The Lost Four

Nameless Knowledge

"So what if your mom doesn't let you go? It's your senior year; live a little," my best friend, Rihanna, said. "I don't lie to my mom, Rihanna; I'd feel so guilty," I said while looking back at the disgusting food they call school lunch. "Tell you what, if you let me help you sneak out to go to the party, I'll let you pick something from my closet and give you a makeover," she bribes. It's not the first time she has tried to get me to sneak out. She's not a bad influence; she has just gotten into the party scene lately since it's our final year of high school. She's more outgoing than me and tries to get me involved in 'high school activities." She means well. "Fine, but I'm not wearing anything extra," I tell her. "Finally, I get you out of the house; it only took forever. Just tell your mom that you're staying over at my house for the night; it is Friday," she says as she gets up as the bell rings to tell everyone to go back to class.

I follow her lead and get up to walk towards the cafeteria doors. "Fine, but you're in charge of getting us there, and I want to be back before 2 a.m.," I lecture her as I head off to the most boring subject on the planet, history. "Ok mom, we'll be back at my house at 2. Is there anything else, mommy dearest?" she bats her eyelashes in a sarcastic way, and I laugh at it a bit. "Yes, find a designated driver that we can trust, please," I tell her, stopping in front of my classroom door. Her class is a few classes down. "I wouldn't go if you were uncomfortable with the designated driver, boo, but I gotta run to class before Mr.R throws a tantrum. I'll see you after," she says, walking backwards, almost bumping into a few people while talking. "See you after class, Ri," I say, smiling at my best friend as I walk into class.
Sitting in the window seat of the classroom keeps me distracted from what I feel is the most unbearable subject ever. All history ever does is repeat itself anyway.

Conflict, war, and death repeat. It was a never-ending cycle; I've heard it so many times that I just learned how to tune the teacher's voice out. It's not like anyone is listening anyway. All I hear is the rain and the music blasting in my ear from the earbud that's out of sight of the teacher. As I stare out the window, observing what's outside, I settle on a cardinal with bright red feathers soaring in the air. It lands on a branch on the tree that is close to the school's football field. As I watched it, it stayed there for a while until something caught my eye further to the left of the bird. It was a shadowy figure that was hard to see because of the shade the trees made among themselves. My attention quickly turns to that shadowy figure, but just as fast as I turn my head, it leaves faster, like it was never there.

"Cyerene," my teacher's stern voice says, feels the room. My attention turns to her as I see her frowning face, her look of disappointment, and the rest of the class looking at me. "Yes, Ms. Filick," I answer her, already anxious to hear what she has to say next. "Would you like to start paying attention to class or would you rather go cloud watching?", Her tone was cutthroat. A chill ran through my body as being called out in front of a class wasn't enough to spark the embarrassment. I don't know what else will. "Sorry" is all I can whisper as she scoffs and turns back to her presentation. I turn to look at the clock on the wall. There are 20 minutes left, so I put my head down for the rest of class.

The bell finally rings 20 minutes later, and I race out of the class to save myself from further embarrassment and continue on with the rest of the school day. I have two classes left; I just hope they go quickly.

At the end of school

"I have to go home before I come over; hopefully my mom is in a good mood," I say to Ri. "I'm sure she'll let you; your mom loves me," she gloats while smiling, and I just roll my eyes. "Cmon, my brother is here; we'll give you a ride," she says as her brother stops in a parking spot a few feet away. "Are you sure he won't mind?" I say, looking over her shoulder to look at her brother. He's two years older than us, so all three of us always hung out with each other when we were little. I had a tiny crush on him, but over the years it started to lessen since it was a silly childhood crush. Plus, he's my best friend's brother; it would create awkward tension if I ever admitted it. "Let's just ask him," she says, turning and walking to the driver's side of the car. The window is down, so he waits for us to speak. "Hi Cy, I haven't seen you in forever. How long has it been?" he says, giving me his award-winning smile that every girl would die over. "Hey Alex, ever since you went off to college six hours away a year and a half ago," I say, smiling back. "You've grown up a lot since then," he says, and my heart starts beating a little faster, wondering how to interpret the comment.