Joyce is an average teenager. She goes to a normal high school, has normal friends, and a typical family. The only thing not ordinary about her is the voice inside her head. The one that tells her to forget everyone and pack up to go to Hollywood to...
You ever have that feeling that something's going to happen, good or bad, but you don't know what?
That's how I felt reading the poster hung between the girl's and boy's bathroom on A hallway. Well, of course I didn't know it would lead to a bunch of events unraveling before me. Or that it would lead to a mass hysteria at Jilmore High.
It was right after Algebra 2. Mrs. Filmore(We call Mrs. Filmore Mrs. Roz from Monster Inc because if there was a competition for that sort of thing, she'd win by a landslide.) was talking endlessly about who knows what, while the overachievers were viciously taking notes on everything she was saying. For the rest of us, it was either staring at the wall behind her or passing notes quickly when Mrs. Filmore turned around and wrote something on the whiteboard.
For me, I was drawing in my notebook. Do you ever just close your eyes and scribble a line, and open your eyes and try to draw an object from that line? Well that was what I was doing. So far it was half refrigerator and half bird. Don't ask any questions.
Oh my gosh, I thought. When will this class ever end? When Mrs. Roz turned around again to attempt to draw a rectangle, I turned to my best friend Anna. Unlike the ninety-five percent of the class that turned off their listening to Mrs. Roz, Anna was busy scribbling notes of anything and everything she said.
We all have that one friend.
Anna takes school very seriously. She wants to be a radiologist when she grows up, so she tries to make the best grades in everything, even participation. She has a 5.0 GPA, which I'm pretty sure is impossible to get but she gives me a look every time I question it that tells me I should stop talking. Once, she got a A- on a essay and her parents complained to the school board.
I quickly scribble what time is it? on a post it note and crumple it up. Before Mrs. Roz can turn around again, I throw the note to Anna. Lucky for me, it makes great aim and heads straight for Anna. Unlucky for her, she has her head down, highlighting her notes looking for the most important information. It hits her arm, which makes her jump, causing her desk to scratch the floor. Mrs. Roz turns around hastily, staring straight at Anna. Anna pointed to her leg. Ah jumpy legs. She doesn't have it, but Mrs. Roz doesn't know that. It seems that she doesn't believe her, but I guess she doesn't want an issue with her parents. Mrs. Roz turns back around to continue with the lesson. Anna reveals the crumpled post it note from her jacket pocket, looking at me displeasingly by my lack folding the note properly. I roll my eyes at her, showing I don't care and motion for her to read the note. She unravels the note to attempt to read what I wrote. Hey, I know I don't have the best handwriting, but from her expressions its like I wrote it in German. She puts the note back in her pocket, probably to throw away later, and takes out a fresh stack of post it notes, and takes out a crisp pink one. Anna then takes out her pencil, which point was sharper than a knife, and begins jotting down words. How long does it take to write the time? I'm about to give up and turn back around when a note lands softly on my desk. It was perfectly folded into a square. I open it to find Anna's perfect handwriting.
We leave in thirty seconds. It said. I knew to trust her, so I begun packing up for this class. As soon as I finished, the bell rung, signaling lunch. I rushed out of class before Mrs. Roz could give us homework. She can't give us something you don't know about, right?
And that's where we resume back to our scheduled program. Where I'm reading the poster hung between the girl's and boy's bathroom on A hallway. It was a very simple poster. Just a blue poster with less than twenty-five words.
The poster itself was barely a big deal. Less than half of the student body noticed it. The ones that did glanced and quickly scurried on. Others saw it as part of the wall and didn't even notice it.
"Joyce, you good?" Anna caught up to me and asked. She probably stayed back and made sure we had not homework. I turn to face her. Her big brown eyes look at me with worry.
"I'm perfectly fine." I reply.
But I wasn't. Because I didn't know it then, but that's when my life changed forever.
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