Eggs and Bacon

this is labeled the 2nd chapter but it may end up being the 1st chapter. The first chapter will have no affect on understanding this one though.

CHAPTER TWO

Eggs n Bacon

There are few sounds in the natural or man made world which communicate to their listener a feeling of inevitability quite like that of the common alarm clock.  No matter how one spends their day, this simple device is a reminder that for better or worse time, or at least the measurement of time, moves forward without regard for those appointments one may have assigned.  For Chance this appointment was another dreadful day spent trekking the halls of Alvin High where he was finally finishing up his junior year.  Before starting that adventure though, he had to first accept the reality the clock had put in motion and get out of bed.

Almost as reliable as the mechanical ingenuity of the alarm clock were the three knocks on the the door that almost immediately followed.

“Time to get up” urged Chance’s mother as if she were totally unaware that he even had an alarm clock.  Or, maybe she thought he was not capable of understanding its fairly simple and certainly annoying daily message. No one really knows what a mother is thinking until later in life when they repeat the very things which are inevitably and unknowingly programmed somewhere in the very back of the brain.

“I’m up” were the words that seemed to leak from his lips.  It may be a fascinating statistic to view the overall percentage of days in Chance’s life thus far that had started with those exact two words.

Chance rolled out of bed begrudgingly and hopped into a pair of casual jeans that were crumpled on the floor near the bed. Taking the time to carefully fold and store something you knew to be part of tomorrow’s ensemble seemed a certain waste of time to him. The same rule didn’t necessarily apply to shirts though.  He typically preferred a well broken in and plain t--shirt for most days.  They were comfortable, easy to match and were not too expensive to replace when they were ripped or stained during the daily and unfortunately eventful routine of his school life.  He slid into some sandals, grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs to endure the morning parental drama before heading off to school.

His father had to commute to work and was always gone well before he made it downstairs.  His mother Irene or “Mom” as he new her was a nurse and always kept unusual hours.  For the last few years though she had been assigned an evening shift which meant she and his father were rarely around at the same time.  In fact, she arrived home just in time to see him off to work every day and to supplement the already reliable alarm clock method of starting Chance’s day.

Approaching the foot of the stairs Chance could already make out the distinct aroma of bacon, sausage and eggs saturating the air with its delicious temptation.  Having a proper breakfast in the morning was one of the highlights of his day.  He often felt lucky while observing some of his fellow classmates partaking of their less traditional Pop--Tart breakfasts they had obviously prepared for themselves.  He also knew that if it was not for his mother taking the time to prepare such a breakfast, he would most likely be having something equally as nutritional as toasted bread and sugar or whatever a Pop--Tart actually is.

“Well it’s about time” she hissed as he came around the corner.

“Mmm Hmmm” was his clever return.

He wondered if she was even aware of the fact that this was her greeting virtually every morning.  This in conjunction with the alarm clock drama made for a morning that could easily be copied and pasted.  If only there was a way to copy this into some sort of hologram he figured he could probably leave the house for days with friends and no one would be the wiser.

“Here” said Irene as she handed Chance his plate.

“Thanks mommy”.

Sarcasm was an unfortunate (according to some who do not appreciate or more likely understand its value) method of delivery for much of his communication.  It could be said though, that the same witty sarcastic remarks had gotten him out of just as much trouble as it had gotten him in to. 

Irene turned off the stove and sat down at the opposite end of the table.  She was sorting through the days mail from the box. Actually, it was really the last few days mail not including the present day because the mail man didn’t arrive until later.

It seems as though mail is one of those things that should be done away with these days she thought.  Most of the bills are paid online and think of the trees that could be salvaged without the endless supply of furniture and toilet paper coupons.

Chance took a brief break from devouring the eggs to say “Hey Mom, remember I’m not coming home after school today.  I have to go to the mall to get something to wear on the field trip tomorrow.

“Ok, do you need any money?”

“Nope”.  He finishes his bacon.  “I still have the money you gave me last week when I was supposed to go get the clothes so I wouldn’t have to go get them at the last minute like I will be doing later”. He chuckles.

