Chapter Two - Time for Some Schooling (Monday, August 29, 1994)
I’ve heard a lot of bad things about high school but can it be as bad as middle school? Of course I’m going to be stuck here for four years of my life so I had better get used to this place, right? The worst part of high school, from what I’ve heard, is during the freshman year. I get the feeling that I should try to find some senior friends, and fast. Last thing I want to do is to draw attention to myself.
My alarm goes off at 6am and I turn to reach for the snooze button but my clock has been moved to the other side of my room. I think it’s safe to say that my dad was the one who moved the clock. No matter where he places the clock, however, I always tend to try to sleep a tad bit longer if I can.
I groan as I place my feet onto the blue tile floor. The music continues to play as I walk towards my alarm, picking up a pair of blue jeans along the way. I turn off the alarm and slip the jeans on. I can hear my dad in the kitchen now, getting ready for his job. Part of me wants to go back to sleep, but with this being the first day of high school, I might as well wake up on time at least once.
I find a video game related t-shirt and finish getting ready for school before walking out of my room and into the kitchen. I make some frozen waffles before breakfast and I start to think about the new bus stop. The new bus stop that I get to deal with is at the middle school bus stop with all the rowdy kids. Having that many kids at one little gas station can’t be good and I am not looking forward to taking the bus at all.
I look up from my paper plate and ask my dad, “Can you drive me to work? I really don’t want to hang out with those kids at the bus stop.” It’s not like I’m being anti-social, I just don’t want to have to deal with teenagers acting like fools.
Thankfully dad agrees and he takes me too me to school, even though it’s an hour before the bell rings. At least this gives me the chance to take a look at where my classes are and how the school is set up. The school is bigger than my old middle school and has four separate buildings, one of which is two stories. There are several portables near the track for extra classes, a science building, a large auditorium, gym and a relatively small pool.
I take out my schedule from my backpack and take a look at it:
· First Hour: Algebra I
· Second Hour: P.E.
· Third Hour: Science I
· Fourth Hour: Photo
· Lunch
· Fifth Hour: English I
· Sixth Hour: World History I
· Seventh Hour: Drama
Looking at my schedule, I groan. Math isn’t my best subject and not something that I want to deal with at 8:30 in the morning.
I decide to get my locker in the third building, which is in the middle of all of my classes. As I close my newly acquired locker and apply the lock, I notice Kyle standing next to me.
“Alright, let me see it,” I say, sticking out my hand.
He places his schedule in my hand and I have a nice look at it, to make sure we don’t have all the same classes:
· First Hour: World History I AP
· Second Hour: English I AP
· Third Hour: Algebra I AP
· Fourth Hour: Photo
· Lunch
· Fifth Hour: Science I AP
· Sixth Hour: P.E.
· Seventh Hour: Drama
“Wow, I’m shocked, only two classes together? And how did you get advanced placement?”
“Why do you ask, jealous?” he grins.
I shrug, “Not really. Well, I’ll see you later.” I adjust my backpack and off to my first class of high school, not really caring about Kyle’s answer.
Thankfully the first day of school is filled with take home packets and a rundown on how the school year will go. Today should be easy.
Algebra seems it will be a huge pain and hopefully I can get past it with at least a passing grade.
After the bell, I head off to the gym for physical education. On the floor of the basketball court are two boxes one filled with blue shorts and the other is filled with orange shirts, to match our school colors.
“Hey Jen!” I hear someone call my name as I wait in line to get my gym clothes.
It’s Teresa, a friend of mine from middle school. Her dark brown curly hair bouncing as she walks over to me. Teresa is shorter than me at 5’4 while I’m 5’7.
“Funny how we get P.E. together again, huh?” she says.
“Yea, how about that,” I say, trying to figure out if I should tell her my new nickname that I’m going by now.
“So how was your summer? I didn’t hear from you at all. I thought maybe you had forgotten about me or something,” Teresa says, her hand on her hips.
“Nah, I was just busy,” I answer, as the line slowly moves forward.
“Meet anyone?” She’s always asking me this. I had one boyfriend in middle school and that didn’t turn out so well and I’m not even sure I can call him a boyfriend. Besides, with my busy schedule it’s not like I’ll have the time.
“Just visited some relative, stuff like that. Nothing unusual or exciting,” I answer.
Not much happened in P.E. besides standing in line to get my gym clothes and talking to Teresa. Science class was a bit of a bore as well.
Photography is up next, which is one of two classes that I share with Kyle.
This classroom isn’t like your normal classroom. The first part of the room has round tables surrounded by chairs and the teacher’s desk at the front. Towards the back is a curtain that prevents light from getting into the darkroom, which is the second part of this extra large classroom.
I take a seat next to Kyle at a table near the entrance to the dark room. I notice that there are a lot of older kids in this class. All of my classes up to this point, save for P.E., have been filled with fellow freshmen.
Kyle notices that I’m looking around the class and says, “Freshmen don’t normally get to take this class.”
“Then why are we here?”
“I heard that you like taking pictures so I managed to get you in,” he says.
