The Lights Above the Arby's

Chapter One: Impact

Ricardo Manelli Memorial High School was the best school in the greater Night Vale area, meaning it was the only high school in the area for miles. Well, besides Desert Bluffs High, but nobody ever really wanted to attend school there.

At Rico High, as it was affectionately called, students flourished and bloomed into beautiful, successful, terrifying creatures with the aid and guidance of their mentors and teachers. One student, Joanne O'Harra, came into her freshman year as a pulsating orb of brilliant light. By the end of her senior year, however, she walked out of school as a mound of translucent, veiny flesh that made a squelching noise when poked. This was the norm at Rico High.

However, there were always one or two students that didn't go through this wonderful metamorphosis of child to adult. These students were always seen as the lessers of the entire student body, and were often shunned. As so was the life of Cecil Gerschwinn-Palmer, who came in as a sturdy, bipedal being with a soft skin coating, and hadn't changed since his first year of high school until his gentlithe year - or, as some would traditionally call it, his junior or nestillary year.

Cecil, of course, had no problem with this.

"Hey Cecil, aren't you a little concerned that you haven't pupated yet?" Earl Harlan, Cecil's right hand man, was constantly worrying about the well-being of his best friend. "Eat your greens, Cecil."

Cecil just shrugged it off and tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear. "No, you know I don't eat bloodless stuffed mushrooms. Hey, and technically you haven't pupated either." He looked up from his stone tablet - books were recently banned - and gave Earl a look of complete and utter smugness.

"That's besides the point. I won't do it because it's a family tradition," Earl countered.

"Seriously, Earl, don't worry about it!" The young man stuck his tongue out at his best friend. "Everyone is slightly different when going through the different stages of puber-"

Earl began waving his hands rapidly back and forth. "Could you please not say that? It's a little unnerving, and plus, I'm trying to eat lunch here." He looked around, and in a slightly lower voice added, "Plus, I think the entire student body wants to have lunch too."

Of course, no one paid attention to the two young men sitting in the corner of the cafeteria. They were all too busy poking at their meatbun sandwiches and complaining about the latest pop quiz in Simplified Sumerian class. Cecil gestured around, pointing out to Earl how nobody was listening.

"Well, that's a good thing. I don't need anymore attention on me than what I have already, thank you very much." Earl picked a few crumbs of his floating lunch out of his red hair and onto his food tray, and began collecting Cecil's untouched meal. "Okay, I'll throw this out, but you should get to class. Did you forget that you have to walk across the entire campus now?"

Cecil began to pout. "Earl, we both know that attention is exactly what we need! Our radio show won't get any attention if we don't bring attention to ourselves. And yes, I did remember, thank you very much." The young radio host then gently placed his stone tablet into his neon purple plastic backpack, and admired the bright green puffy paint design that he made himself. "Now, Earl, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to Liberal Technologies Studies," Cecil huffed and crossed his arms across his chest.

Earl rolled his eyes and dramatically motioned his hand to the door. "Okay, Cecil, don't get all scruffed up now. I'll make the flyers soon, okay? Now get to class before Mr. Jacobs gives you detention."

"Kay-kay, I'll see you in a few." Cecil swung his backpack onto his back and began making his way through the cafeteria.

As Cecil went through the doorway into the hallway, he could hear Earl shouting after him. "And don't think I won't bring up the changes again!"

What a worrywart, Cecil thought, jogging down the hallway. I'll be fine, as long as I don't -

"Ah! Excuse me, I - AGH!"

Cecil slammed into someone, arms and legs and assorted other body parts getting crushed by the impact of two people not looking at where they were walking. Both fell to the floor, and papers and limestone went flying. Cecil heard an audible crack from his backpack when he landed on the smooth floor, and then another dull thud when his head hit said floor.

He moaned in pain, and sat up to see who crashed into him. Laying on the floor before him was another person, not unlike himself. The other person winced as well, but then his hands quickly flew to his chest to the box that was hanging by a neck strap. The person sat up slowly, face pinched, and began examining the peculiar device to supposedly check for damage. He sighed in relief when the box was fully assessed and no damage was found. Only then did he notice who he crashed into unceremoniously.

The person's eyes widened, and he crawled over to Cecil, who had closed his eyes and laid himself back onto the floor. The dim lights didn't cause that much pain, but he felt a major headache coming on.

The person, who Cecil had deciphered to be male, began talking quietly and with some urgency. "Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry for bumping into you and knocking you over! Oh no, are you okay? Did you hit your head? Maybe I should get a teacher, or a nurse - but wouldn't be bad if I just left you here? From what I read once, leaving you here is probably more risky instead of just staying here and hoping for a teacher to... I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"I think I'm fine. I just had the wind knocked out of - oh, wow."

Opening his eyes, Cecil finally saw who he was talking to. The boy looking over him came straight out of a fantasy. Rich brown eyes, chocolate toned skin- and his hair. His hair was perfect. Cecil inhaled slowly, and noticed a faint smell of lavender emanating off the boy's strange clothes. He had never seen this perfect specimen of a person. If the two had ever met before, Cecil would've remembered, because oh goodness, he was perfect.

Well, maybe only slightly perfect, because of the clear clumsiness the boy had.

"Uh, I'm... I'm sorry for bumping into you..." the boy mumbled and adjusted his glasses. "Do you need to go down to the nurse?"

Cecil slowly shook his head 'no.' "I think I'll be fine. And, uh, who are you?"

"Carlos. Just moved here."

"H-hi, Carlos, I'm Cecil."

"Hey Cecil."

Suddenly, the bell signaling the start of the next class rang. Both boys shot up quickly and looked at each other.

"Shoot, I gotta get to class!" Cecil groaned, and began running down the hallway again. He was most definitely going to be late, and being late meant detention.

As people began flooding the hallways, Cecil could make out a faint voice shouting, "I'll make it up to you, sorry!" Those few words made the detention leave his mind, and his thoughts settled on Perfect Carlos as he sprinted to class.