She gives him a look that could best be described as what one would look like when trying to contemplate the difference between medications with the same active ingredients, but different inactive ingredients, but designed to accomplish the same medical result while representing different pharmaceutical companies and one being 12 cents cheaper than the other.

“You always put things off” she lectures. “Haven’t you --

“Really Mom”?

“Well, you need to learn to be responsible, you’re almost a senior and you’ll soon be off to college and the real world isn’t interested in excuses.”

“Well, if you were following, you will have noticed that this particular instance requires no excuse as I simply need to obtain the clothes after school in plenty of time to attend the concert”

“Smart--a*s” she mumbles as she shuffles through the coupons.

She gets up and deposits the mail into the trash in the pantry.  “Well, I’m off to bed. Have fun tonight and I’ll see you tomorrow”

“Night mom...err, uh I guess I should say morning”

Chance scoops up the last of his eggs for one final and grand mouthful of goodness, puts his plate in the sink and rushes out the front door after grabbing his backpack from the kitchen counter.

. . .

If you have been to a movie in the last 20 years then you have most likely seen the equivalent of miss Lindsay Burkwrite. Beautiful?  Yes, but only after peeling away the thick layer of eye shadow resembling a raccoon who is wearing too much eye shadow, removing the dark plastic rimmed eyeglasses and possibly replacing her outfit with something 2 sizes smaller so as to be only one size too large. Her hair is brunette, cropped just below her chin and is a bit shorter in the back than in the front.

Honestly it doesn’t really take much imagination to see that she is attractive.  In the fickle world of high school logic and politics though, she falls short of how the accepted version of a proper teenage princess should appear.

It probably does not really help her case for princess consideration that she is a member of the school band.  Although manipulating classical music from a flute may actually be useful in a beauty pageant, ironically it is more of an opposite sex repellant in the high school world.

Of course, her final blow to school stardom is her above average intelligence.  Most high school guys that attend Lindsay’s school prefer to think of themselves as intellectually superior to their girlfriends.  Ironically this is rarely if ever the case at this school...at any school.  It is all a part of the chess match that is being a teenager however, and her defiance to giving in to this ludicrous behavior is part of her downfall and non--princess status.  At least for one more year at which time she graduates at the head of her class, goes to an ivy league school, then to medical school where she eventually becomes a neurologist and devotes her career to deconstructing the teenage male brain in search of a cure for male pattern baldness.

While waiting for the light to turn green Lindsay pushes the button on her BMW that retracts the convertible top. Sitting next to her is her long time friend Veronica.

They have been friends since Lindsay punched a boy in the ribs after he insulted Veronica during P.E. back in 3rd grade.  Both girls are in band, although Veronica plays the clarinet and follows the most recent trends when it comes to appearance and fashion.  

She also has a boyfriend to whom she talks almost every day while Lindsay drives them to school.  This would have annoyed Lindsay had it not been for the fact that Veronica was far more popular than her and she often got to hear all the latest gossip while monitoring her daily morning conversations.  This information was quite valuable even for someone as rebellious as Lindsay.  It is always important to know what is going on around you even if you are not included and these short trips to school were many times more valuable than CNN which never had any news on the latest breakups, pop quizzes or anything else useful.

Today however, there was not much in the way of juicy gossip coming from Veronica.  The topic for this morning was regarding the dinner plans she had made with her boyfriend for after tonights concert.  At least that was discussed in between the “No, I love you more” and “Awww, you’re such a great guy” routine.

“Gross” preached Lindsay.

“Hey, hold on...what”?  Veronica asked as though she may have missed something important and put the phone on her shoulder.

Lindsay just gave her a look as if to say “you heard what I said”.  The look also suggested that she knew that she knew she was right.  

“Whatever” she mumbled as she returned the phone to her ear.  She was not offended by the remark because for one thing, she knew it was accurate and she knew she would have said the exact same thing given the opportunity.  In fact she wished she would get the opportunity some day.  It seemed like an eternity since Lindsay last had a boyfriend.

Bored with eavesdropping Lindsay plugged her iPod into the car’s stereo and immediately turned it down after it almost made Veronica drop her phone.  They exchanged glances that after years of friendship were mutually understood to mean “oops”.

