Ocean Avenue

Hell

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Phil turned off his alarm and yawned. Unlike his old school, this one didn't require uniform. He opened his closet and grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a plain red shirt.

He brushed his fringe to the side, grabbed his white bookbag, and headed out the door. He used to take the bus to school, but now he lived too close and had to walk.

He looked down at a book he got recently from a public library his mother found while he was with Dan. It was about the French Revolution, and, Phil had to admit, wasn't half-bad.

"Hey!"

Phil ignored the loud, obnoxious voice and continued reading.

"Hey! It's me, Dan!"

Phil sighed and closed his book. He looked up and saw the excited boy in front of him. He was wearing the same outfit as Phil, only in black and with skinnier jeans. He also had the same bag as Phil, but in black.

"You walking?" Dan asked.

"Yes. I'm assuming you are too?" Phil said.

"Yeah!" Dan exclaimed. "Wanna walk together?"

"Okay," Phil answered.

The two boys walked in silence. They stopped at a streetlight and waited for the crossing signal.

"So what were ya reading?" Dan asked.

"A Tale of Two Cities," Phil said. He noticed Dan trying to seee the cover if the book, so he showed it to the curious boy.

"What's it about?" Dan asked.

"You into France?" Phil asked.

Dan chuckled. "I see what you're trying to say. Yeah. It's probably not my type of book." The light signaled that they could walk and the crossed the street onto school grounds. Phil sighed, knowing how boring and miserable he was going to be.

"Hey, Phil, wanna meets some more people?" Dan asked, already dragging Phil to some girls sitting on a bench.

"Do I have a choice?" Phil remarked. Dan chuckled. They stopped in front if the two girls. One had crazy curls that actually suited her and another was chubbier with her blond hair in a pony tail.

"Phil, meet Cat and Lilu!" Dan said.

The two girls stopped talking and turned around to see their friend and the awkward skinny tall guy next to him. "Hi," Phil said sheepishly, givong a small wave.

"Hey! Nice to meet you!" Lily said, standing up and embracing Phil.

"I'm gonna guess you moved here recently?" Cat asked, shaking Phil's hand while he was still in the embrace of Lily.

"Ye...es," Phil squeezed out.

"Lily, I think Phil can't breathe," Dan pointed out. Lily let go and Phil sighed in relief.

"Hey, I'm going to go find my classes. I'll see you around," Phil said, beginning to walk away.

"Oh no you don't!" Dan yelled, grabbing Phil's bookbag and pulling the boy back. Phil groaned as Dan turned him to face him.

"You are getting a private tour from the coolest kids in the school!"

"Yay..."

~~~

"And remember, meet us down there for lunch," Dan stated.

Phil nodded and said farewell. Phil walked into the gym and wished he could launch himself into the sun. From the moment the basketball hit his face, Phil knew this school would suck.

~~~

"Okay, so, how's school been?" Cat asked.

"I was beat up by a basketball, got into an arguement with my English teacher, and got an F on a lab report that I had to turn in though I wasn't in town yet to do the lab. All in all, it was utterly awful."

"Aww. C'mon, Phil! Something good must have happened!" Dan said.

"Well, I did leave a good impression in my creative writing class. It's honestlt the only class I've liked so far. Plus, there's a guy in there named Todd who isn't half bad."

"See? I told you this town would start warming up to you!" Dan smiled.

Phil had to agree that, if the rest of his classes could match up to creative writing, atleast he could look fkward to the end of his school days.

~~~

"Donna."

"Woman."

"Good," the teacher told them. Phil was currently sitting in Italian 1. At his old school, Phil never filled his foreign language credits, so he was put in Italian. As if he needed to speak it!

"The man?" the teacher asked the class.

"L'uomo," the class, excluding Phil, responded unanimously. Phil sighed. He missed half of the semester. How was he going to pass the class? This school was as stupid as this town.

~~~

Phil crossed the road to the unfamiliar sidewalk that he wass getting used to. "Hey, wait up!" Phil stopped and rolled his eyes at the familiar sound.

Huffing, Dan stopped at Phil's side. "Why'd you leave...so quick?" Dan said inbetween breaths.

"I cannot stand that place," Phil replied.

"It's not that bad!" Dan said.

Phil began walking, ignoring Dan the whole way home.

~~~

That night, as Phil laid in his bed, he decided to call PJ, knowing Chris would be there anyways.

After about an hour, both ends hung up and Phil fell asleep, dreading the next day, even in his dreams.