STAGE: Dallas County Pirates High School

TIME: 3:50 PM

Kieren’s Memory Bank: Accessing Memory…

Lemon-lime…I thought…. It smelled like the scent of a cleaning brand. Or maybe it was just lemon and hold the limes? Why were limes even included? What do they even offer? 

These ongoing thoughts woke me from my slumber. I lifted my head, wiped the drool from my face, and then immediately cringed when the pain on my face returned to strike again. I almost forgot… Suspecting my hair would be flattened in any area, I pushed together all my strong strands in an attempt to keep my signature high-top afro intact. There was an image I had to maintain. I had to remember where I was… Science class was my last class for today. As my eyes cracked open, orange Sunlight immediately blinded my vision. I eased into focusing on the world around me. Still primarily a blur, I looked through the window that took up the entirety of the wall beside me. Oh my… The fourth floor had its perks. Just look at that view. Taking this seat on my first day was the best choice I had ever made during my school career, knowing how much my mind wandered. Having a window by my side seemed therapeutic, a welcomed escape from the constant motion of my new life. It totally was not because I had seen countless anime where the main character sat, you guessed it, by a window near the back of the classroom. I always thought of myself as the main character. Knowing myself, I would probably be in some weird, slice-of-life genre. I needed something to feed into my imagination.

Mr. Williams sat behind his desk, reading from a newspaper. An unbroken tradition, it allowed me to gaze out the window without being noticed. Mr. Williams was neither old nor young, so it baffled me how anyone still read the newspaper. Did he not know of apps or blogs? All the news had to be at least a day old. How could he live his life a day behind?

Even now, I stared out the window, met once again, like so many other countless times, by the overarching view of Mesquite. This suburban city always captivated me. Sure, you could probably see the water tower, the top of the mall’s food court, and even my sister’s middle school better from the roof, but this was the closest I would ever have to that experience, safely. So, I ate it up. And upon admiring the view, I noticed a new fast-food restaurant was under construction just across the street. It looked like a burger place. Maybe it was even a pizza dine-in? Many different eating establishments entered my mind as I pondered what it could be. Thinking about it, I looked down at my sketchbook, the closest thing I could have easily considered as a friend for the past two weeks. The book was already open to my unfinished progress from my live drawings of the window’s view. With my mechanical pencil next to me, drafting a quick outline of the new restaurant without adding too much pressure, a future reference piece was born. Better save it for next time when I could use it more effectively. 

A loud scooting noise alerted the class, but mostly me. The sound of the sharp blade scraping against the concrete floor was something awful, like nails on a chalkboard. That sound was of Bianca’s chair, which contradicted her diligent movements as she walked down to Mr. Williams’s desk. She slipped her paper under his newspaper. Without even looking up, he gave a thumbs-up of confirmation. Gracefully, she walked back to her desk, the one directly in front of mine. From what I heard about Bianca, she was smart, insanely so. But mostly, she was rich, insanely rich. Well, not necessarily her, but her parents were.

Her freshly ironed pink polo shirt and khakis shorts could easily give off that impression, though. She must have dressed like that to keep up with a particular image, to appear as someone coming from some place of wealth. Understandably, that had to have been her parent’s decision. If our school were to have had a strict dress code, she would have followed all the protocols. And… Oh wait, was she leaving? The way she pulled out her chair made me think that it was time to go. Not wanting to be left behind, I almost sat up. That would have been embarrassing because Bianca plopped right back down in her seat. So did I, trying to hide my embarrassment. She did not even glance at me, thankfully. She was too busy pulling out her calculator, quickly entering a specified sequence of numbers and other things that I was unaware you could even type into a calculator. Her curly hair got in the way of the calculator’s screen, but from what I could see, she was playing Tetris. You could do that? Who knows how many times she had to reprogram the game? 

Looking around the classroom, I noticed something amiss, something that I had feared the most. It was awfully quiet, which would have normally relaxed the room. Yet, why did it feel so tense in here? It occurred to me that my peers and I were in the middle of a daily quiz. Closing my sketchbook and moving it to the side, I hesitated, noticing towel marks left on the table. That had to be it. The class before us did an experiment involving slime, and that lemon smell resulted from the recently wiped-down tables. There was no way I would risk the damp surface mixing with the thin exterior of my sketchbook. I simply dropped it into my backpack and prepared to ace yet another test. Left with a paper instructing me to write down scientific formulas supporting ‘real-world problems,’ I quickly realized how… Searching at the very bottom of my brain, I closed my eyes and wrote out every correct formula. No critical thinking was required. There was no time. Fuzzy memories were my weapons of choice. Realistically, they just had to do. 

The bell rang, to my dismay, and Mr. Williams jumped from his seat. “All quizzes must be turned in before you leave.” His voice boomed in the once quiet class. “Or you could accept defeat and give it to my assistant, Mr. Recycling Bin.” He stood near the door and collected the quizzes. I just knew he was trying to corner me. That young yet old man probably watched me sleeping this whole time. The joke was on him. I knew I had what it takes to ace this test. Soon, he would too. As I turned mine in, I received a look from Williams, saying, ‘Don’t pretend like I didn’t know you were sleeping in my class.’ I knew he knew! Dang… Or, maybe it was my imagination? “Don’t forget about our field trip tomorrow. Bring bug spray,” he moved on to remind the fleeing class. I could feel his cold gaze watching me as I slipped into the hallway.  

Crossing into the hallway, I quickly stepped into the heavy foot traffic before feeling like I was going to be squished like a sandwich. It wasn't my first time being flattened like a pancake in a hallway, and it probably won't be my last. These schools were getting way too crowded. Slipping through all of the slow walkers in my path, someone violently bumped into my side. Instinctively, I turned, seeing a group of three boys wearing sports helmets. They were in a hurry, rushing through and entering past the roof access door. Just what would they be doing on the roof? My curiosity was piqued. I chose not to follow the boys through the roof access, though, going downstairs to the ground floor.

