Imagine Us In Heaven

Chapter Two: The Tree of Memory

RING! RING! RING!

There goes the school bell again. Finally, a sound that I like to hear! It was my first recess of the year. A little break to relax and get my thoughts together about the classes I just took. It's only been a few hours and it already feels like I'm slowly dying of frustration and stress.

This morning's assembly was as dull as ever. Every day, we would have one at the gym before school began and it was the same routine over and over again. First, when the bell rings, we would start with a morning prayer, followed up by a pledge to the American flag, and lastly, concluded with a few announcements. This would go roughly from thirty minutes to an least an hour, depending on how many announcements there were. Since I have been attending Creekwood since preschool, I was so used to these assemblies that I thought going to them was pointless.

After assembly, I reunited with my friends from last year and walked with my class to the fifth grade homeroom. I'm not sure why, but everyone makes a big deal out of becoming a fifth grader, since it was the first classroom where students finally get to move up to the second floor. Look at us! We're so cool because we're one story higher! Yeah, right. It's not that cool since this year is going to be harder than the last. After unpacking, we were introduced to our teacher, Mrs. Winkowski.

In the first few minutes of her introduction, she had already told my class that we were to expect doing a bunch of projects and that the homework was to be a lot harder. Ugh great! Another long year of failure waiting to happen. Well I guess I should have known as much, considering she is well-known to be one of the most strict teachers on campus. Getting better grades is going to be a lot more challenging than I anticipated.

At least now I get to go to recess, so I don't have to worry about doing any work for a while. I can just sit back and--

"Hey Zach!" somebody yells, as I exit the classroom. Turning around, I noticed a boy walking towards me. It was my best friend, Jack Bruckner.

"Hi Jack. How have you been?" I asked in a shaky voice. Jack and I go all the way back to the first grade. I remember meeting him on account of my other friends, Andrew Kimura and Austin Darosa one sunny day at the beginning of fall. Back then, there was a large, chocolate brown colored oak tree about fifty feet in front of the classrooms that we would usually hang around. The tree branches reached as far as thirty-six feet and was so massive that the sun was barely able to pierce through the leaves to shine through. Me and my friends would play a lot of role playing games, acting like characters from movies and television shows everyday underneath the tree, so we wouldn't get too tired from the hot, yellow sun. Sometimes the light green leaves would fall all around us as we ran, making our playtime feel all the more magical. Not many students liked to hang around the tree during recess or lunch. So Andrew, Austin, Jack, and I claimed it as our own spot to spend time together.

But, despite the fact that we shared many common interests, I could always sense a bit of unspoken rivalry between the four of us. Mainly, I felt jealous of how intelligent Jack was, always getting straight As while I was stuck with a few Cs or Fs. This year though, I told myself that it was going to be different.

"You good, Zach?" Jack asked in suspicion.

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine." Huh I must have gone so deep into thought that I forgot I was talking to Jack.

"Okay if you say so. Anyway, I'm kinda sad that summer is over" his voice cracking as usual. Yeah, aren't we all? I mean, who would really want to be here anyway?

"Yeah, it sucks that we're back here at school. Anyway, did you do go anywhere or do anything fun over summer?" I asked

"Well, I went on a cruise to Alaska with my family!" He said cheerfully.