The Other Half of Me

Chapter 8 ~ The Metal Detectors Are Useless

Elliot

"What made them think that one metal detector would be enough?" I asked.

"That's the thing; they clearly weren't thinking," Kyran said.

Over the summer, Florida made it so that all schools would have to have a metal detector. I guess they didn't have enough money to afford more than one. The line was extremely long, leading all the way down the street. It was also hot outside. Luckily, at the moment, me and Kyran were under a tree. We probably weren't going to be moving from that spot for a while, so at least we had some shade for a good amount of time.

Priscilla and Warner joined us under the trees. They both had umbrellas in their hands. I'm going to start bringing one, too. When the line finally started moving, we had to get from under the trees. Fortunately, Pricilla gave me her umbrella for me and Kyran to use so we can block off the sun. She stood under the umbrella with Warner.

"How long do you guys think it'll take for us to get inside?" Priscilla asked.

"A good hour or two," Kyran answered.

"If I stand here for another thirty minutes and I'm not inside, I'm going home," Warner said, to which I nodded in agreement.

"I'm in no rush to get to class," Priscilla said. "We literally have AP Physics for first period."

"I have it for first period, too," I sighed. "And I heard the teacher is a dick."

"It's Mr. Bennett, right?" Kyran asked.

"Yeah."

"Yep, he's a dick," he said. "Ruland had him junior year, and he never had anything nice to say about him."

"That's just wonderful," Warner said acerbically.

Warner wasn't joking when he said he's leaving after thirty minutes. He was walking away, but Priscilla pulled him back, probably because he was taking the umbrella with him. We moved up in line, but not that much. I thought about walking back home, where I could be in the comfort of my bed—I didn't drive to school.

After about an hour, we finally got inside the school. We were almost to the metal detector. That's when I reached into my pocket to get my phone. I felt something cold. I realized that it was my scissors. I always carry scissors in my pocket, so I forgot to take them out. We weren't allowed to bring scissors to school anymore. Our teachers had to provide them to us in class from here on out.

It was now my turn to go through the metal detector. I did, and to my surprise, it didn't go off at all. What's the point of the metal detector if it can't even detect scissors? I had lunch during this time. It took so long to get into school that I ended up missing not only first period but also second period. It wasn't a big deal since I wasn't looking forward to first period, and second period was study hall.

I went to the patio and sat down at a table. I took a container out of my bag that had my sandwich inside. I began eating, and soon enough, Destiny and Atticus joined me. We three had the same lunch period today. Atticus looked upset, which wasn't very common. Despite circumstances, he tried to stay positive no matter what. He sat down at the table, staring at his tray. Destiny pulled out her phone to text me. I looked at my phone and read the text. Atticus's grandma was extremely sick and only had a few more days left to live.

Atticus's grandma, Aurelia, is the best, but also an asshole. She's very kind except when it comes to me. We bumped heads a lot. She kept mostly to herself. She knew how to have fun. Atticus is very close to her. He probably has a better connection with her than his own parents. Before his parents had a healthy co-parenting system, he lived with his grandma. His parents would fight a lot, which eventually started to affect him, so grandma Aurelia took him in until his parents sorted out everything. He always had a smile on his face when he was with his grandma. Knowing she'd be leaving soon, I was concerned about whether or not Atticus could handle her death properly.