further with his mother about the whole student council thing. Yuna, the librarian and his boss, still wasn¡¯t here. She usually arrived exactly at nine so it wasn¡¯t too surprising.


    He opened the cabinet that held the returned books and began organizing them between fiction and non-fiction. The first task of the day usually was documenting and putting back any returned books. They usually got a lot of returns Friday night for whatever reason, so him working Saturdays worked out smoothly for Yuna.


    After he finished putting away a hefty pile of books, he checked the time.


    ¡°Nine twenty, hm. I wonder where she is.¡±


    Yuna had never been late to work while he had been there. She was notorious for how seriously she took her job as a librarian.


    He heard the front doors open and his attention naturally went to the entrance.


    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late. I hope you didn¡¯t miss me too much!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just as cheerful as usual.¡±


    Yuna Cori, the twenty-seven year old librarian. She had long silver hair that ran down the entirety of her back. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was natural or not. Can silver hair even be natural? Anyways, she was well known around town for being the local librarian. One reason being that she was so young. Not every town had a silver haired beauty running the local library. Another reason for her popularity was her habit of going above the call of duty. Most libraries sent notices and reminders about overdue books and such. She would personally track down the culprits and demand it back or force them to pay the fine on the spot. It was quite an effective method, this library currently had almost no overdue books. She also took the upkeep and maintenance of the library seriously. The library didn¡¯t have any type of janitorial staff. In other words, that was Yuna¡¯s and Chad¡¯s job. She made sure to put him to work and they both kept the library spotless.


    With her being a whole twenty minutes late, Chad''s curiosity got the better of him and he just had to ask.


    ¡°What kept you Yuna? You¡¯re never late.¡±


    ¡°I was chatting with that girl outside. Is she your girlfriend or something?¡±


    She¡¯s still there?


    ¡°Agh, no. She¡¯s not my girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh. Well it¡¯s still rude to keep a girl waiting.¡±


    ¡°Waiting?¡±


    She set her bag down on the counter, ¡°She said she was waiting for you to make a decision. Did she ask you out? Awww, cute! Young romance, how pure and frivolous.¡±


    ¡°Of course she didn¡¯t ask me out.¡±


    As Yuna turned on her computer and got her desk ready, he explained his current predicament to her.


    ¡°Hmm. That is quite an interesting situation. I remember when my mom forced me to join the volleyball team in high school.¡±


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t get out of it?¡±


    ¡°Mom¡¯s tend to have a way of enforcing their will,¡± Yuna smirked at him, ¡°Although, after I joined them their attendance spiked. I don¡¯t think my mom liked how half of the male student body was gawking at me during the games so she let me quit.¡±


    Yuna was quite well endowed. That along with her silky silver hair and golden eyes made her quite an attractive lady. Chad had to kick out his fair share of creeps who wouldn¡¯t stop staring and making her feel uncomfortable at the library. He often wondered if the reason he was hired was more for security detail than actual librarian work.


    Both of them sat in silence, trying to work out this student council problem. After about thirty seconds, Yuna finally spoke up.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just join?¡±


    ¡°Wha-?¡±


    He looked at his traitorous boss.


    ¡°I thought you were supposed to be on my side?¡±


    ¡°I dunno,¡± she shrugged, ¡°I think you¡¯re just making a big deal out of this.¡±


    ¡°If I join the student council my responsibilities will increase exponentially! I¡¯ll have to stay after school every day, plan events and probably have to do a bunch of other stuff. Plus I¡¯d have to deal with that crazy girl out there! It¡¯ll also cut into my time I can work here. My schedule is already filled to the brim.¡±


    She laughed while rolling her eyes, ¡°Yes you¡¯re right. You are such a busy person. Between your afternoon naps and laying around doing nothing all day I don¡¯t think you could fit anything into that crazy schedule of yours.¡±


    Chad winced at her verbal attack.


    Yuna was a church friend of his mother. That connection was actually how he landed this job. Her word¡¯s held truth and merit. She wasn¡¯t just assuming his pastimes, she most likely knew them from his mother.


    ¡°Bu- I-¡±


    He couldn¡¯t shape any words to form a counter argument. She gave him a devious smile that reminded him of his mother.


    ¡°Take advice from another adult in your life. Being a part of a group is good. And if you can turn that group into friends that¡¯s even better,¡± she softly caressed her watch, ¡°It can make you really happy.¡±


    Chad''s irritation dwindled. Her teasing tone turned sincere. Sure he had talked with her before, but this felt a bit different. He didn¡¯t quite know how to reply to her.


    She sprung out of her seat, ¡°You¡¯re going to join!¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡±


    Before he had time to process anything, Yuna firmly grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the entrance. She then shoved him outside. Rose was still outside and turned her attention to him. He heard the click of the door locking behind him.


    Yep, all women are crazy.


    ¡°Chad, have you come to a decision yet?¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± he looked back through the small window on the door. He could see Yuna giving him a big thumbs up, ¡°I guess so.¡±


    Rose¡¯s blue eyes opened wide.


    ¡°And what¡¯s your decision?¡±


    He gritted his teeth.


    Dammit Yuna, you were supposed to help me get out of this!


    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­¡± The decision was already made for him, but he wanted to see how much damage was done, ¡°W-what would my responsibilities look like as a student council member?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a really good question. We usually meet as a group for thirty minutes to an hour after school. Even with the schedule changes I believe that will still hold true. We didn¡¯t have to cut our time down even with the new rules in place.¡±


    Figures.


    ¡°Besides the after school meetings, the time commitment is little to none.¡±


    That¡¯s not too bad. I think I can fit that into my schedule. A routine of half an hour to an hour after school, I can do that.


    ¡°Then I guess I¡¯ll join. As long as I can keep the rest of my schedule the same.¡±


    ¡°Rest of your schedule?¡±


    Don¡¯t play dumb stalker, you probably already know it verbatim.


    ¡°Well like me working here. Also I go to church on Sundays and volunteer afterwards.¡±


    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± she smiled, ¡°Thank you so much.¡±


    The pleasure is not mine.


    She dug around in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper.


    ¡°Here, you¡¯ll need to fill this out and sign it to become an official member. Just return it to me on Monday. We meet after school in room 204C.¡±


    ¡°Will do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you Monday Chad,¡± she waved as she gleefully skipped away.


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    He turned around and knocked on the door, signaling to Yuna that the task was done. The door was promptly opened. He walked into work a completely defeated man.

 Chapter 5: Finishing the Weekend Strong (Part 1)

    Chad walked back into the library, completely defeated. Yuna, who had just unlocked the door to allow him back in, was standing next to him smiling. He paid no attention to this, not wanting to address what he had just done.


    ¡°So how¡¯d it go? Did you join?¡±


    ¡°Mhmm.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great! How does it feel to be a part of a group? I bet you¡¯ll have so much fun.¡±


    I have no words for you traitor.


    He ignored Yuna, not wanting to further talk about this subject anymore. He wanted to wipe the memories away entirely and just focus on his job. The thought of all the new responsibilities he would have to take on next week made him nauseous.


    Dismissing her attempts at prying for further information, Chad went to the second floor of the library to give himself some space. One of the reasons he liked this job was because his interactions with other people were kept to a minimum. The library tended to not attract many people on Saturdays and even if there were people, he would only be asked to point out sections in the library or help somebody find a certain book. Interactions like that were simple enough for him to handle.


    Even with the library being so quiet, he still had his work cut out for him. Since he only worked Saturdays, the work would pile up over the course of an entire week. Chad was fine with this. Doing a lot of work was easy, dealing with other people wasn¡¯t.


    By the time noon came around, he had already knocked out his fair share of tasks. He had put back the returned books, cleaned the upstairs bathroom, organized the new releases and orders as well as some other small tasks that Yuna had listed for him to do.


    Hearing the gentle chime of the grandfather clock from downstairs, he instinctually came back down. That noise usually signified the start of his thirty minute lunch break. He went behind the main librarian desk and opened the mini fridge under it.


    Crap, I¡¯m an idiot.


    Chad had left his house in a rush to avoid speaking to his mother about the whole student council fiasco. This led to him forgetting his lunch in the fridge at home.


    He shut the mini fridge a bit more aggressively than he intended to, but Yuna didn¡¯t seem to notice. He then went to the far end of the desk where he would usually eat his lunch and sat down. He looked down at the empty space in front of him and then at Yuna at the other end of the large desk. She had already begun eating lunch. She seemed to be eating some type of sushi. He had never had sushi before so he couldn¡¯t tell exactly what type it was. He just noticed small rolls of rice with some sort of meat in the middle. It honestly didn¡¯t look all that appetizing to him. The thought of eating raw meat had never sounded appealing.


    Surprisingly, Yuna was another reason why Chad liked his job at the library. Despite her forcing him to join the student council earlier, they got along quite well. Since she was well acquainted with his mother, she knew his social patterns. At lunch they wouldn¡¯t have any small talk, they would just finish their lunches, discuss their work plans for the rest of the day and then be off to work again. She was an upbeat and outgoing personality, so he was glad she was able to hone that part of her in when they were working together. She must¡¯ve known she would lose him as a worker if she annoyed him too much.


    ¡°You forget your lunch or something?¡± Yuna said with a mouthful of rice.


    ¡°Ehh?¡±


    Yuna had broken an unspoken rule between them. They weren¡¯t supposed to talk to each other until they had finished their lunches. Chad didn¡¯t really have any lunch to finish, but still, it irked him.


    ¡°Yea, I left it at home.¡±


    ¡°Mmm,¡± Yuna picked some rice out of her teeth with her long nails, ¡°It¡¯s not good to work on an empty stomach. You¡¯re not going to start to slack off now, are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a child, I can work on an empty stomach.¡±


    With a shrug from Yuna, the library was once again filled with silence. Chad wasn¡¯t all that hungry. He didn¡¯t feel the need for lunch. However, he wasn¡¯t about to go straight back to work. He was scheduled to have lunch for thirty minutes starting at noon. He wasn¡¯t about to go and break his schedule. Lunch was just a type of break anyways. It just so happened to co-align with when people ate lunch. Eating while on a lunch break wasn¡¯t a requirement anyways. A worker was entitled to this time, whether they ate or not.


    Thud.


    A small plastic bag with a few rolls of sushi in it landed on the desk in front of Chad.


    ¡°Take this, I¡¯m already full.¡±


    He looked up at Yuna standing next to him, ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t need your pity food.¡±


    She sighed sitting down next to him, ¡°I have extra food, you have no food. I need to watch my weight anyways, so eat it before I do.¡±


    ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°You want me to get fat or something! Just eat the goddamned food!¡±


    Jeez, aggressive much?


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Trying to avoid further verbal abuse from his boss, he grabbed a roll of sushi. The rice was a squishy yet firm texture. He looked at the piece of fish in the middle, it was definitely raw. It didn¡¯t look all that tasty, but Chad had lied to himself earlier. He was quite hungry. He was a fifteen year old boy. His required food intake was a lot higher than most other people.


    Mustering up the courage, he shoved the whole roll into his mouth and forced himself to chew.


    The rice was moist and cool, not necessarily cold. It held firm in his hand, but once it was in his mouth he felt each grain individually separating and diffusing into his mouth. In the middle of the roll was the actual sushi, or raw fish. He went into this experience expecting it to taste as such, raw. His expectations were flipped. It tasted absolutely refreshing. The fish was of course not alone. It was accompanied by a crunch that he could only assume to be some type of vegetable along with other flavors he wasn¡¯t used to. Overall this had far surpassed his expectations. He quickly snagged another roll from the bag and popped it into his mouth.


    ¡°Wow, this is definitely your first time eating sushi.¡± Yuna snickered.


    ¡°Wha- You could tell just from how I ate it?¡±


    He thought he had taken his first roll of sushi and ate it with a healthy amount of confidence.


    ¡°You¡¯re just too easy to read,¡± she said with a smile, leaning back in her chair.


    ¡°Just how am I easy to read?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t just explain it with words. It''s just something you get a feel for,¡± her smile turned mischievous, ¡°Like that girl from earlier. That was totally your girlfriend or something. Don¡¯t even try to lie about it Mr. Obvious.¡±


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t my girlfriend! Like I already told you, Ms. Crazy-Girl was recruiting me and you made me agree to it.¡±


    She laughed at his reaction, ¡°You¡¯re also really easy to get worked up for how level headed you claim to be. You¡¯re way too much fun.¡±


    ¡°A- Uh- Hmph¡­¡±


    Not wanting to be bothered by his boss any further, he quickly finished the rest of the sushi rolls, ignoring her teasing quips. Yuna didn¡¯t give up trying to get more reactions out of him while he was eating, but he held his best poker face for the duration of her attempts.


    The grandfather clock downstairs hit twelve thirty and Chad escaped back upstairs to his duties.


    Who knew Yuna could be so pesterous.


    Chad had just been thinking earlier about how well he got along with her, but today has proven that hypothesis incorrect. She was a nuisance. At least she was when they weren¡¯t working. For the rest of the work day, she didn¡¯t bother him again. The only words spoken between them were about work.


    Maybe she isn¡¯t so bad. Maybe she just gets worked up with any inkling of drama in my life.


    Chad had kept their relationship very surface level. He never spoke about school or anything besides work with her. This was the first time Yuna had acquired any information about his personal life. Chad slotted this new information about his boss away in his brain.


    The old grandfather clock¡¯s hands showed four-thirty. He gave Yuna a quick farewell before heading home from work.


    After lunch, everything went smoothly. Nobody else came into the library, it was just Chad and Yuna working with little to no conversing. Simply perfect, everything about the second half of his work day fit nicely into his predetermined mental schedule. The bike ride back home was also nice. The sun was still out so he got to enjoy the fall colors on his way back home as well. Although, there was a small knot in his stomach that wasn¡¯t coming undone.


    What if she¡¯s there?


    Chad worried that, similar to this morning, Rose Visca would be waiting for him at the end of his commute. He sure wouldn¡¯t put it past her craziness to wait at the entrance of his house. She had already done so at his work.


    ¡°At this point I have to be prepared for anything from that crazy girl. I should be ready for all possible scenarios.¡±


    After rounding the final corner he let out a sigh of relief. Nobody awaited him at his front entrance. Rose seemed to be done with him for now. His mother¡¯s 2005 Honda Civic parked in their driveway showed no signs of being moved, so most likely she had not been called into work today.


    I lost the battle, but I can keep my pride. I cannot let her know I joined. I can use the rescheduling as the reason why I¡¯ll be at school a lot later. I cannot admit defeat to her of all people.


    He entered his house with the usual sight of his mother on the couch with a glass of wine and her laptop.


    ¡°Hey sweetie, how was work?¡±


    ¡°Work was work,¡± Chad shrugged.


    ¡°You forgot your lunch in the fridge, you must be hungry.¡±


    ¡°Yuna gave me some of her sushi.¡±


    ¡°Aww, how sweet of her! I¡¯ll have to thank her at church tomorrow.¡±


    She yelled at me to eat it. I don¡¯t know how ¡°sweet¡± of a gesture that can be.


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s stew in the slow cooker if you¡¯re still hungry.¡± Rebecca continued typing on her laptop.


    He grunted his approval to those words and went straight to the kitchen. The sushi Yuna had given him was good, but not very filling. He required much more sustenance than a granola bar, a slice of banana bread and a few rolls of sushi.


    Chad scarfed down about four and a half bowls of stew. Afterwards he put away some clean dishes and refilled the dishwasher with his dirty ones. When he finished cleaning up after himself it was just before seven o¡¯clock. With his lack of sleep from last night and having to get up early for church tomorrow, he decided to call it an early night.


    After a quick good night to his mother, he got ready for bed. He laid in his small bed on top of the covers. Since he had gone to bed so early, light trickled in from the window acting as an irritant. He mustered up the energy to get up and fully shut his curtains. After collapsing back into bed again, he realized he wasn¡¯t all that tired. He checked the time on his phone and it wasn¡¯t even eight yet.


    I wonder if they sent those out yet.


    With his phone in hand, he checked his school email to see if the school had sent out the adjusted schedules yet. He was pretty sure Rose had said something about that during the pep rally.


    After refreshing his email a couple times, he tossed his phone back onto his nightstand.


    ¡°If they¡¯re going to change our schedules so suddenly, they could at least send them to us preemptively.¡±


    This whole schedule changing thing had been stressing him out. He figured they couldn¡¯t do anything too drastic given that they were already a couple weeks into a semester, but he felt he couldn¡¯t be too cautious about maintaining his schedule. The world was a cruel place, not liking structured and orderly schedules.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost like some sort of scientific law ingrained into nature. There will always be more chaos in life no matter how hard you try.¡±


    Chad had yet to take a class in Thermodynamics, but he would learn very soon that entropy and disorder are always increasing.

 Chapter 6: Finishing the Weekend Strong (Part 2)

    Chad woke up the next morning just like any other Sunday morning. Rebecca dragged him out of bed and forced him to get ready for church. They swiftly ate some breakfast, got in the car and left. Since the day he was born, she had ingrained the routine of going to church in his schedule. It was essentially second nature to him at this point so he didn¡¯t mind it at all. He wasn¡¯t necessarily all that into the whole religion thing, but he very much admired the structure and order to it. Everyone going to a building at the same time every week, holding a service for a specified period of time and then everyone leaving and going back to their homes. The monotonous timing and scheduling of church always brought a smile to his face.


    When the Nosmiths had moved to Manha, Rebecca chose a small local church to resume their routine. It was about a ten minute drive to the other side of town. Chad was pretty sure there were closer churches, but he didn¡¯t question her choice. The building was quite small and services were quite packed. Luckily most people kept to themselves, saving him from idle talk before and after services. Well, except for idle chat with Yuna Cori.


    Like children at school, even when not assigned seats, adults have a tendency to sit in the same spots over and over again. They often become disgruntled when someone ¡°takes¡± their spot, disrupting their habitual pattern. This small niche in human nature always gave Chad comfort. He wasn¡¯t weird or different, he was quite normal. This pattern was also how the Nosmiths met Yuna. On the first week they went to this church, he and Rebecca just so happened to sit in the seats adjacent to where Yuna usually sat. At first they would only say a general greeting to each other and maybe have surface level conversations. Eventually, Rebecca and Yuna started to really hit it off becoming friends. This is how he got his job at the library. Even Chad had to admit that Networking could be quite a useful thing.


    Instead of going directly to their seats in the chapel, Rebecca and Chad now waited in the entrance for Yuna. Small clusters of people idly chatted just outside of the chapel. It created a nice white noise keeping any awkward silences to a minimum.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad we wore jackets, it was a bit chilly this morning.¡±


    Rebecca had just walked back to him after hanging up their coats. She wore a rustic orange sweater that matched the leaves on the trees outside. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail with her black jeans complimenting her black outlined glasses. Neither her nor Chad were dressed all that fancily. This church didn¡¯t have any stigmas with not dressing up. His mother would still have him put a little effort into his appearance, often forcing him to put gel in his hair.


    ¡°Oh by the way Chad, did you decide to join the student council? You went to bed so early that I didn¡¯t get the chance to ask you,¡± Rebecca smiled, ¡°I think Jesus would say yes to that kind girl''s offer.¡±


    Chad rolled his eyes at his mother¡¯s comment, ¡°No I haven¡¯t ye-¡±


    Wait!


    He had decided to keep the fact that he joined the student council a secret from his mother, but they were currently waiting for someone. Someone that not only knew that he joined, but specifically pushed for him to join.


    Shit. How am I supposed to keep her mouth shut? She¡¯s like best friends with mom.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to make your decision until tomorrow, right? Joining the student council would be such a selfless thing to do. Committing your precious time for the benefit of your peers. Do you know who else would act so selflessly?¡± she gestured to a cross hanging on one of the walls in the room.


    Stop using religion to guilt me into this! Even though I already committed to joining, it¡¯s still bad class.


    ¡°How are my two favorite Nosmiths doing this lovely morning?¡±


    Yuna Cori walked up behind him while he was conversing with his mother.


    She wore a tight black dress that accentuated her attractive figure. Most churches would start spritzing her with holy water at the sight of it, asking her to repent for her sins. As noted earlier, this church was more progressive when it came to church attire so nobody seemed to mind.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯re the only two Nosmiths you know.¡± Chad retorted.


    ¡°There you go, being upbeat and positive as always.¡±


    She attempted to put her arm around his shoulders, but due to their height discrepancies she struggled. This led to her relying on a small jump to achieve this. It ended less in a friendly gesture and more in a headlock from the side with Chad being forced to lean forward from her borderline attack.


    ¡°What the hell!¡±


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t swear in church.¡±


    She ruffled his hair before releasing him from the hold. The friendly gesture led to Chad¡¯s gelled hair being ruined. He didn¡¯t care too much about that, he just felt like being assaulted at church was a bit much.


    ¡°Good morning Yuna,¡± Rebecca said, ¡°I heard you gave Chad some of your lunch yesterday. Thank you for always taking such good care of him.¡±


    Good care my ass.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t just let him sit with no food and watch me eat mine. He just looked so pathetic, especially after that girl-¡±


    ¡°The sermon is about to start!¡± Chad interrupted, ¡°Let''s go get our seats before they¡¯re taken.¡±


    He grabbed his mother¡¯s arm and started dragging her into the chapel. Yuna was left behind, mid sentence.


    ¡°C-Chad what¡¯s the rush?¡± Rebecca said, being pulled along.


    ¡°I just really don¡¯t want someone taking our seats.¡±


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    She rolled her eyes at her overtly routine obsessed son.


    Yuna followed behind them a few paces back. He looked back at her and carefully mouthed the words, ¡°Don¡¯t tell her.¡± After a few seconds of pondering, she nodded, seeming to understand the situation.


    Good, seems like she got the message.


    After finding their usual seats, Yuna and Rebecca resumed talking to each other. Yuna avoided the topic of Rose recruiting him at the library yesterday. He thanked both God and Yuna for this. The topics they did discuss was general church gossip that he wasn¡¯t all that interested in. Since she and Rebecca were both single women at a small church, there were plenty of fun stories they could share with each other about getting hit on by fellow church goers.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he has a wife. How gross of him.¡±


    ¡°Yea, I can¡¯t believe he would try to pull something like that.¡±


    He rolled his eyes at the gossip of two fully grown women. Although he wasn¡¯t sure if he could count Yuna as fully grown with the way she had been acting as of late.


    After a few minutes the service started. A small band composed of local church goers performed three worship songs. It wasn¡¯t high quality music of course, but Chad was pretty sure the quality of the music wasn¡¯t the point. He still thought they could¡¯ve used a bit more practice.


    The pastor then came up and gave a sermon. His voice was mellow yet firm. Like giving a presentation at school, he laid out each of the topics he would be discussing and then dove into the information. Everything about this church was so organized and systematic. Who wouldn¡¯t love going?


    The service finished and Rebecca and Chad walked back out into the lobby. They fetched their jackets from the coatrack and started heading to the exit. They turned back to say their usual farewell to Yuna.


    ¡°See you Yuna.¡±


    ¡°Have a good week! Try not to get too lonely at the library. Chad will be back next week to give you some company.¡±


    The interaction was just a formality. He couldn¡¯t think of why they had to say the same thing each week with just slightly different words. Manners such as these baffled him but he still followed them.


    Of course we want her to have a good week. Why would we not?


    ¡°Hold up a second, Becca.¡± Yuna called from behind.


    What is this? An irregularity?


    He and his mother turned around from the exit and faced her. The crowd of exiting church goers moved around her as if they were purposefully highlighting her. She seemed to be quite happy. She wore a nice smile that complimented her attractive face.


