Burnouts

Red Leaves in Autumn

Scene 1: Chester High

Zach Teeling

"Ms. Chivers," I smile as I walk into her class. She's a weird lady who reminds me of the teacher from "The Magic School Bus," but she's really into sci-fi and that's all that matters.

"Zach!" She says in excitement, "come in, come in— I want to show you something."

She reaches behind her desk, and I stand there confused when she takes out a tank full of water.

My eyes squint to look through the glass but nothing is there...

"What is this, Ms. Chivers?"

"Ah— they're hiding," she sighs before tapping the glass a few times until I see specks of whitish-yellow creatures emerging from behind rocks.

I back away quickly, suddenly I'm in a scene from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

"Don't be scared, Zachary," she laughs at my reaction. "They can't harm you...from in there."

"Do you know what they are?"

"Well...not yet. I ordered one out of a magazine, and the next day...there were three...and then five...and now I have eight of these little beauties."

Jesus Christ, Ms. Chivers.

Her phone begins to ring behind her and she groans in annoyance before picking it up with a smile. I tune out her conversation and distract myself by staring at her unknown species of pets. Evan would love this...

"I have to make a brief trip to the office, Zachary, but feel free to stay," she says quickly as she grabs her bag and planner off of her desk and rushes toward the door, "Oh-" She stops and turns to me, "Don't put your fingers in the water...they don't like that very much."

I laugh to myself once she leaves. I wonder if she'll let me have one if I ask...my mom would freak, but Leo might keep it for me if I beg him enough. I'm pretty sure he had a fish once, but when it died, he never got another one. He doesn't like being responsible for anyone other than himself, but he's good at it. He takes care of me when I don't ever ask him to.

"Zach?" My head turns toward the door when I hear my name.

"Hey," I say simply and refocus my attention back on the tank. Karlie Clemmons, she's in my art history elective class. I usually sleep through the whole hour and then she lets me copy her work. We're both passing.

"What are you still doing here? Don't you take the bus?" She walks into the room and stands next to me.

"No, I take the train home. I'm just waiting here for a bit," I shrug. "Why are you here?" I return her question so that she won't ask why I'm waiting.

I didn't feel like being hit today. Evan had baseball practice, so I couldn't walk with him.

"Art club," Karlie says in response.

"You're really into that stuff, huh?" I was put in the class by force, Karlie probably chose it.

"Duh," she laughs and I don't say anything back. We're not friends, really. I'd rather sit in silence to kill time than struggle to make small talk. "What are you into?"

"This," I nod toward the tank, "science, I guess."

"Aliens," She teases and points toward my 'Laserblast' shirt.

"Yeah...I guess," I shy away from her discreet judgment.

"Well," She starts again, "Some friends and I were planning to go to the movies this weekend. Maybe there's some sort of alien invasion movie playing...you should come."