The Stars Above

Shawn

School. The one place not many people like going to, and I'm no exception by any means. Although I don't get report cards like I used to in pre-school, if I did, I'd most likely get some if not the worst grades possible. I never get the topics. They are all so foreign and confusing to me. That is probably why I fit in with the big crowd, the number 1's, the people everyone wants to be. Also though, because they are the one thing in my life I actually understand, people, I mean.

There is an exception though. A girl at my school, Alice. A mystery to the rest of us, someone we can't, and won't, understand. We don't blame her, or bully her, we just leave her be. Even though everyone else steers clear of her, I've always be curious about her. The one aspect of life I get, and wouldn't survive without, being my friends, is the one thing she doesn't get, the one thing she doesn't have. I want so badly to ask her why she stays alone, away from people, avoiding even the lunch room(an amazing place by the way), but I won't interfere. She's bound to have some reason, I'm sure of it, just not what that reason is.

Monday. A new day where anything could happen. A fresh start. It could be new beginnings for some, or ends for others. It's a day open to possibilities, the day that will shape the week to come. Monday is always the day to leave an imprint, a lasting mark, start a trend, or whatever floats your boat(Georgie). As I'm walking into school, Alice's green eyes catch my attention for a minute before she turns away and continues walking herself. I shake myself awake.
            "To a fresh start," I say, continuing my steady rhythm of shoe against pavement, walking through the double doors that signal a day's worth of painful attempts to interpret things that will never make sense.

The domes. Our classrooms, my torture chamber. The only way out, a door to my left, which slides shut, locking me in until lunch, unless I need to use the bathroom. The bathroom is a constant, everyday thing, even when I don't need to go at all, when I just need the air, the freedom. But for now, it's work time, and my dome knows it.
Today's Lesson: Continuation of Multiplication Facts.
I'm 17. I should know these things by now. I should be way more advanced. But I'm not. I don't know how long it will take my to imprint this collection of numbers into my brain, but it will be a long time. A VERY long time. And so I begin my long and painful journey to learn multiplication.

Lunch, at long last. I scan the room, finding my friends, and Alice, a face that hasn't been seen the lunchroom since it changed, or morphed into a wonder of technology. And that was several years ago. She is smiling to herself, a grin I find, and find hard to admit,  pretty, and maybe even beautiful. She runs to a solo table, jams something into the keyboard, and is enveloped in another dome, which is most likely making her biggest dream come true.

My friends sit in a large dome, watching me as I walk over. Smiling, I take my seat next to Callen, who is like a brother to me.
           "Where to?" I ask, referring to where we will travel this lunch period.
            "A pool-side table on a cruise ship! Ahhh, it's going to be so fun, we'll have it all to ourselves!" Callen says, in his friendly, happy manor, one that he doesn't always have. Callen can be a very scary person if you mess with anyone he cares about. And he cares about a lot of people.

The cruise ship is absolutely beautiful. The pool goes 10 feet deep, and sits with another pool and a basketball court on the uppermost deck of the ship. On the next deck down, all the restaurants are completely stocked with cooked food, so we take our picks and head back up to the pool. One of my friends, Marco, has already jumped into the pool, fully clothed.
           "The water is super warm guys, you should come in!" He shouts, but I just shake my head.
           "Your alone on this one, my friend," I say, as Marco makes a face at me and dives under the water.

Dreams can only last so long before they are over. This one ended to short. I asked my friends to do this again tomorrow, something they gladly agreed to, because they had planned to anyway. I took my time getting back to my dome. On the way there, Alice bumps into me, a thing I didn't think she was clumsy enough to do. As she muttered an apology, I grabbed her arm, keeping her still.
           "What do you want?" She asked, straining against my hold.
            "To ask you a question. Why do you do it? Avoid people, even just social gatherings, like lunch?" I ask.
              "That," she says, "Is none of your concern. Will you please let me go?"
               "Fine. Be that way, but I'll find some way to get you to open up to me!" I call as she scurries off to her own dome. I sigh. What could have happened to her?