Chapter 4

c h a p t e r .2

♂

When the weekend finally comes I can hardly believe it. School is in less than 2 days, and I'm far from ready. 

I got the supplies list in the mail 2 weeks ago and I'm just now going to Target later to get some, not like there 

will be any left anyway. I'll probably get all the left over, crappy supplies, like taped-up packages of obviously 

used scissors. 

Also, yesterday and today are School Prep time, which is just when everyone comes to get their schedules, 

school ID, and sign up for school activities. I was suppose to go yesterday, but I got caught up in a basketball game with 

Mike. And he won again. Oh well, better late than never, right?

On my way out the door with dad's car keys, my mom calls out to me. "Calvin!"

"Yeah?" I turn around.

"What are you doing?" Like, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to the car..

"I'm gonna drive to school."

"No! You know how drive? I think not." Her English isn't the best, I'd rather have her talk Vietnamese to me. But oh well..

"Yes mom, I've driven before."

"With your dad, he not here now yet, you walk!"

"Mom, it's just a 5 minute drive."

"Save gas, walk 15 minute then!"

Always looking to save the planet, that's mom. "Fine, okay."

I walk back and hang the keys on the hook by the door, then grab my black Nike sweatshirt to take with me 

since it might rain. Wouldn't want to show up all wet and stuff.

Walking is something I've gotten used to, so the barking dogs in my neighborhood, the aroma of weed up the block, 

and the pedophiles lurking around that alley by the local mini-mart isn't something to fear... Well, not for me. I guess maybe 

when I was little it was something that scared me a lot. I used to walk behind big groups of people that looked safe, and 

when they ended up taking a different route I'd either follow them up until I knew it was safe to continue ahead, or just turn 

around and wait until I saw another person or group of people that looked safe.

At that time, I couldn't hardly wait to get a car. When I turned 16, I was so excited. I imagined driving those big 

cars to school, the one everyone would be jealous of, but my excitement quickly demolished when I found out I would be 

inheriting my dad's old 2005 Toyota. And since it was only my permit, I couldn't really drive anywhere without my dad, 

or someone else over 21 in the car.

It seemed almost abrupt when I reached my school. I had done so much thinking on the walk up here, it felt like I 

arrived in 10 steps. I saw people going inside the main entrance and followed them. I feared that maybe I had missed 

out on the food since Prep Day was only from 9AM to noon, and it was already 11:15, but thank goodness the snacks 

were still there when I reached the cafeteria, and loads of people too.

"Calvin!" A voice boomed behind me, I turned around to see Caleb and his girlfriend Tina.

"Hey, sup man." I walked up to him and bumped knuckles. "Hello to your lady, too." I smiled at Tina.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Hi there, Calvin." 

I feel so lucky for Caleb. He used to get made fun a lot for being gay (which he wasn't), and people thought he would 

never find anyone. I'll admit I even poked at him a little for that, but I knew he'd find his lucky lady some day, unlike me. 

Him and Tina have been together for 3 months so far.

"So you guys get your schedules yet?" I asked.

"Nah, we're waiting in line." Caleb responded. "You?"

"I just got here."

Tina sighed. "Ooh bud, you better get in line. This thing takes forever. You should get your schedule first before anything else."

I eyed the snacks table. I really need to get my schedule today, and my locker number, but man I'm starving! "Can 

I wait in line with you guys?" They were close to the front anyways.

"Sure," Caleb stepped to the side to let me in, and I did. That's when I saw her.

She rushed in the door, late just like me, with her mom (I believe it was her mom) walking behind her. She was 

short, but not too short. I'd say 5''2, and she had long, shining black hair. She reminded me of the girl I had a crush on back 

in middle school. For a second, I thought maybe it was her, but it couldn't be... She walked into the freshman side of the 

cafeteria. 

"Who are you looking at?" Caleb whispered in my ear, then looked towards my direction. 

"No one." I said as nonchalantly as I could.

"Ahh, tsk tsk, Calvin," he smiled. "You trying to check out the freshman?"

I heard Tina giggle. "No I'm not!"

"Haha, I'm just kidding man.. You know her?"

"No I don't." I looked over in her direction. She was chatting it up with some other boy, then gave him a hug. It looked 

like they were enjoying themselves, he must be her boyfriend. 

"Oh, well that's Jasmine Young." He said, as if he has known her forever.

"What, how do you know?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, how do you know her, hmm?" Tina stood with her hands on her hips.

"Haha, calm down," he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled sweetly, then Caleb continued. "She was 

one of my friends back in middle school."

"You were friends with a freshman?" I tilted my head to the side. 

"Well, I was in 8th grade, she was just a 6th grader." Then the line began to move, so we moved up along with them.