    ¡°Becca, I was just wondering if you had any prayer requests for me. Like if you or Chad had any big decisions coming up this week.¡±


    Oh no. That smile¡­ It wasn¡¯t happiness¡­


    ¡°As a matter of fact, Chad was recently offered a position on the student council directly from their president. She was quite a lovely girl.¡±


    That smile¡­


    ¡°Oh really? That sounds like a great opportunity.¡±


    Isn¡¯t the smile of someone who is happy.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I was telling him. The president, Rose was her name, came to our house Friday night and offered him the position. She was so kind and Chad repaid that kindness by being quite rude. I sure hope she doesn¡¯t retract the offer from him.¡±


    It¡¯s the smile a predator makes¡­


    ¡°Oh I don¡¯t think you need to worry about that at all¡­¡±


    When its prey is trapped¡­


    ¡°Chad actually talked to her before work yesterday morning.¡±


    And hopeless to escape¡­


    ¡°Really? At the library?¡±


    From the jaws of death.


    ¡°Yes! Apparently she was waiting for him outside of the library well before we opened. They had quite the lengthy conversation and she happily skipped away afterwards. I was wondering if she was his girlfriend. You two had great chemistry and she was very pretty. You two have to be dating.¡±


    Don¡¯t act dumb!


    Chad clenched his fist. She had done him in. He put his trust in her. He thought she understood his message to her.


    No, that¡¯s wrong.


    Yuna understood his message all too well. She had just waited for the right time to perform the finishing move. She had not only brought the topic up, but did so in a way where Chad would have to tell his mom with his own words. Even though she knew, she played the conversation in a way where he had to directly admit his failure to his mother.


    I¡¯ll never forgive you for this Yuna!


    Rebecca turned to him with fury in her eyes.


    ¡°Rose took time out of her weekend to find you at the library and you still didn¡¯t say yes! I thought I raised you better than that!¡±


    ¡°No, that''s wrong.¡±


    He decided to come clean to his mother, telling her everything that happened before yesterday. He told her about initially pushing off the decision but then Yuna forcing him to say yes. He also told his mother the reason why he kept the fact he joined secret. Chad specifically emphasized the part that Yuna had already known he joined and played dumb just now, purposely egging him on. If he was going to sink in the ocean, he was going to drag her down with him.


    You¡¯ll have to pay for your little acting job Yuna!


    After he finished telling her all that happened yesterday regarding him joining the student council, there was a moment of silence. Rebecca just stood there looking at her son.


    ¡°Pfft, you didn¡¯t tell me because you didn¡¯t want to admit defeat?¡± she began to laugh at her son.


    Yuna began to laugh along with her, ¡°You¡¯re such a child Chad.¡±


    ¡°Shut up Yuna! You acted like you didn¡¯t know just to torture me more. You¡¯re just as childish as me and you¡¯re twice my age.¡±


    A fire was set ablaze in her eyes.


    ¡°I am not twice your age you little brat! You don¡¯t even know how to talk to a woman properly-¡±


    ¡°Alright, that''s enough you two.¡±


    In a way only a mother could, Rebecca stopped the bickering between the two siblings. Well, they weren¡¯t siblings but they were sure acting as such.


    She took hold of the clash that was drawing some unwanted attention from the fellow church goers. The Nosmiths then said their usual farewell to Yuna and left church.


    The car ride back from church was quiet, too quiet. Chad thought for sure that his mother would rub it in his face that he had lost. That she had pushed her will over his own and forced him to join. His expectations were flipped. She didn¡¯t bring up the topic again for the rest of the day. He spent the rest of his Sunday doing as he would usually do. After church he and his mother would go back home, change clothes and then go volunteer at the local homeless shelter. This revelation was unexpected but quite welcomed. He needed this consistency after the hectic end to his week.


    Later that day, Chad was back in his bedroom. The day was coming to an end, the sun slowly sank below the horizon outside of the window. He had called in another early night seeing that he had nothing else to do for the rest of the night.


    After a while of laying in his bed with no success towards falling asleep, his phone vibrated and lit up the room. He quickly turned on his shoulder and looked at what caused this. A notification showed on his lock screen.


    Notification from Email.


    He opened it with anticipation. It was what he expected it to be, his adjusted schedule for this upcoming week and the rest of the semester.

 Chapter 7: The Beginning of Change

    On a Monday after a much too short of a weekend, students had to get back in their routines and go to a building they all dreaded. Whether you were a student or faculty, Mondays were truly the worst day of the week. Saturday and Sunday usually reigned supreme in rankings while Friday was close behind (maybe even tied with Sunday for some). For most people, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday felt awfully similar. The discrepancies between the three were minimal. Perhaps one of those days would be better than the other solely by coincidence, but it wouldn¡¯t have any correlation to which day of the week it was. Monday was the sole outlier in terms of the feeling it gave.


    Friday through Sunday all felt akin, same with Tuesday through Thursday. Monday was like a distant relative that always dampened the mood at family gatherings. Whenever life and eccentricity were in the air, Monday would always turn the mood sour. It¡¯s not Monday¡¯s fault, it''s in its nature to act as such. One of the days of the week needed to be the bridge from the lovely weekend to the unpleasant weekdays and Monday drew the short stick. Friday takes on a similar role, but it looks much more friendly since it leads to weekend paradise contrasted with work week tedium.


    Chad Nosmith, a sophomore at Manha high school was experiencing this phenomenon known as a Monday. This Monday wasn¡¯t like those that came before. For Chad, Mondays didn¡¯t hold the same feelings of dread that it did for other people. He looked forward to Mondays because it meant that he could continue his schedule of going to school for five days and then having a two day weekend. The week day¡¯s repetitiveness fit perfectly into what he looked for in life.


    The reason why he was experiencing the phenomenon known as a ¡°Monday¡± was less because of the day of the week and more for what this certain day entailed. It just so happened to co-align with a Monday.


    On a cool fall day in the middle of September, Manha High School decided to implement some drastic schedule changes. The reason behind these schedule changes had been the historically low scores on recent standardized tests. The school board, along with the student council, decided it was time to implement changes. These changes mostly surrounded the idea of lessening ¡°distractions¡± for students and getting them to spend more time in a learning environment.


    What this equated to was the shortening of after school activities and the lengthening of the school day in conjunction. Instead of ending at two thirty, school would continue until three pm. All activities couldn¡¯t start until school ended, but the school prohibited sports and activities from just lengthening their practices and meetings in response. How they were to enforce this was not specified.


    With the school day being lengthened, the classes were naturally extended as well. The additional thirty minutes from the extension was evenly distributed between all periods throughout the day, including lunch.


    Another change that extended the length of the classes was the shortening of passing times. The original time students had between classes was eight minutes. This was shrunk down to four. At face value this seemed like a small change but passing period times added up allowing for the classes to be lengthened substantially.


    The other big change they made was how lunch was scheduled. Instead of having three different lunch groups eating lunch at separate times, there would be a single period for eating lunch. This change confused Chad a bit, he had always thought the block schedule lunch was more time efficient, but maybe the school knows better than him?


    All of these drastic changes were made in the name of bettering the education of the students at Manha High School.


    As Chad walked through the familiar hallways before the first period started, he could only think of the question he asked Rose the night after the pep rally.


    Will this actually help?


    Of course, he had phrased that question with some sarcasm surrounding it, but the question was still genuine. ¡°Was this going to help?¡± was the question waiting to be answered by the entire student body. He didn¡¯t like this all that much. Besides the obvious of messing with his precious schedule, he thought this felt like an experiment where the students were the lab rats. Chad felt metaphorical pokes and prods from the school board as they looked down from outside the cage. They were changing and perturbing the student¡¯s environment, seeing if any correlations would appear in their academic performance.


    He took a sharp right and strode forth down the math hallway as he had done many times. He was trying to be optimistic. So far his day had gone just as any other Monday would. He woke up, ate breakfast and then walked over to school with his little short cut through the woods. He now walked to his first class of the day that started at exactly 7:30.


    Honestly, this schedule change could¡¯ve been worse.


    When Chad first heard of the schedule change last Friday, he feared that his entire world would flip upside down. Luckily, they ended up not changing any classes and just lengthened them. He felt that he could easily adjust to this.


    Except¡­


    Chad had joined the student council. The word ¡°joined¡± didn¡¯t do the situation justice. He thought ¡°forcible enlisted¡± would better suit how he ended up enrolled.


    Damn you Yuna.


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    Chad thought of his boss at the local library. There were many reasons why he ended up joining, but she seemed to be the biggest culprit. Although, maybe he wasn¡¯t giving enough credit to his mother.


    He shook his head.


    Worrying about that stuff won¡¯t do you any good now.


    Without breaking his rhythmic steps, Chad entered his first period class, Calculus. The room was small and quite basic. There were approximately twenty desks for students and a chalkboard. The teacher¡¯s desk was tucked in the corner. With no window and the aroma of chalk in the air, the room was quite stuffy.


    Chad would always arrive at his first period five minutes before it started. He did this to avoid any unwanted or unexpected conversations with his peers. By the time class would start, he would often already be nose deep in his textbook.


    Who the hell is that?


    A sole girl was sitting in the desk closest to the door in the front row. She rested her face on one hand, squishing one of her cheeks. She held a small paperback book in her other hand. The girl wore black leggings and a gray skirt. Similar to what Rose wore at the pep rally last Friday, this girl wore a white dress shirt with a tie, although, her shirt was partially unbuttoned and her tie was completely loose. He thought this was odd. This school didn¡¯t have any sort of uniforms or dress code, so why did she wear a dress shirt and tie? And why did it look as if she didn¡¯t want to wear it?


    ¡°The hell are you looking at?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    Maybe Chad, being surprised that someone beat him to class, stared at her for too long. He should probably just apologize for it even though she was the one who did something unexpected. He always got to class at the same time, it was ingrained in him that no one else would be in the classroom except for him.


    Before he could reply, the girl spoke again.


    ¡°Are you some sort of idiot or something?¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡±


    ¡°That was a redundant question, of course you¡¯re an idiot, my head¡¯s hurting.¡±


    Is this girl for real?


    No words came to his tongue. He couldn¡¯t figure out how to respond to this girl. After a few seconds of silence, he simply turned away and went to his usual desk in the back of the classroom.


    Best not to converse with someone like that. She seems like she¡¯ll do something completely irrational at any second.


    The girl turned her piercing dark blue eyes from him and back to her book. He sat directly four desks behind her. He wondered why he hadn¡¯t noticed her before.


    Of course I wouldn¡¯t have noticed her.


    Chad was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t recognize any of his classmates. Every Calculus class, he would immediately open his textbook and start reading the lesson. He didn¡¯t bother paying attention to the teacher, he always learned better and faster when he taught himself. He would also do the homework in class while the teacher was lecturing and deemed this the most time efficient way of dealing with his homework.


    He was about eighty percent done with today¡¯s homework. His brain was a bit tired, so he decided to give himself a brain break and lifted his nose from the textbook. At some point the classroom had filled with students and Mr. Gredge was sitting on his desk well into a lesson. He was lecturing to the class, teaching them Calculus. That was what he was supposed to be doing, but it seemed more like ranting. Chad couldn¡¯t judge since he just started listening, but no equations had been written on the chalkboard.


    ¡°Those damn pricks, they can¡¯t just expect me to work longer for no extra pay? Who the hell do they think they are?¡±


    Mr. Gredge was the head coach of the football team at Manha High School. He usually wore jeans and a polo with a small picture of the school¡¯s mascot, Rhonny the Rhinoceros, on his pectoral. Chad was sure he was a drill sergeant in his past life or maybe it would make for a fitting back up career since he seemed so displeased with his current job. His face always had a tint of red to it, but it seemed to be a lot more red today with a vein bulging from his temple.


    ¡°The damn board has been getting on me about losing too many games as well. How the hell am I supposed to win more games if you cut all practices by thirty minutes!?!¡± Mr. Gredge sighed, bringing his hand to his face, ¡°Between restructuring both practices and lessons, where am I going to find the time to enjoy myself?¡±


    ¡°Maybe start with not wasting ours.¡±


    The reply came from the front of the class. He lifted his face from his palm, the vein on his temple was pulsing.


    ¡°What was that!¡± Mr. Gredge shouted.


    Somebody from the front row stood up. It was that girl who had beat Chad to class. He couldn¡¯t see her face, but her shoulder length black hair with dark blue highlights made her easy to remember.


    Has she really been in this class the whole year? Am I just that oblivious?


    Chad glanced around at the other students in the room. He might as well have been in the streets of New York City. None of their faces looked remotely familiar.


    I guess I am just that oblivious.


    The girl stood strong against the intensity Mr. Gredge was radiating. She was quite tall for a girl, taller than Rose Visca the student council president. She was maybe even taller than Chad, although it was hard to get an accurate judgment while seated.


    ¡°You heard me you big oaf,¡± she pointed directly at the teacher, ¡°Maybe if you¡¯d actually teach us something instead of bitchin¡¯ all day, the school wouldn¡¯t have made these changes.¡±


    His face turned to a dark shade of crimson. Chad didn¡¯t think it was possible, but his face had somehow managed to become even more red. It was as if every blood cell under his skin was about to burst.


    ¡°Ms. Hunt! Get your ass to detention!¡±


    The girl with the last name Hunt grabbed the paperback she had been reading and began walking out the classroom.


    ¡°Probably will learn more there than from your dumbass! At least my headache will go away now.¡±


    The girl left the room and just as abruptly as it started the argument came to a screeching halt. After the door slammed shut not a sound was made for another minute.


    Well, that was an entertaining brain break. I¡¯m so glad I didn¡¯t converse with her earlier.


    Chad went back to his homework, tuning out his surroundings again. He managed to finish it just as the bell rang to signify the end of class.

 Chapter 8: Hallway Shenanigans

    Chad exited his first class of the day a bit later than he usually would. The difference of a few minutes still irked him but he had to press forward.


    He would usually finish his homework during math class. One of the reasons for this was that it was more time efficient to finish homework at school instead of at home. Chad would schedule time after school to do homework, but he didn¡¯t have to do it during that time. He made sure to have contingency plans if he were to be successful on a certain day and walk home with no work to be done.


    There was a specific reason why he wanted to finish his Calculus homework more than homework from other classes. Compared to all the textbooks he had, the calculus book he owned was by far the heaviest and most cumbersome. If he could shed the pounds from his backpack he would find a way to.


    Chad walked to his locker with that sole purpose in mind. Lockers were on the border of being extinct. Most students didn¡¯t use their lockers and opted to just carry their backpacks from class to class. Chad did this as well but his math textbook was the exception. It was worth the detour to his locker to shed the weight. It was also worth the hassle of-


    ¡°Hey Chad, what''s good?¡±


    Ugh, Peter.


    ¡°Hey.¡±


    Peter Phillip was the only person in Manha High School that he would potentially call a friend. They both transferred to Manha this fall and their lockers just so happened to be adjacent to each other. Peter would often take advantage of when he returned his textbook and talk to him.


    Peter was quite a bit shorter than him and had slicked back blonde hair. It was a bit jarring when they stood next to each other given Chad¡¯s messy brown hair and tall stature.


    ¡°How did first period go? Anything interesting happen?¡±


    ¡°It went,¡± Chad shrugged, ¡°There was some girl who mouthed off at Mr. Gredge. That was pretty interesting.¡±


    ¡°Woah, that sounds awesome!¡±


    Awesome? More like mildly intriguing.


    ¡°Who was it?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­¡±


    Chad had essentially just met her that morning. ¡°Meeting¡± her was putting it kindly. He obviously didn¡¯t know her name. He probably couldn¡¯t name a single one of his classmates. Peter should¡¯ve known this but he still asked.


    Wait. Mr. Gredge said her last name when he sent her to detention.


    ¡°I think her last name was Hunt, but I¡¯m not too sure. I don¡¯t really know her.¡±


    Peter¡¯s upbeat smile wavered.


    ¡°Do you know her?¡± Chad asked.


    ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve just heard bad things.¡±


    He was a tad curious as to what bad things Peter was referring to but he was pressed for time. Chad wasn¡¯t about to be late for the second period just to learn more about some rude girl.


    Shutting his locker after putting his textbook away, he began walking away from Peter.


    ¡°Nice talking to you. See you later.¡±


    He felt a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°Wait up! You want to go to hang out after school? Some people I talked to are interested in hanging out with us.¡±


    Peter always asked Chad to hang out after school and he would always turn it down. Chad was a bit puzzled as to why he kept on asking him. This time Chad had a legitimate excuse. He was on the student council and would have to meet with them after school. He wasn¡¯t about to say those words out loud. He went for his usual reply.


    ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks for asking,¡± Chad walked away but gave some parting words to his friend, ¡°Don¡¯t be late for class.¡±


    ¡°Will do! See you Nosmith.¡±


    Why use my last name?


    He continued on to his next class as Peter still stood at their lockers.


    ***


    Peter Phillips stood at his locker that neighbored his friend, Chad Nosmith¡¯s locker. His friend had just left for his next class after a short yet expected interaction. He didn¡¯t mind how Chad acted. He actually found it quite interesting.


    He¡¯s like a machine, no a program. Wait no, a robot. Chad is most definitely a robot.


    He smiled at the thought of his friend who went about every day the exact same way. For him this was unimaginable, but for some reason he was fond of Chad. He liked talking to him even though he could predict his responses. It just made his unpredictable responses all the more exciting.


    Peter had always heard that opposites attract and that was most definitely true. He and Chad were the best of friends. They didn¡¯t hang out after school but this was the type of friendship that didn¡¯t need extended periods of time together to be close. They were close just based on their unalike personalities.


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    Even with a great friend like Chad, he still sought out new ones. He constantly bounced around from friend group to friend group, trying to find people he cliqued with but he had no luck so far. Chad was his sole friend at this new school.


    He puffed out his chest and made sure his hair was slicked back and kept. Keeping up a good appearance is a great way to make friends.


    He left his locker that neighbored his friend¡¯s and walked down the hallway. It seemed a lot less crowded than usual for passing time but that was to be expected with the stupid new rules the student council put in place.


    Is that a bottle?


    Trying to keep good posture, Peter had a tendency to look upwards. He spotted a plastic bottle that was halfway stuck in a ceiling tile.


    ¡°That¡¯s sick, but how¡¯d somebody get it up there?¡±


    He pondered that question. The ceiling was quite tall and would be hard to reach even for someone of his friend''s height. He stood no chance of placing something in a ceiling tile.


    ¡°Hmph. This is just a challenge. I¡¯ll show you! You may be all cool and stuff putting that bottle up there but I¡¯ll knock it down!¡±


    Not a soul in the world knew who Peter was talking to, but there wasn¡¯t anyone around to hear it. The hallways had emptied out, leaving him alone talking to a bottle stuck in the ceiling.


    ¡°Humph!¡±


    He jumped as high as he could, trying to reach it. He got decently close to it. Even with his small stature, he was quite athletic. He would always excel in gym class and was even recruited by the track and football teams. He didn¡¯t like the structure and order that came with being part of a team. Track somewhat intrigued him with being more of an individual sport, but that would mean he would have to give up any after school shenanigans and surrender them to practice. That wasn¡¯t about to happen, especially with the recent lengthening of the school day.


    ¡°I- almost have it. I swear I¡¯ll reach you even if it¡¯s the last thing I do!¡±


    After another failed attempt, he took off his backpack and set it against the wall. Besides a couple random notebooks, there wasn¡¯t much in the backpack, but shedding any weight right now could be the difference between reaching his goal and falling short.


    He took three long steps backwards. He would need to muster up as much momentum as he could get.


    ¡°This is it. You¡¯ll meet your end now, bottle.¡±


    After the small quip, Peter took off in a short sprint. He stepped into a two legged jump, bending his knees so that he was close to the ground. Then like a compressed spring, he shot off the ground into the sky. The amount of force he was able to generate was quite impressive. He stretched his body to its limitations needing every centimeter he could muster. He flew in the air like a pro basketball player jumping for the ball.


    ¡°Ha! I got it!¡±


    He was able to graze the very bottom of the bottle with his index finger. Feeling this, he instinctively moved his fingers, knocking them into the stuck bottle. He did it. He was able to touch the bottle.


    His landing wasn¡¯t as graceful as his liftoff. He tumbled forward a bit, needing to brace his impact with both his legs and arms. After recovering from his great fall, he looked back up at the ceiling and grimaced.


    The bottle was still there, looking down at the failure of Peter.


    ¡°Damn you! Don¡¯t look down at me like that!¡±


    His anger boiled. The bottle had won and was now gloating. He reached for his bag and opened it. He wasn¡¯t against playing dirty.


    Grabbing one of his flimsy notebooks, he held it above his head and locked his aim onto the target.


    Wait.


    The bottle was now looking down at him from a different position. It was still stuck in the ceiling tile, but now, instead of being halfway into the ceiling, only the cap was stuck. The bottle now hung lower.


    He laughed at his weakened opponent, ¡°I¡¯ll get you now!¡±


    ¡°Hey you!¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Peter turned around to the source of the voice that disrupted his final showdown.


    There was a girl standing down at the other end of the hallway. She wore a black skirt and white dress shirt with large glasses that covered almost half her face. Her brown hair was tied into double braids that ran down either of her shoulders. She carried a clipboard in one arm and a pen in her hand.


    ¡°What are you doing out of class?¡±


    He looked around and finally noticed that the hallway was emptied.


    Did the bell ring already? I didn¡¯t even notice.


    ¡°Show me your hall pass?¡±


    Aw shit, it¡¯s the feds.


    Peter snagged his backpack and tossed it onto his back. He began sprinting down the hallway away from what he could only assume was a hall monitor.


    ¡°Hey wait! We got a runner!¡±


    Turning corner after corner, he did his best to lose his pursuer.


    Damn a dead end.


    With trying to ditch the annoying girl chasing him, he didn¡¯t keep track of the direction he went. A wrong turn must have landed him at the end of the English hallway.


    Footsteps from the other end of the hallway started coming closer signaling the end to this chase.


    Damn damn damn. This isn¡¯t where my story ends. It can¡¯t be!


    He glanced to his left.


    Perfect!


    There was a bathroom right at the end of the hallway. It made for the perfect place to hide.


    He quickly ran in and shut himself in one of the stalls. She would never find him here.


    Ten seconds later, he could hear the light footsteps of his pursuer outside of the bathroom.


    ¡°Hey! I know you¡¯re in there.¡±


    Peter smiled. Even if she knew he was in there it didn¡¯t matter. This was a male restroom and females weren¡¯t allowed to go in. His plan was flawless.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you think you¡¯re doing. I¡¯ll just wait out here until you come out. There aren''t any other exits, you¡¯re quite trapped.¡±


    That¡¯s what she thought but she would be wrong. Peter had incredible patience. He would wait until the second period was over, then students would start to fill the hallways once more. Due to the shortening of the passing periods it was speculated that the bathrooms would be a lot more crowded since the students didn¡¯t have much time to spare. When a sufficient number of other students had entered this bathroom, that would be when he would make his great escape and lose his pursuer in the sea of students outside. The chaos created in the hallways from the shortening of passing periods would be the downfall for this hall monitor.


    He couldn¡¯t help but to snicker while in the stall. Nothing could stop him, not even this hall monitor. His plan was flawless and he could never be caught.


    Peter Phillip was quite the mischievous student. His grades would be well below average at most schools, but Manha High School was a bit of an exception. Besides some of his odd quirks, he wasn¡¯t too far off from the average student here. He didn¡¯t hesitate to skip a class just on a whim and his grades were quite poor. This school had a lot more to improve upon besides just their academic performance. Improving the behavior of their students would also be a main objective.

 Chapter 9: Artistic Art

    Chad sat in a classroom waiting for the next period to begin. His second class of the day was Drawing Basics. This was an elective course but he thought the term ¡°elective¡± was didn''t suit it. The school required that all students needed an art credit. There was no getting out of it. Most people just did a year of band or choir to meet the requirement, but Chad found being a part of any sort of group tedious. The other option was to take some sort of art course. There was painting, sculpting, pottery and some others. He skimmed over the course list when deciding and chose the course that he thought would be the easiest.


