Eternal Sunshine ✓

30. School Dayz (Part 2)

The day back from Winter Break continued slowly and uneventfully. Classes were boring, teachers seemed energetic, and seniors looked over it. It remained approximately five months until they'd be done with high school forever, and that day couldn't come any sooner.

Although the day had marched on regularly, Tasha couldn't stop missing Steven. It was very strange. Being with him almost 24/7 then suddenly going throughout the whole day without him was odd. She hated it.

During lunch, as Malik and Kennedy flirted endlessly with each other, Tasha wanted to call Steven so badly even though he was in class. She was like an addict, needing his voice to feel sane again.

"Who pissed in your pasta, Natasha? You're staring at it as though it contains poison or something." Malik chuckled, teasing her.

"Aww, she's obviously missing her boo," Kennedy added.

"Oh, I see. I guess Steven was mad quiet during Gov 'cause he missed her too."

Malik and Steven had U.S. Government class together. It was a required subject for all seniors which is why the class was crowded with students; Malik could already tell he was going to dislike the course because the teacher began the day by basically complaining about how 'annoyingly diverse' films and TV series nowadays were.

Of course, that caused a debate to ensue between the teacher, Malik, and the other two black students in the class. Malik had found it weird that Steven was awfully quiet, simply shaking his head at the dumb-ass, racist things the teacher was spewing.

Malik's statement garnered Tasha's attention. "He was quiet?"

Malik chewed his fries and nodded. "Yep, and he's rarely that quiet unless something else's bothering him. I asked him but he told me not to worry about it."

"What's wrong with your man, Tasha?" Kennedy asked her curiously.

"I'm not sure, haven't heard from him since morning. I didn't think much of it."

Kennedy gasped dramatically. "What?! Oh, something must seriously be wrong if he hasn't texted you since morning."

Tasha was quiet for a second. Kennedy wasn't wrong.

"Damn of course he would be so dedicated to texting you and contacting you," Malik shook his head and smacked his lips. "His white ass barely texts me in full sentences or even gets back to me within the first day."

Kennedy and Tasha both laughed at Malik's grumbling words. He managed to be funny even when annoyed, it was no surprise that Kennedy had it bad for him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Crest High Steven sat tense in his chair. He tried to relax, to actually pay attention to his teacher's discussion about distant lands and forgotten cultures, but he just couldn't find the care to listen.

His mind kept drifting back to the conversation that had transpired that morning with Coach Brown, a conversation he wished had never happened.

4 hours earlier...

Steven knocked on the door to Coach Brown's office, hoping that the conversation wouldn't last longer than ten minutes. Coach had a way of turning five-minute conversations into twenty-minute ones for no reason other than to make conversation.

There were only a couple of things Steven assumed the talk would be about-the fact that his future plans didn't include basketball, or how Coach expected him to play in the coming months, or better yet, what that year's basketball team field trip would consist of.

"Come in!" Coach screamed from inside his office, sounding more serious than usual.

That immediately alerted Steven. He assumed then that Coach wanted to scold him for choosing to let basketball go once high school was over. Since Steven had received a few offers to play ball in college, he assumed that Coach might have heard that Steven had refused all of them.