The Duet

Chapter 2: A Long Afternoon

After several strenuous periods of class, it was finally lunch period. Chase headed out of the classroom, and avoided getting trampled by the large crowd.  He got into the lengthy line for lunch. As he was waiting in the long line to get his lunch, he saw Alicia in front of him.

"Hi again." He says to Alicia.

"Hi, stupid," she replied hardly turning around to talk to him.

"Can we please stop with the name-calling thing? Please?" begged Chase. 

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I hurting your feewings?" Alicia asked sarcastically. She turned back around.

"What a life I am living now," He muttered quietly. "Getting bullied by a monster trapped in a midget."

"Heard that." Alicia retorted. "Keep talking, and I will have no mercy. I have a black belt in karate."

Alicia kicked so close to Chase's face that he could feel the gust of wind from the force. Alicia turned around to get her food, leaving Chase terrified. She left to the nearest empty table.

Serves her right, Chase thought.

He immediately grabbed his lunch, and rushed off to meet his friends, Lukas and Ethan at the nearby table. The two was already talking by the time he got there.

"Did you guys know we're having a test on World War I? I'm so excited!!" exclaimed Lukas.

"Shut up. Is history all you ever talk about?" asked an annoyed Ethan.

"Excuse me! World War I happens to be my favorite war! The way that trench warfare was made obsolete, and tanks. Dude without the tanks the..." continued Lukas.

Chase sighed. This was the daily conversation he routinely had with his friends. Lukas Trotsky was a "nerd", and even worse, a nerd about warfare. Due to his Russian heritage, and the fact that his dad was a war history professor,  he would rattle off names of important generals, battles, and dictators. You wouldn't want to get him started on Stalin. One time, he monologued about World War II for an entire hour. Chase shuddered as he recalled that dreadful history period. Chase got to know him in the school jazz band where Lukas played bass. He wasn't the best, but that was all they had; no one else wanted to play that instrument.

Then there was Ethan Bradford his best friend since kindergarten. Ethan was by far the clumsiest person Chase has ever met. Ethan was notorious for knocking anything and everything off of tables, Running into walls, poles, etc., and  tripping over the simplest things. However, Ethan was a master at the saxophone, and kept his sax, one of the few things he did not knock off of tables, in good condition. He held the second seat for the saxophone section in the jazz band that Chase was a part of.

Even through Lukas' babbling, he couldn't help to feel a little bad for Alicia who was sitting by herself. He worried that she would have a hard time finding friends at this school as a "new" kid. His worries, however, were resolved soon enough. Right when he started to make a move toward the empty table, his childhood friend, Eliana and her group plopped themselves down right next to Alicia.

Eliana Grace was one of the sweetest people Chase had ever known. Their dads both worked at the same company, and ever since "Bring Your Child to Work Day", they have been close friends. But this year, Eliana was one of the "popular kids". Everyone was attracted to her coolness and supposed beauty. (Chase never noticed it.)  She would always have a group of people around her. In reality, once you got to know her very well, she revealed herself as someone very introverted, and would take a book any day over friends. Peer-pressure throughout elementary forced her to change into the person she is today.