“I have to hurry,” Jack thought. As he strode out of his room, his mother approached him to greet him with a kiss on the cheek, “How did you sleep last night?” Jack could hardly rest ever since they moved. He was beginning to wonder if it was bad karma for feeling right about moving away from Marta and her children. “Good,” he fibbed. Mother held her small wallet, letting Jack understand that she was going to walk him, as she had always done.

Jack smiled and politely asked her to stay behind. “Why?” She wandered into the kitchen and placed her wallet down on the dining table. He shrugged nervously, “Um, I’m going to meet up with a few friends to get our schedules first. Since I’m barely a freshman, we're going to be wandering around trying to figure out where that’s gonna be at.” She shook her head, “No. I’m still walking with you to school. You don’t even know how to get there.”

Jack laughed at her over-protectiveness, “Mom, the school is just a few blocks away, but okay. Let me grab my backpack so we can go.” They stepped out of the house. Yoselyn stood up from the sidewalk pavement and scurried to the small bridge leading to the second-floor apartment. Regina noticed her son rush to the young girl in the street. “Ah. Is this the friend you were telling me about?” Jack, without turning to face her, replied, “Yeah. I was planning on walking to school with her.”

Yoselyn frowned, “Wait, where’s your uniform?” She laughed realizing their oversight. “Yoselyn, don’t tell me you’re not going to my school…” She held her school ID in hand, showing Jack that in fact, she was heading north, to Chicago Bulls College Prep. He teased her, “That sucks. You’ll be using a uniform.” She poked his arm, “Oh, shut up. At least I won’t have to worry about what to wear every morning. Anyway, I got to go, or else, we’ll both be late to our schools!” She began sprinting down the pavement, following her elongated shadow in front of her.

Regina and Jack hurried east, down to his school. He began to giggle, remembering the day he and Yoselyn planned out their meeting to walk to school together. Regina’s heart warmed up, seeing her son laugh in the slightest, in such a long time. She began to tease him, “What’s got you laughing? Is it Yoselyn?” Jack shook his head and tilted it downwards. He looked at his feet making sure to not step on the sidewalk’s cracks, “Not really. It’s just that we planned out to walk to school together over two weeks ago. But we didn’t bother to ask what school we were going to.”

They continued walking down the street, eventually reaching the high school Jack was going to be attending for the rest of his educational journey. As they reached the main entrance, they noticed the large number of students standing in queue to receive their day-to-day agenda. “Well, mijo, I guess this is where I’ll leave you. Make sure that once you get your schedule you head right inside the building. I love you.” Regina gently tugged Jack by his cheeks and kissed his forehead. Jack stood straight up once she let him go, and smiled at her, “I love you too, mom. Be safe on your way back.”

Jack stood in the school’s courtyard admiring the two buildings connected by the glass bridge. He observed as one of his middle school friends scuttled over to him, waving for him to get closer. “Jack, come on over!” Jack’s eyes lightened up feeling a sigh of relief knowing that he wouldn’t be alone in the long line. “Aaron! How are you, Aaron?” 

Aaron was taller than Jack by an inch. He was exactly six feet in stature. His skin was fair nearly pale. His hair was light brown and wavy. At first glance, people believed he was caucasian despite him also being Mexican-American. As a charismatic guy, he had the popularity Jack wished he had at some point. He was respectful, cultured, mature even. Despite that, he had a satirical sense of humor. Jack wanted to be just like him. 

As Aaron fluffed up Jack’s hair as a form of greeting, their third friend greeted them as she arrived at the school grounds. Melody was 5’3”. Her skin was also fair, a bit darker than Aaron’s. Her hair was dark brown, long, and straight. She had dyed the bottom half to be blonde. People were surprised to know that she was also of Mexican descent, as she struggled with her Spanish speaking. She was known by a lot of people for being smart, honest, and occasionally clumsy. She also had a satirical sense of humor. Jack wanted to be just like her. 

“Melody, what’s up?” Aaron stood in front of Jack, greeting Melody as soon as she got close to them. Melody greeted both of her friends. “Guys, I’m a mess. I woke up late on the first day. Can you believe it?” They agreed with a nod. She glared at them, “It was a rhetorical question. " They walked inside along with the queue and noticed how it separated once they were inside. Teachers inside the foyer waited at different tables labeled by letters. “Let’s all go to the ‘V’ line,” Jack announced.