    In Drawing Basics, all that¡¯s required is a pencil and paper. The other art courses seemed to require elements that were a bit out of the ordinary like clay for pottery or wood for sculpting. Even paint would have been too drastic of a change. Drawing was simply writing with a pencil on a piece of paper. Chad was already doing that for three other classes so he should already be pretty good at it. Not that he cared to be good at drawing.


    The art classroom was a bit different than the other classrooms. It was first of all bigger. This was the same classroom that the sculpting and pottery classes used after all. They needed space for that equipment which was currently placed at the back of the classroom.


    Another difference was where the students sat. Unlike the desks of the other classrooms, the art classroom had nine large tables in a three by three grid. Each with stools instead of chairs. Two students could sit at each table. In Drawing Basics there were only seventeen students. By the grace of God, Chad was assigned his own table in the back right corner. Not all classes did assigned seating and the ones that did he usually dreaded. This one allowed him to avoid any unwanted interactions with his peers.


    He glanced at the clock on the wall. According to the adjusted schedule, class should be starting in under a minute. About half the students were present with the teacher nowhere in sight.


    A minute later and the bell signifying the start of the second period range.


    I wonder if Peter made it to his next class on time?


    Chad had gone directly to this class after dropping off his math textbook at his locker. Even with doing so, he didn¡¯t have all that much time to spare between classes. This adjusted schedule was quite the pain. With how empty the classroom was, it seemed like the shortened passing periods were going to take some time to get used to.


    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late everyone¡­ or half of everyone.¡±


    Mrs. Wenwir walked into the classroom about a minute after the bell. Her thick curly red hair matched her outgoing and energetic personality. The clothes she wore were all different shades of bright colors that made Chad squint whenever he looked at her. When she spoke to the class her arms would talk along with her mouth, as if she was a conductor.


    I guess I can¡¯t get out of band class.


    He smirked at his own witty (not really) comment he made in his head.


    ¡°I guess we all have to get used to the new schedule,¡± Mrs. Wenwir turned on the projector in the room, ¡°Well, as we wait for my fellow time oblivious compatriots, you all can move to your new seats!¡±


    What! New seats?


    She gestured to the projector screen like a magician after a trick. Her large looping earrings jingled with the joy she was emanating.


    ¡°Since the school is trying something new and fresh, we should too. Changing your environment is a great way to get your creative juices flowing!¡± she let out a small giggle, ¡°Now move to your new seats. It looks like everyone isn¡¯t here yet, so pull out your assignments from last weekend and discuss them with your table partner as they show up.¡±


    Chad looked to the front of the classroom in complete horror. Why? This day was already going to be a hard one with many changes, so why did this also have to happen?


    All seventeen student¡¯s head portraits from their freshmen year were shown on the screen with their names underneath. Chad¡¯s was blank since he transferred this year so he never had a freshmen portrait at Manha. Each of the head portraits were in groups of two and were placed similarly to how the tables in the room were spaced.


    His vision immediately went to the outlier, the seventeenth person who would have their own table. The lucky one. The position he has¡­ or had. There was a person assigned to the back right corner table¡­ and it wasn¡¯t him. That meant he would have to share a table with someone.


    His vision went from row to row, making his way towards the top of the screen which equated to the front of the room. There he was! His empty portrait was in the front row directly in front of Mrs. Wenwir¡¯s desk.


    With his head slumped, he walked slowly to the front of the room with his backpack. He sat in his assigned seat while looking longingly back at his previous spot.


    ¡°I thought you were getting lonely back there so I brought you right by me!¡± Mrs. Wenwir said, sitting at her desk in the front.


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    He couldn¡¯t find it in himself to give an actual reply. That was all he could muster forth. She should just be glad he wasn¡¯t the type of person to lash out at people who crossed him. How dare she switch seating assignments and mess with his perfect spot alone in the back.


    Chad looked at the person sitting to his right. This was the person he would have the highest probability of conversing with. It was a small girl. Her legs dangled from her stool and she wore a purple sweater that encompassed her entire being. Her sleeves went well past her hands. He thought she could get away downsizing her sweater by at least three sizes or so. She must be a freshman. Electives like this class could have students from any grade in them. Most other core classes were grade exclusive.


    Natural curiosity sparked in Chad and he looked back at the projector screen. The portrait next to his was of a girl with bright yellow hair cut as short as a guys. The name under it said ¡°Kobani Schuster¡±.


    Chad looked back at the girl seated next to him. She had long brown hair that flowed all the way down her back. She was clearly in the wrong spot. This must¡¯ve been her old spot.


    He thought he should be generous and let her know.


    ¡°Um, we have a new seating chart.¡±


    The girl looked up at him with watery green eyes. She looked as if she was about to cry.


    ¡°Oh yea, it''s to get our creative juices flowing or something like that.¡±


    The girl¡¯s voice was soft. He could barely make it out over the chatting of his classmates behind him.


    ¡°I should probably introduce myself to you,¡± The girl swiveled in her stool and faced him, ¡°I¡¯m Kobani Schuster. Nice to meet you.¡±


    He looked at the girl in front of him then back to the portrait on the projector screen. The two were complete opposites. The girl in front of him was soft and gentle. It seemed like if he spoke too loud she would crumble onto the ground. The girl in the picture seemed aggressive and loud like she would yell at him for looking at her the wrong way.


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    ¡°Oh that,¡± She gestured to her picture that he was looking at, ¡°Yea that was a bit of a phase.¡±


    Must¡¯ve been a quick one.


    Freshmen got their pictures taken just before school started. In a few short weeks this girl had completely flipped her appearance.


    Wait¡­


    In the picture from the start of the semester, Kobani had hair even shorter than Chad¡¯s. A mere handful of weeks later, she was sitting next to him with hair all the way down her back.


    Could she not be a freshman?


    There¡¯s no reason for her having to be a freshman. He just assumed as much because of how small she was. Her face also looked a lot younger. Maybe she''s just one of those people who looks a lot younger than they actually are.


    Without thinking, Chad replied to her earlier comment.


    ¡°Must¡¯ve been quite the phase.¡±


    Kobani gave a tentative laugh, ¡°Yea, people can change a lot in three years.¡±


    Three years?!?


    His eyes snapped back at Kobani sitting next to him. She was an upperclassman. No, she was not only an upperclassman, she was a senior. She would legally be an adult within the year if she wasn¡¯t already.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re a senior?¡±


    ¡°Mhmm,¡± Kobani rocked back and forth in her stool, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, people are often surprised when they find out. I know I don¡¯t really look it but it''s my fourth year here..¡±


    You can say that again.


    ¡°Hey you two,¡± Mrs. Wenwir leaned onto the table, ¡°Good discussion, but can you guys now start discussing your assignment from last weekend?¡±


    ¡°¡°Sorry.¡±¡±


    Mrs. Wenwir never got mad at her students, but both of them immediately felt bad for not doing as she asked earlier.


    Chad leaned over and reached into his bag that was sitting on the floor. Their weekend assignment was to draw something that represented how they were currently feeling. He had done this assignment during the pep rally last Friday. At the pep rally he felt overstimulated and cramped, so his drawing represented such.


    At a glance, the paper sitting in front of him looked like a mess. There were random lines and shapes sporadically tossed in any place on the paper without rhyme or reason. Maybe Chad had a secret baby sister who had switched his drawing out for hers. A toddler could probably do better than what he produced.


    Even with the objective mess of pencil strokes, he had found that as long as he could argue that he followed the assignment instructions, his grade would be fine. He wasn¡¯t going to be some sort of star student but he was ok with that. He just needed to take this class to fulfill his art credit. Any half decent grade he received would be sufficient as long as he didn¡¯t flunk.


    ¡°Wow, that''s really good.¡±


    What¡¯d she say?


    Kobani leaned over close to him and inspected his drawing. Her long hair was flowing on top of his arm.


    How about some personal space?


    After a few more seconds of Kobani inspecting his drawing, she returned to sitting normally in her stool. Her feet kicked back and forth under her.


    ¡°You¡¯re a really good artist.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± He didn¡¯t sense any sarcasm in her voice.


    ¡°Yes!,¡± she became enthusiastic, ¡°I can feel the chaos and pandemonium in your life solely through your drawing.¡±


    Chad hesitated, ¡°T-that¡¯s what I was going for, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Well you did a great job at doing so. I could feel the emotions coming from the paper. You must have a lot of bedlam in your life.¡±


    Does this girl¡­ get me?


    ¡°Yes I do. With transferring schools earlier this year, I had to adjust to a lot of changes. Being in a new school changes a lot, but this was also the first time in my life I had moved. A new house, a new town, a new school and a new schedule. There was so much change. Then as soon as I was getting acclimated to my new routine, the school had to go along and ruin that with a schedule change. Plus I recently was forced to join-¡±


    He stopped his ranting. He didn¡¯t want to bore her too much over his problems, plus this was the most he had talked in a while.


    When he looked back at Kobani, she seemed completely enthralled with his rambling. Her big green eyes looked at him with curiosity and admiration. It was almost as if a child was looking at their idol.


    He felt that he could continue with no complaints, but he didn¡¯t want to be the only one talking. Even being disinterested with small talk, he still knew that conversations needed a balance. Both parties needed to contribute and one person shouldn¡¯t dominate the conversation.


    ¡°Uh, so what did you draw?¡±


    Chad looked at the table space in front of her. It was empty. Maybe she had forgotten to do the assignment?


    Kobani began pivoting back and forth in her chair and muttered to herself.


    ¡°Oh it¡¯s nothing special. I couldn¡¯t quite get the shading correct. I¡¯m not all that good.¡±


    There was a sketchbook on her lap under her oversized sleeves. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with Chad.


    I won¡¯t pry.


    He wasn¡¯t the type of person to force people to do something they obviously didn¡¯t want to.


    Chad looked back at his drawing. Did this bundle of random lines of graphite really portray his emotions? Is this¡­ what art is? He wasn¡¯t sure, maybe she had just gotten lucky and guessed correctly. Either way, it seemed like she understood the struggles he went through in his life and empathized with him.


    ¡°Kobani, where¡¯s your drawing?¡±


    Mrs. Wenwir was still doing her rounds about the classroom, checking in on each table and making sure they stayed on task.


    ¡°I-it¡¯s right here.¡±


    She lifted her sketchbook but kept her drawing on the other side hidden.


    ¡°Kobani, please show your drawing to your table partner. Discussing your art with someone is part of the assignment. There¡¯s no reason to be afraid, this is a judgment free environment.¡±


    ¡°B-but it¡¯s terrible.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll just have to give you a zero on this assignment.¡±


    ¡°Ok I¡¯ll show it!¡±


    She threw her sketchbook onto the table. Once it had stopped moving from the force she threw it with, Chad¡¯s eyes focused on the drawing.


    It was a kitten. Simple, but in Chad¡¯s opinion it was extraordinarily good. It was hyper-realistic. The fur looked so soft that he almost reached out to begin petting it. Its whiskers were pushed forwards with cute eyes looking playfully back at the viewer. It was adorable, no other way of putting it. Kobani had somehow drawn the joy and life that a kitten exudes with nothing but a pencil. If it were real kitten, he would beg his mom to adopt it.


    ¡°So Kobani,¡± Mrs. Wenwir pointed at the drawing, ¡°What emotions does this convey?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    Her green eyes became even more watery. She would try to start a thought but couldn¡¯t even finish the first word. Her body began to tremble as Mrs. Wenwire looked down at her.


    ¡°I think it shows playfulness.¡± Chad said, responding to the question intended for her.


    The words came out of his mouth before his mind could process what he was doing.


    ¡°How so?¡± Mrs. Wenwir asked.


    ¡°Well, kittens tend to be a lot more playful and energetic than an adult cat. Also, this cat¡¯s whiskers are pushed forward. This usually means it''s in a playful mood.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t sure if that last statement was actually true. He had just heard it from somewhere and pulled it from the depths of his mind. Hopefully she would buy this claim he had thrown out.


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± she looked back at Kobani, ¡°Is this the emotion you tried to portray in this drawing?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kobani looked down, her voice starting to crack, ¡°I-I just drew it because I thought it was cute.¡±


    Gah-


    All she had to do was agree to what he said. How was the teacher supposed to tell what emotion Kobani drew that picture with? Chad thought he had done something generous and saved her from a tough situation, but it seemed like she was purposely trying to get a zero on the assignment.


    ¡°I see.¡±


    Mrs. Wenwir walked to the front of the class and formally began the lesson for the day.


    The rest of the class went smoothly. Mrs. Wenwir lectured from slides about artistic styles and strategies. Chad wasn¡¯t too interested in the topics, but he wrote some notes down so he could still do well in the class.


    What is she doing?


    Kobani had yet to move from her earlier interaction with the teacher. She stared straight down at her drawing. No pencil was out for her to take any notes, it didn¡¯t even seem like she was paying attention to the lecture.


    He thought she was a bit odd, but she wasn¡¯t the worst person to sit next to. At least he didn¡¯t have to sit next to that girl from Calculus, Hunt or whatever her name was.

 Chapter 10: Peaceful Lunch

    One of the intriguing changes Manha High School made was how they approached lunch. Before, they had three different lunch blocks; A, B and C. Each of them would commence at different times throughout the third period of the day. The first third of third period would be when classes belonging to lunch block A would go and get lunch. Then block B in the second third and block C in the final third. The third class period was obviously lengthened to adjust for this. The overall time students spent in their third period class was the same as the other classes.


    To Chad, this had been his normal. Not only did Manha High School do this but the school he transferred from also did a block scheduled lunch. He just assumed it was the most time efficient way of getting the students lunch. He also thought it helped regulate the amount of students in the cafeteria.


    According to the new schedule, there would only be one period of lunch for the whole school. It would be held in between the second and third period. Chad had no clue how they were going to fit the whole student body into a cafeteria since it only ever held a third of the student body at a time.


    Although, he had never been in this school¡¯s cafeteria so he couldn¡¯t say with certainty that the whole student body wouldn¡¯t fit. Even before the schedule changes, Manha High School did something a bit different from his previous school. Students were allowed to eat outside without supervision if they were above a certain GPA threshold. It was quite odd that this threshold was only a 3.75 and was even lowered to a 3.65 after the new schedule changes. Chad didn¡¯t complain though, the threshold must¡¯ve been high enough because he didn¡¯t see many other people eating outside. Being able to eat lunch alone and away from a crowded cafeteria each day was a welcomed change from his previous school.


    Similar to when he worked at the library, Chad would always pack his own lunches. Not only did this allow him to avoid the gross cafeteria food, but he wouldn¡¯t have to wait in long lines either. Even before the schedule change, his lunch block was A, so he was used to going directly to lunch from the second period.


    Chad opened the door of the school¡¯s back entrance outside. The chill wind of fall reawakened him from the tiring school day. The weather had been slowly turning these past few weeks and winter would soon be crashing down upon them. He had heard nothing of where the privileged students who had get to eat outside would eat during winter.


    Will they place us in the cafeteria? That sounds like a bother. I like my lunches just the way they are.


    He continued forward onto a paved walkway. The school had some outdoor seating areas where most other kids who passed the GPA threshold would sit. There was currently a small group of five at one of the tables chatting and eating. This of course wasn¡¯t Chad¡¯s style.


    Besides the little courtyard area with the seating, students were allowed to eat anywhere outside that was closed in by the school''s fences. It seemed a bit like yard time in a prison, but it was much better than eating in the cafeteria.


    Manha High School had an integrated football field. What does the term ¡°integrated football field¡± imply? This field was used for a bunch of different activities. Of course it was a football field, but it also acted as the school¡¯s soccer field along with a four hundred meter track surrounding the perimeter. The soccer teams had other practice fields to use but this one was used for all the school¡¯s home games.


    The field was pretty nice. It was made of artificial turf instead of grass and was recently renovated to fit the track that surrounded it. With that renovation came the new stands. Fans always came along with high school sports so Manha High School naturally needed a place where everyone could sit and enjoy the activities. The school used the addition of the track to also revamp their seating area for the crowds.


    Manha initially had basic aluminum stands that were spread out around the field. Each stand could only comfortably hold around forty people. The new stands were far more impressive. They took up an entire side of the field and stood about two stories tall. There was even an announcer¡¯s box atop that looked over the entire field.


    These new stands were the place Chad always ate lunch. With the large size of them, even if somebody else had the same idea as him, there was plenty of space to spread out.


    He always sat at the very top of the stands all the way towards the edge. This gave him a great view of the forest that bordered this school and his neighborhood.


    He took out his lunch bag from his backpack and set it on the metal bench beside him. His lunch was inside a small paper bag that was neatly folded shut. This morning he had packed himself a ham sandwich, some chips, an orange and a slice of his mother¡¯s banana bread. He also packed a plastic water bottle for something to drink. He neatly laid out all of the items he packed onto the cold metal bench. He then started with his ham sandwich as he always did.


    First Chad would eat his sandwich, then his chips with the orange following suit. He would then finish off his meal with the sweet and savory taste of banana bread. This was what he would always do, it was what he scheduled himself to do.


    After finishing his sandwich, he reached for his water bottle to take a predetermined sip. Between each lunch item he had to wash out the taste of the previous food.


    Agh, shit.


    Distracted by the nice view from above, he mishandled the plastic bottle and it fell to his feet. He then reached down to pick it up and somehow fumbled it again. This time he knocked it down between the cracks of the bleachers and it fell all the way down below.


    Am I really that clumsy?


    Chad got down on a knee and peaked down the crack in the bleachers. He could see his water bottle, still intact. It didn¡¯t seem to explode on impact with the ground.


    ¡°What a bother.¡±


    To finish his lunch, Chad would have to walk all the way back down the stands to retrieve his beverage. He would then have to walk all the way back up to resume his lunch. It was a ton of work just for water, but having a beverage while eating his lunch was a requirement. At least for school lunches.


    After retrieving the bottle from below the stands, he began his climb up the bleachers again.


    Chad looked up to the spot he was just previously sitting at. There was a girl with bright pink hair sitting where he had sat. His lunch had also been moved down four rows. This random girl seemed to have moved his stuff and then took his spot.


    The hell? What¡¯d I do to you?


    Chad walked up the stands, pausing at his perturbed lunch and continuing to the girl.


    She was quite small. A bit taller than Kobani but much smaller (although Kobani had such a large sweater on so he couldn¡¯t get a good judgment of her size). Her pink bangs lead to her bright blue eyes that suited their young face. She looked like a middle schooler. Could she be a middle schooler? Chad had already been fooled by appearances today, for all he knew this could be a senior as well.


    ¡°Is there something you require from me?¡±


    The girl¡¯s voice was very high pitched. The more he observed her, the more he believed that she could actually be a middle schooler or even a mature looking elementary schooler. Her mouth was small and her hands very petite and fragile looking.


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    Her pink hair was tied in pigtails, but was still long enough to reach past her shoulders. Her shirt was pink, her shoes were pink and even her lunchbox was pink. At least her skirt was white, giving Chad¡¯s eyes a break from her monochromatic look.


    ¡°Did you move my stuff?¡± Chad asked.


    ¡°If you mean the pitiful lunch that cluttered my spot, then yes.¡±


    Your spot?


    Chad realized he had made a mistake in his analysis of the new schedule. He had thought that the changes made to lunch would not affect him, but he was critically wrong. The girl sitting in his spot was probably from a different lunch block than he was. Now that everyone had lunch at the same time, if two people sat in the same spot during two different blocks, then conflict would naturally arise between the two. This was a problem.


    ¡°Well, moving stuff that isn¡¯t yours is kind of inconsiderate.¡±


    He needed to find a way of convincing this girl to move without stooping to her level of proclaiming that this spot belonged to him, even though it did.


    ¡°Why should I care about being inconsiderate? Your stuff was in my spot and I moved it. I¡¯ve sat here every day this semester. I¡¯m not going to let some rando claim what¡¯s mine.¡±


    It¡¯s my spot you little brat.


    ¡°I was in the middle of eating my lunch and you just moved it. Why didn¡¯t you pick another spot in the stands? This thing can hold like a thousand people.¡±


    ¡°Ugh,¡± The girl rolled her eyes and crossed her legs over each other, ¡°It seems like you really want to sit in my spot. I can¡¯t blame you I guess, who wouldn¡¯t want to sit in the same place as me. I¡¯ll make you a deal,¡± The girl smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll let you sit here if you beg me for it.¡±


    Huh?


    ¡°I want you to get on your knees and grovel before me. Lick my shoes while you''re at it, then maybe I¡¯ll even allow you the honor of sitting with me while eating lunch.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    The girl flipped her hair back.


    ¡°I can see why you¡¯re confused, it¡¯s not often I¡¯m this merciful to someone. You really should¡¯ve done this from the start. I can¡¯t blame someone for their ignorance though. But now that you know, get to groveling. Beg for forgiveness and then I¡¯ll think about letting you have my spot.¡±


    You little shit.


    ¡°Chivral!¡±


    Chad turned to the somewhat familiar voice coming from below.


    ¡°Chivral! I told you this morning we¡¯re having lunch with dad. Did you really forget again?¡±


    Rose Visca, the student council president was making her way up the stands towards them. Chivral was apparently the brat''s name.


    Rose was wearing the same attire she had worn at the pep rally. A black skirt with a white dress shirt and black tie. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and her glasses were pressed against her eyes.


    ¡°Chivral, dad¡¯s going to be mad if we¡¯re late.¡±


    Dad?


    Chad looked at her and then back to Chivral.


    You¡¯re telling me this little demon brat is sisters with the student council president?


    Rose turned to him.


    ¡°Oh hey Chad. Sorry if my sister was bothering you.¡±


    Her voice was firm and confident, opposite to how she had talked to him at the library Saturday.


    ¡°Oh no she wasn¡¯t-¡±


    She was being a complete bother, what am I lying fo?.


    ¡°S-so,¡± Chad continued, switching his train of thought, ¡°This girl is your sister?¡±


    ¡°Yea, Chivral here is a freshman. She¡¯s still learning how to be a high schooler. It seems like she needs to work on how to respect her peers.¡± she gave a stern look towards her sister.


    Since she had shown up, Chivral had kept her loud mouth shut. Her overlord persona seemed to have switched off as soon as her sister was in the fray.


    ¡°A new school is a big adjustment,¡± Chad said, ¡°So is Chivral also a part of the student council?¡±


    He needed to know if there was a possibility that he would be asked to lick someone¡¯s shoes again. He prayed the answer to his question was no.


    ¡°No she isn¡¯t.¡±


    Yes. One less potential headache.


    ¡°But I will be!¡±


    Chivral stood up. She was two rows above Chad and Rose so she looked down at both of them.


    ¡°Once my sister graduates I¡¯ll be the student council president. It¡¯s only natural for someone like me to take on that position.¡±


    Rose rolled her eyes and looked back at Chad.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad I¡¯ll be out of this school by the time she takes over. You won¡¯t be though, you¡¯ll be a senior. Good luck with dealing with her.¡±


    She chuckled at the thought.


    ¡°Alright Chivral, time to go. We¡¯re already late.¡±


    She took hold of one of her frail sister''s arms with the force of a tiger and began leading her down the stands.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sit in my spot you brute!¡± Chivral shouted back towards Chad.


    ¡°Chivral! You can¡¯t talk to people like that.¡±


    Rose turned around. She gave a smile along with a wave.


    ¡°Remember Chad, we have a meeting after school today. Three o¡¯ five sharp, immediately after fourth period. Classroom 204 C. Don¡¯t be late!¡±


    She took a few more steps down with Chivral beside her. She then turned around again.


    ¡°And Chad.¡±


    ¡°Yea?¡±


    Her eyes intensified and her voice flipped from friendly to intimidating.


