The Untamed

Chapter 2: The Hallucination

   “When I call your name, please sit where I assign you,” the teacher informed. “Marcus Adams.” She pointed to the first seat. “Anya Almendariz.” Second seat.

     The following morning, Clyde was certain that all eyes would be on him. However, not a single person gave him a second look. There weren’t any whispers that followed him as he walked about on campus. It seemed that everyone had already forgotten that he was the one who had gotten the ticket yesterday.

     “Fabian Cruz.”

     At the moment, Clyde was in his second period class, geometry. He got through first period without anyone giving him any strange looks or even a stupid remark. And so far, in second period, it seemed that it was the same.

     “Steven Hernandez.”

     Several of the seats had already been taken. The teacher was moving rapidly. She was obviously placing them alphabetically by last name. Taking a good look around, Clyde realized that his chances of being seated next to some cute girl were rather slim. Most of them had already been seated. In fact, he was immediately drawn to the girl sitting in the second seat.

   He stared at her for a while, completely thrown off guard. She was probably the prettiest girl in the room… She was somewhat short, with long, dark hair including a large line of hair falling over her red face. She wore a friendly look and Clyde had a feeling that he could get along quite well with her. The only problem was that her makeup was seriously overdone…

   Slowly, one by one, more seats were taken. Clyde suddenly became aware that once his name was announced, he would be put on the spot. What if people suddenly remembered who he was? That would only make him look bad in front of Anya Almendariz…

   The boy shook his head. She was too pretty for him. Despite being the “tornado” when he was younger, he always froze up when it came to talking to girls. Meeting the principal and being forced into expulsion was easy. Talking to a girl was definitely more intense.

   “Clyde Skiles.”

   The boy’s heart skipped a beat in surprise and he strolled over to his designated spot. A few heads turned in his direction and scanned him briefly before wandering elsewhere. He sat down and let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that no one had really recalled who he was. The only issue now was that he was seated across the room from Anya.

   Now, there was only one thing left: Who was going to sit to his immediate right? It turned out that a short, nerdy kid named Tony Smiths quickly occupied the spot. He was a terribly short and bony fellow – smaller than Anya Almendariz in every way. He wore a backpack twice his size and almost four times as heavy. The moment his backpack hit the floor with a tiny tremor, the boy heaved a huge sigh of relief and immediately turned to face Clyde.

   “Hi!” he said excitedly. “I’m Tony Smiths!” He stuck a hand out.

   Clyde noticed that he wore a watch that was wrapped twice around his wrist before it was able to fit. His glasses seemed more like binoculars and his hair was spiked horribly. What stood out the most was that he was so thin! Clyde humorously wondered that if he shook his hand, Tony Smiths would probably fly to the ceiling.

   Smiling at his own joke, Clyde took the hand and was actually amazed to find that the boy had a firm grip. Overwhelmed that he had made a friend, Tony began a conversation at once and Clyde wished that he could have been seated elsewhere.

   “I live down the street from here. You know where Firestone Boulevard is? Yeah I’m super close to school. Where do you live?”

   Thankfully, the teacher snatched everyone’s attention again and both Clyde and Tony were more than happy to comply – both for different reasons. For once, as strange as it seemed, Clyde wished that Tony knew what had happened to him yesterday. Maybe then, he would keep some distance with him. Otherwise, the next thing he knew, Clyde was going to be invited to study with Tony at his house.