Spaceboy and the Stars

Chapter 1 - Tuesday 1:45 PM

Alarm clocks never worked when Elliot needed them to. And neither did driver's tests. The longer he had to peddle his bike the more he lost to the internal debate of completely skipping the last day of school. 

But he made a promise and he keeps his promises. 

So after stress-dressing in yesterday's clothes, Elliot found himself biking the whole way across town. And no, he did not panic even a little bit. Unless you count dramatically racing toward his high school like his life depended on it.

The small town of Bridgeford had two talents; football and making people forget there is an entire world beyond the town limits. All students from the upper and lower sides of town went to the same high school, drank from the same coffee shop, and grew up to live the same lives as their parents before them. 

Bridgeford High, while not exceptional, had produced well-rounded future citizens of America. These students left the high school knowing who they were and what they wanted to be in society. 

Elliot however, is not like those students. He is the exact opposite.

Elliot never prioritized grades or sports. With social anxiety and a general clothing choice that screamed outcast, he was lucky to have a single friend. Elliot prevented his own chances of joining any extracurricular.

He passed Dottie's, a bookstore-coffee shop mix where the majority of high school students in Bridgeford hung out. Dottie's had a blue trim and a cursive front sign. The small family owned business had the best coffee in Bridgeford, then again it was the only coffee shop in town. 

Elliot had no time to stop, but he waved to the Dottie as he went on. The old lady shook her head fondly knowing he was late yet again.

The universe must have been trying its' hardest to ruin Elliot's morning as the midday traffic began. Desperately trying not to get run over, he dodged between all of the cars. He ignored the honks, racing closer to the school.

Elliot practically flung his bike into the bike rack at the front entrance of the high school. Not bothering to lock his bike, he collected himself before opening the heavy metal doors. 

The bell rang right as he started to make his way down the hall to his locker. Awkwardly power walking to locker number 257, Elliot successfully avoided running into anyone. Rushing over to his locker, a familiar face stood grinning at his arrival.

"Look who finally showed up." Avery teased. Elliot rolled his eyes as he twisted the lock on his locker. He gazed at the dozens of band magnets holding various forgotten sticky note reminders. He has only one more year of high school left before those magnets go on to some unnamed college dorm fridge. That is if he's lucky. Time really flies when you let it.

"Stayed up too late," Elliot explained, "Forgot to set the stupid alarm."

"You'd think-," Avery closed her locker loudly, "-that after three years you'd finally just set it to automatically go off everyday."

"Ah, but that'll ruin the air of not giving a shit."

"Says the seemingly marathon runner. Did you sprint here, man?" Avery scrunched her nose at Elliot's lack of deodorant. Elliot rolled his eyes again, and they walked to Mr. Glenwood's English class.

Mr. Glenwood normally taught not a single thing throughout his extremely boring lectures. The school can't replace him, so they can't fire him. Elliot quietly thought that anyone off the street could teach English better than the old man behind the blank desk.

The classroom had bleak walls with stained rectangles of taken down posters long ago. Mr. Glenwood had never had a taste for decorations. If it didn't serve a sincere purpose then he deemed it useless.