    ¡°You better not skip.¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡±


    Chad was caught off guard by the sudden switch in tone from her. His response was way out of character for him.


    Where¡¯d that come from?


    With one final wave goodbye, they left him at the top of the bleachers. He moved his lunch back to his spot and continued. The day was proving more and more hectic by the hour.


    Due to this interruption, he didn¡¯t finish his lunch by the time the bell rang. He put the unfinished lunch back into his bag and left for his third class of the day.


    Could this day become any worse?


    ***


    Chad¡¯s final two classes went incredibly well compared to the first half of his day. Besides the time adjustments, they were completely normal. No odd discrepancies or distractions. No incredibly sadistic girl¡¯s yelling at him. He just sat in his classes as if it were any other school day. This had lifted his spirits after the rough first half of the day.


    The final bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Students grabbed their things and went home. This is what he wanted to be doing. This is what he should be doing. But no, he wasn¡¯t preparing for his walk home. Chad sat in his fourth period desk, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.


    The meeting. The meeting he had to go to because he joined the student council. Rose had assured him last Saturday that these only lasted about a half hour to an hour and there wasn¡¯t much work outside of these meetings. Still, the workload wasn¡¯t what stressed him out. It was the fact that this wasn¡¯t part of his usual routine. His nice and structured life was falling apart right in front of him and he feared that this would be the final straw. He feared that this would be the final blow to do him in.


    Chad got up and left the classroom of his fourth period. He walked through the hallways. All the other students were in groups chatting and laughing with each other.


    Of course they can be happy. They get to leave.


    He walked in the opposite direction of most of the foot traffic. They all headed towards the exit while he drudged along towards the stairwell.


    After climbing to the second floor as if on death row, he was looking at different room numbers.


    ¡°201, 202A, 202B, 203, 204A, 204B¡­¡±


    Chad sighed. There it was. He had arrived at the end, his end. His routine, his schedule would come to a dramatic end.


    Maybe it didn¡¯t have to. Maybe this didn¡¯t need to be the end. He could just keep on walking. He could just leave and go back home like he usually would


    No.


    Chad thought about how serious Rose sounded when she told him not to skip. That plus the fact his mother would kill him, he couldn¡¯t get out of this.


    With another sigh he checked the time on his phone.


    Seven past three. It¡¯s my first day. She can forgive me for being a little late. I can just say I got lost or something.


    Mustering all of his courage, Chad grasped the handle to the door of classroom 204C and opened it.

 Chapter 11: Weekday at the Library

    Yuna Cori, the brilliant and beautiful twenty-seven year old librarian at Manha¡¯s local library. Her long silver hair and golden eyes were only the start to why her beauty was raved over. She had an outgoing personality and was extremely charismatic. After having a discussion with her, most people would feel ten times better about themselves. Some people would come to the library on a lunch break every so often just to talk with her. Sometimes this fondness would turn to obsessiveness leading to creeps and stalkers. She didn¡¯t have to worry about that anymore though, she hired a guy to keep those types away. Although, he only worked once a week. This led to her having to kind of ¡°lead on¡± her stalkers until the next Saturday. Then she would ask them specifically to come to the library to see her. They of course came at her request only to be met by her hired hand. Her sole worker was just a sophomore in high school, but he was very intimidating. She didn¡¯t think he quite knew how intimidating he could be at times but for this purpose it worked quite well.


    "I wonder how today is going for Chad?¡±


    On Saturday, Chad had joined the student council at Manha High School due to a little coercion from her. She loved teasing and poking him but she had to be careful not to do it too much. She didn¡¯t want to scare him off, she quite enjoyed him working at the library. It could get quite lonely when the only other coworkers are books on a bookshelf.


    ¡°I bet he¡¯s just absolutely enjoying himself right now.¡±


    She giggled at the thought of him in distress.


    She had talked to the girl who had persuaded Chad to join the student council (with some help from Yuna of course). The girl, Rose, was quite attractive, but she didn¡¯t seem like the student council president type. She seemed very timid and apprehensive. That probably shouldn¡¯t be the type of person to be the figurehead for the entire student body. Usually people in leadership positions are strong willed and don¡¯t falter at any pressure put onto them. From the brief conversation she had, she felt that Rose was a bit of a pushover.


    Yuna leaned further back in her chair.


    ¡°Whatever. Either way, it¡¯ll be good for him to interact with some other people. He¡¯s too damn anti-social.¡±


    Letting the thoughts of her subordinate flow by, she opened up another tab on her computer.


    The library was extremely quiet in the middle of the day during a work week. There was currently nobody there and Yuna had already finished everything else she needed to do.


    To pass the time, she started mindlessly scrolling through different news websites.


    ¡°Lost puppy, political conflicts, traffic, sports. What¡¯s even new?¡±


    This scrolling kept going for a while but then it stopped. She leaned forward, almost pressing her face up against the screen.


    ¡°Hmmm, click.¡±


    She did in fact say ¡°click¡± out loud.


    There was a story from a local news site about Manha. Something about vandalism and repetitive graffiti.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have gangs all the way out here.¡±


    Yuna began to read the article, learning about a recent problem the local police were dealing with.


    Buildings all throughout Manha were being vandalized by the same group. The way they vandalized each building was slightly different. In one incident a local convenience store¡¯s windows were pelted with eggs. The bakery was covered in toilet paper. Those were the classic ones, but apparently this group had some pretty creative ways of vandalizing, including somehow releasing a bunch of termites into a gas station. Houses were even targeted, but those were less common. The list of targeted buildings were quite long and the police department said these acts of vandalism started just as the school year started. Their main suspects were of course high schoolers.


    There was another reason why the police thought all of these were done by the same group. With the wide array of ways this group performed their vandalism, there was one common factor between all of the crime scenes. Somewhere on the building the group would spray paint a small symbol. The website had a picture of it.


    It was a two dimensional drawing of a crown tilted at forty five degrees. In the middle of it was a zero or maybe an ¡°O¡±. There wasn¡¯t really a way to tell which it was.


    ¡°What a bunch of hooligans. High schoolers can be so immature.¡±


    She thought back to her high school days.


    Due to her attractive looks and charismatic personality, Yuna was very popular back then. She was constantly being asked out by almost every guy at the school. She rejected every single one of them. She didn¡¯t want some guy who was going to be obsessive over her and every guy who asked seemed just like that. Even the girl¡¯s at her high school were constantly asking to hang out with her. Inviting her to sleep overs, party¡¯s and other activities.


    She was constantly recruited to different sports teams and her mom even made her join the volleyball team. That didn¡¯t last very long and she quit as soon as her mom left her. The coach still constantly asked her to rejoin insisting that she was great at volleyball even though she wasn¡¯t.


    Yuna thought after she got out of high school everyone would ¡°grow up¡± and stop harassing her, but things didn¡¯t change. Grownups seemed to just be grown up kids.


    Maybe that¡¯s why such an outgoing and captivating girl took the lonely job of being a librarian. Sure it could get lonely at times, but it was a great change of pace from her usually hectic life.


    ¡°Ha, maybe I¡¯m not all that different from Chad.¡±


    Her coworker was oddly obsessed with keeping his schedule unchanged, and he also found talking to other people bothersome. She didn¡¯t hold these exact feelings.


    She enjoyed talking to people like Rebecca, Chad and her family, but there were times where certain people drained the life from her. Whenever she talked with these types of people, she could empathize with him. The library allowed her to mostly escape these people with him scaring off any who break through its barrier of isolation.


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    Yuna rocked back and forth in her chair. The day was moving along so slowly but that wasn¡¯t a bad thing. She could just sit back and enjoy herself knowing that Chad is most likely not enjoying himself.


    ¡°Does that make me a bad person?¡±


    ****


    ¡°This is kind of a weird place to meet to hang out. Hey doesn¡¯t Chad work there?¡±


    Peter was waiting for some people outside of the local library. They told him they¡¯d hang out with him after school. He asked his best friend, Chad, if he wanted to join, but he expectedly turned down his offer. He took no offense to this, knowing that was just the way he is, but he always felt obligated to ask Chad because he was his best friend.


    ¡°Hey, there he is.¡±


    Two high school boys walked up to Peter.


    The one on the left was short and stout. His name was John. Peter thought he was on the football team but he must not have been or was currently skipping practice. The guy to the right of him was tall and lanky. He had never met him before. The two of them standing next to each other was a bit comical with their opposite builds.


    Peter laughed to himself.


    Is this what people see when me and Chad hang out? Of course I don¡¯t think our differences are this drastic.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± The skinny one on the right asked.


    ¡°I was just thinking of a joke my friend told me earlier.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t about to say he was laughing at them. That was no way to make some new friends.


    ¡°Whatever, lets get started,¡± John took his backpack off, ¡°You ready for the first part of the initiation?¡±


    ¡°Initiation?¡±


    ¡°Yea, you can¡¯t join the group without being initiated.¡±


    Peter was pretty blunt with asking to join their group, but he had never heard of a friend group having an initiation process to join it.


    Unique! Sounds fun.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready to get initiated into the group. Just tell me what to do!¡±


    Usually when he had tried to join other friend groups there weren¡¯t step by step instructions on joining. Maybe Chad would like to join this friend group. They seem quite organized.


    ¡°Ok Peter, take this.¡±


    John tossed a can of black spray paint that Peter caught with one hand.


    ¡°Nice catch.¡± The other boy muttered.


    John took out his phone from his pocket, ¡°Ok you see this?¡±


    He flipped his phone screen around.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to paint this on the back of the library. Make it about as tall as you.¡±


    The picture John showed was of a crudely painted crown. It was a simple two dimensional drawing of a crown tilted a ways but not quite vertical. There was a zero in the middle for the crown.


    ¡°What¡¯s the zero stand for?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± John flipped his phone back over and looked at it, ¡°That¡¯s an ¡®O¡¯ dumbass and it stands for King O. Are you sure you want to join this group?¡±


    ¡°Positive.¡±


    Peter began shaking the spray paint can. A friend group this easy to join was a hard thing to find. Plus the only requirement to join was a structured initiation process so getting Chad to join was a possibility as well.


    He turned towards the library.


    I can¡¯t let a perfect opportunity like this go to waste. I¡¯ll join this friend group and then get my best friend to join. It¡¯ll be awesome.


    He stopped shaking the spray paint.


    ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t this like vandalism?¡±


    ¡°Yea,¡± the skinny guy answered, ¡°But you have to do it to join. No exception.¡±


    Peter wasn¡¯t against breaking rules, but he didn¡¯t want to get arrested or anything. Plus Chad worked here, would this damage their friendship?


    Chad said the librarian here keeps the place super clean. It¡¯s just paint, it''s not that hard to wash off. After both me and him join this friend group, I¡¯ll apologize.


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m off.¡±


    ¡°Take a photo of it when you¡¯re done and then meet us back here. We¡¯ll go onto phase two of your initiation.¡±


    Sick, step by step process. Chad¡¯s definitely joining.


    Peter walked up to the library while John and the skinnier boy stayed where they were. He did his best to quietly walk around to the back, although it seemed like nobody was here.


    ¡°Hmm this seems good enough.¡±


    He found a nice flat wall in the back to act as his canvas. He never tried any art before, so he wasn¡¯t sure if he was any good at it. Luckily what he had to paint was pretty simple.


    After finishing his work, he stepped back to admire it. John had only asked him to make it as tall as himself, but he overachieved and made it as tall as he could reach. He took out his phone and took a quick picture.


    ¡°Easy enough.¡±


    He then began to walk back around the building. He had walked around one side already, so he thought why not walk around the other. It was unexplored and new territory. Why would he go somewhere he already has went when he could find new exciting things just around the corner.


    Even though his task was already complete, he continued to shake the can of paint. The clacking noise it made was quite satisfying.


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    A large window showed a nice reflection of himself. The sun was at just the right angle so the window acted more as a mirror.


    He took some time to admire himself and make sure he still looked well kept. He raised his hand to pat down his hair, but realized he had gotten paint on it.


    ¡°Better not get that in my hair.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    Peter looked away from the window and towards where he had been walking to.


    There was a woman standing at the corner of the building with a hand against the wall. Her golden eyes were filled with rage.


    ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing messing with my library?¡±


    Oh shit.


    Peter did what he did best, run.


    Instead of backtracking around the entire building, he opted to just run around her. She was a bit quicker than he anticipated, but there was a reason why the football team always asked him to join.


    The woman lunged forward in an attempt to grab onto him. With an abrupt stop and some nifty footwork, Peter performed a spin move that would make pro athletes jealous. The woman completely missed her target and landed in the grass.


    I just shattered that poor librarian¡¯s ankles.


    He continued to run but slowed his pace a bit since he wasn¡¯t in any immediate danger.


    ¡°Huh, what¡¯s that noise?¡±


    He looked over his shoulder to a silver torpedo that was locked onto him. The woman had somehow recovered and was now on his tail.


    ¡°Shit! Run! Crazy librarian incoming!¡±


    He called out to the two guys who were waiting for him. They quickly turned tail and ran. They had quite the head start to Peter, but he still caught up to them. He checked over his shoulder again and it seemed like the woman had stopped her chase, but was now yelling at them.


    ¡°You better run you damn runts! Don¡¯t ever come to my library again!¡±


    I am so sorry. Chad¡¯s boss, please forgive me later.

 Chapter 12: A Rocky Start to a Meeting

    The first Monday after Manha High School¡¯s big schedule change came to an end, students were either fleeing the school grounds, getting ready for sports practice or starting their after school activities. On the second floor of the building was a classroom, classroom 204C. It wasn¡¯t really a classroom. The room was actually a conference room tucked into a hallway full of other classrooms. For that reason, people still referred to it as a classroom even though a class had never been held there.


    The last period of the day just recently ended so students could be seen walking away from the school outside of the window. Some headed towards the line of buses, others walked to cars waiting for them in the adjacent lot. A mix of parents picking up their children and upper classmen driving themselves home. With having this many vehicles in a singular place it was only natural for complete chaos to ensue. Some students avoided this, either walking or biking home, avoiding the roads and parking lots..


    Four students sat in classroom 204C, all of them female. Room 204C was only a classroom by name, its true nature was as a meeting room for the student council. The room was smaller than other classrooms. It still had a projector hanging from the ceiling pointing towards a screen on one of the walls. The other walls were littered with posters that shouted inspirational quotes in colorful and large fonts with cutely drawn images of cartoon students. A sole table sat centered in the room. It was a long ellipse that could hold around seven to ten people. The light from outside shined through the window and reflected off the fine wood finish of the table.


    Rose Visca, the student council president, was sitting at the head of this table. She was typing away vigorously on her laptop. Her glasses that sat snuggly on her nose, reflecting her screen.


    Rose Visca was a junior at Manha High School. She inherited the title of student council president from a senior who graduated last year. She had been in the council since her freshman year but this was her first year as president. She usually held herself in a professional manner at school, but when it came to her duties as the student council president, she usually brought an extra level of intensity. This led to other students finding her intimidating and even a bit insufferable. She deemed this was only a natural consequence with being placed in such a prominent and important role.


    Along with the clacks from Rose''s typing, a constant sound of light scribbling filled the room. Two seats down from her right sat Kobani who was propped up on her knees so she could more easily reach the height of the table. She was sketching a picture of baby birds in a nest being fed by their mother. It was of course extremely well done.


    Kobani Schuster was a senior at Manha High School. Although almost eighteen, she had to sit on her knees in these conference room chairs to get her head above the table. Due to her small stature, if she sat down regularly at the table her head would barely peak over the table. This made it quite easy for her to go unnoticed. She had joined the student council during her junior year based on teacher recommendations as well as recommendations from Rose and other members. Not many students knew she was even a part of the student council, for she was the only female council member who didn¡¯t wear a dress shirt at school. She sported her signature oversized sweater.


    ¡°Would you like the number of absences to be an average between all class periods or should I just give you the totals from each period?¡±


    A girl sitting at the opposite end from Rose spoke.


    ¡°An average will be sufficient but document both. Thank you Kate.¡± Rose replied.


    ¡°Consider it done.¡±


    Kate went back to punching numbers into her calculator and scribbling down on a clipboard. The focus in her eyes showed behind her overly large glasses.


    Kate Meng was a junior at Manha High School. She had joined her freshman year along with Rose. Although her help here was greatly appreciated, she was mostly known for her duties as the head hall monitor. Similar to how seriously Rose took her job as student council president, she was more than meticulous when planning, scheduling and enforcing her duties as head monitor.


    ¡°Ugh, when are we gonna start?" A girl with her legs propped onto the table said.


    ¡°In a minute.¡± Rose replied, not looking up from her screen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like my time being wasted.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re waiting for the new member that Rose picked out,¡± Kobani said, ¡°I wonder who he is?¡±


    ¡°Does it really matter? It¡¯s just some caveman Rose fetched. He¡¯ll be completely useless just like the rest of them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give him a proper introduction when he arrives,¡± Rose peered up from her laptop, ¡°Sarah would you please get your shoes off the table, it¡¯s quite unprofessional.¡±


    ¡°Whatever,¡± she complied with her president¡¯s orders, still leaning way back in her chair and reading her paperback novel.


    Sarah Hunt was a sophomore at Manha High School. She was regarded as an academic prodigy. Although still a sophomore, she had taken the ACT and SAT her freshman year and scored both a perfect 36 and 1600 respectively. If it wasn¡¯t for her poor behavior, her academic achievements alone would allow her to go to any college in the country. That¡¯s why she had joined the student council this year. Her father on the school board had to pull a few strings to get her here so she could improve her college resume. She didn¡¯t have the greatest reputation among the teachers and teacher recommendations were one of the main factors for deciding a new council member. Her father hoped that her joining would simultaneously help her college resume and her poor behavior. The latter seemed to have been a failure so far.


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    The door to classroom 204C opened slowly. A tall figure hesitantly walked into the room.


    ¡°A bit late but you showed up,¡± Rose pointed to the seat adjacent to Sarah¡¯s, ¡°Sit down and we can get started.¡±


    ***


    Despair filled Chad¡¯s entire being. He had just begun the portion of his day he was dreading the most. The after school student council meeting. The fact that this meeting wasn¡¯t going to be a one time thing and would have to be implemented into his daily routine made him feel that he was willfully accepting torture. Although it hadn¡¯t started, he just knew this was going to be the worst part of his day.


    His eyes went directly from Rose to the chair she had pointed to. His legs quickly followed suit and he was promptly seating himself in the chair. There were other people in this room, but he didn¡¯t really care. The only duty that she had given him was to show up to these meetings. Participating and interacting with other people wasn¡¯t a part of the contract.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Rose stood up at the head of the table, ¡°Now that we¡¯re all here we can commence the meeting.¡±


    ¡°Argh! Bam¡±


    The person to his left slammed something onto the wooden table.


    ¡°I get headaches being too close to stupid people, can he sit next to Ko-ko instead?¡±


    That voice.


    The voice definitely belonged to a female but was way too sharp to be considered ladylike by any means. It had an arrogant and almost edgy tone to it.


    He finally looked at the person next to him who seemed to be ridiculing his intellect.


    What the-!


    He stood up and pointed at the girl.


    ¡°Y-you?!?¡±


    Words slipped from his tongue due to his astonishment.


    ¡°W-what are you doing here?¡±


    The girl with the disastrous behavioral issues he met in Calculus class was sitting right beside him. Her last name was Hunt if he remembered correctly and Peter said she was bad news. There was no mistaking it. Her dark blue eyes pierced into Chad¡¯s soul, digging their way into his flesh. Although she  leaned back lackadaisically with her white dress shirt untucked, this girl¡¯s aura was hostile.


    ¡°Is he really going to be this slow?¡± The girl lengthened the vowels in her words, ¡°Aaiim iiin zaaa stuuudent coouunciil.¡±


    ¡°W-why would they have a delinquent in the student council?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a delinquent you imbecile.¡±


    ¡°Alright enough!¡±


    Rose¡¯s voice took hold of the room.


    ¡°It seems the two of you are already acquainted, but I still need to introduce him to everyone else.¡±


    Sarah flipped her black hair, ¡°I¡¯m still not sitting next to him unless you prescribe me some oxy for the migraine he¡¯s causing me.¡±


    ¡°The hell¡¯s your problem?¡± Chad said, finding his thoughts materializing into words instead of being kept in his head as usual.


    ¡°My problem is that we have some half-brained monkey joining the student council. I mean look at him, he has incompetence written on his face. He can¡¯t even comprehend what¡¯s going on around him.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not dumb!¡±


    Someone¡¯s shout cutoff Sarah¡¯s harassment. Chad looked across the table to the source of the shout. His sight was met with two green eyes staring right back at him.


    Wait, I think I know her.


    A small girl was leaning forward onto the table with her feet presumably propping her up from her chair. She wore a sweatshirt that encompassed her entire body.


    ¡°Kobani?¡±


    Kobani was leaning across the table, her eyes wide, almost as if he had caught her off guard. Her arms holding her upper body lost structural integrity from her slippery sleeves covering up her hands. She slid forward and landed face first on the table. She didn¡¯t seem to be in pain, but she stayed in that position when she replied , face first into the table.


    ¡°Oh, um¡­ Hey Chad, I didn¡¯t know you were our new member.¡±


    ¡°Yea¡­ I didn¡¯t know you were on the student council either.¡±


    While he and Kobani talked, Sarah had picked her chair up and carried it to the corner of the room furthest from him.


    ¡°If you¡¯re not going to move then I will.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t be mean to Chad.¡± Kobani said, sliding back into her chair.


    ¡°If you¡¯re so fond of him Ko-ko then you sit next to him. Or are you too scared?¡±


    Kobani smothered her face into her sleeve covered hands.


    Scared?


    ¡°Chad,¡± Rose let out a sigh, ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind, could you please switch seats to the one next to Ko-ko so we can have all of our members present at the table?¡±


    Rose glared at Sarah sitting in the corner of the room.


    ¡°Gladly.¡±


    He stood up and walked around the table, making sure to go around the side that stayed the furthest from Sarah. He promptly took a seat next to Kobani, whose nickname seemed to be Ko-ko. He was now seated with her to his right and the student council president to his left.


    Sarah carried her chair back to the table from the corner, resuming her comfortable position and reading her paperback.


    ¡°Kate, do you want to bring up how you already know Chad so I won¡¯t have to introduce him?¡±


    ¡°I have never seen him in my life.¡± A girl, who Chad had never seen in his life, replied bluntly. The light that reflected from her large glasses almost blinded him.


    ¡°Ok,¡± Rose let out another sigh, ¡°This is Chad Nosmith. He is the student that I selected to join when the school board requested we induct a male member. He had high recommendations from all of his teachers and he is a great student,¡± she glanced at Sarah, ¡°I think he will make for a great council member.¡±


    ¡°Objection.¡± Sarah raised her hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m not taking any objections.¡±


    ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°Sarah!¡± Rose, for the first time, lost her composure.


    ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    After she recomposed herself, the meeting started. It was now almost quarter past three, about ten minutes after when they were supposed to start.


    What the hell have I gotten myself into?

 Chapter 13: Commence the Meeting

    After a rough start to the meeting, it seemed like the council president finally got a hold of the room. The council had their work cut out for them, so Rose immediately went into one of the main topics of discussion.


    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll begin,¡± she sat back down in her seat at the head of the table, ¡°We were given the task of overseeing how the student body is reacting to the new schedule. The school board requests both qualitative and quantitative data from us. Since this is just the first day, we¡¯re not going to hold any of these numbers or responses with much merit, but it will get us into a habit of reflecting and measuring how the student body is doing with the amended schedule. The school board will then take our data and observations into account for further adjustments and changes to the schedule.¡±


    She looked to Chad.


    ¡°Since you¡¯re our newest member, would you care to share your thoughts on how the student body responded?¡±


    Since when did being the newest meant you have to go first?


