Underneath the clouds

IX

The morning was bland, and the same. Jolin got up, brushed her teeth, got ready, ate and left. Usually her imagination kept her busy, but it seemed like today was a day of no thinking. She never relied on school to keep her busy, or interested, but maybe today would be that sort of day. The only excitement so far would be that she had to catch the bus. The air seemed somewhat chilled this morning, even though that usually never happened. Keeping her hand off the germ filled rail, she shuffled to the back, where she was stopped. Looked down to the person that grabbed her bag, she saw one brown eye and one blue eyes. "Kimberly...?" She smiled pulling her down to the seat. "Oh wow? Really? Now we have the same bus together?" Jolin asked. "I know it's great right?" Kimberly smiled. "Glad you came though, I usually am pretty bored when we're driving there, I usually don't let anybody sit next to me."
"Ah..." Jolin nodded, looking at her. She felt the bus go, turning and hitting the gas as it sped down the road. "Is this one of the late buses?"
"No thank god." Kimberly rolled her eyes. The bus started to slow to a stop, until it stopped at a corner, opening the door for new students. Among them, was a tall kid, jet black hair, with earrings, and side swept hair. "Oh my god!" Kimberly quietly squealed. "What?" Jolin asked clueless. "It's Mark!"
"Oh." Jolin said with a straight face. He walked down the aisle, glaring at people and open seats. Jolin felt her arm being squeezed, as Kimberly quietly squealed. "Dude, calm down." She whispered to her. Mark sat down at the back of the bus, arms crossed with his gray eyes slowly scanning the people. "What a mood." Jolin scoffed, her lip curling as she looked back up front. Looking to her right, she could tell Kimberly was daydreaming about that boy. Soon they pulled up, the bus emptying, spitting out many students. The girls departed, going to their classrooms to start the day. Jolin set down her stuff, and slumped down... quietly groaning as Mr. Davis went around with a smile on his face. The first week a of school, was just getting familiar with your schedule, nothing that happened was about learning. Opening her folder, she looked at the "getting to know you" homework he sent out, which she did the day it was assigned. "Mark Brown, do you have the homework?" Mark lowly grumbled, muttering only what Jolin could make out as "eff you." Reluctantly he pulled out the homework, and gave it to the teacher, tracking him as he got to Jolin. "Miss Martin... do you have the homework?" She felt piercing eyes on her, as she slowly gave him the homework. "Thank you." He said before walking off. Even when he was gone, she could HIS eyes on her. Putting her hands on the table, and fiddling with her nails, she glared at the whiteboard. Now she was getting annoyed from his staring. It was starting to piss her off. She looked back at him, finding him to slowly look away. Jolin let out a low growl, quietly cursing as she looked back at the whiteboard. Before she knew it, the period was over, and she was heading over to history, which was by far her favorite subject when it came to interest. Settling down in her assigned seat, Jolin looked at the woman, who was her teacher, as she started to get the textbooks ready. She slumped, waiting for her book to come to her. Jolin was always intrigued with the past, even though some things haven't changed since 2020, she still found it interesting. Mostly when it came to movements, like Black Lives Matter. Although she wasn't alive when it happened, she still believed that everyone should be treated equally, though people in those times seemed to not be able to handle the truth. Shaking her head, she realized that the government was a very messed up system. Not that she watched the news, but she found out that the earth's population is at 10 Billion and counting, which was eating the planet alive. Polar bears had went extinct before she was born, and the ice at the poles were just water now. Very hot summers and very cold winters occupy the earth now. Although... she had to admit; technology had taken off by 2024, it hadn't really helped the working class, only the rich and wealthy. Her mind was stirred with these thoughts, thinking about the government and it's lies gave her anger. The first space ship that ever went to Mars never returned, fish were disappearing in the ocean because humans were eating them. More people were found dead under houses, and the criminal rate in America had spiked, at an all time high, with riots happening all over the country. More planes were going missing, and sometimes being hijacked. The world made her sick. She couldn't understand why WWIII was about to happen, why people couldn't just talk instead of firing missiles, and rockets at others. Why couldn't leaders be nice? Finally her textbook came to her, and as she flipped through it, she saw nothing but bland boring stuff. Things she already knew. With her eyes feeling heavy, she blankly stared at the bored. Soon she was off to her next class; Science. Boring. Off to English. Boring. Until finally, the bell for lunch rung, giving her sweet relief from boredom. Now she could see Kimberly. Walking down the hallway, she rubbed her temples, trying to silence the voices of the hallway. Narrowing her eyes, and walking down the stairs, she mindlessly walked into the lunchroom. Jolin felt weird as she grabbed a tray and walked into line. Suddenly, the strong scent of cologne caught her nose. It wasn't the pleasant kind. Quietly, she gagged. Looking behind her, she found out it was Mark.  "Of course this fucker is behind me." Jolin's lip curled. She didn't swear often, only when she was angry, and annoyed. Trying to ignore his poor choice of cologne she served herself. Quickly walking away, she found where Kimberly was sitting, and sat right down next to her. "I saw that Mark was behind you..."
Jolin hummed in her response taking a bite of her fry. "And you turned around..." she sensed the upcoming part. "Did you talk to him?!"
"No, and frankly, how do you like him? He smells so fucking gross." Jolin felt her blood boiling as she thought about him. "I mean, I dont think so..." Jolin bit another fry. "Yeah? Wait till you get close up." Kimberly took a big bite of her burger. "Anything interesting in any of your classes?" Jolin shook her head. "Oh, that's a bummer." Kimberly continued to eat. "How about you?" Shaking her head, she hummed in response, still chewing her sandwich. The lunch period seemed to end quicker than any of her classes, which made her a little annoyed, and the fact that she kept seeing Mark was making her even more angry. By the end of the day, she had gotten through stares, and attempted conversation by other people. But Mark never seemed brave enough to go up and talk to her. Taking her bag, and quickly walking out, she kept glancing behind her, wondering if Mark was going to suddenly appear. Thankfully he didn't, and she got home without being aggravated. Walking in, she smelled something new, it smelled like popcorn, but... weirdly metallic. Opening the garage door, she her dad pouring a green liquid into a beaker. "Hey dad..." she set her bag down. "Hey sugar cube, how was school?" He asked without looking at her. "Boring..." Jolin pulled up a chair, watching him work. "What are you doing?" Jeffery filled up the beaker that said "other," at eye level. "I'm working on my serum." He said, swishing it around. "Serum...? For what?" Putting it down, he looked at her, a playful smile on his face. "That's classified sugar cube." He rubbed her head, messing up her hair. Refusing to ask more questions, she walked away wishing him well in his "serum." But it still bothered her. Why would he have two beakers filled with two different serum's? One for her, and one for others... whatever that meant. It was a mind-boggling question, but instead of trying to figure it out, she let her dads ideas be her dads ideas. Putting her headphones in, she turned up her music full blast, before zoning out.