“Ummm, thanks,” I’m shocked that Kyle was able to do that.
We then sit and listen to the middle aged man who will be our teacher for photography. He tells us about the three different chemicals that we will be working with this year and how they will stain our clothes if we are not careful. He then points out the seniors in the class who have taken this course for three years and told us to partner up during the first week. This might be my chance to find a senior friend.
Everything after lunch is pretty much the same as the classes in the morning. It seems that Photo and Drama will be my favorite classes this year.
I return to my locker at the end of the day to toss my newly acquired books inside. The first day of high school was pretty boring but I’m sure the first day of my ‘upped’ training won’t be.
“So where are we going to do this?” I ask, as we walk down the hallway of the third building.
“I still think it’s too dangerous to do anything magic related here,” Kyle starts. “I think we should find a place where we’re alone and teleport to Crystaltina.”
“How long do you think we can keep this whole magic deal a secret? Someone is bound to find out eventually, especially that we’re not alone.”
“Government is usually quick to make something up that the masses will believe. Hey,” Kyle points out the restrooms. “We might as well teleport in there.”
“Gross, I’m not teleporting from the bathroom. What about behind the science building?” I walk ahead and push open the double doors and we walk outside. In front of us is the science building that was built two years ago. We walk around to the back and thankfully no one is there. “See, I told you.” I take out a small potion from my backpack and I throw it against the wall of the building.
Kyle slips ahead of me and I follow behind him. As soon as I arrive on Crystaltina I see a leg coming straight for my face. I block and grab the leg, holding it, “What the hell are you doing?”
“Oh I’m sorry, did you think you would have time to rest before we start?” Kyle grins. He then uses his right leg muscles to allow himself to kick with his other leg, trying to connect with my chin. I drop his left leg to avoid getting hit.
Kyle then takes a bottle from his pocket and tosses it to me, “Drink it,” he says.
“Why, what is it?”
“Phoenix Potion. Just in case your training gets too rough, this potion will bring you back from the brink of death.”
“Whoa, no way,” I toss the bottle back.
“Why not, it’s to protect you.”
“I don’t care. It’s the same thing Ozma threaten to use. She said that she could kill me over and over again and Celestria could bring me back each time. That’s the potion form of it, isn’t it?”
“But we’re not Ozma and it’s for your own protection,” Kyle says, tossing it back.
I catch it and glare at him, “I don’t need it.” I slide my backpack off and toss the potion next to it. “Besides, I think you’re the one that’s going to need it more than me.”
Kyle and I are in the woods, just outside the castle ruins. We’ve trained here several times already and we both know the layout pretty well.
I stand there waiting for Kyle to make the first move. That doesn’t take long as he puts his hands together and starts to generate electricity. He shoots and I jump into the air, flipping backwards and landing back on my feet. I look up and Kyle is gone. I search the area, spinning in circles but he is nowhere in sight.
Suddenly, two fists hit my stomach and I’m airborne. Kyle, after firing off his electricity spell, took flight, circled around to gain momentum and then, flying Superman-style, slams into my stomacher with his fists, dragging me with him. I can feel branches hitting my back, ripping my shirt and causing scratches and cuts on my skin.
This isn’t fair, in my opinion. He can fly and I can’t do anything fancy save for the normal human stuff, liking running and jumping. Thankfully we have noticed that Kyle, Celestria, Tom and myself are able to withstand pain to a certain degree, as well as developed a tougher exterior which allows us to take more hits. Pain is pain and even a paper cut hurts but we can just tolerate it better. Celestria thinks it has something to do with our unusual DNA.
Note to self, wear beat up clothes when we train for now on. I’ve ruin a few of my clothes already but if Kyle plans to raise the difficulty level in our training sessions, I might as well wear clothes that I don’t care about.
I reach for his arms and push them down, causing Kyle to lose control of his flight and as I fall towards the ground, my foot lights up with fire and I kick Kyle in the face. I slam to the ground, and I quickly stand, trying to find out where Kyle landed.
I find a long branch and I pick it up. If he wants to try that flying trick again, he’s going to regret it.
As I turn my around, sure enough, Kyle tries for the same attack. I bring the long tree branch around and I smack him in the face.
He doesn’t stay down for long and comes at me with his fists. I panic and drop the stick, blocking with my arms instead. He backs up and says, “Why did you drop the branch?”
“Don’t know? You were coming at me with your fists,” I say, out of breath just as Kyle is.
“That didn’t stop you before.”
“You were flying.”
“So.”
“……”
“Just because I don’t have a weapon when I come at you, doesn’t mean you have to be without one. The villains won’t care,” Kyle tells me.
I light my fists on fire but Kyle puts up his right hand, “That’s enough for today.”
“Did I beat you up too hard?” I laugh.
“Not even close.”
I turn to start the walk back to my backpack when Kyle says, “Your back is pretty messed up.”
“So’s your face,” I laugh again, this time feeling more aches from my body.
We head back to get my backpack. Kyle insists that I take the potion with me and after a winless battle, I throw it into my bag. We then make our way to the underground catacombs under the castle so Celestria can heal our wounds.