    He cleared his throat, ¡°I think the general response from the students was poor given they charged you at the pep rally last Friday.¡±


    ¡°Well yes,¡± she winced at the topic brought forward, ¡°We of course expected their initial reactions to be erratic. As I said earlier, we can¡¯t make immediate changes just based on the first response. We need to let the water settle before we can truly judge the effect of the school board¡¯s actions.¡± she paused for a second, ¡°Maybe we should start with the quantitative data, Kate numbers.¡±


    The girl with the brown pigtails sitting opposite from her shot up out of her chair. She then swiftly raised her clipboard and began reading off of it.


    ¡°The number of students who skipped today was three point seven percent lower than our prediction. That is a positive. Although, our expected tardiness was much further than the actual. With the calculations I made last week, we were predicting a rise in the tardiness rate of about ten percent. The reported tardiness rate was almost double what I calculated with almost a quarter of students being late to each class,¡± she readjusted her glasses, ¡°This isn¡¯t even taking into account teachers being late to their own classes. These numbers are skewed in our favor and they¡¯re still horrific.¡±


    After a small silence, Rose thanked her. She then gave the president a quick bow and took her seat.


    This is oddly formal for a bunch of high schoolers playing pretend.


    ¡°Now that we have a bit of numerical information, does this spur any thoughts from anyone?¡±


    From the level of the tabletop, Kobani spoke up.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think Mrs. Wenwir even took attendance today in art class. She was also tardy herself.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I should¡¯ve taken the teachers into consideration when performing my calculations. I¡¯ll make sure to update my other estimates with this new information.¡±


    ¡°You think with this being their jobs and all, they would respect the schedule changes,¡± Sarah spoke for the first time since the meeting officially started, ¡°But they''re just a bunch of children as well. They don¡¯t respect this school or the students. They¡¯re just like the rest of the plebeians here.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t help when they have students calling them dumbasses.¡±


    Chad¡¯s comment seemed to finally take Sarah¡¯s eyes off her book.


    ¡°But they are dumbasses!¡±


    ¡°Thank you all for your thoughts,¡± Rose said, directing the conversation away from another bickering match between Chad and Sarah, ¡°I think we have established that the passing periods will probably take some time for everyone to get used to. We will make sure to keep track of tardiness rates and see if the shortening of the passing periods has become more of a nuisance than a help. Now, let¡¯s move onto other aspects of the schedule change. A big one was going from a block scheduled lunch to a single lunch period for all students. What responses from the student body did you all observe?¡±


    Silence. Nobody seemed to have a response to her question.


    How the hell am I supposed to know what a thousand students think? Half the people I interacted with today are in this room.


    Peter and Chivral were the only two other students he had spoken with today.


    Wait.


    Everyone in this room was a part of the student body. They were also in the student council, but their opinions still reflected the students¡¯. There was no reason to exclude them from the data, they were students too.


    ¡°Well I think,¡± Chad cleared his throat again, ¡°I think going from a block scheduled lunch to a single lunch period was a poor decision. Block scheduled lunches are more efficient in terms of how many students are having lunch at the same time. Having everyone eat lunch at one time can create overcrowded eating areas.¡±


    Since he was above the 3.65 GPA threshold, he didn¡¯t have to eat lunch in the cafeteria. He could only guess that it was overpacked due to everyone eating at the same time. He didn¡¯t know for sure. The only reason he brought the point forward was because his lunch spot was stolen earlier that day.


    ¡°Nobody cares what you are thinking,¡± Sarah said, ¡°You¡¯re just a single data point, meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We want the perspective of all the students, not just a single caveman.¡±


    This bitch!


    He retaliated even though he didn¡¯t want to. He needed to try to defend his dignity.


    ¡°Am I not a part of the student body? Does my opinion not matter?¡±


    ¡°Ugh, my head hurts. Can you please stop talking? I¡¯m losing brain cells with every word you speak.¡±


    Rose scowled at the bickering pair.


    ¡°Chad¡¯s feedback is still appreciated. Everyone¡¯s opinion matters, but we cannot make true observations without a bigger data pool,¡± she turned to Sarah, ¡°Since you are so critical of Chad¡¯s answer, why don¡¯t you provide a better one?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible for me to tell what beings of lower intelligence are thinking. It¡¯s like if you were to try to interpret the feelings and emotions of a chicken.¡±


    Rose smothered her face into one of her hands, ¡°Ok, how about instead of trying to interpret the feelings of all the students, let¡¯s take Chad¡¯s approach and just give our own opinions. Sarah, would you like to go?¡±


    ¡°Gladly,¡± she closed her book for the first time since moving back her chair, ¡°I think it''s pointless to try to improve the academic performance of a bunch of witless plebs. We should be training them for service jobs and manual labor so they can be of some use. Also, I think we need to address the teachers. They are clearly incapable and cannot perform their jobs properly, with some even completely ignoring their duties. They''re just as bad as the cavemen.¡±


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    What the hell is her problem?


    ¡°Thank you for sharing Sarah. That was¡­ something,¡± Rose turned to her right, ¡°Ko-ko, opinions?¡±


    Kobani kneeled onto her chair into what seemed to be her talking position, where her upper body could fully clear the table.


    ¡°I think the teachers are just doing their best,¡± She rubbed her eyes with one of her sleeves, ¡°I mean, think about it. The schedule change could be interpreted as a direct insult to the teachers. It''s as if the school board is saying they are incompetent and need more time to do their jobs. This change put the teachers in a very tough position. They have to adjust both their daily lesson plans and probably their overall curriculum. We should be both gracious and patient with them¡­¡± she paused, ¡°Or, uhh¡­ That¡¯s at least¡­ what I think,¡± she quickly sat back down and covered her face with her long sleeves.


    ¡°Thank you Ko-ko. I think taking the teacher¡¯s perspective into consideration is a great idea. We have already seen how we fell short in doing so with the tardiness rate. Even though we are the student council, we shouldn¡¯t solely focus on the student body. Our job is to improve this school, and the teachers are a large part in what Manha High School does.¡±


    Kobani seemed to quiver at her praise.


    Rose turned her head forward, ¡°Lastly, Kate. What are your thoughts?¡±


    Kate adjusted her glasses once again before speaking. It seemed to be a habit of some sort.


    ¡°Being the head hall monitor, I expected the shortened passing periods to give us a handful. I had my girls working overtime today catching people. We were of course gracious to those who didn¡¯t resist. We let them off with simple warnings.¡±


    ¡°What did you do to the ones who resisted?¡± Kobani¡¯s question was muffled by the sleeves covering her mouth.


    ¡°We would catch them and then bring them to detention as always,¡± there was pain behind her eyes, ¡°Although, there was one runner who got away from me. It¡¯s the first time in my entire career that someone escaped me in my halls.¡±


    ¡°Is it all that hard to avoid the hall monitors?¡±


    Rose glared at Chad as if she were his mother about to scold him.


    ¡°N-not saying I¡¯ve done it before,¡± Chad backpedaled, ¡°It just doesn¡¯t seem all that hard to not get caught. When I¡¯ve used the restrooms, I¡¯ve never really seen anyone else in the hallways and even if I did, I don¡¯t think it would be all that hard to run and hide.¡±


    ¡°Are you questioning my girls¡¯ abilities?¡±


    ¡°N-no?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I train my girls for runners. I¡¯ve calculated and mapped out optimal routes for trapping them into dead end hallways. We take rulebreakers very seriously. Nobody can escape us.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say somebody got away today?¡±


    ¡°That was a dirty trick,¡± she looked out the window into the great beyond, ¡°After we trapped the perpetrator at the end of the English hallway, he ducked into the male restroom.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just wait outside until he was finished?¡± Kobani asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we did, but that little deviant waited the entire second period until the bell rang. The hallways became crowded and he escaped into the chaos. I was never able to get a good look at him.¡±


    See, not that hard. Anyone could have come up with that plan.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just send in another caveman to catch the other one?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You could¡¯ve just sent a male student into the boys restroom right?¡± Sarah looked up from her paperback, ¡°He could¡¯ve waited right outside the stall to get a good look at the escapee, avoiding the problem of the crowded hallways. Doesn¡¯t seem all that hard of a strategy to think of.¡±


    ¡°We would if we could, but the hall monitors are all girls. We don¡¯t have any male students on our team.¡±


    ¡°Pretty simple solution,¡± Sarah pointed to Chad, ¡°We got a pea-brained one right here. He would do fine with some easy to grasp instructions.¡±


    ¡°Hell no!¡± He found himself becoming irate with Sarah, ¡°No way in hell I¡¯m joining the hall monitors, my schedule is already busy enough!¡±


    ¡°Someone¡¯s a bit pissy today, aren¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°Enough,¡± Rose continued to mediate the discussion, ¡°Thank you Kate for your thoughts. Although we often work in conjunction with the hall monitors, I would like to keep this discussion focused on what we can do as the student council. What can we do to help our fellow students?¡±


    Chad took his hostile eyes off of Sarah and sat back in his chair.


    Is this what all the meetings are going to be like?


    ¡°If that is that, I would like to quickly run through our plan on how we¡¯ll prepare for homecoming next week. We are responsible for almost all activities and events going on that week and we¡¯ll have to start some foundational work this week.¡±


    Kobani¡¯s small hand reached out into the air above her.


    ¡°Uh,¡± Rose looked a bit confused, ¡°Ko-ko, you don¡¯t have to raise your hand to speak. Always feel free to bring your thoughts and questions forward.¡±


    ¡°O-oh, ok,¡± she assumed her talking position, leaning onto the table with her hands, ¡°Are we still running the concession stand for the girl¡¯s soccer game this Friday? It seems like we have a lot to do.¡±


    Concessions?


    Sports games usually didn¡¯t start until at least six or seven o¡¯clock after school and lasted until around ten at night. This doesn¡¯t sound good.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right that we have a lot of work these next two weeks, but we are still running the concessions. I know with homecoming and the responsibilities of overseeing the new schedule our workload has drastically increased, but I believe in everyone¡¯s capabilities.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this about concessions?¡± Chad asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re working the concession stand this Friday from six until ten. Try using some context clues, numbskull.¡±


    What?


    Ignoring Sarah¡¯s provocation, he looked at Rose with wide eyes.


    ¡°You told me the only thing I had to do was these meetings?¡±


    ¡°What do you think we do?¡± Sarah scoffed, ¡°You think we just sit around all day with our thumbs up our asses? You have to put in work as a council member, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t mean anything on a resume if you didn¡¯t have to do anything.¡±


    ¡°Well-¡±


    He didn¡¯t really know what student council members did. In a perfect world, he would¡¯ve never had to know, but Rose forced this decision onto him. Rose. She had betrayed his trust and lied to him. It seems like he would be pushed into much more responsibilities than he was promised.


    His eyes went from Sarah to Rose so he could plead his case, but he found her seat empty. A figure appeared directly next to him and a stern voice came from above him.


    ¡°You¡¯re a part of the student council now,¡± Rose reprimanded him, ¡°There¡¯s going to be a lot of work and responsibilities. That¡¯s just the way it is. Grow up and deal with it.¡±


    Lowering his head, he mumbled, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±


    She¡¯s so different at school. So much¡­ scarier.


    Rose looked at her silver watch.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have enough time to productively go over the rest of what I wanted to. We¡¯ll use the first half of tomorrow to plan for homecoming next week and then immediately begin moving things out of storage. We¡¯ll call it early for today. You¡¯re all free to leave, have a nice day.¡±


    She went back to her seat and resumed typing on her laptop. Everyone else started packing up and heading out.


    Sarah was the first to leave. She swiftly shut her book with one hand and grabbed her bag with the other. In one smooth motion she stood up and used her long legs to quickly exit the room.


    Kate was second. After neatly putting away her calculator and clipboard into her bag, she thanked Rose for holding the meeting and left.


    Kobani seemed to hesitate leaving her chair. Is she afraid she¡¯ll fall off? After a moment of what seemed to be her planning her landing, she hopped off the chair and trotted away.


    Chad looked at Rose. Her eyes didn¡¯t move from her laptop. He could see the reflection of her screen in her glasses. She seemed to be typing in a document with a lot of words in it.


    Is she writing a meeting summary?


    She sat at the head of the table with perfect posture, emanating an aura of regality she held all her actions to high standards. She fit the role of student council president, there was no doubting that.


    Not wanting to be there any longer than he needed to be, Chad got up to leave the room. Before walking out the door, he looked back to say goodbye, but she didn¡¯t look away from her laptop. He ended up leaving without saying a word.

 Chapter 14: The Walk Home

    Chad Nosmith was walking down the front steps of Manha High School. He was leaving, but much later than he wanted to. The student council meeting actually ended early, but he was used to leaving right after fourth period ended.


    The front of the school was empty. Everyone had either already left or was currently participating in some sort of after school sport or activity. There wasn¡¯t another person in sight, just the gray sidewalk lying ahead of himi.


    ¡°At least nobody will bother me on my way back home.¡±


    Chad being the great optimist that he was, tried to bring forth a positive to his disastrous situation. There would be a lot of other people walking or biking home when he usually left school. He would have to make way for bikes and scooters passing by him as well as adjust his walking pace so that he wasn¡¯t walking awkwardly along with some stranger. With no one else being around, he could walk home at his own pace. It was quite enjoyable, especially with the cool fall weather and the orange tinted sky.


    Light footsteps were doubling his pace from behind him.


    Is somebody walking up from behind? Better make room for them.


    Chad instinctively walked on the edge of the sidewalk to allow for the speedster behind him to pass. Even after waiting a while for someone to go by, the quick steps behind him remained constant.


    He wondered if someone was purposefully messing with him. He knew Peter would do something like this to get on his nerves, but he remembered him saying he was going to hang out with some people after school. So who was it?


    With his usual disinterested face, he turned around to see who was trying to mess with him.


    ¡°Kobani?¡±


    ¡°Um, hey.¡±


    He looked down at Kobani with a raised eyebrow. She stood swaying back and forth, playing with her extra long sleeves.


    ¡°Can I help you with something?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, I was just walking home.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡± Chad shrugged, ¡°I am too.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Kobani looked up to him, ¡°C-can we walk home together?¡±


    What a bother.


    He at first thought of declining her offer, but then he reflected back on his day. Kobani had been quite nice to him, especially compared to that Sarah girl. He probably shouldn¡¯t be rude. He needed as many allies as possible in the student council. Even though Rose had recruited him, based on that last interaction with her, it seemed like she was going to be quite harsh on him.


    ¡°Yea sure,¡± he turned back around waving his hand for her to follow him, ¡°You don¡¯t have to walk behind me¡­ You can if you want to, I guess.¡±


    With a flurry of soft steps, Kobani arrived beside his left arm.


    He peered at her from the corner of his eye.


    Now that I¡¯m standing directly next to her, she is quite short.


    The quick walking pace he heard earlier was due to her tiny legs. To keep up with his above average stride length, she had to walk at almost twice the pace. His walking pace was also a bit faster than average, so Kobani was almost jogging to keep up.


    Besides some birds in the distance, the only sounds were their out of rhythm steps on the concrete sidewalk. Chad wasn¡¯t opposed to walking in silence, but he knew that this wasn¡¯t the most polite way to walk home with someone. He already wasn¡¯t on good terms with Sarah and he wasn¡¯t quite sure if he was on good or bad terms with Rose. He had no clue about Kate, plus she kind of weirded him out a bit. Kobani was his best bet to secure a foothold in the student council.


    Why would he want a foothold in a group he didn¡¯t want to be a part of in the first place? The answer was quite simply to cut his losses. He had already tried to refuse joining, but his mother and Yuna vetoed that idea. Next he tried convincing Rose that he wasn¡¯t fit to be a student council member. That again didn¡¯t work, so he came to the conclusion that him joining the council was inevitable. He needed to make the best out of this horrible situation.


    The best way to do that is to get some sort of authoritative sway in the group. Rose obviously had full authority over the group, being the student council president, but power came in numbers. If he could convince Kobani and maybe one other member to his side, then maybe he can have some control over what the student council did. If he had some say in what they did, then he could fit their schedule around his own. He could decrease the amount of work the council does, including running the stupid concession stand this Friday.


    Also, why the hell does the student council have to oversee the effectiveness of the schedule change?


    This job seemed like something the school board should be responsible for, especially since they were the ones who implemented the new schedule.


    Those thoughts and questions could be saved for later. Right now, the awkward silence between him and Kobani was growing. He needed to stop this so she wouldn¡¯t think he doesn¡¯t like her.


    ¡°Uh, Kobani¡­ or Ko-ko. Is that your nickname?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± she responded with her soft voice.


    ¡°Do you mind if I call you Ko-ko? Or is that something only your friends call you.¡±


    ¡°Yes you can call me that.¡± Kobani spoke quickly.


    Ok, I don¡¯t need to do anything fancy with this conversation. I just need to come across nice and gain her trust.


    ¡°So.. uh¡­¡±


    She was staring straight ahead while he was trying to figure out a question to ask her. She didn¡¯t necessarily look interested in talking with him.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Did I make a mistake? Was silence the best option?


    He had already started talking so he couldn¡¯t quit now. The first thing that came to his brain rolled off his tongue.


    ¡°A-are you really a senior?¡±


    Kobani finally turned her face to look up to him. Her glossy green eyes had the innocence of a child.


    ¡°Uh, yes? I know I don¡¯t look like one¡­ Do I really look that immature?¡±


    ¡°No that wasn¡¯t it. It¡¯s just that most seniors have their license and drive, so I just was wondering why you were walking home, ya¡¯ know.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have my license, or a car for the matter of fact,¡± she looked down at the ground, ¡°Those things are out of reach for someone like me.¡±


    Can she not reach the pedals or something?


    She shook her head, clenching her sleeve covered fists against her chest.


    ¡°E-even if I did have a license and car, I don¡¯t need it anyways. The neighborhood I live in is right next to our school,¡± She gestured towards the direction the pair was walking in, ¡°Who needs a car? Walking is good for you, right?¡±


    ¡°Yea something like that,¡± Chad scratched his head, ¡°Do you live in the neighborhood just around this forest?¡±


    ¡°Yea.¡±


    ¡°I do too.¡±


    "Eeek"


    Chad quickly looked down to his left to where a high pitched noise had just come from. Both of her hands were covering her mouth. She seemed fine, though her face was a bit red. Maybe she was feeling a bit feverish.


    ¡°You feeling ok?¡±


    ¡°Yes, completely fine.¡± She muffled through her sleeves.


    He shrugged as they continued to walk together. Their conversation had come to another break point where the only noise came from the surrounding ambiance. This time it felt a lot more natural then the awkward silence from before.


    Good job Chad.


    Chad metaphorically patted his own back for a job well done. He was able to carry out a nice little conversation with a student council member. Hopefully this was just the start to him winning her favor over Rose¡¯s. He needed to gain sway in order to form the student council to something more to his liking. The overflowing load of ¡°work and responsibilities¡± Rose had talked about will soon be pushed aside with his plan. Although at this stage, it was less of a plan and more of an abstract idea.


    ¡°Chad, where are you going?¡±


    He turned around to see Kobani walking on the sidewalk by herself. He then looked down and saw he was in the grass.


    Where am I going?


    Walking in silence had led him to get lost in thought and he let his muscle memory do the walking for him.


    Oh¡­


    He finally took in his all too familiar surroundings. This was where he would always leave the sidewalk. There was a small opening in the forest bordering his neighborhood and the school. It was a shortcut that he would routinely take.


    ¡°This is a shortcut I usually take on my way home. It spits you out right into the neighborhood. It¡¯s pretty convenient.¡±


    Kobani¡¯s eyes widened.


    ¡°C-can I come?¡±


    ¡°Well, yea¡­ we¡¯re walking together, right? Plus this is shorter than walking around.¡±


    ¡°Ok!¡±


    With an enthusiastic response, she did a little hop off the sidewalk and trotted her way over back next to him.


    The pair continued their walk, but now surrounded by the brilliant colors of fall. All the leaves had turned a lustrous orange that matched the setting sun in the distance. The forest created a nicely isolated and peaceful walk. Along with being a shortcut, this was another reason why he made use of this path. It was quiet and nice on the eyes. Although, he wasn¡¯t sure if during winter it would be all that nice to look at, but hopefully it will keep its tranquility.


    Chad had already gone above and beyond his prior expectations for himself. He started a conversation with Kobani and it went well. That wasn¡¯t enough though. For the newly reformed him with a solidified¡­ Well, abstract goal in mind, this isn¡¯t enough. He needs to bring her to his side. He suddenly remembered how she reacted to Rose¡¯s praise of her idea back in the meeting.


    Maybe that will work.


    ¡°Hey Ko-ko,¡±


    ¡°y-yes¡­¡±


    Her voice was even quieter than usual. Chad was barely able to make it out over the leaves rustling in the wind.


    ¡°Thanks for standing with me back there.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°In the meeting, when Sarah was just laying into me. You defended my intellect, even though you barely know me. Thanks for that.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it was nothing,¡± her face grew red, ¡°Sarah¡¯s a bit rough around the edges, but she¡¯s a nice girl. Just sometimes Rose has to reign her in, but it ended up being me this time.¡±


    Man she¡¯s bright red, that fever must really be getting the hold of her.


    ¡°Why is someone like Sarah in the student council? Aren¡¯t council members supposed to be ideal students? She seems quite¡­ unideal.¡±


    ¡°Well, she¡¯s like super super smart. I think she¡¯s like a genius or something.¡±


    ¡°I feel like intellect alone shouldn¡¯t get you into the student council, especially with her attitude.¡±


    ¡°I once heard Rose say that once you¡¯re in the student council it''s really hard to get out of it¡­¡±


    I already figured I couldn¡¯t just drop out of it, but this confirms it.


    ¡°Even if Rose did want to kick Sarah out, there are other reasons why she can¡¯t. I¡¯m not sure if I should share those though.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I don¡¯t need to know.¡±


    I need to know. I can probably use it to bring Sarah to my side. That will be quite the task, but in order to do less work I¡¯ll have to be up for it.


    The pair exited the forest path and resumed walking on a small sidewalk in the neighborhood. They walked in silence again, but it had become comfortable. Chad had strategically conversed with her in a way that would make him seem much friendlier than he actually was. This comfortable silence would one day lead to him overtaking command of the student council. There may be a few unmentioned steps in between those two things. Although, Kobani was still quite red in the face.


    I hope that fever isn¡¯t making her feel too miserable. If she¡¯s feeling sick while walking with me, she might start associating that feeling with me which would hamper my plan.


    ¡°This is my house right here Chad. Thanks for walking with me.¡±


    She swayed back and forth, seeming like she wanted to say more.


    Kobani¡¯s house wasn¡¯t anything special. It was quite similar to his. The structure was the exact same with a grayish blue siding instead of burgundy. There was one peculiarity with her house though. When he turned his head about thirty degrees to the left, he saw his own house, sitting adjacent to her house.


    ¡°Um.. Chad-¡±


    ¡°Are we neighbors Ko-ko?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    Chad pointed to his house.


    ¡°I live right there.¡±


    Kobani turned around and looked at his house for a second. Then words started racing off her tongue like Olympic sprinters.


    ¡°Oh wow cool I better get going thanks for walking with me see you tomorrow bye¡­¡±


    She quickly sprinted up her driveway with her short strides and slammed the door behind her.


    Weird. Maybe the fever was getting to her.


    He shrugged and continued heading to his house. His mother¡¯s car was in the driveway, so he better prepare for questions about his day.


    What a bother.

 Chapter 15: Mmmm Cinnamon Rolls

    Chad opened the front door to his house and was greeted by the sweet smell of cinnamon. His mom was on the couch as usual with a laptop on her lap and a glass of wine in hand. The television that was currently out of his sight was on, keeping a nice constant source of background noise.


