The Black Box

14

I wake up to the sound my alarm clock. Weird. I never do. I guess there's something actually worse than getting woken up by something unusual. I open my eyes and look at the clock.

It's 6:45. I have to leave in 15 minutes. I race out of bed, throw on a t-shirt and jeans, and put my sweatshirt over my shoulder. I run to the bathroom, brush my teeth and hair, and run down the steps while putting on my sweatshirt.

I grab an apple and a piece of bread and run out the door with my backpack slung over one shoulder. I made sure I had the box in my pocket. I race to school 'cause it's only a five minute walk, so how long would it take to run? I slow to a jog so I can eat what I grabbed.

I see Jax on the way there so I run towards him. "Hey," I say to him as I walk beside him.

"Hey Peter, what's up with you?"

"I woke up late and rushed out."

"Did you get what we had last night?"

"Yeah."

"Was the math hard or what?"

"Yeah," I finished my bread and starting my apple. We just arrived on school campus and it's 6:55. "Hey Jax I'd love to chat some more but I gotta head to class!" I yell as I run inside. I see him wave to me at walk away. It stinks that we're only together for one class.

Our school has a huge campus with walkways to each building with a glass roof above them. The glass roof is supported by pillars and there's space in between so you can enter wherever.

I go to my locker and get my books out as casually as possible 'cause I don't think many people rush out the door in the morning. I think about leaving the black box here, but decide not to. I keep it in my pocket.

I walk down the hallway to my class. It's like a maze when I got here at the start of the year, but I've gotten used to the tricky hallways. I walk into the room and I sit down in a seat. Every classroom has a marble floor, a chalkboard, and a digital chalkboard that's connected to the teacher's computer.

When class starts, everyone stares at me in my seat. The teacher's late, again, last time I checked. I feel uncomfortable and people start whispering about my incident.

"Hey dude how's your face? Does it still hurt?" asks Jason sitting next to me. He asks it in a fake sympathetic voice. He always annoys me and he knows it. His shoulder length blond hair is reflecting the light and is almost blinding me 'cause it's so "lustrous." His pitch black eyes are like pits.

"Fine. How's your face? Doesn't yours hurt? 'Cause it's killin' me," I tell him, stealing his thunder.

"Hey that's my joke!" He says, overreacting by putting his arms in the air.

The teacher enters the room and he goes silent and back to his own business. It's like he didn't even tease me. He tries to be the teacher's pet but everybody knows that Sandy's the teacher's pet. I am kinda too, not gonna lie. He thinks that if he's the teacher's pet, the teacher won't give him bad grades and that's definitely not true. Partially.

When class is over, I go to my locker to get my books for my next class.

"Hey Peter, how ya been?" says Adam, one of my best friends from middle school, besides Jax. He has short black hair that sticks out and can't be put down unless he puts hair gel in, which he doesn't do often. His purple eyes are always a mystery to me. It's really cool looking. I remember last year in eighth grade, a sixth grader came up to Adam and asked if he wore contacts. Adam lied to him and said that he did wear contacts.

"Good, never been better," I reply, closing my locker.

"I gotta go," he says as he runs away.

My classes went by quickly while getting fake sympathy from others. It was lunch when I got humiliated. By Jason.

I walk in to the cafeteria and sit with Jax, Adam, Kevin, Annabeth, and Sophie. I've been friends with them as long as I can remember.

"How was Jason today?" asks Sophie. She has a tawny long hair pulled back into a ponytail. She also has dark green eyes like a forest canopy.

"Same. Fake sympathy of course," I reply, taking a bite of my sandwich.

The "popular" kids always sit the farthest away from us 'cause they simply don't like us. Jason's girlfriend is a brunette named Marin.

"I don't like them," Sophie says, having some of her salad.

"Hey what'd you get on that math test? I got a 95," Jax asks us.

"97," Adam says.

"99," says Annabeth, sticking her tongue out at Adam. They're always competitive about their test results. She has multiple shades of brown and blonde in her hair. She put it in a side braid today. She has hazel colored eyes with a hint of blue. It's pretty actually.

"98," says Kevin, his dark brown hair flipping to the side. He kinda has the same hair as I do except it's longer in the back instead of the front and his hair doesn't cover his brown eyes.

"96," says Sophie.

All of them start to stare at me when I don't answer.

"What'd you get man?" asks Jax, shaking my shoulder.

"Oh, 100," I say, smiling. Annabeth always gets the highest test scores and she's had the highest GPA in the whole class since 6th grade.

"Ooh, is Annabeth getting jealous?" Adam says.

"I think she is," replies Jax, holding up an eyebrow.

"I'm not jealous of Peter get a 100 on a math test. It averages out anyway," say Annabeth, annoyed by Adam's comment.

Just then I see Jason step onto their table.
"Hey everyone! Peter Ceiler wet his pants today in science! Hey Peter! Don't get scared of the science experiments! They're not gonna hurt you!" he yells over to our table especially, and to the entire cafeteria.

I put elbows on the table and my head in my hands. Ugh. I hate Jason.
"Can you shut up Jason?" whispers Adam. Jason always gets on his nerves.

"Yeah, I agree with Adam," says Kevin. "Hey Cali boy! Stop picking on Peter!" he yells back.

"Oh yeah pretty boy? What are you gonna do to this?" He taunts as he points to himself.

"Ugh, I hate his guts," mutters Kevin.

"I think everyone hates his guts," says Annabeth. Sophie's ignoring it and is eating her salad.

The bell rings and we have to go to class.

"Watch out for gum Peter," says Annabeth, aware of what happened at the orthodontist, "and Jason!"

"Yeah, thanks Annabeth," I roll my eyes at her and walk to my locker.

I close my locker and walk to my next class. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going 'cause I tripped over someone's outstretched foot. Jason. I face planted on the ground and I got up and ran to my next class, not wanting to make a scene.