Megáli Dynatótita: A Boy and The World Around Him.

Subtle Actions

The next day came like the black, unbranded shirt flew at his face. Strider jolted up with a haste, thinking a bug or spider flew on him. But alas, Proeth was standing above him, already dressed, pointing at the clock. It was 7:30, School started at 8:15. He just looked at him, as angrily blank-faced as ever as he took his shirt off and put the black one on, climbing out of bed to dig through his unfolded clothing in his drawers to find just some grey sweatpants to hastily put on and scramble to the kitchen. Grabbing his backpack as he left out of his room door, he thought about the day. Proeth followed behind with an entertained expression, finding it hilarious that Strider was too lazy to set an alarm. The bus came at 7:40, giving them a ten minute window to get dressed. They couldn't even warm anything up, their school offered breakfast, though. It wasn't the best, the rice looked like grits and there was always blue fuzz somewhere on it, but it was something. Strider and Proeth hastily got dressed. Judging from how Proeth looked, he probably got up a minute earlier from when he woke him up. They ran into the kitchen whith their backpacks on at 7:35, and saw their sister. She put up a peace sign as she calmly said "Hey, someone had to do it."
On the wooden table, there was a toasted sandwich with eggs and rice mixed into eachother. And in a small paper bowl, there was just scrambled eggs with small maple sausage bits mixed in. Strider took the sandwich, and Proeth took the bowl. They both ran to the door, but Strider paused, yelling down the hall.
"Hey, Enjo, are you going to collage today? You're not home a lot." He opened the door as she yelled back
"I'm on break, plus, we were low on food. My buddies got my notes covered, and they know I'm good at finishing work."
"Ah, alright then. Remember to try to stop capitalizing off of your friends just to get out of work." Strider left, calling out to Proeth who was already bolting down the street. Strider now out of breath, put both hands on his knees as he realized he didn't have his Sweatshirt with him. He sighed, Proeth climbing onto the bus that pulled up in front of them and opened the sliding door. Stream followed behind, pulling his backpack off to look inside. He saw his school computer, a binder with really disorganized papers bulging out of it, and a pencil pouch. Tenth Grade was just a review of Ninth in his opinion, The school system was just as stupid here than in any other place in America. Stream dug deeper into his backpack and found a glimmer of a zipper, and when he pulled on it, Blue fabric came with it. It was an old jacket, one he only wore during autumn when it was as cold as his basement in summer. Not to chilly to whine about and try to tamper with the AC, but not warm enough to not think about getting a blanket. He pulled the jacket out, it having navy blue accents, and put it on. He adjusted the pull string and zipped it up. Then down again, as only his arms were really cold. Being skinny was a curse if you lived with it long enough. Proeth was sitting in a different seat, talking to some of his friends. He had a lot, and was very popular despite Strider thinking he was the lamest guy in the world. He sure can attract people just by being him. Interesting trait to have, he wished he had that skill too. This bus took both High schoolers and Middle schoolers. And since this area didn't have a lot of kids to begin with, it was no hassle fitting everyone on. It was kind of quiet. It was Mid January, a New year. 2023. Everyone in their healthiest, Nobody feeling too particularly bad. It was a foggy day, condensation forming on the windows of the bus as the vibrations made the mist particles gather and flow to the bottom when they got heavy. It wasn't too thick enough to see through, as he did see the pharmacy wiz by and disappear in the thick fog. Strider popped his Earbuds in and listened to some music before dozing off to a nap against the vibrating window to skip the fifteen minute ride, and when he woke up, the bus was empty. Luckily, he still saw students exiting the bus and saw a few familiar faces to know that this was the High school as he wiped his face with his hand and dragged his backpack off the seat. He hastily zipped it up and apologized to the bus driver as he bolted into the school. Inside of class he saw his best friend, Rota, Typing away on his computer. There was a video playing on the whiteboard, something along the lines of how president Lincoln was assassinated and why. He had probably requested to put that on, and knowing him, he was probably writing a report on it. So, he had closed his computer in front of him and did his usual greeting.
"Dude! What if I didn't save?!" Rota said, a little agitated that that is the first thing he'd do being almost late in the classroom
"Uhuh, yeah, like you aren't doing this just to do it." Strider responded, knowing his nerdy friend would find fun in history and culture.
"What if it's useful later? Less work."
"You're still doing work though. Just chill out, Dude."
"Shut up Strider, I don't say anything about you playing games in class."
Strider kind of paused, Rota smiling knowing he hit a weak point in his argument, these kind of squabble always made things fun, as small as the bickering may be.
