An African Boy, with a hightop fade around the age of 13 was violently awoken by his alarm clock as he stumbled onto his bedroom floor. He flailed around and rushed to his closet and tried to get a change of clothes, as he stumbled to the bathroom.

He put on his jeans and was simultaneously brushing his teeth, as neither one was going well. He brushed his hair, and put on his shirt, as it was wet from the sink water. He sighed as he stumbled down the stairs, in a huff, and realized he had on no shoes.

He ran back upstairs, put on some sneakers, then forgot his backpack. He was about to rush back upstairs, as an African American woman with long dark hair handed it to him.

"Hehe, thanks, mom." The boy said as he smiled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Hey dad." He slid next to his father who was reading the newspaper as he tried to grab a piece of his bacon while his father shooed him away. "Please just one bite I'm starving!"

The boy's mother sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you, Mark, that you need to set your alarm for 30 minutes before and not 10? The bus will leave you like it always does."

"You know if I do that I'll be worn out mom." He went to grab a piece of his father's bacon as he couldn't reach it since his father was balancing it on a fork. "I promise I won't be late for school I still have? Dad, what time is it by the way?"

His father sipped his coffee from his mug as he uttered. "7:50"

Mark sighed in relief. "See Mom I have 10 more minutes left." He smiled as his face went blank for a second. "WAIT NO IM 10 MINUTES LATE FOR THE BUS! I GOTTA GO I GOTTA GO!" 

He sprinted out of the house and skidded down the street. "I'LL SEE YOU BOTH AT 5 BYE!" He said as ran down the street.

She sighed as she put her hand on her head. "When is that boy going to learn to wake up on time? I swear he spends all night playing video games and wonders why he never wakes up on time." 

She leaned next to her husband who was reading the newspaper. "Also does he know the bus leaves at 7:35 and not 7:40? Regardless he's still left."

He chuckled a bit and sighed blissfully. "I would've offered to drive him to school on my way to work but he ran out before I could say anything" 

He took another sip of his coffee and raised his eyebrow. "Now would you look at this the paper says there's going to be a visible meteor shower today."

"Amazing none of us have ever seen a meteor shower before. This could be a once-a-lifetime experience you think after you get off work we should all drive out together and go see it?"

"I don't see why not we should have enough time to if I don't get held up at work."

"Sounds like a plan." She said as she thought to herself for a moment. "By the way do you think the bus waited for Mark after all this time?"

"I would hope so, and even then he is pretty fast for a 13 year old he might even catch up to the bus after he leaves." He laughed out loud.

"WAIT!" Mark yelled at the school bus as it took off into the distance. "Huff. Huff." He sighed as he tried to catch his breath. "Crap, I missed the bus gotta take the public bus again." He said as he trudged off into the distance.

After having to take public transportation Mark arrived at school shortly after 9:00 am. After taking a history test that he forgot he had nor did he study for the rest of the day continued as normal.

 The final bell rang at 3:00 as all the kids walked out of the building and those who stayed for their after-school clubs stayed. Mark was one of those kids as he walked to his respective room and sat down in a chair.

Mark wasn't necessarily friends with any of the kids in the room he didn't have any friends in general but everyone in the club bonded over video games. 

Mark fiddled with his pen as he flung his head down on the table with a thump and realized a second after that was a terrible idea. "Ouch."

"What's the matter, dude?" One of the club members said.

"My day has been terrible. First, i wake up late."

"What else is new?" Said another one of the club members mockingly.

Mark grumbled at him as he pretended like he didn't say what he said. "I had to take the public bus and it took so long today. Then i took a history test I didn't study for and I know i totally flunked it. Ugh, this day can't get any worse!"

"Well, you could be trampled to death by a hoard of giraffes." One of the club members said.

The others looked at him and blinked in unison quietly as he shrugged. "Theoretically that would be worse."

"You're not wrong, but if this keeps going I'm gonna fail the 7th grade my mom will kill me! You guys think I'm joking but she'll do it I'm planning my will as we speak!" He silently cried to himself as he sat his head on the table.

The other members rolled their eyes and ignored him and continued with the meeting. Mark sulked quietly as the club meeting went on as usual. A bit more than an hour passed as all the club members' parents came to pick them up as Mark waited for his mom to get him. About 30 minutes passed as Mark was getting impatient and called his mom on the phone.

"Hey, sweetie what's up?"

"Uhhh. Yeah, mom, today's Tuesday did you forget? I had club today and everyone's gone well everyone except me."

"Oh sorry, sweetie I was going to ask you to take the city bus home again because I was going to stop by the store and get some snacks and stuff. Did you hear about the meteor shower it's happening later today around 7 or 8 I can't really remember. Your dad and I decided the 3 of us could go out and watch it when he gets home from work how does that sound."

"I mean it all sounds fine except me taking the city bus part-"

"Ooh alright perfect I'm heading to the store right now and make sure not to talk to any strangers on the bus. Bye, sweetie love you."

"Wait did you hear the last part!" He looked at his phone only to see that his mom had hung up as he sighed, "Well city bus it is then."

It was around 7 now and it was starting to get a bit dark. Mark was a couple of blocks away from his house as he could now walk the rest of the way. 

His stomach was rumbling as he saw a convenience store a couple of feet away in his direction. He checked his wallet and saw that he had a few dollars. He shrugged and walked into the store picked up a pack of candy and glanced at the TV in the store for a second.

"Hm. I guess that meteor shower is gonna start in a bit I hope mom and dad made it home by now so that we can go see it." 