    Rebecca looked up over her reading glasses at her son who had just entered.


    ¡°Hey sweetie, dinner¡¯s ready in the kitchen and I made cinnamon rolls for dessert.¡±


    He looked at the coffee table where his mother had a plate with a half eaten cinnamon roll and a full one. It seemed she was enjoying her own cooking.


    Unlike when he would normally come home from school, Chad was quite hungry. That could be thanks to both the elongated school day and having to stay after for the student council meeting. Instead of walking up to his room as he usually would do, he went straight to the kitchen.


    His mother had prepared some simple chicken and rice. It seemed that she didn¡¯t have as much time today to do something more luxurious. That was fine with him, this was food that he didn¡¯t have to make for himself so it was still appreciated.


    After quickly eating his fill of dinner at the kitchen table, he brought his dishes to the sink and rinsed them off. He then placed them in the dishwasher and turned it on.


    Chad looked over at a glass pan that was placed next to the stovetop.


    Woah.


    This pan must¡¯ve been the pan his mother used to make the cinnamon rolls, but there was only one left. It seemed like she had eaten the rest of them before he had come back home. He could still sense the strong smell of cinnamon in the air, so she must¡¯ve made them somewhat recently.


    How did you eat all of those so fast? And where do you even put them?


    Rebecca wasn¡¯t large by any means. She was quite fit for someone her age despite her eating habits. Chad chalked it up to a high metabolism that he must¡¯ve inherited as well. He could often eat as much as he wanted to without worrying about gaining weight. Although, this could just be from being a teenage male and not an inherited high metabolism. It seemed that he would only be able to decipher where his immense appetite came from later in life after he passed his teenage years.


    Chad grabbed the last cinnamon roll, not wanting his mom to eat all of them before he got to try one. He then left the kitchen while taking a bite. Even though the whole pan was gone, the roll was still warm. The bready texture and cinnamon taste of the roll combined with the sweet taste of his mom''s homemade frosting made his tastebuds cry in joy. His mother¡¯s baking never disappointed.


    Chad made haste to the stairs, trying to escape to his room.


    ¡°Chad, come sit.¡±


    With a mouthful of a cinnamon roll, Chad replied quickly, ¡°Going upstairs.¡±


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a suggestion.¡±


    Her tone turned stern.


    He stopped his leg mid ascension of the first step. He then slowly turned around and adhered to his mother¡¯s command. He sat on a small sofa chair adjacent to the couch that she was laying on.


    ¡°Do you not have a plate? You¡¯re going to get crumbs on the floor.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Chad said with his mouth full, ¡°I¡¯m careful.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, take mine.¡±


    She handed him the plate she was using earlier for her cinnamon rolls. Chad noted that it was now empty.


    She didn¡¯t say a word while he was eating his cinnamon roll. She just went back to working on her laptop. It seemed like he was safe, although, why did she call him over to sit?


    Whatever.


    Chad grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels.


    ¡°Hey, turn it back. I was watching that.¡±


    ¡°No you weren¡¯t, you¡¯re working.¡±


    She set her laptop down on the coffee table.


    ¡°Well, now I¡¯m not. Change it back please.¡±


    Chad rolled his eyes at his mother as he handed her the remote. She changed it back to the channel the television was on previously.


    The show was a familiar one to Chad. It was his mother¡¯s favorite show. The title was Only Traveling Hearts are Honest. The title alone made him want to gag, but the content was even worse. It was a crappy reality T.V. show where the studio sends some bachelor on a two to three week long vacation with a plethora of girls. The vacation seemed to be the main premise of the show since every other aspect of it was so clich¨¦. They could send them on basic trips to extravagant or even weird ones. Some of the trips from recent seasons included Europe, a Caribbean cruise, hiking in the wilderness and there was even a season where they went on a road trip. That was a weird season and Chad was pretty sure it tanked their rankings. This was the only credit he gave the show, they created interesting and unique environments for a generic premise. After the vacation the man would have to choose one of the women to either begin dating or marry. Pretty bland and distasteful.


    He could probably deal with the show by itself. It wasn¡¯t objectively a bad show. The studio did a good job at fabricating drama and storylines for the audience to follow. The problem was his mother. She didn¡¯t have anyone but Yuna to talk to, so when she wasn¡¯t available, he would become the source of her venting.


    ¡°Ugh,¡± she took another sip from her glass, ¡°He¡¯s really going shopping with Jenna? Why didn¡¯t he go to the pool with Courtney? He¡¯s such an ass!¡±


    Rebecca brought her legs up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her knees. She seemed to be enjoying herself.


    ¡°Courtney is way prettier than Jenna. Plus, Jenna¡¯s a bitch. He¡¯s really screwing this up, Courtney is the way better choice!¡±


    Contrary to how his mother was feeling, Chad was not enjoying himself. He still had a few bites left of his cinnamon roll and wanted to enjoy them. He couldn¡¯t do that with this going on. He had a strategy. He utilized this technique whenever his mother forced him to watch some crappy reality T.V. show.


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    ¡°Yea Courtney¡¯s the way better choice. Her tits are massive.¡±


    Whack!


    Rebecca reflexively threw the remote at his head. It made good contact making a loud sound on impact.


    ¡°Ow! What was that for?¡± Chad said, rubbing his head.


    ¡°Don¡¯t objectify women!¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t objectify her,¡± he picked up the remote from the floor, ¡°I was making an astute observation. Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯ve been doing this whole time? Why can¡¯t I do it?¡±


    Rebecca grimaced at her son¡¯s twisted logic. She should¡¯ve expected this because this was a routine that they had done many times with just slightly different variations.


    She conceded to her son¡¯s wishes.


    ¡°Fine, you can change the channel, but make a comment like that again and I¡¯ll have you castrated.¡±


    ¡°I think that¡¯s illegal.¡±


    ¡°I made you. No government is going to stop me from punishing my own blood.¡±


    For a second, Chad thought his mother¡¯s eyes glowed red.


    Maybe I went a bit too far this time.


    He began his mindless changing of channels. Never settling on a single station. His mother often grew frustrated with this habit of his, but it seemed like she was done watching television and began harassing him with questions.


    ¡°Chad dear, how was your day at school?¡±


    He grunted in response while continuing his mindless changing of channels.


    Her tone turned venomous, as if an entirely different person was talking to him.


    ¡°You better not have skipped the student council meeting!¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡± Chad quickly swallowed his last mouthful of frosting and cinnamon, ¡°Of course I didn¡¯t. Why do you think I came back so late?¡±


    Rebecca twisted her lips, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put it past you to try and trick me.¡±


    When have I ever tricked you?


    ¡°Well, I really did go.¡± Chad gestured towards the window, ¡°Ask them if you¡¯re so skeptical. One of the council members is our neighbor.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re making friends?¡± she smiled.


    Friends?


    Chad thought of his current plan of gaining favor from the current council members to slowly take control of the council and make it so he doesn¡¯t have to do as much work. This required him to act friendly towards them, but not necessarily make them his friends.


    He shrugged at his mother¡¯s question.


    ¡°Friends is quite a strong word¡­ acquaintances is much more fitting.¡±


    ¡°Well you better not skip the meeting tomorrow or you¡¯ll disappoint your friends.¡±


    With a sigh he responded, ¡°Wasn¡¯t planning on skipping.¡±


    The comfort of silence finally came back as he continued to skip through channels. Rebecca grabbed her laptop again and resumed her work while sipping on some red wine. Chad had finished his cinnamon roll, but he didn¡¯t feel tired enough to go to bed nor did he have any unfinished homework. He didn¡¯t have anything to do and this was the most mind numbing entertainment conveniently available to him.


    What was that?


    He backtracked two channels and landed on the local news. In the big headline was his school, Manha High School. It read: ¡°Does Manha High School host the troublesome Vandalizers?¡±


    ¡°Oh Yuna told me about this.¡±


    Rebecca seemed to become distracted from her work and began talking to him again.


    ¡°She called me just a bit before you got home and warned me about some kids who vandalized the library. Apparently they spray painted a crown on the back of the library. Usually their vandalism is much worse, like egging, toilet papering or even sneaking in termites, but she scared them off before they had a chance to do anything else.¡± she chuckled, ¡°Imagine the looks on those kids'' faces when Yuna chased them off.¡± her laugh turned into an infectious giggle. ¡°They were probably terrified.¡±


    Chad conjured up the image of his boss sprinting towards him.


    I wouldn¡¯t call that a scary sight, just odd.


    He didn¡¯t reply to his mother¡¯s comments seeing that her face had a nice shade of pink to it now.


    ¡°God I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m sending you to a school with a bunch of misfits who go around vandalizing buildings. Maybe I should transfer you to a new school.¡±


    Please don¡¯t.


    Although he wasn¡¯t exhilarated with his current situation, another drastic change such as moving schools would surely do him in.


    ¡°I mean¡­ Are those parents even parenting? Like how hard is it to not make your child a complete¡­ a complete¡­ What word am I looking for Chad?¡±


    ¡°Idiot?¡±


    ¡°No that wasn¡¯t it¡­¡± she tossed her upper body back into the couch, ¡°I-I can¡¯t think of it. It''s on the tongue of my tip.¡±


    Tip of your tongue.


    Chad stood up and went to the kitchen to clean his dishes. He left his tipsy mother in the living room to her own thoughts.


    ***


    The rest of Chad¡¯s night went smoothly. He washed his dishes then wished his mother goodnight. After laying in his bed without falling asleep for a while, he heard his mother¡¯s car pull out from the driveway. She must¡¯ve been called into work. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for her to get called in at strange hours like this. She worked as an editor and she had an author that required a lot of maintenance.


    I just hope she¡¯s sobered up enough to drive safely.


    Rebecca would often be sipping on wine throughout the day and be suddenly called into work. Chad wasn¡¯t sure if she qualified as an alcoholic or not, but she seemed to make it work. After a quick prayer for his mother, he quickly drifted off to sleep¡­


    Ding dong.


    ¡°Ugh.¡±


    Ding dong.


    ¡°The hell?¡±


    Ding dong Ding dong.


    Chad rolled to his side and reached for his phone, at first missing it and slamming his hand against the side of the night stand.


    ¡°Ow.¡±


    Ding dong.


    ¡°Give me a minute!¡±


    Did she forget her house keys?


    His mother had left in her car and her house keys were with her car keys on the chain. That probably ruled out that possibility.


    Chad squinted as he brought the bright screen of his phone into view.


    ¡°12:09?¡±


    Whenever his mother left late at night, it usually indicated her pulling an all-nighter at work. There was almost no point in her going in if she would get back as soon as midnight. That left only one other option.


    ¡°Burglars.¡±


    With her going into work overnight and leaving their driveway completely empty, Chad figured that they could become a target for robbery. They were probably ringing the doorbell to check if anyone was home. He forced his body to move and stood up.


    Better let them know the man of the house is still here.


    He navigated his way in the dark towards his door, opening it and carefully watching his step while descending the stairs.


    Ding dong.


    ¡°Coming! Stop ringing that damn doorbell?¡±


    These supposed burglars were being quite thorough in making sure no one was home.


    Chad had finally made it to the door. He grasped the handle and twisted. The door wasn¡¯t even locked.


    Did she forget to lock it? C¡¯mon mom, that¡¯s dangerous.


    He opened the door without thinking too much of what could await him on the other side.


    The chill night breeze hit him, sending goosebumps crawling up his skin. Without any hesitation, he had pulled the door completely wide open. He was now standing with an astonished look on his face.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m so sorry!¡±


    A girl was awaiting him at his front porch. She had brilliant blonde hair and bright blue eyes that glowed in the night. She was wearing what looked to be pajamas. As soon as she started speaking, her apology was drowned out by tears that streamed down her face. She rubbed them with her sleeve, accidentally bumping into her glasses that were placed on the tip of her nose.


    He wasn¡¯t really sure if his eyes were deceiving him since he had just awoken from a deep sleep, but he thought he recognized this girl.


    ¡°Rose?¡±

 Chapter 16: A Plea for Forgiveness

    Chad just opened the front door to his house. Incessant ringing from his all too annoying doorbell woke him up and forced him to do so. What awaited him right outside was quite the surprise.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡±


    ¡°Rose?¡±


    There was a girl in front of him balling her eyes out in pajamas. He recognized this girl, it was the student council president, Rose Visca. What was she doing at his residence well past midnight?


    ¡°I-s- saawwry, I-I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯m such a¡­¡±


    She was saying sentences, but he couldn¡¯t make out anything of substance. Her words were stifled by her tears and snot. Her emotions seemed to be bursting out of her.


    ¡°A-are you ok?¡±


    Those were the only words that came to his mind. She seemed physically alright, but he had a hard time comprehending what was going on in front of him.


    ¡°Y-ye¡­¡±


    Again, her words were cut off by her wails. Her legs weakened and she bent over on her knees. Her upper body hunched over with her hair covering her face. Her words were finally became more clear.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry¡­ I lied to you¡­ I couldn¡¯t think of another way¡­ You would¡¯ve never joined?¡±


    ¡°Lied? What are you talking about?¡±


    Chad¡¯s brain was still foggy. He had just awoken from a deep sleep and dragged himself downstairs to answer the door. What was she talking about?


    What the hell is happening? Why is she here? When did she lie to me? Oh¡­


    Memories of the student council meeting earlier that day, or the previous day now, came back to him. He was blindsided by the news that he would have to work at the concession stands this Friday at the girl¡¯s soccer game. This wasn¡¯t just more work for him, but would require him to stay after school until almost ten at night. This was not acceptable. Especially when Rose had promised that the after school meetings were the only time commitment he would incur with joining the student council. The fury he felt earlier came back to him. She did lie to him. She should be saying sorry.


    Chad looked back down at Rose who was balling on the pavement right outside his door. The fury seemed to slip away. Apologizing is exactly what she should be doing¡­ but everything just felt wrong.


    This whole situation made him feel in the wrong, even though he wasn¡¯t. The feeling of pity jabbed him in the abdomen.


    This isn¡¯t right¡­ This isn¡¯t right¡­ What should I do?


    ¡°Uh Rose¡­ it¡¯s ok. Please stand up. There¡¯s no need for this.¡±


    In the most consoling voice he could muster, he tried to relieve her grief.


    She looked up to him. Her eyes were completely bloodshot and watery.


    ¡°How could you ever forgive me?¡±


    With a sigh, he held out his hand and helped her up.


    ¡°What is there even to forgive? You haven¡¯t wronged me.¡±


    Even though it was a lie, it felt like the truth coming off his lips.


    ¡°But¡­ I deceived you! I tricked you into joining the student council!¡± she wiped away the lingering tears, ¡°I¡¯m a horrible person!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t trick me.¡±


    ¡°I did! I said there wouldn¡¯t be much extra work and you could keep your schedule, b-but you can¡¯t keep your current schedule. There are so many responsibilities as a council member. You¡¯ll constantly be preparing and closing school events as well as participating in them.¡±


    ¡°I would¡¯ve joined even if I knew all that.¡±


    Rose¡¯s head tilted.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yea,¡±


    Chad thought of his mother and Yuna. There was no choice of joining, no matter how much he didn¡¯t want to. He just fantasized that he had a choice in this decision, but any route he chose would¡¯ve led to the same ending.


    ¡°Like you said at the meeting,¡± he gritted his teeth, ¡°I guess I just have to ¡®Grow up and deal with it.¡¯¡±


    ¡°You really mean it? You¡¯re not mad at me?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    No! Of course I¡¯m mad, I just can¡¯t be with you in this¡­ state.


    This bipolar president has been making Chad guess his sanity for the past couple of days. The way she acts at school, all professional and pompous, it¡¯s much easier to be mad at her. But when she acts like¡­ this, he just can¡¯t bring himself to be mad. It would be like seeing a crying puppy, only a monster could be enraged by that, even if it wronged them.


    He looked down at his hand that he used to help Rose to her feet. He was still holding onto her hand. Quickly retrieving his hand from her grasp, he moved on from this uncomfortable topic.


    ¡°How¡¯d you even get here?¡± he peaked around her shoulder, there was no car in the driveway, ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night.¡±


    ¡°I walked.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pitch black out. How¡¯d you even find your way here?¡±


    Rose began swaying back and forth.


    I wonder if she¡¯s getting cold.


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    ¡°I-I just wanted to apologize. I couldn¡¯t fall asleep. I needed to see you¡­¡±


    A jolt of energy shot into Chad¡¯s stomach, or was it his chest? Either way, he carried on the conversation to distract himself from it.


    ¡°So how¡¯d you get here?¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    Rose opened her mouth to reply, but the entire front of Chad¡¯s house lit up. A red car was pulling into the driveway with its bright headlights pointing right at them. After a subpar parking job, a woman exited the vehicle.


    Oh shit! What is she doing back?


    His mother just pulled into the driveway. This was way earlier than he was expecting, she should be torturing some misfit author until dawn, bugging them about finishing their manuscript. She shouldn¡¯t be back yet.


    Chad analyzed the situation he was in. He and another girl were in their pajamas at the front of his house¡­ in the middle of the night... And his mother was walking right towards them.


    What should I do? Do I grab Rose and hide her somewhere? No, there¡¯s no time.


    Rebecca nonchalantly kept walking towards the pair.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just forgot my laptop charger. I¡¯ll be out of your business in a sec.¡±


    Not comprehending her words, Chad began defending his situation.


    ¡°It¡¯s not what it looks like.¡±


    She was now right next to the pair.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that-¡±


    Her eyes met Rose¡¯s.


    ¡°Hi Becca,¡± Rose squeaked as she gave a small wave.


    ¡°What did you do!¡±


    His mother¡¯s eyes were filled with the rage of God.


    ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s not what it looks like. She hasn¡¯t stepped a foot into the house-¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that!¡±


    She softly embraced Rose, rubbing her hair with one hand.


    ¡°Why is she crying! The hell did you do to her!¡±


    She was no longer crying, but her eyelids were red and swollen with the remnants of dried tears on her face.


    ¡°Wha-What? I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±


    ¡°My ass you did nothing!¡±


    She raised her hand, preparing to reprimand her son.


    ¡°Wait!¡±, Rose¡¯s frail voice protected him from an incoming slap, ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth. I should be punished, not him.¡±


    She looked to her in confusion, ¡°What do you mean sweetheart?¡±


    Rose ended up explaining the situation to his mother. The way she put it made Chad seem like he was in the right, which of course he was. It was only natural for Rose to be sorry and he even graciously forgave her¡­ in a way. There is no way his mom could be mad at him now.


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me he made you stand outside in the cold while you were crying! I raised you better than that!¡±


    There¡¯s no winning with her.


    After a bit more scolding from her, the group moved from outside into the much warmer house. Rebecca wrapped Rose in a blanket and sat her down on the couch next to Chad. After quickly running in and out of the kitchen, she then sat on a chair a couple feet away and crossed her legs as if she were a therapist.


    ¡°Rose dear, there was no need for you to apologize, let alone walk here in the middle of the night.¡±


    ¡°I just felt like I wronged Chad so I had to come and apologize¡­ but he assured me that I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. Isn¡¯t he so kind?¡±


    He gave a sheepish smile to his mother, she seemed like she didn¡¯t believe Rose.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you know you didn¡¯t do anything wrong now. You¡¯re such a sweet girl and I¡¯m glad you asked Chad to be on the student council.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Becca.¡±


    ¡°After the hot cocoa is done I can bring you home. Where do you live?¡±


    ¡°Um, my house is by the pharmacy on fifth street.¡±


    ¡°What!?!¡±


    Rebecca¡¯s eyes widened.


    Why¡¯d that get her worked up?


    Her eyes filled with malice turned to Chad.


    ¡°You made her walk over five miles to apologize?!?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t make her do anything.¡±


    ¡°Chad Nosmith! When I¡¯m through with you-¡± Rebecca glanced at Rose and then cooled herself down, ¡°We¡¯ll talk later about that.¡±


    A small chime came from the kitchen.


    ¡°I¡¯ll grab the cocoa and then I can take you back. Poor thing you must¡¯ve been freezing.¡±


    She left to the kitchen, leaving the pair of highschoolers on the couch. Chad just stared straight ahead, not wanting to converse with her any further.


    ¡°T-thank you¡­ Chad.¡±


    ¡°Why are you thanking me? I haven¡¯t done anything.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just such a kind person, forgiving me even though I lied to you.¡±


    ¡°It''s not a big deal,¡± he sighed, ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything special¡­ and I¡¯m not kind.¡±


    ¡°You are kind,¡± her voice strengthened, ¡°Stop always lying to yourself. You¡¯re kind and a hard worker.¡±


    Chad turned to look at her. She was sitting tall and her glasses no longer teetered at the tip of her nose.


    ¡°You constantly lie to yourself, saying you''re not this or that, but you are. Your self doubt is crippling your potential.¡±


    Although he could still see the room lights reflecting off her dried tears, she no longer showed any sign of being sad. She radiated her usual confident aura, the way she does at school, sitting tall and looking sternly at Chad.


    ¡°Alright, I have the cocoa.¡±


    Rebecca walked back into the living room holding two mugs with steam coming off of them. The room was filled with the sweet scent of chocolate and marshmallows.


    ¡°Thank you Becca.¡±


    Rose slid down back into the couch along with her glasses sliding back to the tip of her nose.


    What the hell?


    ¡°I¡¯ll take you back now.¡±


    Rebecca handed her a mug and she stood up. They then began to walk out of the house.


    ¡°Wait, I don''t get any cocoa?¡±


    Chad had expected his mother to hand him the other mug, but she showed no signs of doing so.


    ¡°Rose was the one who walked outside in the cold¡­ and I made it. You don¡¯t deserve any.¡± She smugly took a sip from her mug.


    ¡°Here you go Chad,¡± Rose held out her mug, ¡°I already drank some, but you can have it if you want.¡±


    He looked down to the mug and then back at her.


    Weren¡¯t you just scolding me five seconds ago?


    The switch flipped once again and she was holding out her mug of hot chocolate with a sincere smile. He reached for it, but then stopped himself.


    ¡°I¡¯m ok, thank you though.¡±


    ¡°You are so welcome Chad!¡± her smile grew.


    What are you so happy about?


    Rose and Rebecca left the house, leaving Chad all by himself.


    ¡°What a freakin¡¯ night. I need some sleep.¡±


    He climbed up the stairs once again and slipped into his bed.


    ¡°That bipolar bitch. What does she think she¡¯s doing?¡±


    Now that Rose wasn¡¯t in front of him, he found it much easier to be mad at her.


    ¡°Is she trying to gain my pity by acting like that? Like that will work,¡± He turned to lay on his other shoulder, ¡°I bet that¡¯s how she got all the other council members to support her. She¡¯s smart. I''ll give her that, but I¡¯m smarter. I¡¯ll beat her and get what I want. Then the council won¡¯t have to do all this stupid work.¡±


    He clenched his blankets.


    ¡°And what with this whole ¡®lying to myself¡¯ thing and wasting my potential or whatever. Why is she trying to act like she knows me? I bet it¡¯s another one of her ploys. She¡¯s trying to act like my friend and gain my favor. Yea, that¡¯s it, but it will never work. You¡¯re the one lying. I¡¯m not kind and I¡¯m not a hard worker! Your little tricks will never work against me.¡±


    Chad let out a long sigh. He had tired himself out with his ranting and it was quite late. If he didn¡¯t get to sleep now, tomorrow would be much harder to get through. Needing to get the last word in this single person argument, he whispered.


    ¡°You crazy girl.¡±

 Chapter 17: Oh, How Lovely Lunch is!

