STAGE: Dallas County Pirates High School

TIME: 9:06 AM

DATE: Thursday, October 6th, 2016

Anthony’s Memory Bank: Accessing Memory…

Every day was a normal day in Dallas County Pirates High. Students were heard socializing just moments after class had started. However, that changed shortly. My reflective safety jacket caught everyone’s attention when I entered the freshman algebra classroom. I brought about a commanding presence as I walked to the front of the class, tapping my pen onto my clipboard. Hall monitor duties were not just limited to hallway patrols. There was so much more. It extended towards helping staff and faculty in any way that I could. I acted as a hall monitor every two hours to accommodate my schooling. So, teachers usually dried me out like a sponge if they needed even the most minor acts of assistance. Even now, this was no different. Despite the teacher being absent in this particular equation, this was just another one of those duties regardless. 

“Your teacher is running late this morning,” I let my authority speak for itself. The students watched me attentively. I guess they wished they were on the other side. I guess they wish they were in control. Sorry kids but none of you were quite cut out to do what I could. You all were busy figuring out who was hot or gossiping about the latest salacious rumor. None of that interested people like me. School was about order and rules. And that was all I cared about. And if anybody broke those rules… Either way, I had a job to do. “So, I’ll overlook you until she arrives. Keep an ear out as I’ll be taking attendance,” I tried to maintain my authoritative tone. However, there was one catch this morning. It was an oversight on my part. Guess those teachers really were running me ragged. Before I could get to the first name on my list, I spotted my little brother Max sitting at a table near the corner. 

With haste, I approached him. “Hey, lil’ bro. Didn’t expect to see me in your first class, huh?” breaking the ice was the best way to get all his defiance out of the way. Did I expect him to comply with order? Just who were we talking about here? It was Max. Obviously, order was out of the question. Like I figured, he did not respond. Though, he did seem distracted by someone. Max’s expression had a particular fondness, told by his dirty smirk and lazy head tilt. Following the path of Max’s eyesight, I spotted a brunette girl who was a couple of feet from us. She was socializing with a small group of girls. How defiant… Knowing Max and his girl craziness, the obvious next move of his would be to ask her out. But now? In front of everyone? In front of me?  Is he thinking this through, or is he letting a little fluster cloud his judgment? Ha… Judgment… Max does not have any of that. “Don’t tell me. You’re about to do it?” I begrudgingly asked him, dropping my authoritative tone for a moment of weakness towards my brother. 

“Just shut up and hand me my chapstick,” he responded.

“Where’s it at?” 

“I think I left it at the very bottom of my backpack.” 

I put down my clipboard to move Max’s longboard aside from his backpack, which I carefully zipped open to search the bottom. You could never be too careful with zippers. One false move, and you could mess up the alignment. Safety came first. Unfortunately, safety was not included inside of Max’s pack. Coming across nothing but old burger wrappers from WacDonald’s and other pieces of trash dating back to middle school, my whole body shivered in disgust. I swear I even felt some tiny little feet scurry across my fingers, the six-legged kind. I see Max needed me to help him organize his life. Finding his chapstick took a few tries. Coincidentally, it was set next to his glue stick. No wonder he could not find it. Accomplished, a smile crawled on my face.

“Hurry up! I don’t have all day!” Max complained as I handed it to him. The lovesick puppy was still distracted by the ‘girl of his dreams.’ 

“There you go, ladies’ man,” I mocked. Although I was older and, thus, should have been more mature, he was still my brother. We were definitely related as, unfortunately, we still shared the same interests as many other siblings. 

“No problemo,” Max was hyping himself up, still focused on that poor girl.  Before applying it to his lips, he licked them to lubricate them more. He really thought he was going to land a girl that easy? Well, sorry, bro, you asked for this one. The soapy and rubbery taste barely registered in his head as skin and glue became one. Shooting from his seat, Max approached the girl with so much bravado.  “Murmur... Murmur...” The brunette turned around at the sound of his unintelligible speech. Judging by his eyes widening, he only realized his lips were stuck together. 

She was very patient, I will admit. Her head bobbed forward as she raised her brows, trying to understand the gargled nonsense coming from my lame-brained brother. “Um... Hello...” the brunette awkwardly sassed.

“Murmur... Murmur...” Sweat bullets formed around his forehead. His eyes were caught in a panic. Left with no other option, Max quickly murmured “goodbye” before power-walking away. She was left in the lurch, completely confused by what had happened. Max returned to his seat and shot dirty looks at me as I smiled at him, holding up the glue stick. Sorry bro, but this was my classroom now.  

“If you excuse me,” I cleared my throat, keeping my composure, “I’ll take the attendance.” 