"Fair point."
Strider sat down at a desk next to him, looking over at his computer that was back open, now on a google docs. From what he could make out of the small letters, he was correct. He sighed, looking back at the video. Until one of his classmates, Tako, Walked to the middle of the front of the class as he raised his hand.
"I will now start roll call, you know the drill."
Stream reluctantly got up, and started walking to his seat that was on the end of the third row from the front, him waiting for a bit, getting on google snake when his name was called
"Stream?"
"Aye."
He responded because that's the name he went by to most people. Name he went by to everyone actually. The only reason it was acceptable for Rota to do it was because he was a close friend. He didn't have a particular reason why he even had a nickname, it was just a slip up by one of the teachers in grade school, he didn't say anything about it, and here we are. Frankly, everyone thought Stream was his real name, but it was just something he couldn't back out of after all these years. Stream slumped down into his chair and got ready for a day of pointless review. He knew mostly all of the stuff that they were talking about, and if he didn't, he would just ask Rota to sum it up. Rota would much rather Strider listen, but it's became so much of a habit that Rota turned it into a game of 'What Doesn't Strider Know?' Strider wished he didn't nod off in the bus so he could be tired enough to sleep through this, but he wasn't. As the pledge started, The Teacher, Mr. Kain, walked in, placing his bag at the door to let the stuff finish at this time. Kain was a cool dude, didn't care what they called him, so the students started calling him K. He liked the nickname, said it made him feel younger. He was nice enough for people to like him, but not too much of a pushover to not have anyone think he'd forget that they weren't doing any work. He got people in trouble plenty, but not enough to make him look as bad as the rest of the students. When the pledge ended, he came in with a chilled face and unpacked his own computer along with a few papers and pens. He then clicked a pen and without looking up said "There's some assignment china and how it influenced early Japanese and Korean civilization, work together but don't let it get out of hand, get it done. I'm assigning tomorrows work too, so if you want, you can go ahead and be ahead. Ask the smartest person in the room other than me if you're confused, Justice is in charge, i gotta get work done."
Mr. Kain said as he started scribbling down on the paper.
"And what do we do if someones at the door?"
He asked the class
"Settle down and act busy!"
Most people responded, others getting started on their work. Mr. K nodded as he continued writing as Strider walked over to Rota. Tako, Nicknamed Justice by the teacher, got to work as well. Justice was actually his Family name, and sometimes people called him that for convenient word play and to twist work onto him, saying things like 'I mean, if you want it done with equality, have Justice do it. It's in the name.' He kind of hated it, but lived with it. Strider walked over to Rota, seeing as he was still alone.
"Surprising you don't got a smart guy group."
Strider said, nudging him on the shoulder and trying to look at his computer to see if he already started.
"Seeing as we are both African Americans, i would need to stop hanging out with you to regain braincells, shave my head almost bald, and put on slim shades."
Rota said, typing away.
"What does being black have to do with anything?"
Stream questioned, looking closer at his screen, the glare not helping with anything since there was a window behind them.
"Because i'd look like i owned a very important business, not look like a discord mod or discount Robert Downey Jr."
He continued, pulling his computer one way to make Strider buzz off
"Well, in any case, way to include the information."
Strider said, opening his own laptop and logging onto the assignments page. It was a boring day, and he really had nothing going for him. And when it was the end of class, Rota had pressured Strider to doing tomorrow's homework. Strider still kind of annoyed at Rota bugging him so much.
"Bruh." Is all Strider said, just walking in his next classes direction Rota followed, until he saw a group congregating around at public TV the school used to display announcements and morning school news. Strider and Rota looked up at the TV and saw a flying man, fly through tall buildings in Boston and leveled them instantly, the building crumbling down as the camera close by the destruction went offline. Murmurs were all that were heard, the Tv cutting to a different guy in a black suit.
"Today's news: man with ability causes destruction in city. And government putting a new law in order. Everyone and everyone with an ability must be detained and under monitoring."
Strider felt a little uneasy, Rota getting hit the hardest.
"What if they actually try to enforce it this time? What if they have a way to find out?"
Rota got shivers as he started to walk away, but then, rumbling was heard. Couldn't have been an earthquake, but then Strider got a shill down his spine.

"Uh Oh."