The Opportunity to Write on the Sky

Chapter 1

I remember that morning like five minutes ago. The air was crisp and cool, seeing as in Minnesota we never get any real heat. But this one was significantly colder than other mornings. So, I grabbed my burgundy sweater and slid it on over my BULLFROGS (the school mascot) t-shirt, also putting on my camel colored corduroy pants and my faded brown oxford shoes.

My mother was a designer for a very big clothing label called DEFINITIONS BY K. 'K' stood for Kiera, my mom's name, and since I didn't want to ruin her fashion reputation, I tried my best to dress stylishly for school. (I say that as if she expected any less from me.)

I stood in front of the mirror and messed my dark brown hair up with my hands before walking into the kitchen, grabbing a whole grain bagel, and heading out the door. I knew that my choice of clothing would win me ridicule from the acorn-sized brain individuals at my high-school, but frankly I was way past caring.

Something you should know about my school: It was this huge red brick of a thing on top of a hill overlooking a lake. Rosehill Academy only accepted the most prominent children or the most intelligent, therefore the whole school was filled with stuck-up brats who only thought about one of two things: money or textbooks. The only person I liked in the whole Academy was my best and only friend, Jeremy Halal, an Arab seventeen year old whose father owned some very large lands in Arabia, plus a very famous fast-food chain here in the USA.

I hopped into my small hybrid and switched it on, then backed out if the driveway and drove off. Soon after I left, buckets of water began spilling from the gray sky onto my windshield. A small smile curled my lips; I loved days like this.

When I arrived at the Academy and parked my car, I grabbed my umbrella from the back seat to shield myself from the vicious drops of water now attacking the green earth.

Teen girls ran from the rain, screaming about their hair, and pubescent boys pelted each other with balls of mud they picked from the ground. I walked towards the building slowly, enjoying the sound and smell of rain on pavement. As soon as I opened the glass doors, air conditioner slapped me on the face, rendering me into the real world that is High School. Before I could step inside, I felt a strong hand grasp my shoulder. I turned to see Jeremy smiling ear to ear.

"Hey, dude." He greeted me. I smiled at him.
"Hello." I said. "How was Japan?"

Jeremy had been in Japan for two weeks with his father. Mr. Halal wanted to star constructing some of his fast-food buildings in Tokyo to make his company international, so he had to go check out the land. Jeremy tagged along, not for interest in his father's business, but for his unconditional love for Japanese cartoons. They were a lonely two weeks. (Of course, I had talked to him through messenger, but really, facing these piranha infested halls was not the same without your best friend.)

"Jesus Christ, Japanese girls are hot." Jeremy said as he walked inside while I held the door open for him. "Too bad I couldn't see them up close. Orcus decided to leave me in the hotel room while he went off to those century-long meetings of his."

Jeremy called his father Orcus because last year in Greek class, we'd learned that Orcus was another name for Hades, who in Greek mythology was the ruler of the Underworld, and since Jeremy had always complained that his house was hell... Well, the name applied to Mr. Halal.

"Well," I said as we pushed past the crowd of people and walked towards our lockers, "I have good news." Jeremy's dark eyes glistened with expectation and hope. I almost felt bad for him. "I have two weeks worth of homework for you, which includes a thousand word essay on a Shakespeare play and a PowerPoint presentation on viral diseases." He looked at me and feigned dizziness.
"Dude, I haven't had a taco in two weeks, and there you go, dropping the Viral PowerPoint bomb." He shook his head. "Why you gotta be like that?" I shrugged.
"Better to rip the band-aid off quickly." I grinned.