With my trophy in hand, I set the glue stick on the table before standing in front of the class again. It did not take long to call out everyone’s names. Everyone was present, aside from one student on my list. Kieren…. Time passed by. The first period let out, and I went over to Kieren’s locker during the transitional period to see if he was there. Mostly, it was to write him up. Hey, I still had a job to do. Yet, Kieren was not by his locker, a usual hangout for kids who skipped. Suddenly, a name popped into my head. She would know where he was at... Approaching Bianca’s locker next, I spotted her opening it up to retrieve a folder. She seemed too dazed and lost within her thoughts to notice me standing beside her. So I slightly plopped my back onto the wall of lockers to get her attention. It was a classic move. It was a power move. Unfortunately, I did not realize how powerful it was. I ended up startling her. She jumped and nearly hit an innocent student in the face with a textbook. Calm down, girl, it was just your friendly school-sanctioned hall monitor, me, Anthony. Damn! I have to start using that more often…

“Hey, best friend,” I said in a girly voice.

It was a mistake to do so because now she dared to say, “I didn’t realize our relationship classified us as best friends.” 

“Dense as ever, huh? I was trying to mock how these girls were approaching one another. It’s always Hey, best friend this and Hey, best friend that. But, of course, you wouldn’t get that. Do you know where that saying originated from?” Clearly, she did not since she chose to respond by indecisively raising and contracting her shoulders. Even her facial expression screamed, ‘How the hell would I know, and why would I care?’ Typically, when Bianca did not respond with a brainy, overdrawn explanation, she always fell back on a muted response like so. I could tell I was losing her. “Lemme take it back to what you said earlier about you not realizing our relationship was classified as us being best friends. I consider you one, do you?” Oh, I was good. Watch out, Dallas. When I graduate, I might just take you over. I swear I would be nice. 

“I guess so.” 

“You can only guess so? Brace buddy? Come on now. It’s me. I’ve been the only person you’ve had to talk to since I used to comb my hair down and wear braces. Since you used to wear braces!” 

Embarrassed, she used her folder to cover her mouth despite her hiding nothing. “I understand you’ve been the only person I’ve talked to for... a lot of years. I just don’t consider us best friends, that is all. Although, you may be the only person who would come close to that.” 

Now, I would have been upset if I was not just trying to figure out where Kieren was. Hell, I actually was really upset and hurt. Did she not think I was the best thing to ever happen to her? Brace buddy… How could you? “I know some time has passed, but why did we stop talking? I understand we’re three grades apart, but that’s not an excuse to not drop by now and then.” 

Setting her folder to the side, she looked down and stroked her chin before saying, “I just don’t want to become too attached, is all. I’m the lonely, bookworm freshman who people only see one quality trait in. Meanwhile, you’re the one person with whom I’ve been able to be friends with who is a senior this year. Once you leave, I don’t want to be sad.” 

Oh my god! That was so sweet. She made me feel so bad. What was I doing? I refuse to be like Max. “Bianca, you’ve already become too attached. Why choose not to talk to me if you already weren’t? Besides, who says you had to stay being this sad, lonely bookworm forever? Crawl out of your cocoon now and then and turn some of your acquaintances into your actual friends!” I pumped my fist up like a motivational speaker, feeling all the positive vibes I was spewing out. This was not about Kieren anymore. A student in the school needed my help, in the hall. And I aimed to be of service, especially for my brace buddy.

Nodding with her eyes closed, “Preach the good word, Ramirez. Preach the good word,” Bianca said sarcastically. Yeah, I saw it too. We definitely were just two nerds vibing off each other’s weird energy. But man, was it fun to cut loose sometimes. 

“Speaking of acquaintances, if you can even call it that, that new kid did a number on your bike, huh?” 

“The new kid?” Bianca was puzzled. “Oh, Kieren, you mean. No, my bike is fine, actually....” She spaced out once again. And now I think I know why. Nothing but some nerd love…

“Come on,” I was grinning from ear to ear. My little Bianca was growing up. “Tell ol’ Anthony what happened between you two.” 

“N-Nothing in particular. It’s just... the last time I saw him, we were figuring out our project for the science fair.” 

“When was the last time you saw him?” I asked, reminding myself why I even approached her in the first place. “He was absent in first period, and Max doesn’t know where he could be.” 

“I saw him last night. Before you mark him as absent or anything, there’s probably a legitimate reason why he’s probably not here. That reason could be in part to me....” I lifted my eyebrow, waiting for her to explain the reason. She had just said something that I really just could not believe. Was she really that type of girl? What did this Kieren kid do to her? Now this went beyond just helping Brace buddy. I might need to report this guy if…. Before Bianca could respond, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out, looked at it, and read it out loud. I was just about to ask for clarification when she talked over me. “Kieren: Meet me in the science building ASAP.” Assumedly, that had to be a Facebooked message on her notification screen. Why? I knew the type of parents she had. No way this guy would fly as a saved phone number in her address book. If I was not there, he definitely was not there. Wait… 

“Why is he in the science building?” 

“I dunno, but considering what happened the last time we talked, I should check on him. Permission to tend to a friend... well, an acquaintance?” 

“You don’t need to act formally around me. Of course, you can check on Kieren. I’ll come with you."