"How come I never noticed her?"

"Well, we never had classes with her, and I don't think I brought her up much. Maybe to Mike or Sandra or some other 

people, but anyway we mostly hung out after school."

How come I never knew about this? Me and him have been friends since 7th grade. Most importantly, why hang out 

with a 6th grader?

And as if he heard me, Caleb replied, "The reason why we hung out was because I saw her in the art room one day 

painting. It was really good too, for just a 13 year old. I asked my cousin Sandra who has that same art class with her, 

and she told me that her name was Jasmine, and that she didn't talk much, so I thought I'd be nice and introduce myself."

"Yeah, that seems like you." I responded.

"You're so nice." Tina added.

He flipped his hair, "Thanks."

"So what did you guys do?"

"Well, she liked my dancing, so I invited her to some of our dance practices, remember like when you used to dance?"

"Wait, what? She was at our dance practices too?"

"Yeah, but when you joined, she stopped coming."

"Oh, I see."

"Yeah, anyways, she was quite a computer geek, so she remixed all our dance music and was our audience for practice. 

And we drew together once in a while too. Oh, you know she plays like a bajillion instruments?"

Man, this girl is like a prodigy. "Like what?"

"The violin and piano."

"That's not really a bajillion, you know." I rolled my eyes.

"Haha, shut up."

As the line moved up, I took another glance at her. She was pretty cute, but I mean, she's a freshman. And even though 

it seems like I know some things about her, I don't know everything. And she seems too smart for me, not really my type, 

and plus I wouldn't want to label myself as a pedophile. That certainly would not look well on a college application.

Suddenly, her eyes revert to mine. It's like we were looking at each other for about 2 seconds, then I turned around. 

Was I staring at her? I don't want to seem like a weird creeper dude. I mean, she's new, and this school's reputation is 

worse enough, I wouldn't want to add to it, especially since she hasn't even started yet.

I turned around again and luckily she went back to talking to her boyfriend, I believe. Wow, even freshman 

have relationships. I really must be the lamest person in the school, maybe even in the world. But I know it's just 

because I haven't found that one girl yet, and I know she doesn't even exist, not at this school. She ended up going to South 

Hills, which is were she belonged quite honestly. 

I was up next to go get my schedule. I took another peek at Jasmine, she exchanged schedules with her boyfriend, 

and their faces looked pretty bummed out. Sorry, I would say. She checked her phone then dashed off to her mom, 

and with that they left. Must have been in a hurry I guess.

"Stop checking out little girls and get your schedule, man." Caleb laughed.

I blushed of embarrassment and moved forward in line. Once I got it, I walked over to Caleb and punched him in the arm.

"Ow." He said, giving me a sappy puppy dog face. Which, no-homo, he was pretty good at.

"It's okay," Tina started, "he deserved that." then punched him too.

"What, is it Hit Caleb Day?" Apparently. I thought.

"And for the record, I wasn't checking her out okay?" I mean, it doesn't hurt to look. And who knows? She's friends 

with Caleb, maybe I can be friends with her too. I'm open to meeting new people, especially since I don't usually meet 

that many nowadays. I've grown up with the same set of classmates ever since 4th grade, and the same scene of them every 

year is starting to get monotonous.

"I know, sorry." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "We all know who you really want."

"Yeah.." I sighed. "Kaila." I walked over to a near bench and slouched.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Caleb sat beside me.

"No it's okay."

Tina took a seat on Caleb's lap. "Who's Kaila?"

I felt like I might turn depressed in a single second, but decided to save that for another day. "She's just this girl I used to.. 

Uh, she's this girl I like."

"She pretty much rejected him and switched schools." Caleb added in.

Nice one, jerk.

"Oh," Tina put her hand on top of mine. "sorry."

"It's cool." I slipped a half-smile on my face. But I'll never forget her, I thought. "Hey, what classes did you guys get?"

Changing the subject really does help in times like this. If I want to think about Kaila, I'll do it at a different time. 

So Caleb and I have got pretty much all but 2 classes together, he and Tina share 2 classes (bummer), and I ran into 

Mike on my way to get my ID picture taken; Only 2 classes with him, also a bummer.

I got my ID and went to get my locker number, not like I use it anyways. I found out that my locker was finally in a 

different hall. Every year since I've been here my locker had always been in the same hall... Nice to have a change of 

things, but I still wont use it.

I went back to the cafeteria to grab a cookie (since that's all that was left) and started heading back home. I was so 

tired when I got home.. And it was only 1 in the after noon. And just when I thought I could have a rest, I realized.. School 

was starting in 2 days, and I still haven't gone supply shopping yet.