Techie

...Are Two Very Different Things.

Jasper High

3:50 PM

Jack was sitting in his biology class, waiting for the bell to ring so that class could start. Tori sat on the other side of the room, as far away from the teacher's desk as possible. Said teacher was leaning on the wall near the board. She was waiting for the late runners to come rushing in. Miko was usually among them, if she showed up at all.

The bell rung. The teacher sighed. Miko was late- again. She got up and turned on the projector, setting up the slide show.

"Today, we are learning about different melanins found within the human body. On this slide is a list of the three most common ones found in everybody, unless of course there is some sort of genetic disorder that causes the levels to be abnormal."

The brainiac of the class, Emmaline, spoke up, "there are four types of melanin, right? Melanin, eumelanin, pheomelanin, and neuromelanin."

At this, Tori snorted, "Emma, for someone so smart you should know how to count. There's only three types of melanin. The term 'melanin' is used for all three types, but it itself is not its own form."

The teacher raised her hand and everybody was silent. "Tori's right. There are only three types of melanin. Eumelanin, pheomelanin, and neuromelanin. The easiest one to pinpoint visually is eumelanin, as it is what colors your hair. The more of it you have, the darker your hair becomes. Tori, for example has very little eumelanin in her hair, while Jack has a whole lot of eumelanin in his hair. Pheomelanin is what..." Tori started to blank out, she had heard this lesson before in her seventh grade biology class. This should have been a review for everyone in the room.

The lesson continued until the bell. This was one of the teachers in the school who didn't assign homework on Fridays, so everyone left as soon as the bell rang.

Everyone was free for the weekend. Tori was free to race for two days.

Tori walked out of the front doors of the school, where Miko (who had never actually showed up for the last class of the day) was sitting, drawing someone else's motorcycle that was parked in a handicapped spot.

"Sup Miko?"

"Hey Tori. Have you seen this bike? It's AWESOME!"

"Miko, it's the same model as mine, just painted different colors."

Miko continued drawing while Tori watched her. At some point, Miko's host parents called her and Tori walked away. Tori turned around as she got on her Motorbike and waved at Miko. Whoever owned the blue bike must have driven off.

Tori started off to her house, where she had to check to see if anyone had contacted her about breaking firewalls or if the races were still on for tonight.

Tori had still failed to notice the two identical cars right behind her. She had no clue they were following her until she turned the corner onto her street and they both caught up to her on either side. She knew now that she couldn't go turn into her driveway without the people in the cars following her, so she slammed on her breaks and turned around as fast as possible and sped down the street, the two vehicles following suit.

Tori drove towards the highway, but didn't get on. The afternoon traffic made it harder for the larger cars to follow her, but on her motorbike she could drive between the cars and get ahead. She wasn't sure what the law in Jasper was on that, but if it got her away from those weirdos, she didn't care.

The frontage road was enough to get her a few miles away before she had to lose the freaks. She turned off the frontage road and onto a street that held mostly broken down buildings and old bars. She turned off her engine and silently slid between two buildings, not exactly an alleyway, but there was a space small enough for her and her bike. There was also a space out on the other side, just in case the two cars found her.