One of Us

School Sucks and Everyone Knows That

"Sometimes a shadow wins"

Picture above is Jayden Parker

I used to think the crowd at the 'buy two, get three free' sale at Nike was terrifying. You'd think that brain hungry apocalyptic zombies emerged from the ground, just to buy Nikes. The mere thought is monstrous. Of course, that was before I entered this sea of monsters.

Now, I really think I could use that pair of shoes.

My poor white canvas shoes, which aren't Nike, was bought after saving ages of chore money. It's really hard to buy yourself a new pair of shoes out of your own hard earned money. But of course, the shoes, which I bought last week, finally, had to be ruined by the flash mob that decided to run up to the front gate like a pack of hungry wolves craving for meat.

I mean, everything was normal for a while. Teenagers walking hither and thither... who even says hither and thither anymore? Teenagers walking here and there, randomly gossiping about Taylor Swift and Joe Alvin breaking up, again. Some people were running around, others entering the half broken school building.

It's what you would expect in any high school. A strong basement, a weak building. Everything was perfectly fine.

Before a 2011 Range Rover Evoque decided to pop up out of nowhere.

The car is a beauty, Orkney Gray, a limited edition, finished with a beautiful shine, completely sold out. You can't find it in the market anymore, if you're lucky, you might get a second hand from some rich guy. I would trade my life for it, but the car is worth more.

But no, like perfectly sane people, the students of this school cannot obsess over the sleek beauty of that masterpiece of a car. Because the fact that the Evoque has 190 horsepower at 3500 revolutions per minute is not as pleasing as the people inside.

Like any high school, it has to be the people inside.

Thankfully, I'm not the only person with such a view. I can see a group of somewhat familiar people, far away from the crowd. Fellow introverts. They're glaring at the mob, wondering what is so important that the car is ignored.

Well, I'm not sure if they care if the car is ignored.

I sigh and look at my newly ruined white canvas shoes. Do remind me why I chose to buy white shoes? Why couldn't I have gone with a more, subtler color? Like, black? Or the common brown? Maybe even dark blue?

I just had to choose white.

Well, at least, it can't get anymore dirty. The, original ivory canvas white has now turned to a muddy greenish brown, the result of teenagers running over my poor feet. Thankfully, it's canvas, some soaking in water, Kleenex, fabric softener and white polish should do. For now, I shall walk the walk of shame in my no longer white shoes.

Well, it's not as anyone will pay attention to my shoes.

Why should they, when there are four greek gods stepping out of their chariots? Well, chariot, the Evoque. Carpool, I guess.

The Parker twins step out first, from the driver's seat and the shotgun, their blond hair waving with the wind. They have their signature smirks on their face, which means they're up to no good, all trouble. I've never had the time to jot down their names, considering everyone calls them 'The Parker Twins'.

Then comes Noah Caggiano, the heart throb of the school. He regards no one, just shuffles silently towards the Parker twins, murmuring something in their ears. Finally, out of the car, steps Brendan Calloway, talking to someone over the phone.

Half the school's population has their eyes glued on to the four boys movements. They walk simultaneously towards the gate, not bothering about the man-hungry-cannibalistic crowd. Finally when they seem to disappear, everyone goes back to doing whatever they were doing.

Everything returns to normal.

But I still don't seem to understand why everyone obsesses over these boys. They're not that unique. Just because they work out more than the others, doesn't mean they're the next Fransisco Lachowski, or whatever his last name is, or Lucky Blue Smith.

I stop dwelling on the doubt, and move toward the school gates, waiting for my daily dose of high school doom to get over with.

School sucks, and everybody knows that. It's quite a common fact, actually. Could be general knowledge as well. I can see the question inked out on my future GK paper's -

Read the given extract carefully and answer the questions following it - "School sucks, and everybody knows that." Justify properly, with three reasons, provided with a suitable example. Suggest any countermeasures on how to take action on this particular matter.

Unfortunately, I don't have any answer to that.

———x———x———x———

The day goes by in a blur, Homeroom, Math, Biology, History, Chemistry, Art, Math again, Physics, Geography... after cramming my brain with random information, like how the food that goes from your mouth to your stomach is called bolus, food from your stomach to your intestines is called chyme, how Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't actually that short, was quite average height for that matter, why the angle of incidence is greater than the angle of refraction when light travels from a rarer medium to a denser medium, why the zeros of a polynomial take up different values for different equations...

Sophomore year is hard.

By the end of all of this, forgetting half the stuff that happened in the day, I find myself at the mechanics shop I end up at, everyday. One of my most favorite places in the entire world is my workplace, after my Nonna's kitchen, of course.

I'm surrounded by cars, grease, wrenches, screws, hot shirtless girls and boys.

What else could I want?

The only down part is that my brother, Uriah, who also works here, doesn't allow me to hit on anyone. Protective brothers are the best and worst brothers in the entire world.

I get to work almost immediately. Tying my braided hair up into a bun, I grab a wrench and start working on the gears and cogs of an old beat down Hyundai Creta. It's from an old couple down the road, probably in their sixties or seventies. The car was apparently an anniversary gift, so I'm trying my best to get it back to it's old original condition.

It's quite hard though, considering the car has been collecting dust and rust for the past thirty years or so.

An hour or so flies by, and I'm still working on the car. I can't seem to exactly figure out what's completely wrong with it. Bits and pieces are the main problem. I decide to take a water break, I'm too tired and exhausted from inhaling the dust and grease.

Just as I'm about to go over to an oil-free clean bench, a 2011 Range Rover Evoque decides to back itself slowly into the shop. 

So, yay!

first chapter i guess.

next update : saturday