Chapter 2

The school looked almost empty when the old truck pulled up. The only cars in parking lot were of teachers and miscellaneous students that were training in the field. Even though it was only 7:00, the sun was up and was already beginning to bake the asphalt on the lot. Knowing that by the end of the day it would reach 100 degrees, Josh parked the car underneath the shade of a giant oak tree. When the vehicle came to a stop, Luke slowly dragged himself out of the car and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He began walking towards the sports field, but stopped when he noticed Josh hadn’t moved from his Truck. “You coming?”

“I don’t want to train today,” Josh groaned from the driver’s seat, “I’m tired,” he said rubbing his hand across his face. Luke just rolled his eyes, “What am I supposed to tell Coach B?”

“That I trained all summer, and that I’m completely ready for the season.”

“Uh-huh. Yea ok. He’ll defiantly let his star player miss practice because he’s tired” Luke quoted with his fingers as he said the last word, with sarcasm drenched throughout whole sentence.

“Come on dude,” Josh pleaded.            

     

“Yea.” Luke turned back around and headed to field.

“Does that mean you’ll tell B?”

“Yea,” Luke repeated with a wave of his hand. “See you at Lunch Josh,” Josh smiled to himself as his friend walked to the practice he was missing.

            The summer before sophomore year, Josh found a passion for running. In the three months off of school, he woke up at 5am and went running all through his neighborhood. And at dusk, when it cooled down a bit, he would run throughout the city. He found that he could run in silence and just think. He could be alone for hours at a time. When school started that year, even though he didn’t think he would get in, Josh decided to try out for the track team, along with Luke. Surprisingly, both of the boys made it. As time went on, Josh quickly climbed the ranks on the team. By the end of the year, he already made varsity level and became Coach B’s favorite runner.

Josh’s favorite part of the day when he was a sophomore was the before and after school practice, but towards the end of the year, he didn’t like dealing with all the kids on the team. They were all the snobs from the North part of town. The ones that were too cool for school, and too dumb to care. The stereotypical jocks. Josh loved the game, but just hated the players.

            With a deep breath, Josh exited out the door of his truck and started towards the high school. It was only 7:10 so the library wouldn’t be open. Walking towards his school he started to regret wearing a long sleeved t-shirt. The thick, muggy North Carolina air was starting to take its toll. You could do nothing but stand outside, and you would still walk back inside with awkward sweat stains. Trying to find shelter from the humid air, Josh walked to the entrance of the library.

Even though he knew it would be locked, he tugged on the sticky metal door knobs. And sure enough, the doors did not open. With a groan Josh dropped his bag next to the locked entranced and plopped down next to it. He sat facing the parking lot before he reached over to his backpack and pulled out a pencil and an old looking notebook. After turning page after page of sketch filled paper, Josh found a clean page and began drawing.

Josh felt the sense of first day jitters slowly disappear as the silence engulfed him. It was just him and his pencil. The rest of the school was quite, too early for students to be stirring, and too early for teachers to be walking around campus. Without any distractions, Josh was in his own little world. There was no one to bother him. No one to criticize him. Just him and his pencil.

The silence was broken by a car pulling up next to the school. Josh was yanked out of his trance and pulled away from his sketchbook by the loud rumble of the car’s motor. Looking up from his work, Josh saw the passenger door of a big grey jeep open revealing a young teenager. He had a black head of hair and an outfit that consisted of a black t-shirt, with white lettering that easily read No, and tan cargo pants.

The boy closed his door, swung his backpack over his shoulder and was about to walk away when he stopped on his heels, spun around on his dark blue converse, and leaned back into the car through the open window. He was hunched over the car, tapping his foot against the asphalt while the person driving the car was talking to him. After good solid minute, the boy again tried to leave the car, but was stopped by the feminine voice that called from the car, “Do you even know where you’re going??” Hanging his head, the black headed boy again slugged back over to the car and then leaned up against it. He pulled out his phone from his pocket, unwrapped the headphones on it and placed them in his ears. Moments later the boy was off in another world tapping his foot to a beat.

After witnessing what looked like a normal interaction between a mother and a son, Josh just went back to his drawing. He was sure he had never seen the black haired boy before. ‘New student?’ Josh wondered.

Once again, silence gulped Josh back, pulling him back into the comfort of his notebook. But as if something was forcing his attention away, Josh Paused from his drawing, and looked up from his notebook to see that the boy was staring in his direction. ‘Is he looking at me?’ The boy’s striking blue eyes bore daggers into Josh’s skin. Not knowing whether the boy was staring at him or something else, Josh was hesitant about waving. But something about the way the boy was looking- or not looking- at Josh was friendly (despite the intensity he was creating with just his eyes). The way the boy’s lips were naturally turned up as his head bobbed up down to some non-audible music, and the way his eyes were not icy blue, but the color of a welcoming ocean made Josh smile in his direction. In return, the boy nodded his head, acknowledging Josh’s advancement.

