Wingless Bird's Flight

HYPOXIA, pt. 2 / IV.

It's funny. You see Juniors and Seniors as Freshmen, and you think, "Why would anybody want to get wasted and do drugs?" I remember distinctly thinking that, and I remember being super disappointed in my friends who did. I actually had one friend who hid it from me well. He was a senior, and he would come over and we'd play video games and just chill to the late hours of the night, then he would leave and go smoke with some guys his age. I didn't find out until years later and knowing that made me respect him so damn much. He never once talked about it or mentioned anything about it. He wanted me to make my own decisions, and honestly, I have every reason to thank him for that. We don't talk much anymore. He's got a girlfriend and a nice apartment. And if you're reading this right now, thank you. You know who you are.
As I walked towards the square, my hands were damn near frozen now. I started walking towards Main Street when I noticed an older Toyota parked on the side of the street, the side closer to the park. It was darker, either a shade of dark blue or green, I couldn't tell by the lighting, and as I contemplated the color, the passenger side window began to roll down. I sort of realized all of a sudden that it was a couple of people I knew from school. When I was younger, I once went bird hunting with them at my cousin's house. There was a guy sitting in the passenger seat, and it was one of my older cousin's close friends, Joseph Patterson. His face looked blurred, and the only thing that stood out to me was his eyes. They were red and loud. He was wearing a black bomber jacket, one that was made popular at the time by a rap artist. The driver was Timmy, a local fat ginger that didn't really make out too much after high school. His nose, ears, chin, as well as his glasses, were all round. The roundness of his face never left him from infancy. Small whips of air exited the car in fragrance, which was strong. It smelled loud.

"Hey well who's this guy?" said Joseph.

"What the hell are you doing, rambling around the park?" said the overweight driver.

"Looking for a ride," I lied.

"Well hop in, we could help you out," said Joe.

I opened the back door on the passenger's side. It wasn't until I opened it that I realized there was another person in the car. It was someone I had never seen before, maybe once or twice in the hallways, but not really. He was sitting behind the passenger seat, so when I opened the door I saw his white skin and curly, Jewish brown hair move from one median of the car to the other. His eyes were round and young, which were slightly magnified by the lens. He didn't speak any verbal words, but his body language and posture showed a cordial greeting, sort of like a handshake. Teens do this when they're nervous.

The fat man verified my suspicions. "By the way, Jay, this is Fran. Fran this Jay. Jay is a freshman, he's in my Pre-Calc class, with Miss Fleckner."

"Who?" I asked.
"Jay. Miss Fleckner?" said Joseph.
"Yes is she new?" I asked.
"Yes she took over after Michael's got knocked up and left," the fat driver said.
"Oh yeah well cool nice to meet you," I lied.
He performed a pathetic wave and said, "Hi."
"So why they hell were you walking around Satan - anna? Man, it's like four in the morning," Joe asked.
"Yeah, I was supposed to meet Sydney here. But I canceled on her," I lied.
The front two passengers questioned at the same time.
"Sidney Clifton?" and the fat one said, "Cleffton?"
"Why the hell would you do that? Who are you trying to kid, there's no way she wanted to get with you. Why the park, that doesn't make any sense?" The fat man was onto me.
"Oh well yeah she wanted to meet me there, she was going to pick me up here so that's why I walked. When I realized it was so cold I text her and told her I would just meet her at her house instead. Can you take me there now?" I said.
"What? Well I guess. She's probably at the party," said the driver.
"Party?"
"Yeah at Ol' Donnie's. He had one after the game. Heard it was pretty lame though. Bunch of play people went I guess."
"Yeah well that lame, nah there's no way I would go," Joe said.
"Yeah that's what we thought. We decided to pick up old Jay and show him the ropes, Ye old Jay over here;" He turned around and faced Jay. "Right Ol' Jay! Jay the Jew!"
Joseph stopped the fat man. "Alright alright enough let's go."
"Hey how about you shut up, what about that?" The fat man said while regaining strength the steering wheel.

He put the car into drive and headed down Main Street.