Chapter 1: 1. The story has to start somewhere, right?
The ride to school was not bad at all. Except the fact that I was going back to school. The first day back to school always hit me hard because I was always still in a holiday mood. Even after all the snow of the winter break had all vanished, my mind was always frozen in place. I wish Spring didn't come so early. But whatever.
The name is Tony Firth. Grew up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania USA. A regular 11th grade student who was currently contemplating whether it was too late to call in sick for school. I had a strong feeling my mom would never let me get away with that. She barely let me get away with it when I was actually sick. All I could do now was wait helplessly as mom drove me closer and closer to my dreaded fate. I just hoped that my good friend Hunter was around to help me through the first day in.
I stared at the school building as we pulled into the driveway of the school. At that moment, the doors to the school felt like the gates to hell. Okay maybe I hated school way too much. I watched as people flocked toward the front entrance in small groups. Some people I saw met each other at the door, looking very pleased to be able to see each other. I honestly wished I could feel the same. They were very few things that incentivised high school for me and that was my friends. Well, I reminded myself, my friends and the fact that I was considered cool by the people in grades below me in the after school art club I was in. That was because I was a good sketch artist most likely.
"Well," mom said to me. "I guess I'll see tonight. I'll be working a little late so I'll probably ask Hunter's parents to pick you up."
"I hope he won't leave without me," I said as I got out of the car. "Or at least attend school today."
"If anything comes up, just call me. I'll make for another arrangement."
"Okay, bye mom."
"See you, baby."
I turned toward the school entrance and stared at it for a while as the car drove off. It was going to be another weird school semester, I thought to myself. I finally gathered enough will power to walk through the doors. The hallway brought back so many memories that I'm not so willing to disclose. I was just hoping to quickly find someone I actually talked to. Fortunately, I did. It was a 10th grader named Zara Marshall. She was standing by her locker with one of her friends, chatting with her as if she had all the time in the world. Our eyes met and hers instantly lit up. She didn't look keen on leaving her friend, so it was up to me to go over and say hi.
"Hey Tony," Zara smiled.
"Hey Z," I responde. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Clover."
Clover waved at me without a word. Her expression was hard to read but I didn't want to bother myself about that.
"How was your winter?" Zara asked.
"Same as yours Zara," I responded. "Cold as hell."
"Cold as hell?" she laughed. "You're crazy, T."
Even Clover couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a grotesque one, just a tiny shy chuckle but it was better than nothing.
"But jokes aside T. What was up? I saw your post from Boston."
"Ohh that. Mom and I took a trip to Boston to visit my aunt. I took a picture with her and now its my profile pic."
"Whoa! That's your aunt?"
"Yeah, who did you think it was?"
She looked at me with an undeterred gaze and mischievous smile. The expression screamed 'that doesn't sound right!' It was as if she wanted to make me reveal some dark, locked up secret that I should have mentioned earlier. But during her gaze of deduction, I realised why she was looking at me so. My aunt Zoe was my mom's younger sister. She was only 7 years older than me so she was like 24. That made her look like my age mate due to the weird family gene. So it was normal that people mistook her for my sister or something. It is not really a big deal, considering she practically grew up to be something of a sister to me in my mom's house.
"Okay T," Zara finally said. "Whatever you say."
"Don't tell me you think she's my...."
I couldn't even say it but she got the idea. She nodded with an over playful smile on her face, one that seemed a bit too ecstatic. She giggled simultaneously with Clover, who only did so much around me. It was one of those typical sitcom teenage girl giggles. One that said more than words ever could without really communicating much to those outside the circle of trust.
Midway through the giggling session, I was met by Hunter. Hunter was a tall, British guy who was in love with fantasy and science fiction. Most people said he would be suave with the ladies if he could just keep his head out of the sci-fi clouds. Hunter got a longing look from Clover when he arrived. It must have been his glossy brown hair, because his clothes didn't exactly attract longing looks from anyone other than fans of mid 90s science fiction.
"Hey ladies," Hunter began, receiving a friendly response from Clover. "Tony....fam, I was worried you had decided to skip the first day."
"I would never do that to you Hunter," I said. "Even if it meant coming to school."
"That's why you're my fam. "
"Yeah. How was your Christmas?"
"Oh you know, stopping over at every relative we could to visit."
"How's Cindy?"
"She's as bratty as ever. But she does miss you."
"Really?"
Cindy was Hunter's younger sister. He was the only boy in a family of 5 children and was literally the middle child. Cindy was the child just after him. She was a major pain in the butt for him. They always fought...and argued sometimes. Yes, I meant literal fighting. On those occasions that I would go over for a sleepover, she would always want to get me away from Hunter and play some board game or something. Apparently she preferred me over Hunter as a brother. That was something I cherished, being an only child.
"That doesn't sound like her," I teased.
"Clearly you don't know Cindy," he retorted playfully. "Hey, did you get to watch any good movies?"
"Nah man. I was busy half the time touring Boston."
"How was Boston?"
"Good good," I said, still thinking about my conversation with Zara about my aunt."I was just talking to Zara about it."
"T," Zara said, pausing her chat with Clover. "We still have a lot to talk about on that."
"Really?" Hunter said, looking from Zara and Clover to me. "Is it about your profile picture?"
I nodded in response which sent Hunter into a hearty laughter. Zara stared at him wonder while Clover laughed along. It also attracted a lot more attention than I'd hoped for. When he was done, he patted me on the back knowingly.
"Good luck today fam," he said to me, which scared me a lot.
"Well its almost time for classes," Zara said. "We need to talk, after school."
"Okay," I responded. "Sure."
"Bye guys."
"Bye Hunter," Clover said. "Have a good day."
"Cheers," he responded.
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