He paid the man at the counter as he walked out of the store and heard a grunt. He looked to the left and saw a boy around his age throwing a bag of trash into a dumpster.

"There last one." The boy said as he turned around and saw Mark staring at him. "Hm? You're Mark the weird sweaty kid whos always late right?"

The boy talking to Mark was also African American. He was around the same height and build as Mark as he had a head full of dreads. 

"Yeah, that's me. Wait sweaty?" He checked his armpits and smelled them. "Are people actually saying that? Also, I I'm sorry but I've never seen you before."

"I wouldn't say everyone just a couple." He dusted his hands off and walked a bit closer to Mark. "I'm in your history class. I set like two seats in front of you."

"Oh yeah, you're Lucas right." Mark continue to stare at Lucas and tried to wonder how someone so young had bags under his eyes and had a job at their age. "Oh yeah if you don't mind me asking how do you have a job don't you have to be 14?"

"I turned 14 a couple of weeks ago so they let me work part-time. It doesn't hurt to get a little extra money here and there. I only live with my uncle so I try not to be a burden." Lucas said as he began to walk back into the store.

Mark again thought to himself how someone so young could be so mature and relaxed. "Oh, you only live with your uncle? Are your parents on a trip or something?"

He turned to Mark and closed the door momentarily. "No, they're not. They passed away when i was young, so I've been living with my uncle for as long as I can remember."

The air got a bit tense as Mark rubbed the back of his neck and tried to break the tension a bit. "Well at least you have your uncle that's more than a lot of people can say. Also hey. Think about it this way you probably get one big birthday present instead of just two huh?"

Mark chuckled awkwardly a bit as Lucas looked at him. He was seemingly a bit ticked off at that last reply. "You think what I said was funny?" Lucas said with a bit of bass behind his voice as Mark's laugh slowly faded. 

Mark thought to himself "Crap being funny would've worked at any time except this one." Mark began to panic a bit as he waved his hands in front of him quickly. 

"No, I was saying how to like you know if you have two parents they usually give you one present each! It was kind of a joke but not at the same time! I should really stop talking now!"

WHOOSH

CRACK!

Mark woke up on the ground about 30 minutes later as the store he went into earlier was now closed. Mark touched his left eye which twitched when touched.  It seems Lucas had decked him in the face knocking him out and giving him a mean shiner in the process. 

Mark slowly sat up as he thought to himself his day did get worse and it was because of his big mouth this time. Mark walked back home he felt like he took a nap on a pile of bricks, well it wasn't that much different than the sidewalk. Mark finally made it home and opened the door to his house using his key as he checked to see if anyone was home.

"I guess mom and dad didn't make it yet." He walked over to his freezer and got a pack of peas out and put it on his eye. "Man he can hit hard. I didn't think that joke was in that bad taste. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything." Mark slid down onto the ground and sighed. "Can't wait for this day to be over. Maybe that meteor shower can cheer me up."

The second Mark said that he looked out the window and saw bright lights zooming past the sky. He stood up for a second in awe as the meteor shower was happening at this exact moment. 

He thought to himself that his mother and father should head home quickly if they don't wanna miss it.

"Wow, so cool." Mark took the pack of peas off his eye as he continued to look in awe as he heard a loud THUMP.

Mark almost fell to the ground as he caught his balance. He walked outside his house and saw something smoking in the distance. Mark looked around to see if anyone else in his neighborhood heard the large thump that just occurred. "I guess nobody is home right now. I think that smoke is coming from that old park a couple of blocks over."

Mark got his bike and pulled it out onto the sidewalk and locked the door to his house to check what was happening at the place the smoke was coming from.

 Mark rode his bike for a couple of minutes as he reached the park that he mentioned. He was astonished to see that the basketball court was ripped apart and the source of the smoke was coming from the center.

"What the heck." He put his bike on the side of the tree as he slowly walked to the basketball court. He slid down the side of it which was now a decent-sized hole. 

Mark walked towards the source of the smoke and saw a strange rock that was glowing a bright radiant green. His eyes were filled with the color green as if it was like he was in a trance.

He heard a branch crack behind him as he looked behind him quickly. "I could have sworn i heard footsteps." Mark continued to look at the mysterious rock as he gulped and inched his index finger toward the rock. Mark gently poked the rock while nothing happened. 

Mark sighed with relief as he got up and turned around. "I should probably call someone but who do you even call for a random rock obliterating the blacktop of a park like this?"

Mark mumbled to himself as he heard a strange creaking noise. He turned around as the rock was blinking green repeatedly. His eyes widened as the rock cracked open like an egg.

 Mark backed up one inch and shielded himself as a large green shockwave pulsated outwards from the rock. Mark screamed in pain and was hurled 10 feet back into a tree. 

Car alarms in the area went off as the shockwave went off at the same time. No street lights on lights in anyone's house were on as it seemed like the shockwave had knocked all the power out of the entire city.

 Meanwhile whatever was left of the blacktop was singed, the trees were mysteriously frozen solid, the benches covered with solid stone, and the grass sparking with purple electricity.

Mark lay there unconscious on the ground as he spontaneously opened his eyes and took a long gasp of air, his once-black eyes were now sparkling a bright green. 

His entire body felt hot as he started to hyperventilate. Mark took one long gasp of air as his eyes turned back to normal and he collapsed onto the ground. Mark was unconscious once again as police sirens, fire trucks, and ambulances could be heard in the distance.