    The beginning of the next day went a lot smoother than Chad had predicted. There were no teacher vs. student spats in his Calculus class. Mr. Gredge seemed to have been talked to by some higher ups and was no longer mouthing off at the school board during class time. Instead, he was actually teaching the course. This still didn¡¯t stop Sarah from verbally harassing him, but it seemed that he was doing his best to ignore her rather than send her to detention like the previous day. His face still turned a rageful red at every one of her comments. This was as much as Chad was able to pick up on when he lifted his head up from his homework during his brain break.


    The next period went even smoother. Kobani happily greeted him and seemed to have recovered from that fever or whatever she was dealing with on her way home from school the day before. Mrs. Wenwir then started the class and it was just like any other, with the exception that Chad now sat in the front of the room. Overall, even though it was just the second day, his new schedule seemed to be falling into place smoothly.


    After the bell rang signifying the end of the second period, he quickly said farewell to Kobani and walked out of the classroom with some pace. His legs were moving with haste, increasing his strides to reach his final destination even a smidge faster. Afterall, he needed to claim his spot. The spot in the top corner of the new football field stands. The one that overlooked the school, the field and the forest. The one that the little tyrant had stolen from him yesterday. His spot. Rose was kind enough to take her pesterous sister away so Chad could have his lunch spot back, but there was no guarantee that would happen today. That¡¯s why he had to reach it before she did.


    After climbing the aluminum stands that scaled almost as high as the school building, he let out a large sigh. His breath was heavier than usual and he had traces of sweat on his forehead, but it was worth it. He had claimed what was his. He took out from his plastic bag his usual lunch, but this time it didn¡¯t consist of one of his mother¡¯s baked goods. She had run out of time this week to make anything. He took special care when taking out his water bottle not to drop it between the stands. That¡¯s what cost him his spot last time. Nothing but a class five hurricane could uproot Chad from his spot. He was determined not to lose his perfect oasis for eating lunch.


    ¡°You are in my spot!¡±


    His opponent finally arrived.


    The high pitched voice of the aforementioned tyrant pierced his eardrums. Her light feet allowed her to silently climb the stairs without him noticing. She now stood a few rows down with her hands on her hips.


    ¡°A lowlife such as yourself shouldn¡¯t intrude on royalty¡¯s property.¡±


    Her eyes emitted a killing intent.


    ¡°Are you even listening to me? You¡¯re in my spot, leave now! I warned you. There will be consequences for not following my commands!¡±


    The view is sure lovely from up here.


    Chad swiveled his body to face the other direction. He took in the beauty surrounding him. The nice fall colors of the trees preparing for winter went nicely with the auburn bricks the school was made of. The leaves were falling, creating a nice accent of orange and red throughout the green grass. Fall truly was beautiful.


    ¡°You¡¯re in my spot! Now get out!¡±


    He grimaced, but kept looking out into the distance.


    He had determined since before Chivral arrived that ignoring her was probably his best bet. When somebody exerts this much energy while scolding someone, they ought to get tired at some point and just leave. This strategy was seeming to take a bit longer than he would¡¯ve liked it too, but patience is a virtue. He just has to hold out a little longer until she becomes bored and leaves.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll just take my spot then.¡±


    She walked up the final couple steps up to him. She then sat directly next to him, pushing her little body against him.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±


    Chad, though surprised, didn¡¯t move. They now sat on top of the bleachers leaning against each other. It was a battle of stubbornness and neither were planning on losing.


    ¡°I¡¯m simply taking what¡¯s mine. You should be grateful to even get the chance to graze my body, although you should be punished for not following my orders.¡±


    She crossed her arms and pointed her nose in the air away from him.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe your audacity, taking my spot. How could you treat someone of my stature like this?¡±


    ¡°What is your problem?¡± Chad¡¯s voice was filled with irritability.


    ¡°My only problem is that you are in my spot and you can easily amend that. Now move.¡±


    A silence finally filled the air. Both sat still slightly pushed up against the other. Neither giving an inch. With their pride getting in the way of their comfort, they started eating their lunches. They didn¡¯t look at each other and didn¡¯t say anything to each other. The only sounds were the wind rattling the chain linked fence behind them and the chewing of food.


    Chivral was wearing what seemed to be her usual outfit style, pink with a little clothing sprinkled in. Heck, every item she owned seemed to be pink. Her lunch bag was pink, even the containers where her food was neatly packed in were pink. He even noticed that hair binders holding her pink hair in free flowing pigtails were pink.


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    ¡°Are you so entranced that you can¡¯t take your eyes off of me? It is only a natural response and is very common, though most people have to pay for the privilege to gaze upon my beauty.¡±


    Crap.


    He had been caught staring for too long and now she broke the comforting silence. It didn¡¯t matter too much though, he simply turned his head away and took in his surroundings. No reply was needed for that snarky comment from this arrogant freshman. Chad had met a plethora of interesting personalities these past few days. Each one of them being just as weird and annoying as the last.


    Chivral seemed to think of herself as some sort of goddess, constantly demanding obedience for her requests from those around her, or at least him. She was definitely quite different from her sister, who was a totally different problem. Rose held an aura of royalty around her, fitting of the student council president, but she didn¡¯t come across like¡­ this. She wasn¡¯t one to look down on other people, she gave stern orders for the benefit of the school, not herself. In terms of ordering people around, the sisters were similar but Chivral¡¯s orders seemed a lot more sinister and egotistical.


    Rose was just as curious of a personality as her little sister, perhaps even more so. When Chad had first met her, he didn¡¯t even recognize her. Eventually he made the connection that she was the student council president, but the way she held and composed herself outside of school was completely different. It was almost as if she was a different person. This absolutely perplexed him. He wasn¡¯t quite so knowledgeable about bipolarness, but that usually dealt with longer lasting mood swings and seemed to be heavily linked with poor mental health. What Rose was displaying didn¡¯t seem like mood swings, more like complete personality flips. Of course he wasn¡¯t a doctor, so he could be entirely wrong with this diagnosis.


    Wait a minute.


    He had a perfect opportunity laying in front of him. The sister to the person who perplexed him the most was sitting right next to him. It was also the person he was trying to overtake control over for the reigns of the student council. Rose was his enemy, and he needed information. Maybe he could utilize her two sided personality as a means to gain sway in the student council. Either way, accumulating information about her was a must. Perhaps he should change how he acts to her sister.


    ¡°Hey Chiv, do-¡±


    ¡°Use my full name when you address me, peasant.¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡±


    He had heard Rose call to her sister in this abbreviated manner the day before, so he thought it would make him come across more friendly. This seemed to have been a mistake, but a minor setback only meant a major comeback. He wasn¡¯t about to back down.


    ¡°Oh sorry, anyways-¡±


    ¡°Say it.¡±


    He looked at her. She still had her arms crossed, but was now scowling at him.


    ¡°Say my full name. With some passion, you should be grateful to have my name leave your lips.¡±


    Am I really about to listen to this brat¡¯s commands?


    He gritted his teeth and gave in.


    ¡°Fine¡­ Chivral Visca, can I ask you-¡±


    ¡°My middle name! You forgot my middle name,¡± her eyes glowed with a sadistic joy.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know your middle name.¡±


    She smiled.


    ¡°Cresselia, my middle name is Cresselia. Now say it, say my full name all together.¡±


    She now looked up at him like a child looking at a toy they yearned for. Her prior malice seemed to settle down.


    ¡°Um ok, Chivral Cresselia Visca,¡±


    She blushed hot red at his words, but Chad was too busy forcing these words from his mouth to notice.


    ¡°Can I ask you a question about your sister?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    She raised an eyebrow and titled her small head at his question. For a moment her child dictator act seemed to fade. Not for too long though.


    ¡°What about my sister?¡±


    It would be best to get straight to the point, but he didn¡¯t want to be too blunt since it was her family he was asking about.


    ¡°Why is she so¡­ different when she¡¯s away from school?¡±


    ¡°Different?¡±


    She stared at him.


    ¡°You know, when she¡¯s not at school. She¡¯s a lot more laid back and doesn¡¯t quite act like¡­ like a president.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s always the same big sis. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. She treats me the same whether we¡¯re at school or not.¡±


    With eyebrows raised, he looked at the confused tyrant even more confused. She had just dropped a bombshell.


    No way, there¡¯s no way. She definitely acts differently.


    Chivral seemed completely ignorant of her sister¡¯s switching personalities. Maybe he could have been imagining it all? He trusted himself enough to rule that possibility out, so why does she, her own sister, not know of Rose¡¯s weird quirk.


    Clearing his throat, he changed tactics.


    ¡°Then let me switch questions. What is your sister like?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you friends with her? Shouldn¡¯t you know what she¡¯s like?¡±


    There¡¯s that¡±f¡± word again.


    His mom was referring to the student council as his friends the other day, but how could people become friends in just a few days? Plus, he wouldn¡¯t want to be friends with these crazy girls anyways, although he may need to for his plan to succeed.


    ¡°I just would like to hear what you think about your sister, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s interesting to hear other people¡¯s perspectives.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± She looked off into the distance, ¡°My sister¡­ is a great sister. Whenever I¡¯m sad or in trouble, she always takes care of me. She can be hard on me at times, but I still love her. She¡¯s always there for me and I can always rely on her. I¡¯m truly blessed to have her as my big sister¡­¡±


    Chad¡¯s mouth opened with how sincere she was being. It was as if she was speaking from her heart. She glanced back at him and her face turned red. After slapping his shoulder, she buried her face into her knees.


    ¡°D-don¡¯t look at me like that! Take your foul gaze away from me, you scum!¡±


    He smiled and he let out a small laugh.


    ¡°Seems like you have some humanity after all.¡±


    ¡°The hell is that supposed to mean? You better beg for forgiveness for your little comment. Get down on your knees right now and beg¡­ Do it!¡±


    He turned back his eyes to the green field out in front of him. Raising a chip to his mouth, he smiled.


    ¡°Hey did you hear me? Down on your knees, grovel below me!¡±


    All he could hear was the nice crunch from the corn chip he just bit into, the rest was white noise in the background.


    Man, this is a pretty good chip. Nice weather. I always enjoyed eating lunch outside.

 Chapter 18: A Friendly Game

    As Chad opened a door that would soon become very familiar, a sweet voice greeted him.


    ¡°Hey Chad.¡±


    ¡°Hi Ko-ko.¡±


    Kobani, in her usual kneeling position next to the table in the meeting room, was scribbling on a piece of paper while he took his seat next to her.


    Unlike the day before, he immediately went to the student council meeting after fourth period, trying to avoid being scolded by either Rose or Sarah for being late.


    It was actually surprising that anyone had even beat him. The classroom he departed from was nearby and he had some extra energy today so he walked at a decent pace. Plus, Kobani was a slow walker due to her extremely short strides. It was interesting that she, of all the council members, had gotten here before him.


    ¡°Have you made any progress on the assignment Mrs. Wenwir gave us?¡± Kobani asked.


    ¡°Huh? Oh, no I haven¡¯t. I was too busy doing other homework during the rest of my classes. I guess I¡¯ll do it after the meeting today.¡±


    ¡°Other homework?¡±


    ¡°Well yea, I have other classes during third and fourth period. I usually do those classes'' homework during the same period. I find it hard to do art homework during class, especially since Mrs. Wenwir moved me to the front.¡±


    Wenwir seemed to be one of those teachers who actually cared if a student was paying attention or not during the class.


    ¡°Wait, you do homework while class is going on?¡±


    ¡°I mean, what other time do I have to do it during the school day?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    Kobani gave herself a light tap on the head, as if she just came to an obvious conclusion.


    ¡°I completely forgot you¡¯re still just a sophomore.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Chad asked.


    ¡°It means that you probably don¡¯t have any periods off.¡±


    ¡°Periods off?¡±


    She smiled and sat up a bit taller.


    ¡°Since I¡¯m a senior, I¡¯m finishing up all the classes I have to take. In other words, I can¡¯t fully fill my schedule with classes, so I have open periods where I have no classes.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that seems like a nice deal. Although, I feel like I would run out of things to do and get bored just sitting around at school waiting for my next class.¡±


    That and the void in Chad¡¯s schedule would make his structured and routine based lifestyle a bit uncomfortable.


    ¡°You could do what I do and pick up a TA position.¡±


    ¡°TA position?¡±


    Kobani tilted her head, ¡°You don¡¯t know much about this school, do you?¡±


    ¡°Why would I care about learning about my school? I only come here to get an education and then leave. Learning about the nuances of this school seems wasteful.¡±


    ¡°Well, you are a student council member¡­ Anyways, TA stands for teaching assistant. They are positions usually held by upperclassmen in courses they have already taken.¡±


    ¡°Is it a paid job?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then why would anybody do something that isn¡¯t required to graduate?¡±


    ¡°Resume building of course,¡± Kobani looked off to the side, ¡°I also kind of want to be a teacher in the future. I thought it would be good experience.¡±


    Her shoulders slumped a bit, forcing him to ask a question to continue the conversation.


    ¡°Is it good experience?¡±


    ¡°No. All I do is do printer runs, proctor exams and other miscellaneous tasks. There¡¯s not much teaching for the job being titled ¡®teaching assistant.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Hm¡±


    Chad didn¡¯t have any further comments. He was just trying to imagine Kobani as a teacher. Even if all the students were sitting in desks, she would still probably have to look up at them. It was quite a humorous scene.


    ¡°Why are you smiling? Did I say something funny?¡±


    Lost in thought, he had let a smile crawl onto his face.


    ¡°Uh no. I was just imagining you as a teacher. Why do you want to be a teacher anyways? No offense, but you don¡¯t seem to be quite the type to teach.¡±


    Kobani didn¡¯t seem dumb by any means, by not exactly the sharpest. Also, she was super tentative around Chad. Teachers should be confident and firm when speaking. Plus, there was also the size issue that made it seem hard for him to imagine her as a teacher.


    ¡°I want to teach elementary school kids. I just think it would be awesome to work with cute little kids every day.¡±


    Her eyes sparkled at the thought of becoming a glorified babysitter.


    I guess that makes sense. It would be the only age group she would be consistently taller than. Although a few might be as tall as her.


    He internally laughed at the imagined scene.


    Just as he started to wonder if anybody else would show up, the door swung open. Sarah walked in and took her seat across from Kobani.


    ¡°Hi Ko-ko.¡±


    The whole time she didn¡¯t take her eyes off the paperback book she was reading.


    ¡°Afternoon¡±


    ¡°Hey Sarah¡±


    Sarah quickly glanced up just to glare at him.


    What the hell did I even do? All I did was say hi. Getting on her good side is going to be quite the task.


    Before the door had fully closed, Kate followed her into the classroom and stood at the head of the table across from where Rose usually sat.


    ¡°Rose will be late today. She¡¯s in an urgent meeting with the school board.¡±


    She then took her seat after the announcement.


    A moment of silence passes, then another¡­ and another. Everybody sat without talking to each other, nor even looking at each other.


    Sarah continued reading, Kobani was drawing and Kate took out her clipboard and calculator and started doing who knows what.


    Is this really the student council without Rose? Why aren¡¯t we doing anything? Are they really that reliant on her leadership?


    ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s the plan for today?¡± Chad asked.


    ¡°How about shut up and relieve me of any future headaches.¡±


    ¡°Jesus Sarah, all I did was ask a question.¡±


    She just rolled her eyes in response.


    ¡°Rose is usually the one who makes the itinerary for each meeting. Without her here, there isn¡¯t much scheduled for us to do.¡± Kate said.


    ¡°So all you guys do when Rose isn¡¯t here is sit in silence?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much. Got a problem with that?¡± Sarah replied.


    Although having the student council sit and do nothing was preferable for Chad, there was no way he was going to let this opportunity pass. Without Rose present, there was a vacuum of any leadership and direction. He needed to step in and exploit this opening when she wasn¡¯t here.


    A bit ironic, since his eventual goal was to have the student council do as little as possible in the future. He needed to step in and have them do something now in order to have any chance of reaching that goal.


    ¡°It just doesn¡¯t seem very productive for us to sit here and do nothing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not doing nothing, I¡¯m reading.¡±


    Kobani sat up from her drawing position, ¡°I think what Chad¡¯s trying to say is that since we¡¯re all here, we shouldn¡¯t just all be doing our own things.  We should do something as a group.¡±


    ¡°But Rose isn¡¯t here.¡± Kate said.


    ¡°She doesn¡¯t need to be here for us to do something. There are still four council members here.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re so proactive, then what do you suggest we do?¡± Sarah said while snapping her book shut.


    Chad hadn¡¯t gotten that far in his plan yet. He just knew sitting in silence wouldn¡¯t help him in his plan. Even just chatting like this was a more productive way of becoming closer to the council members.


    ¡°Well¡­ There are plenty of things we could do¡­¡± He gulped, ¡°Like¡­¡±


    ¡°Playing a game!¡±


    Playing a game?


    Kobani¡¯s proposal caught him off guard, but it saved his lapse of thought.


    ¡°Why would we play a game?¡± Kate asked, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem all that more productive than doing what we have been doing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about being productive,¡± Kobani said, ¡°It''s about building comradery. Right Chad?¡±


    ¡°Uh, sure.¡±


    His plan was to start executing smaller student council duties without the presence of the president. Then, he could slowly create a separate entity in the student council. One that wasn¡¯t under Rose¡¯s rule and could operate independently. This could eventually lead to two separate factions, one led by Rose and one led by him. He would utilize this to eventually overtake the student council. That was, at least, a very rough outline of a plan he had recently come up with.


    As always, plans don¡¯t always go accordingly. Most usually fall through entirely, but Kobani¡¯s suggestion wasn¡¯t the worst and maybe it would be an even gentler push towards this faction plan. Building chemistry with the other members was a good start.


    ¡°Oh in that case, it does kind of sound fun,¡± Kate put down her calculator, ¡°What should we play? Battleship? Or maybe monopoly? I¡¯ll be the banker, I love keeping track of the money.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have those games. In fact, we don¡¯t actually have any games in this room. Back to reading in silence I guess.¡± Sarah put her feet onto the table.


    ¡°What about twenty questions? That doesn¡¯t require any supplies.¡±


    ¡°¡°What¡¯s that?¡±¡±


    Kobani and Kate looked quizzically at him.


    ¡°You guys have never played twenty questions before?¡±


    This was a bit surprising. Even Chad, who sorely lacked friends throughout all of his life, had played.


    ¡°I can quickly explain then. It isn¡¯t too hard.¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be if a caveman like you understands it.¡±


    He quickly glared at Sarah before starting his explanation.


    ¡°So in this game, there is one answerer and the rest of the people playing are questioners. I¡¯m not sure if those are the correct terms for the roles, but let''s go with them for now. The answerer thinks of a person, place or thing. The questioners then have twenty questions to guess the word the answerer chose. The questions have to be yes or no questions.


    ¡°If the questioners don¡¯t guess the correct word by or on the twentieth question, they lose and the answerer wins. If they do, then the answerer loses and everybody else wins. The questionnaires are only competing against the answerer so they can work together.


    ¡°The game doesn¡¯t require anything but our minds, so we don¡¯t run into the problem of not having the right equipment for it.¡±


    ¡°Seems like you may be ill prepared.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re so against playing a game, then why don¡¯t you go to the corner and read your silly book.¡± Chad quipped back.


    He pointed to the corner Sarah once used as refuge from the headaches he caused her.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m fine just where I am.¡±


    Whatever.


    Chad had already essentially given up on winning Sarah over anyways, he now mostly focused on bringing Kobani and Kate to his side.


    ¡°So, how should we decide who¡¯s the answerer first?¡± Kobani asked.


    ¡°Whenever I play board games with my family, the oldest always goes first. It sucked though, because that meant I never got to go first.¡± Kate suggested.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Kobani, who was the only senior in the student council, so she was presumably the oldest. A safe guess at least.


    ¡°Oh, ok then¡­ I have my word, so guess away.¡±


    After quickly glancing around the room, Kobani gave Chad a nod letting him know she was ready for the game to begin.


    Round 1:


    Answerer: Kobani


    Questioners: Chad, Kate


    Spectator?: Sarah


    ¡°Is it the floor plans for Manha High School?¡± Kate asked, almost hopefully.


    ¡°Uh, no?¡±


    ¡°You probably want to stray from too specific of questions right away. Try thinking of questions that are a lot more broad.¡±


    Chad smiled at Kate, trying to come across as friendly as he could.


    She gave an assertive nod back.


    ¡°Noted.¡±


    He furrowed his eyebrows. Even though he knew the rules of the game, he couldn¡¯t remember the last time he had played it. The rules stated that the word could be a person, place or thing. That allowed for the word to be just about anything. Narrowing it down into one of the three categories would be very useful.


    He asked the first question, in hopes to categorize the word Kobani had chosen.


    ¡°Is it a person, place or thing?¡±


    ¡°Ooo, good question Chad.¡± Kate said encouragingly.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Nice yes or no question, dumbass.¡± Sarah snarked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to answer that question within the rules you gave us.¡± Kobani looked at him with glossy eyes.


    Shit.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Since he had never really played this game before, one of the core rules completely slipped his mind. It made it even more embarrassing since he was the one to explain the rules.


    Chad slid down into his chair, giving Kobani a sheepish smile.


    Kate then brought forth a question that seemed to be inspired by him.


    ¡°Is it a person?¡±


    Although not that efficient, they could work out the category of the word with yes or no questions.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Kobani answered with a smile, seeming to be having fun with the game.


    Kate pushed up her glasses and then scribbled something down on her clipboard.


    Is she taking notes?


    Shedding that thought to the side, Chad was thinking of ways to most efficiently utilize their twenty questions. Going through each category would most likely work, but thinking of a question that would not only cross out one of the categories but also a part of the other category would be even better.


    With a confident smile, Chad asked his question.


    ¡°Is it something you can hold in your hands?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Perfect.


    This not only got rid of the category ¡°Places¡±, since holding a place in one''s hands is impossible, but also crossed off ¡°Things¡± larger than something a person could hold. Coming up with broad questions that also would also give them assumptive details was definitely the strategy.


    He had already come up with his next great question. With a confident smirk, he parted his lips to ask it.


    ¡°Is it-¡±


    ¡°Does it have fur?¡±


    Huh?


    The question came from an unexpected source across the table. The mouth that asked it was still behind a familiar paperback book.


    ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t playing?¡±


    ¡°When the hell did I ever say that mouth breather?¡±


    ¡°Well, you sure seemed disinterested in playing.¡±


    ¡°Hmph, whatever. So Ko-ko, does it have fur?¡±


    An unexpected participant had stolen his thunder. Not only did she interrupt him, she also asked such a specific question. The answer was bound to be no. Out of all the things that somebody can hold in their hands, only a small fraction had fur. This question was going to be a waste.


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    Kobani bit her lip, seeming a bit anxious.


    What?


    By some miracle, Sarah¡¯s overly specific question had given them great insight to what the word could be.


    Chad instantly started racking his brain of animals that one could hold in their hands.


    Dog? Cat? Guinea Pig? Squirrel? Chipmunk?


    There were still too many to guess directly. He needed to think of ways to subcategorize all of these and then ask a question that could eliminate approximately half of them. That would be the optimal strategy.


    ¡°It''s a bunny.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°Oh sorry, I almost made the same mistake as the neanderthal. I¡¯ll phrase it as a yes or no question. Is the word ¡®bunny¡¯?¡±


    What the hell type of shot in the dark is that?


    They were only about six questions in and Sarah was already guessing the answer. That was definitely not an efficient way to play. The only times he could think of to guess the word,was when the answer was apparent or if they were on they¡¯re last question. Guessing the word on the sixth question with barely any details was blasphemy.


    ¡°Yes, that''s correct. The word I chose was bunny. Good job Sarah.¡± Kobani swayed back and forth, seeming embarrassed that her word was guessed so easily.


    ¡°Wha- Huh, h-how¡¯d you know?¡±


    Chad was dumbfounded. The sheer number of possibilities the word could¡¯ve been. Combined with the little information they had about it made guessing the word statistically impossible.


