The Fire of Ares

Ch1- Seniors

Max.

I woke up to the sound of rain tapping against my window, feeling a sense of dread settle in the pit of my stomach. I slowly opened my eyes, hoping it wasn't time yet. I reached for my phone on my nightstand, and squinted my eyes. "6:45 am," I groaned.

I am so not ready for another year of school. Luckily it was my last year.

The morning routine is a ritual I've come to dread. It's not just the early hour that makes it unbearable, but the monotony of it all. Every day, I wake up to the same sound of my alarm, the same creak of the floorboards as I get out of bed, the same smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen. I go through the motions of brushing my teeth, washing my face, and getting dressed, but it all feels so mechanical.

It's not like I had a blast during summer, nope. I just stayed home all day, every day, sleeping and watching my favorite shows. I'm not ready for early mornings, and yelling teenagers raging in the halls.

I sit up on my bed dreading the day already; wait today is different. I didn't wake to my alarm, pigs have to be flying right now. I'm not OCD, but it's been the same old routine for the last 4 years. Just when I was about to freak myself out, the loud bearing of my alarm rang on my nightstand. I hit it off, and sighed.

"Just one more year Max,"

My door bursts open, "huh? I'm surprised!" My sister said, with her toothbrush in her mouth. She graduated last year, and was working to save up for college. She works at a small bakery and sometimes had the morning shift, so now she had the responsibility of taking me to school.

"Mia get out, so I can get ready."

She rolled her eyes, "and don't take forever, it's just senior year. No one's gonna care about how you look, they're just gonna care about the freshmen. Take it from me, I never got dressed coded senior year and I wore some revealing outfits."

I looked at her with a bored expression. How could she be this annoying early in the morning? "That's so interesting, but I don't think I asked." I said, emphasizing the last part.
She flicked me off and shut my door muttering under her breath.

After I was done getting dressed, I headed down stairs to my sister sitting on the couch, patting her foot impatiently. "About time, I almost thought I was waiting for a sister instead," she scoffed as we walked through the front door.
"Oh shut up."
-

When I arrived at school, I saw my three best friends hanging around a bench waiting. Alex was the 'older brother' of the group, he was always making sure we were good, but letting us know when we're being annoying. Plus he's the only one with a car, so he takes us everywhere. Chris was the partier, always the first to know about the parties and always hyper. Then Elio. He was the calm one, the neutralizer, the therapist, laid back, and peace maker. Then me, I am the jack of all trades, I'm little of everything; or just moody as my sister says. Mostly quit and to myself, a homebody.

"Maxie boy!" Chris hollered, when he spotted me walking towards them.

Alex hit Chris on the shoulder, "bro it's 7 in the morning, calm down." Alex huffed, rubbing his forehead.

Chris was about to wine about getting hit, but Elio stopped him.

"Don't."

I smiled, Chris pouted slouching on the bench almost laying down. I swatted his leg and sat down.

"Wow, so all of you hate me." Chris grumbled.

We all groaned, every time he didn't get his way it was the same thing. That either we hate him or we're mean to him.

"How was your summer Max?" Elio asked.

"How every summer went for the last three years." I grinned.

He shook his head, he's been telling me to 'get out' more. Meet a girl and have fun, but I just don't wanna.

"Elio, I'm surprised you still ask. He loves staying home." Alex chuckled.

"I went to Los Angeles, it was fu"- Chris was trying to say but Alex shushed him.

"You told us four million times, and three times while waiting for Max." Alex groaned.

Chris gasped, " I was telling Max, not you!"

"I'm good, I saw all the text messages." I shook my head, remembering all the texts we got at 4 am of him telling every detail about his two day trip to Los Angeles. Don't get me wrong the first time he told us we were listening and were interested. Just hearing it over and over, you would get tired of it too.

Alex laughed and Chris in return hit him. Alex stopped laughing and Chris got up and started running away from him.

I looked at Elio and he just shook his head. "Let's go before we witness a murder."

We entered the school and everyone was by their lockers talking, some were speeding to class early.

"This is my locker, I'll see you later," Elio patted my shoulder. I nodded my head, and started walking away. Before I could get far, I bumped into someone. He kept walking, he turned his head to look back at me and he caught me looking back at him. He winked and turned back to walking down the hall. Who the hell is he? He had to be new, I've never seen him before. Wait. Did he just wink at me?