Contacting Space

Chapter 1

In the small coastal town of Ringston, in a rural location in America, a 17 year old named Jasper Myers resides. He lives with both his mom and dad, along with his sister and brother who are twins at the age of 12. Jasper attends Ring High, the local high school whose mascot is the Ring-Tailed Lemur.

It's September 19, 2022, the start of a new week of school. A cool day with partly cloudy skies. Jasper's alarm goes off at 6:00 AM with a deafening tone. He reaches around until he finds the noise maker and slams his fist hard to get it to shut up. He rises from his bed and walks over to his window to see the sunrise greeting him. "Alright," he says to himself. "Let's get this shitty day over with." He shuffles through his room looking at the posters containing sport stars and dreaming how he wish he could be like them. He then stares at the cross hanging above his bed, and he says a quick prayer. His walls are painted in a color of blue, just lighter than the color of the sky, and the sheets covering his bed are a deep green like a needle on a pine tree.

He moves to in front of a wardrobe where he pulled out a red t-shirt, navy blue jeans and a pair of boxer briefs. He slips out of his pajamas and tosses them into the empty hamper next to his door. He looks at the full body mirror that hangs from the back of his door and looks over his body, inspecting his growing muscles, and other things. He jumps into his clothes for the day then grabs a jockstrap with a cup, cleats, a tank top and pants for baseball practice after school. He throws the clothes into his sports bag and grabs his backpack carrying it down the flight of stairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning Jaspy!" His mom says.
"Morning," he replies.
"I've got some waffles sitting on the table for you. There's also some syrup and hot chocolate."
"Thanks mom. Don't forget to pick me up today, I don't wanna be at school until 7 again."
"I won't Jaspy. I don't want my little boy out in the freezing cold again." His mom makes a pouty face causing Jasper to cringe. He walks into the dining room where he sees that his brother and sister have already stared to consume their portion of the food.
"Hey Jasper. What's up?" His dad says with a mouthful of waffles.
"Nothing. Just tired."
"Well maybe waffles and hot chocolate will get you up and running." His dad replied. Jasper sat down in his chair and poured the maple syrup onto his waffles, watching as it disappeared through the skin. He grabbed his fork and knife and drove it through the fluffy breakfast, lifting bites to his mouth.

He finished eating the waffles and drinking the hot chocolate when it was time for him to leave for the bus.
"Have a good day Jaspy!" His mother called to him as he shut the door. 'Why does she treat me like a child!' He thought to himself. 'I'm literally fucking 17 for fucks sake.' He lugged his bags to the bus stop and dropped them. A strange kid walked up to where Jasper was standing and said, "Hi, my names Daniel, or Dan for short. Is this where the Ring High bus picks up?"
"Yes, it is. My names Jasper, nice to meet you." Jasper forces himself to hold out a hand to the stranger, not enjoying physical contact with people he doesn't know. They both shake hands as the bus comes around the corner of the neighborhood. It comes to a sudden stop and the doors fly open.
"Morning Ms.Moor!" Jasper said hopping on the bus.
"Morning to you too!" She happily responded. When Dan got onto the bus she said, "Hi, who are you?"
He responded, "I'm Dan, I'm new here."
"Well it's nice to meet you. Be sure to hold on tight because I can have a heavy foot on the gas pedal."
"Got it!" Dan said as he made his way to an empty seat. The bus took off and they headed for the school.