    ¡°It was really simple. I actually knew it from the start of the game. I just let you guys whittle it down a bit before I became one hundred percent certain I had it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Out of the millions of words it could¡¯ve been, how did you know it before even asking a single question?¡± Kate asked.


    ¡°Ko-ko is really easy to read. And also, when people are put on the spot, they usually rely on their surroundings. Ko-ko¡¯s drawing a bunny. She likes bunnies. There was a good chance that¡¯s what it was going to be from the start.¡±


    Chad looked over to the picture Kobani had been drawing since he walked in. It was a bunny mid jump with a flower in the background, beautiful as were all of her drawings.


    Of course.


    He had been looking at this game from a completely analytical and statistical standpoint. He didn¡¯t take into account the human aspect of it. Especially the personalities of each of the participants. If he were to utilize this, he would¡¯ve been able to come up with the same conclusion as Sarah.


    ¡°I guess I win. Are we done playing now?¡±


    ¡°Rose still isn¡¯t here, and I haven¡¯t heard anything from her. She would¡¯ve messaged me if the meeting were to be canceled today.¡±


    ¡°With how quick that game went, we could probably squeeze in another. M-maybe somebody else could be the answerer¡­ I didn¡¯t do too well.¡±


    ¡°It''s ok Ko-ko,¡± Chad patted her back with a smile, ¡°This isn¡¯t a competitive game or anything. We are just trying to have some fun.¡±


    I want to win. I want to beat her.


    Ever since joining the student council, Sarah has looked down on him. She¡¯s let him know on a multitude of occasions of her intellectual superiority.


    He heard from Kobani that she was some sort of genius, but that just made him want to beat her more. He never felt this fired up before in his life. A competitive nature had suddenly been nurtured and set ablaze.


    ¡°Sarah, do you have your word picked out?¡±


    ¡°Why do I go next?¡±


    ¡°You won didn¡¯t you? Makes sense for you to go next.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it was a team game? Technically all the questioners won.¡±


    ¡°Yes but you figured it out. It makes sense for you to go next.¡±


    Sarah furrowed her eyebrows at Chad¡¯s proposal. After letting out a long sigh, her book finally closed and was set on the table.


    ¡°Fine, just give me a moment to think¡­ Ok. I got my word.¡±


    She had looked at Chad the entire time. She definitely didn¡¯t pick something that was in the room. He would have to find other ways to connect her personality to the word she chose.


    Round 2:


    Answerer: Sarah


    Questioners: Chad, Kate, Kobani


    ¡°Is it a person?¡± Kobani started.


    ¡°No.¡±


    A person would be too easy. A place would also be easy to whittle down at with twenty questions. With how fast she picked it, she definitely picked something that came from a random thought. Figuring out what in the room spurred that thought would be extremely helpful.


    ¡°Is it that book you¡¯re always reading?¡±


    Kate seemed to take Sarah¡¯s advice of guessing with the person in mind. Maybe taking that advice too literally. Her question was much too specific.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Is it bigger than this?¡±


    Chad put his arms out at about shoulder width, as if he was holding an imaginary box.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Sarah looked to the ceiling, ¡°Yes and no. It''s hard to say.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±


    She shrugged in response.


    With that answer, he came to the conclusion it was something that could come in different sizes. It didn¡¯t have a fixed size.


    ¡°Does it grow bigger when you feed it?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Kobani¡¯s question was definitely alluring to some sort of animal. Animals came in a plethora of sizes, so the question fit what they currently knew about the word. If the answer would have been yes, that would have substantially narrowed it down. Her question at least crossed off living things.


    ¡°Is it paper?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Kate seemed to be going for homerun questions, or didn¡¯t really know how to ask broader questions. It didn¡¯t help their chances, but Chad didn¡¯t want to correct her and say something that could come across as mean.


    ¡°Is it something I can cuddle?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    That question was quite odd. Chad tried to think of information he could pick out from this answer, but they had already ruled out animals.


    Wait.


    There was a chance Sarah had misinterpreted the question like he just did. When someone hears the word cuddle, they instinctively think of soft things, but they could cuddle a cactus. It wouldn¡¯t be comfortable, but it was possible. Can was a powerful word.


    He asked his question, needing to confirm something.


    ¡°Is it just something you wouldn¡¯t want to cuddle, or is it something you can¡¯t physically cuddle?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s two questions. And it''s not a yes or no question. Next.¡±


    Gah, I¡¯m an idiot.


    Once again, he forgot one of the few simple rules.


    Swallowing his embarrassment, he reworded.


    ¡°Is it something you can¡¯t physically cuddle?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    At last, they had gotten a yes.


    This allowed him to cross out physical objects.


    I guess I could¡¯ve just asked if it was tangible, but Kobani started my train of thought with that cuddling question. Whatever, we arrived at the same information.


    The word Sarah had chosen was definitely something abstract and not physical. Now it was time to find categories of abstract words so they could slowly cross them out.


    ¡°Is it a value someone can hold?¡± Kate asked.


    ¡°Like honesty?¡±


    Kate nodded.


    Sarah began playing with her lips in thought.


    ¡°N-no¡­ I wouldn¡¯t think so¡­¡±


    Chad was still looking down the table at Kate.


    She had asked a surprisingly good question for how horribly specific her last ones were. She seemed to be improving fast.


    It also helped him start game planning for the next question.


    ¡°Is it something tangible?¡±


    Kobani seemed to have just arrived at a conclusion he had some time ago, asking a very similar question to one of his earlier ones.


    ¡°No.¡±


    Chad racked his brain, thinking of categories of words that could still fit within the description of this word.


    ¡°Is it something related to religion?¡±


    ¡°No, but that¡¯s such a broad question it could be yes.¡±


    Sarah was right. Asking if something like that was not only a broad question, but also horribly subjective.


    ¡°Is it a feeling?¡±


    Her timid voice was barely audible when asking. Kobani¡¯s eyes started to become glossy.


    Sarah¡¯s eyes widened then answered.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    That was huge.


    ¡°Nice question Kobani, we¡¯re almost there.¡±


    Chad praised her with his fabricated smile. She seemed to jitter at his words. Perhaps he startled her.


    Having the list of words be brought all the way down to feelings was extremely helpful.


    ¡°Is it a feeling that you¡¯re feeling right now?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Kate again was a bit too specific. Even if that answer was yes, figuring out how Sarah felt right now wasn¡¯t for sure going to be easy.


    ¡°Is it a question related to happiness?¡± Kobani asked, playing with her sleeves.


    ¡°No, five questions left.¡±


    Crap.


    Kate and Kobani had been rattling off questions left and right, leaving Chad in his thoughts. He needed to think of a question, a good one at that.


    They know it''s a feeling and it isn¡¯t related to happiness. How could they categorize feelings?


    They needed a way to efficiently figure out what type of feeling it was, without listing out all the basic ones, wasting their questions. Even if they were able to narrow it down quickly, they still would need a question or two to sift through synonyms.


    Oh, that might do.


    ¡°Is it one of the seven deadly sins or related to the seven deadly sins?¡±


    The seven deadly sins was a nice collection of different feelings. No matter the answer, this would cross out a good chunk of emotions.


    ¡°That¡¯s two questions again dumbass,¡± Sarah rolled her eyes,


    Shit, I¡¯m an idiot.


    ¡°but I¡¯ll be kind this time and answer both. No for the first one.¡±


    She put her hand up to her forehead. It looked like she was deeply weighing her thoughts.


    ¡°And¡­ Yes for the second question.¡±


    ¡°It relates to the seven deadly sins.¡±


    ¡°Mhm,¡± She nodded, ¡°I won¡¯t charge you for that reassurance question though. Three questions left.¡±


    ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t counting that last one.¡±


    ¡°Chad still asked two questions and I answered both. So, three questions left.¡±


    Sarah smirked, seeming like she was actually enjoying the game.


    He looked at his teammates. They were both deep in thought, thinking of another questions to ask.


    ¡°Hey guys. Let¡¯s brainstorm together. We only have three questions left so we don¡¯t want to waste any.¡±


    ¡°Yes, let''s storm our brains together.¡±


    ¡°Ok!¡±


    Both of them looked at him, waiting for him to take initiative.


    ¡°So, uh¡­ we know it''s related to one of the seven deadly sins, but which one do you guys think it may be? We can¡¯t go through and ask about each one of them.¡±


    ¡°Even if it narrows it down to seven emotions, it''s still only related to one of them. This will be hard.¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± Kobani interjected Kate and Chad¡¯s brainstorming with a question, ¡°C-can you guys list all of them? I know envy and greed, but I can¡¯t remember the others.¡±


    ¡°Oh, uh¡­¡±


    It seemed like Chad didn¡¯t know them verbatim either.


    ¡°Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.¡± Kate answered, proudly pushing her glasses up, ¡°All are pretty abstract in their own rights, so this will be quite the task to efficiently narrow them down.¡±


    Picking a word that was so metaphysical and hard was pretty unsportsmanlike.


    ¡°Why¡¯d you have to pick such a difficult word?¡±


    ¡°It''s not hard, you¡¯re just dumb¡± Sarah stated as if it were fact.


    Chad rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He then wrote out all seven sins.


    ¡°Ok, the best way to find which one it relates to is to ask a question that cuts out about half of them. It''s like a searching algorithm, it''s what I¡¯ve based most of my questions on, trying to cut out half of the possibilities each time.¡±


    The analogy he made wasn¡¯t exactly a one to one correlation, but he hoped his point would come across.


    Kobani and Kate nodded at him, seeming to be following what he was saying.


    ¡°After wiping half of them, we¡¯ll be left with either three or four of the sins. We¡¯ll have to take a chance with our second to last question and simply guess which one it''s related to. We¡¯ll either have a twenty-five or thirty-three percent chance of guessing correctly, but that¡¯s still a decent chunk of probability.


    ¡°And after hopefully guessing the correct one, we¡¯ll have one last shot at guessing the word. It isn¡¯t much of a chance, but I believe that this is the best gameplan for winning. Do you guys agree? Have any suggestions?¡±


    ¡°Seems quite logical to me.¡±


    ¡°Impressive strategy Chad!¡±


    The encouragement from his fellow council members filled him with confidence.


    ¡°Alright then.¡±


    He started to write on the piece of paper again.


    ¡°So one pattern I noticed is that three of them have two vowels while the other four only have one. We could ask about how many vowels it has and that can be our splitting question.¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not correct.¡± Kate said.


    Huh?


    Chad looked back down at his paper, where he bolded the vowels.


    Pride, Greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth


    ¡°The ¡®y¡¯ in ¡®gluttony¡¯ is a vowel.¡±


    ¡°But isn¡¯t ¡®y¡¯ only sometimes a vowel?¡±


    ¡°¡®Yes. ¡®Y¡¯ is a vowel if it''s the only vowel in the word, if it''s at the end of a word making the ¡®eee¡¯ sound or if it''s in the middle of a syllable. So the ¡®y¡¯ in ¡®envy¡¯ is a vowel and so is the ¡®y¡¯ in gluttony.¡±


    Chad glanced at the supposed genius, Sarah, to see if what Kate was saying was true. Their gazes met and she just rolled her eyes at him as if saying you didn¡¯t know that dumbass? He was just happy she didn¡¯t verbalize those thoughts.


    A tiny bit rattled that he had made such a simple mistake, he continued.


    ¡°W-we can still use this information though. We can phrase our question like ¡®Does the sin the word relates to have one vowel?¡¯ It will still cross out either three or four of them, still keeping to our gameplan.¡±


    They nodded their heads in agreement. Chad then faced Sarah and asked their concocted question.


    ¡°Does the sin the word relates to have one vowel?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    That¡¯s huge.


    That was definitely the answer he had been hoping for. Not only does that cross out four of the sins, but he believed they could cross out even more without a question. What was left were: lust, wrath and sloth.


    He crossed out lust believing it would be awkward if Sarah chose a feeling related to that. Plus, he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to answer correctly if it was.


    Next, he lightly crossed out wrath. He wasn¡¯t quite as confident in this, but Kate had asked earlier ¡®Is it a feeling that you¡¯re feeling right now?¡¯ and the answer was no. From his experience, Sarah was quite an angry and hateful person, always belittling him and picking verbal fights with teachers. He just assumed she always felt somewhat irate at all times.


    Chad acknowledged that this wasn¡¯t the best deduction work ever, but they had limited questions and they would have to take chances here anyways.


    Sloth was the most likely sin for the word to be related to.


    This bitch.


    He had just figured out the word. It made complete sense now, seeing how Sarah viewed him and how she seemed to be glaring at him the whole game.


    He continued, asking the second to last question, but with the rules he had given, this was the last question before the final guess, since you¡¯re supposed to use the final question to guess the word.


    ¡°Is sloth the sin it¡¯s related to.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    One of Sarah¡¯s eyebrows raised at him.


    God dammit. She even utilized this game to make fun of me?


    They only had the last question left. The question where you guessed the word, but Chad was confident he knew, or was at least extremely close. He¡¯d be content either way. It was just like Sarah to use every opportunity she had to deprecate him.


    ¡°Laziness. The word is laziness,¡± he mumbled.


    ¡°Let me put it in proper format. Is the word ¡®laziness¡¯?¡±


    Using a friendly game to call Chad lazy. This was so fitting for Sarah.


    He clenched his fists under the table, awaiting the answer.


    ¡°Nope, I win,¡± Sarah said with a content smile. One that he hadn¡¯t seen before.


    ¡°W-what? It was at least close to laziness or lazy, right?¡±


    ¡°Not really. The word I chose was ¡®nothingness¡¯.¡±


    Everyone fell silent at Sarah revealing the word.


    ¡°You did surprisingly well though,¡± Sarah whispered under her breath.


    ¡°Is that even allowed?¡± Kate asked.


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t.¡±


    Sarah rolled her eyes and pointed at Chad.


    ¡°Nimrod. You said the word could be any person, place or thing.¡±


    ¡°But nothing is literally where there is no thing. It¡¯s not a thing.¡±


    ¡°I thought of that counterargument. That¡¯s why I specifically chose the word ¡®nothingness¡¯ as opposed to ¡®nothing¡¯. The word ¡®nothing¡¯ is not a noun, but ¡®nothingness¡¯ is. I would argue that it falls under a ¡®thing¡¯.¡±


    ¡°But nothingness doesn¡¯t even exist, it''s not a thing.¡±


    He continued to plead his case.


    ¡°Oh really, ¡®not a thing¡¯. I would analogize nothingness to things such as a void, or a vacuum. Would you say those things don¡¯t exist? Because I think many people would disagree.¡±


    Chad caught himself getting too worked up over this. He released his clenched fists along with his irritation.


    ¡°Whatever.¡±


    He slumped back into his chair.


    ¡°That was really fun. I quite enjoyed it.¡± Kate said.


    ¡°Yea, I was on the edge of my seat. We got so close.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re always on the edge of your seat Ko-ko.¡± Sarah said, changing to a playful tone.


    All three girls were smiling, seeming to have enjoyed their time playing the game. Even the usually stone faced Sarah was having fun talking to Kate and Kobani about the game and how it played out.


    Huh. That actually went pretty well. Even if I didn¡¯t win.


    The unusual burst of competitive spirit in Chad simmered down. He realized he felt a lot more comfortable sitting next to these girls.


    As if on cue, the discomfort came back when a certain someone barged into the room with some haste.


    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m late everyone, there was an emergency the board briefed me about. We need to take care of this now.¡±


    He had never seen Rose¡¯s face so stern before, her lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed as she took her seat at the head of the table.

 Chapter 19: Stressed

    Holy shit she looks pissed.


    Rose usually had a very stern look on her face at school, but when she entered, the temperature of the room plummeted to sub arctic levels just from her icy glare.


    ¡°As I said, I just got back from an emergency meeting with the school board. It was about a vandalizing incident that took place at the local library.¡±


    Oh yea, I saw that on the news. I¡¯ll have to ask Yuna about it this weekend when I go in for work.


    ¡°How does that relate to us?¡± Kobani asked.


    ¡°The culprits were three high school aged boys, presumably students here. The librarian got a pretty decent look at one of them and was able to file a detailed report to the police. We have their physical descriptions.¡±


    She took out a piece of paper.


    ¡°The librarian only caught fleeting glimpses of two out of the three. One was a bit shorter and wider while the other was taller and skinnier. Both hard dark hair. That was all she was able to say about those two.


    ¡°The third culprit, the one who actually did the vandalizing, the librarian was able to get a lot better of a look at. She actually put in the report ¡®the dimwitted little son of a bitch just stood and stared at me through the window, like he was posing for a photoshoot. I ran outside to go kick his ass but he darted away before I could catch him.¡¯


    ¡°As for a physical description, he has bright blonde hair, blue eyes and stands at around five and a half feet tall. He had an athletic build and the librarian specifically noted that he was very fast.¡±


    For claiming to have such a good look at him, why couldn''t Yuna spot a notable feature or something? That¡¯s a pretty generic description of an average high school boy.


    ¡°Can anybody think of people who fit these descriptions?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Not really.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell the cavemen apart from one another.¡±


    Chad just shrugged in response.


    With a sigh, Rose continued her summary of the meeting.


    ¡°This also isn¡¯t an isolated incident. Many places all across Manha have been vandalized by the same group, each being tagged by a spray painted picture of a crown with a zero in it. This is just the first instance where the culprits were spotted. Their appearance has made boys in our student body the number one suspects.¡±


    ¡°Again, how does this relate to us?¡± Chad reemphasized Kobani¡¯s question ¡°This seems like something that the police and the school board should be worried about. Why are you acting like it''s the student council¡¯s problem?¡±


    ¡°We will of course let them take care of the legal end, but as the student council we should do everything in our power to catch them. It¡¯s our responsibility. We can¡¯t have student¡¯s of Manha High School promoting such dishonorable behavior. Our image as a school will crumble.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m with Chad. Seems like a huge bother just to try to prevent the inevitable. Even if we catch them, you can¡¯t take the idiocy out of neanderthals. It seems inevitable that this will just happen again.¡±


    Is she agreeing with me? A-and did she just call me by name?


    Sarah had given her opinion as to why they shouldn¡¯t be involved in these affairs, arguing for his point. Albeit, in her extremely male prejudiced way. This was also the first time she had referred to him by his name instead of some form of name-calling related to his inferior intellect.


    ¡°The school board assigned us the task of looking into this and stopping it, so there¡¯s that as well¡­¡± Rose mumbled.


    ¡°Just seems like they¡¯re pushing their work onto us.¡±


    Rose opened her mouth to rebuttal his comment, but decided to continue to lead the meeting.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting us to identify them off the bat, but I didn¡¯t think it would hurt to ask. What I really wanted to discuss is what we can do to promote against this behavior. That is something more in our control. Does anybody have any ideas?¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Oh, a pep rally!¡± Kobani said excitedly.


    ¡°Because the last one went so well.¡±


    Rose glared at Chad.


    ¡°I believe the cause of the last one¡¯s failure was due to extreme circumstances. The culmination of the shock and extreme implications of the announcement led to chaos. I also don¡¯t think it went well that the news came from us. Our reputation amongst the student body is currently not the best.


    ¡°But if we are able to separate ourselves from this next pep rally and orchestrate it from the shadows, then maybe they¡¯ll have a less hostile reaction. Ko-ko, what were you thinking about doing for the pep rally.¡±


    ¡°Well uh, maybe some sort of event. I¡¯ve heard of other schools bringing in performance acts such as BMX riders and jugglers to promote anti-drug campaigns. Maybe something like that?¡±


    ¡°Cuz nothing says ¡®don¡¯t vandalize buildings¡¯ like some hoodlum doing a backflip on a bike¡­¡±


    Kobani shrunk in her chair at Sarah¡¯s comment.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ko-ko¡­ I didn¡¯t mean to shoot down your idea like that¡­ I just hope you understand the point I¡¯m trying to make.¡±


    She looked sympathetic and regretful for dissing her idea so bluntly. It surprised Chad to see the ruthless Sarah show some humanity for once.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok¡­ it was a dumb idea anyways.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dumb idea at all.¡±


    ¡°Yea, cheer up Ko-ko.¡±


    ¡°I thought the idea sounded fun.¡±


    ¡°Uh yea, everythings alright. It¡¯s a good idea but maybe just the wrong time for it.¡±


    Everyone seemed to be consoling Kobani, so Chad felt forced to join in even though he hadn¡¯t prepared himself to.


    ¡°The wrong time¡­¡±


    Rose put a finger to her lips.


    After a bit more discussion that didn¡¯t lead anywhere, she ended the meeting, dismissing all the members.


    Everyone began packing up, but before Chad could flee the room, Rose addressed one last thing.


    ¡°Chad, may you please stay for a little while?¡±


    ¡°Why me? Did I do something?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything, I just need you to stay after with me for a bit.¡±


    Ugh.


    He didn¡¯t let his inner thoughts that were portraying an eye roll show, instead he obediently sat back down in his seat and waited for everyone else to clear the room.


    The silence sapped the energy out of him like a leech. Rose¡¯s typing was the only thing reminding him he wasn¡¯t deaf.


    ¡°Is there something you wanted to discuss with me?¡±


    ¡°One moment, I just need to quick finish this.¡±


    Request me and then make me wait, is this some sort of intimidation tactic?


    She seemed extraordinarily focused on whatever she was doing on her laptop.


    Chad turned his gaze towards the window.


    This is such a waste of time. Wait, why do I care about wasting time? I wasn¡¯t going to do anything productive when I got home anyways. Well, I have that art assignment, but that¡¯ll take five minutes. Maybe I should do that now? Nah. With my luck, as soon as I start working on it she¡¯ll begin talking to me and demand my undistracted attention.


    This sucks though. I usually take pleasure in sitting around and doing nothing, but now it feels so weird. Is it because somebody else is around? No. I can sit around and do nothing in large crowds at sporting events or school assemblies, so just other people being around isn¡¯t causing the discomfort. Maybe it''s because of who''s around. Now I might be onto something. Rose is quite the nuisance.


    Although, I¡¯m not sure if that really explains why I feel so uncomfortable right now. Sure Rose is basically a borderline stalker, showing up at my house at random times and even at my work, but that doesn¡¯t make me feel necessarily ¡°uncomfortable¡±. I get more annoyed with her than anything. Hell, maybe I could even say I get angry with her and how she forced me into joining the student council. Not uncomfortable.


    This feeling of sitting around, as if you shouldn¡¯t be there, but you can see no reason why you should be feeling that way. It''s completely irrational, and that only plays into it more. It''s a feedback loop of growing discomfort. What the hell am I even saying right now?


    Coming back to his senses, he noticed something was off. The room was now in complete silence. He looked over to see that Rose was no longer typing.


    In fact, she was no longer conscious. She seemed to have dozed off in her chair, with her glasses slipping to the end of her nose.


    She seemed peaceful resting there, matching the tranquility of the room. The setting sun gave everything a shade of red, turning her pale skin into a shimmering gold. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed shallowly. Her face was soft and exceptionally youthful, as if all the stress of the day had been lifted away by her slumber.


    He took her nap as his cue to leave and began to stand up.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t cry, It¡¯s ok¡­ I¡¯ll handle this¡­ Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of that¡­ I can do it, no problem¡­ I¡¯ll persevere, don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯m fine¡­¡±


    Chad turned around right before he grabbed the handle to the door. He thought Rose had awakened and said something to him, but it just seemed as if she was mumbling in her sleep.


    Should I just leave her here?


    He pondered the thought for a second and then decided there was no reason not to. She was safe so it didn¡¯t seem negligent of him to leave her like this. She¡¯ll wake up and go home when she¡¯s ready, she doesn''t need him to be her alarm clock.


    ¡°Sleep well I guess,¡± he mumbled as he finally got to leave school for the day.