Quiet Enlightenment

Part 2, Chapter 3 - First Day

Monday, August 31, 2015

The morning of the thirty-first day of August saw a slightly different routine to the combined Gabriel household. Instead of the cheerful extended family gathering to eat, the breakfast room was instead occupied by two adults and two extremely nervous kids.

"Dear, where is your brother? Wouldn't they want to see their little boy off on his first day of middle school?" Olivia's mother said as she poured coffee for herself and her husband.

"He pissed off the old lady again. She's at the gym and he's already on the road to Boston." Mr. Gabriel replied with a mouth full of powdered donut.

"HARLOW! Watch your language." His wife replied as she playfully bopped him on the back of the head.

"Sorry, I meant to say that he urinated her off again."

"Really, Dad?" Olivia managed to say before looking over at her cousin. She sighed as she watched him stir his cereal around without taking any bites. It was obvious that the boy was uneasy about leaving the safe and stable world of elementary school.

Twenty minutes later, the two had their backpacks and were walking away from the house. The middle school was a few blocks away with the high school a couple more past that. The two walked in silence until they got to an intersection a block away from the house. It was there that Olivia noticed a boy that looked like Orson but could pass for Toby's age.

"You look like crap." The boy said to Toby as they approached them. Without breaking stride, he joined the two.

"Put a sock in it, Calvin." Toby said as he yawned.

"I couldn't sleep, either. I'm kinda... scared" Calvin said quietly, not quite sure who the girl that was walking with them was.

"Me too. Me too. Oh, this is my cousin Olivia." Toby quickly said as his nerves had overwritten his manners.

"Nice to meet you. I apologize for whatever Orson did to embarrass you!" Calvin said with a smile as he extended his hand. Shocked at the young kid's politeness, she smiled as she shook it.

"He didn't do anything to embarrass me. He was extremely helpful." Olivia replied. The small group approached the middle school and Olivia could swear that she could hear Toby gulp.

"This is our stop." Calvin said as he put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. Without another word from him, the two started to walk towards the front door.

"Have a good day, both of you!" Olivia cried out before walking on. She was just as nervous as her younger cousin, but there was no way that she was going to let it show.

After a couple minutes of a silent walk, she walked towards the same front door that she entered a week prior. She immediately saw a sign that said, "All new students to the auditorium!"

Taking a deep breath, Olivia tried to search the depths of her memory banks to remember exactly where the auditorium's location. Remembering that it was somewhere towards the start of the tour, she took her chances and followed the flow of people down the first hallway. Her intuition paid off as she turned a corner and found herself at the entrance.

She wandered in and eventually found a spot marked off with a sign that said, "FRESHMEN ONLY!" in printed text with a small marker-written footnote tastefully stating that "SENIORS SUCK!" below. She wandered to the first open seat and plopped down.

After about ten minutes, the auditorium was filled to the brim and the principal walked out onto the stage.

"Good morning, my lovely new and returning students..." the gentle-looking older gentleman started before running into a long and winded speech about the importance of building decent work ethic and community values.