CPRDI - The Creature Protection, Restoration, Defence Initiative

One

I sat in assembly listening to the replacement teacher who stood on stage, talking about how to be a proper student, and how to make important and appropriate decisions in our lives. The replacement must have made important and appropriate decisions, considering she was standing right now where the actual principle was meant to be. One of my friends sat next to me, and she sighed in boredom, something most of the school was doing, the teachers included. It felt like every second assembly that went by had the teacher rambling on about making the right decisions, and it was already half way through the year. I was bored, and that made me tired, I wondered if anyone could get away with sleeping during assembly, my eyelids shut on me for long seconds during the talk. They reopened when the Principle, with a grim face walked off the stage, for someone who was probably taking over the former principle's job, she didn't seem too excited. From off in the distance I could hear feet slam to the ground. It was probably a drop out from the school across the road, or maybe one of the men who looked after the school grounds was in some sort of hurry. The speaker was replaced with another teacher, who wanted to boost the excitement of an interactive group in the school that I neither participated in, nor anticipated to hear more about, but yet the assembly droned on with the mind-numbing announcements from the teachers. It sounded like the footsteps were getting closer, and the few of us, that hadn't been completely subdued by the boredom of the speeches, craned our neck towards the four glass doors, that had their doors spread open, beckoning us to leave with the breeze. My eyes flicked across to a boy, that had slowed his running to careful walk, and entered through one of the glass doors and hesitated at the top of the steps, staring down at the assembly of girls, that partly gawked up at him in surprise. The teacher on stage didn't have a clear view of him, and kept talking as if nothing had happened, he was so infixiated by his interactive group. It wasn't long before the thick air of boredom that hovered around the girls and caught him in their eyesight. Who was it? He certainly wasn't anyone we knew? Or maybe some girl in the crowd did know him? A brother? Was there an emergency? This boy was growing to be the most exciting thing in the hall, it seemed every girl's attention was on him now, and even the teachers were beginning to notice him. Whispers. He noticed the staring it seemed, his cheeks grew red, even from this far away, as his head slowly boobed up and down and side to side as he perused the crowd of girls. Then he paused for a moment, his eyes locking. His eyes locking onto the friend beside me.
"Do you know him?" I whispered to her.

"I'd like to." She whispered back. The boy was moving in moments, he barely touched the steps as he raced down onto the assembly floor, the sound of his footsteps started to become faint from the girls murmuring getting louder. Upon his arrival into the crowd of girls, the teacher who was talking stopped and stared. The boy was now running down the aisle, his face, fixed upon one person, my friend beside me. The teacher started to raise his voice against the mike, making it squeak as he spoke.

"Hey, what are you doing." He yelled. And despite the fact that his eyes were on my friend, I felt myself surprise when he stopped running, and stood above me, but no. His eyes weren't on my friend, they were on me. To my further surprise, he extended his hand to me.

"Caitlin, hurry." He huffed for a moment. "We have to go, right, right now." He looked like he was going to start hiccupping, he seemed short with breath, despite those long moments he stood at the top of the steps, surveying the crowd. He was lucky, I sat on a seat at the edge of the road, by the middle aisle, instead of being crammed between the dazed girls. But I didn't know him. I didn't know this good looking boy. Because of course I didn't know any good looking boys, I didn't know any boys at all. Without even thinking, I reached out and grabbed his open palm, and while the frustrated teacher at the mike yelled, and the other teachers sitting with the girls started to rustle to deal with the situation, the boy pulled me to my feet. He was strong. I could feel it as he pulled me up, I could see his arm flex.