They hurried over to the line labeled with the letter ‘V’ which contained the least amount of students. “Next!” Melody walked up to the table and spoke to the teacher, “Hi. Um, to make it easier for you, I’m Melody Villarreal. My friends here are Jack Victoria Garcia and Aaron Villalpando.” The teacher started to look through her documents, whispering to herself the last names provided. “Mkay,” she began, “I’ve got all three of you. Here you go. Now just exit back out and head into the main entrance at the west building.”

Melody grabbed the papers and handed them to her friends, who anxiously waited for them behind her. Immediately, Jack and Aaron began to compare their schedules. “Thank you.” She pulled them aside, “Guys wait, we need to compare my schedule too.” Jack looked up, “Ah, sorry. Go ahead, I have no classes with Aaron, but we do have lunch together.” She whined, “Aw hopefully I have lunch with you guys too.” She looked intensely, “Jack, we have two classes together and lunch.” 

Aaron smirked, “Yeah, well, the reason you guys aren’t with me is that I’m in advanced classes. I was in the gifted program since middle school, remember?” They walked out of the building and made haste to the main entrance. Inside, the security guards rushed them to their classes, “The bell just rang! Go to your second class!" Jack looked down onto the paper he had in hand and checked the classroom he had to go to. 

“Biology, third floor. No teacher name has been given.” Melody noticed his nervousness, “Don’t worry. My U.S History class is also on the third floor. Let’s go together and look for our classrooms together.” Aaron stood still, waving goodbye, “I’ll see you guys later. My french class is here on the first floor.” Jack and Melody waved back at him, “Okay, well, see you in the eighth period for lunch.” They walked into a staircase, packed with students, whom Jack bumped into on his way up. Although most students were new faces to Jack, he recognized some from his previous school. 

Jack stepped inside his new classroom. A small mobile podium was set in front of the green chalkboard at the far right of the classroom’s entrance. Alejandro, a boy he hadn’t spoken to since elementary, waved at him. “Sit over here,” he mouthed. Jack paced closer to him and took the next seat available to him. “These tables are weird aren’t they?” Jack shrugged, “Uh, cause they’re connected to the seat?” Alejandro nodded, “Yeah. Back in middle school we had detached desks.”

A man walked in hurriedly, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a laptop bag in the other. He took a sip of his cup before setting his bag on the podium. “Hello, everyone. I am Mister Ruiz. I will be your substitute teacher until further notice. For now, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? I am Mister Ruiz and I will be your substitute- wait…” Everyone laughed as Ruiz opened up his bag and nervously looked for something inside. “Ah here they are,” he held up what seemed to be a script and began to read out loud, “Let me start over."

He began to walk around, “Now, let’s introduce ourselves with a little description of our personality." Jack tried to shrink himself under his desk. “I have a list of names here. Is Diego Abarca here?” As the student on the opposite side of the room stood up to present himself, Jack looked deeply into the cabinets behind him. He thought to himself, “Is something moving back there?” Alejandro looked over to him, “I’m sorry?” Jack waved his hand to brush off what he had just mentioned. Some books from the cabinets fell to the ground to Jack’s surprise. “Oh no! Continue, Diego. You were saying?” Ruiz proceeded to step behind the student to pick up the books and set them onto the cabinets, where they belonged.

Jack and Melody stood up from their desks as the bell rang. Their English teacher Miss Howard, opened the door for everyone to leave the room, “And remember to bring the syllabus tomorrow signed!” They rushed to the staircase to meet up with their friend Aaron on the first floor. “Melody?” She continued walking down the stair steps, “Yeah?” Jack hurried down to speak to her whilst being next to each other, “Uh. What would you do if you had some sort of power?” She eyed him from the corner of her eye, “Like invisibility?”

He shook his head, “No, more like, the telekinesis.” As they reached the first floor, Aaron came into view. “Oh, well. I’d probably use it to throw Aaron across the hall.” Jack started to giggle at the thought. Aaron greeted them as they reached him. “What’s got you so happy, super-mega-ultra J.” Melody sighed, “No, he’s asking what I’d do if I had telekinetic powers. All I did was answer honestly.” Jack and his friends began walking to the lunchroom. “What did you reply?” She smirked, “Uh. That’d I would use it to throw you across the hall?”