Neither boy could look away from each other until a continuous clopping sound stung into Josh’s ears. Annoyed, Josh was the first to break eye contact with the new student and directed his attention towards the attendance office across the way. Walking from the closing doors of the office was a stout middle aged women. Her brown hair was pinned up onto her head in a way that looked like she wanted to do a good job, but in the end she just crammed a couple bobby pins into it and called it good. By the side of her slacks, her hands were clutching what looked like documents stuffed into a yellow folder. Hurriedly, Mrs. Hill, the principal of Kennedy High, shuffled over to the grey jeep.

The boy followed Josh’s gaze, and saw that the principal was walking over. He immediately plucked his white head phones out of his ears and slung them around his neck. The boy met with the teacher and greeted her with a dimpled smile and a handshake. The principal and the student began conversing, their words not audible to Josh. ‘Defiantly a new student.’ Was Josh’s last thought before the two started walking over to him.

“… This is the library, it’s where students are welcomed to go before, during and after school.” The principal’s voiced reached to josh, “It normally opens at 7:30 and closes at six.” Her gaze, met with a Josh, and she gave him a cool smile. “Josh!” She exclaimed, pausing from her explanation of the building, “How was your summer?” The teacher walked over to where Josh was stationed, and he stood up to greet her.

“It was good. How was yours?” Josh said this to Mrs. Hill, but as he continued, his eyes wondered over to the new student. There were a couple of features he hadn’t noticed before. The boy’s hair was not black, but a deep chocolate brown. And on the side of his head, the hair was much shorter, as if a couple months ago it had been shaved. It was an odd look, but not unattractive. Josh had never seen anyone like this new student- ‘Holy- Is that a lip piercing??’ Sure enough, on the right side of the boy’s lip hung a small metallic black ring. It was official. The new kid was weird. Well… maybe not weird. Different. The new kid was defiantly different.

“Oh you know, the same old,” Mrs. Hill continued to talk as Josh was mesmerized by the piece of Jewry on the boy’s face. “I had to work most of it, but it was still fun.” She checked her watched and her eyes bulged out of her head.  “Oh dear. Listen, Josh, we should talk later, I should be showing a new student around campus,” She motioned to the chocolate brown haired boy who wasn’t paying attention and was instead looking around the foreign campus. “And then be in a meeting before the first bell rings, so I better get moving”

Josh gave her a kind smile before she began walking away, dragging the new kid along with her.

“Tell your parents I say ‘Hi’!” The principal called to Josh as she rushed away.

“Sure thing Mrs. H.”

            When the sound of Mrs. Hill’s clopping heals disappeared, Josh sat back down against the library building and began drawing again. Once again he was left in sweet silence. 

Author's Note

Let me know if this chapter is confusing. I think it might be.

~cheers

Reviews

[Zoë]

Great chapter! I don't think it was confusing at all. I'm interested in the new boy and I really like the way your characters are starting to develop.
I found one small thing that you might want to consider changing. The section "Even though he knew it would be locked, he tugged on the sticky metal door knobs. And sure enough, the doors did not open." is a little weirdly written. There are two ways I would suggest writing it, either “Even though he knew it would be locked, he tugged on the sticky metal door knobs and, sure enough, they didn’t open.” or “Even though he knew it would be locked, he tugged on the sticky metal door knobs. Sure enough, they didn’t open.” I just think that would make it sound better.
Other than that, I can't wait to see what happens next!

[briget_01]

Thanks so much for reviewing it! And yes, I totally agree with the changes you proposed. I'll play around with the wording a bit in on my computer draft of the story, and I'll most likely use the changes you did.

~cheers

[Zoë]

no problem, I'm happy to help

[SFG]

Intriguing story! Definitely mesmerized by the "chocolate brown haired boy". You seem to have set up your current characters pretty well. It will be cool to see where they go next. Can't wait to read more.

[briget_01]

Thanks for your review! I'm glad you find the boy interesting! I'm working hard on keep my characters as real as possible, and I'm working on the next chapter that will hopefully give more incite to a few of the teenagers. Thanks for your input!

~cheers

[Hannah Yusuf]

I like the book so far! Yes, this chapter was a bit confusing, but after a second read it made sense. I love the Josh/Luke friendship, but PLEASE don't let this be one of those books where he only has ONE FRIEND and a girlfriend. And I love the parent/Josh conflict. PLEASE keep that going. I'm assuming the new boy is going to be important. I like it a lot. You are a GREAT writer.

[briget_01]

Thanks so much for reviewing it! As expected, it was confusing, but I'm still working on that. And don't worry, I fully intend to create a complex set of characters, and I'm trying to make them as realistic as possible. Thanks so much for your input!

~cheers

[Hannah Yusuf]

You're welcome! Keep going!