Students were socializing and took up most of the front parking lot outside. Music blasted from nearby vehicles, and cheerleaders took up a massive portion of the chilling grass as they practiced their drills. I always wondered where any of those cheerleaders got their energy from. They were like human batteries that never stopped. The letter P on their black uniforms spangled with a glittering green as they performed jumps, flips, and other acrobatics. I had to hand it to them. They were dedicated. My attention, however, was focused on a ramp set in the middle of the sidewalk. Yellow, orange, and red flames were painted on the sides. With my curiosity lingering, I glanced upward to see if I could spot the three boys on the roof. For some reason, I was worried. I wanted to know if they got up there ok. Why? Like I said… Curiosity… I cupped my hands around my eyes to shield myself from the glaring Sun. I only caught a glimpse of another ramp but nothing else. 

Suddenly, I heard a sharp ringing coming from somewhere close beside me, but I paid no attention to it. “Hey!” Shouted a faint voice coming from the distance. They must have been addressing someone else. The ringing intensified not too long after. “Look out!” Once faint, the voice was now closer than before. I turned around, only for my vision to whiten. A yellow bicycle knocked me down onto the sidewalk. Maybe I should have been less curious and paid more attention? Nah… Never that… Knocked down and down badly, slowly my eyes opened. As I sat up, I saw Bianca, also knocked down onto the sidewalk. Awkward as ever, she blindly waved her hands in front of herself. 

“My glasses... My glasses! I can’t find them....” Bianca mumbled in a hushed panic. I, the superior glasses wearer, could clearly see that her glasses were only a couple of paces in front of her. So as a gentleman, I graciously crawled over to pick up her lightweight pink glasses and slid them back onto her face. Her squinted look became more at ease as her vision cleared up. It was ok. We had all been there. Grateful, she looked up at me. 

I, a gentleman… “Hey~,” I said in my best flirtatious tone. I really thought I nailed it. 

Bianca took it all in, looking me up and down. “You should watch where you’re going,” is the rude statement that came out of her mouth. I mean, really, she should have thanked me. But no, she stood up. She picked up her bike, inspecting it by rolling it back and forth. And left me to awkwardly look to bystanders for moral support. Only… When I awkwardly met eyes with the on-looking bystanders, they dissolved away, wincing from the embarrassment. 

I was not about to go out like that, “I should watch where I was going?” In retrospect, talking to her like that was probably poor form, especially when she was worried about her yellow bike… Oh… “You were the one who ran into me!” 

“You were the one standing in the middle of the sidewalk,” her bluntness was so sharp. 

“Fair point... I guess.” No matter how anyone saw it, either one of us is at fault for the collision, right? Pointing my head down, I noticed numerous books sprawled around the sidewalk and grass. Bianca looked at her backpack resting in her bike basket; its upper flap was wide open. “Crap, I left my bag open.” Frantic, she tried to collect her books. I took a knee alongside her and gathered some of the books for her. Thankful, she started relying on me to hold them. As they stacked up in my arms, becoming heavier and heavier, I was left to wonder. How much could she fit in that little backpack of hers? Almost comical, it was a wild number of books. “Are you some kind of bookworm?”

“Bookworm? You could say that. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, not at all,” I did not even process what I was saying. At this point, I was just praying she would take her books back. So, of course, I ended up saying, “I think bookworms are kinda cute.” 

“I’m gonna assume that’s your quirky way of being flirtatious,” could anyone really blame her for reacting like that? Yes… Yes, I could. And I did. 

For a split second, Bianca’s eyes rested on the sad sight of my once-awesome skateboard, its crooked board resting on the sidewalk next to a couple of her books. I had totally forgotten I was still carrying it around, even grabbing it during my hasty exit from Mr. William’s class just moments ago. Seeing how fast she got back to picking up her books instead of asking about the busted skateboard, it had been pretty clear Bianca didn’t really care about the hows and whys. But I couldn't help myself and blurted out, “That didn’t happen because of us bumping into each other. It was from earlier today.”

“I figured…” Bianca said, her voice dripping with a hint of sarcasm that made me feel like a total klutz. To be fair, my skateboard’s tragic end was completely unexpected and partially happened because of her. Well, she played a part in it. I would've done the same for anyone else—standing up for them. But honestly, Bianca had captured my interest since I arrived at this school. She had certain seniority, one might say. I could have told her why my skateboard was in its current condition, but it hadn’t felt like the right time. I seriously doubted someone looking like they were about to tear you a new one would have wanted to hear about that time you had their back an hour ago. Oh, and how you ended up flat on your back by the end of it. Yeah, I’d keep that part to myself for sure. Fingers crossed, Bianca wouldn’t hear anything about the aftermath of the rumble.

Once the books were collected, she managed to squeeze all of them into her backpack. It was impressive. She should have been on a game show or UTube. “Although this was your fault, thank you.” And just like that, I realized who I was dealing with. So I rolled my eyes and started to walk off. But I was not raised to be a punk, so admittedly, I hesitated and returned.

Confidently, I held out my hand. I even made sure to stand up nice and tall, with my chest out. “My name is Kieren. Kieren Freeman. Please don’t wear it out.” She took her time, making me stew in this awkward gesture. Honestly, she must have enjoyed messing with me. There was no way a person could be this rude. 

In the end, she shook my hand. “Bianca Knowles. And trust me, I won’t.” 

“Knowles? That’s cool. You got Beyoncé’s last name.” 

“Yeah... You can stop shaking my hand now.” 

“Oh, sorry,” I let go immediately.

To Be Continued...