He let out a chortle. “Oh yeah?” He began poking her. Jack crossed his arms as Aaron chased Melody down the hallway. “Stop it!” She pleaded coyly. Jack walked down the line to find his friends. After being served their food, they walked back out to the tables, to search for a seat. Jack sat down on the first clear table he found, being followed by Aaron and Melody. “Pizza. It’s the same old pizza we’ve been getting since elementary.” Aaron turned to face Melody, “Yeah. Well, use your telekinetic powers and throw it out if you hate it that much!” Melody grinned, knowing that he was still bothering her about the comment she had made earlier. 

Jack sat across from them biting a piece off the slice of pizza he had gotten. Aaron stared at him as he chewed, “Jack, why did you ask about telekinesis, anyway? Are you writing something new about a character with such power?” He shook his head, “Oh, no. I’m not really into writing at the moment. But that’s such a good idea.” Melody took her hoodie off as one of the security guards walked by, “But… wait, so it was just because?” Jack disagreed, “No, I moved during the summer.”

To Aaron, being open was out of his character. Melody grasped her plate, “Why didn’t you tell us anything?” He beamed, trying to comfort himself, “I don’t have a phone remember? The only way I’d be able to communicate is through Messenger, and that’s through the laptop that has no internet connection at the moment. Anyway, we moved two blocks from where we lived, and ever since, there’s been weird events going on around me.”

Aaron coughed, trying to hold back a laugh, “Like what?” Jack frowned, “Um… I saw a dark figure in the previous house while we were in the process of moving, I heard voices in the house we live in now, and right now, in my biology class, I think I caused some books to fall.” Melody’s eyes widened in disbelief. She let out a sigh after taking in a deep breath, “So like, telekinesis?” Jack gave one single nod. Aaron laughed at him. “I’m sorry, buddy. It’s just… c’mon, man. You’re supposed to be the smart one here!”

Silence followed after their conversation. Jack set his pizza down on his plate and took in one last gulp. “You don’t have to believe me. I was just…I wanted to talk it out with someone.” He stood up from his table, grabbed his plate in the process, and walked over to the trash. Melody hit Aaron on his arm, “Congrats. You hurt him.” The bell rang. Everyone stood up from their tables and rushed to their classes, “Jack, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Jack shrugged, “It’s fine. I understand. Even I can’t believe it myself. I’ll see you guys on our way out, we only have two classes left.”

At the end of the school day, Jack walked out of the building to wait for his friends. Aaron and Melody walked out side-by-side searching for him. As they departed from the courtyard, Alejandro stopped them. “Jack! Jack, hold on!” Melody recognized him, as they had attended the same school since elementary as well. She waved at him, only to be ignored. “Jack, so are you coming over?” Jack clenched his teeth, “Yeah. Let me just head home to change, and then I will head on over to your house.” Alejandro patted his back, “M’kay. See you later then!”

After crossing the street, Jack and his friends paused for the traffic light to change. “Melody and I will walk it from here. I’m gonna take the train from the station that just so happens to be on her way to her house.” Jack chuckled, “Okay? There’s a train station right by where I live. But that’s your deal. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Jack walked it home as Aaron and Melody crossed the street north from where they were originally standing. 

Suddenly, the clouds began to close in at a fast rate. Jack looked up at the sky and felt a water drop hit his forehead. “Oh no. It’s going to rain.” Jack began to run as the water droplets started to pour down on him. “The street is empty,” he thought, “if I end up falling, no one will see me.” As he ran by an alley, a whimper arrived into Jack’s ear. He came to a halt. The whimpering only grew louder and louder. The rain started to pour down onto Jack, but he didn’t seem to bother any longer as a puppy came into his view. 

“Aw. What are you doing here little guy?” He crouched lower as to not intimidate the canine that was trying to hide behind the dumpster. “Come here. We’re both going to get sick and I’ll be able to take care of you.” The puppy began to bark. “Okay. Okay. Calm down. I mean no harm. I think I have some Cheetos in my backpack. Would you like that?” A bodiless puppy head floated out into the street causing Jack to stumble back. He let out a scream of fear, “What the hell was that?!” He flipped over to witness the street now full of people. People he was able to see through.