Science Bowl

Chapter 1

"Emily!!" I shout, waving my free hand frantically.

The other hand is supporting my backpack, which must weigh a metric ton at the very least. It's the first day of school, too. I'll need a whole team to carry this thing by the end of the semester.

Emily waves back, the glee on her face matching mine perfectly. She winds through the mobs of students like a pro, stopping in front of me without ever damping down her hundred-watt smile.

"You ready for this?" she asks. She doesn't even wait for a response before she's on to the next topic. "How can you possibly have that much stuff?" she asks, craning her head to look at my backpack. "It's the first day of school!"

I wave my hand vaguely. "You know... books, lunch, more books..."

"Nerd," Emily says, still grinning. "Come on, I told Aidan I'd meet him in the lunchroom."

I follow Emily through the halls of Greenboro High. It still smells like summer in here, humid and sterile, though I know soon enough the mobs of high schoolers will change that.

It's almost surreal. This is our fourth and final year here. Everything my mom's been warning me about is suddenly upon us. Soon enough we'll be applying for college, and then actually going there, and just like that, all of this will be over.

Not yet, though. We still have one more year together. And even though the thought of college excites me, I'm glad.

"Em!" Aidan calls as we walk into the lunchroom. "Jax! Over here!!"

Emily bounces over to the table he's sitting at, giving him a luminescent smile and a quick hug. "Long time no see, Aid."

I sit down next to Aidan, grinning. "I know for a fact you just saw him yesterday."

"Yeah, you're not fooling anyone," Gabi says. She's fiddling with a Rubik's Cube across the table, just like she did for all of last year, her fingers flying across the colored squares.

Emily nudges Aidan, sliding onto the bench on his other side. "Dang, I thought we had them fooled," she says.

I watch her mess around with Aidan, and my smile is completely genuine. They started dating late last year, and I couldn't be happier for them. Especially Emily, especially after she asked me out and I rejected her.

"Anyone taking Psychology in Literature this year?" Gabi asks. One hand leaves the Rubik's Cube to adjust her glasses.

"I am," Aidan says. He pulls out his phone, which looks to be several lightyears ahead of my own in terms of updates. He must have gotten a new one over the summer. "Let's see... yeah, I have Psych in Lit third hour."

Gabi breathes out an audible sigh of relief. "Me too. Guess I won't be alone in every class this year."

We all exchanged schedules a few weeks ago, and back then Gabi was taking nothing even remotely similar to Psychology in Literature. Aidan and I exchange a knowing smile. Gabi is infamous, at least in our little group, for her indecisiveness.

"This'll be a good year," Emily says as the warning bell rings, signaling that classes are about to begin. "I just know it."

I'm inclined to agree with her. I crammed every possible subject into my schedule for the last three years, and now all I need to graduate is one English credit and one math credit. I'm taking physics, too, but other than those three classes my schedule is wide open.

First hour is English, second is physics, third is Calculus 2. Then comes lunch, and then three glorious free hours before my shift starts at work.

None of my close friends are in my classes, although I know plenty of people in my grade. I wouldn't call myself popular, but after last year I'm well-known enough that I don't have to worry about being alone for group projects anymore.

English is boring, as usual. I'm not a wordy kind of guy. Physics seems like it'll be interesting, though my teacher is a bit scatterbrained, and Calc is... well, I'll get by. A quick lunch with my friends -- PB&J, just like I've had every day since kindergarten -- and my school day is over.

I take the long way home, relishing the freedom of free hours. For these few blissful days before the Science Bowl season begins, this is all I have to worry about: a couple hours of school and a job I enjoy.

When I arrive at work a few hours later, the ice cream shop is packed with kids. West Peak High, the local snobs' school, gets out an hour earlier than Greenboro, and a lot of the kids like to come hang out here.

"Just in time," Meg, my coworker, says as I step behind the counter, tying my apron on. She's a West Peak kid, too, but she's distinctly less stuck up than most of the other patrons of Henry's Ice Cream Parlor.

"Hey, Meg," I say. "How was your first day of school?"

Meg shrugs. "Just like last year." A new wave of orders interrupts us, and for awhile, we work in silence.

"Jax?" comes a vaguely familiar voice.

I look up at the next boy in line, a tall Chinese boy with glasses and a surprised expression. He's wearing a West Peak sweatshirt, and his hair is longer than I remember, but I recognize him instantly.

Ellis Lu. My ex-best friend, the guy who promised we'd be together forever and then cut off all contact for three years.

"Ellis," I say, and no matter how hard I try to sound excited, my voice remains flat.

The silence between us has stretched far past awkwardness before Meg rescues me. "I'll take care of him," she says, nodding at me. "You go refill the ice cream bins, alright? Chocolate is looking low."

My head is spinning as I do as she asks. For three years I've seen neither hide nor hair of Ellis, and suddenly here he is, looking older and classier and just... different.

I can't help glancing back as Meg finishes ringing up his order -- mint chocolate swirl in a cone, no toppings. He walks back to his friends, one of the more boisterous groups here, without a single glance back at me.

Ellis, what happened to you?