Chance was nearing the end of his relatively easy three mile bike ride to school when he began to remember one of the downsides to his glorious breakfast routine.  Summer was still several weeks away but the weather in Houston did not like to play by those rules as it was already quite hot and muggy.  If one were to open the dishwasher just after the cycle finishes and stuck their head inside the moist hot air, they would have an accurate picture of what it was like during this time of year.  This combined with greasy bacon and a three mile pedal added up to a bit of queasiness!

Fortunately, just as he was beginning to look for some bushes where he could kindly return the bacon to the earth, the school parking lot approached on his left.  He knew the feeling would pass as soon as he got off the bike and was able to cool off a bit.

Just as he turned into the entrance he was alarmed to hear a car horn which seemed to be no more than a foot behind him.  After nearly falling and regaining his balance he glared over his right shoulder.  Using the split second it took to turn his head, he began rehearsing the perfect insult for the remarkably impatient person who had the nerve to honk their horn.

Before he had a chance to inform this horn honker of the cleverness at which he arrived during his second of collaboration, he recognized the vehicle.  It was a relatively old orange and white G.M.C. pickup that was is nearly perfect condition.  More importantly, its occupants were his long time nemesis Kyle Orton and his two nameless sidekicks. They were apparently quite proud of their stunt and were laughing hysterically at his near spectacular swerving crash into the bushes.

Kyle was not really known as the school bully. In fact he was not really known for much of anything.  For some reason, only known to himself and possibly his loyal pair of followers, he just enjoyed giving Chance a hard time.  There was an incident back when they were freshman where Chance had spurted out one of his typical sarcastic and random remarks.  It seemed odd though that this could have been the reason.  In fact he could not even remember what he had said; only that whatever it was, it had annoyed Kyle.  No matter what the reason was, he certainly enjoyed making Chance’s high school existence as miserable as possible.

Fortunately at this point the driveway was a very narrow one way lane with a high curb and bushes separating it from the lane exiting the lot.  Had the timing been only moments later and the encounter happen in the parking lot it could have been a long drawn out and unfortunate beginning to the day for Chance.

As it was though, he was able to make a well timed jump  clearing the curb at just the right location where there was an opening in the bushes.  This allowed him to make it into the exit lane which fortunately was empty seeing as how everyone was arriving at school and not departing.  After successfully navigating his way onto the lane he managed to get a peek back over at the truck which had now sped up to match his speed.  Kyle did not look at all pleased as he pounded his palms onto the steering wheel.

Robert, one of the formerly nameless sidekicks sitting closest to him found some level of humor in this situation and showed his satisfaction by imitating Chance’s look of horror upon realizing who had honked.  All three of them laughed until Kyle decided that having not been able to catch Chance this time that he would have to take out his frustrations on his two companions.  They both promptly received firm thumps to the head as Kyle stared out the window gesturing as if to say that their brief encounter would be finished at some other point during the day.  Chance disappeared around the corner.

The tasks of thumping and gesturing required all of Kyle’s attention and as a result he had slowed the truck to a stop directly in the main school entrance drive on which the brief chase had taken place.  The sustained sound of someone laying on their horn filled the cabin of the pickup.

“Duh” said Lindsay as she raised her hands in a motion universally understood to mean “what the hell are you doing”.  She had not seen any of the nonsense preceding and was only aware, and obviously annoyed, that there was for some reason a large orange truck parked in her way.  Having not seen the chase or the truck due to her self involved phone conversation regarding current events, Veronica seemed annoyed by the volume of the recent horn blast that may or may not have caused her to miss valuable details.

“Dude?” she barked while directing the exact same “what the hell” hand motion toward Lindsay.

Finally realizing he was no longer the antagonist in a classic car chase scene and had now become a road block, Kyle stepped on the gas and continued into the student parking lot followed by Lindsay and the other two cars that had stopped behind her.

Chance had chained his bike and made his way to the nearest restroom.  All of the sudden pedaling and weaving through bushes reminded his breakfast of its earlier escape attempt; an escape that now had become a reality.  Still sweaty from his bike commute and subsequent chase and now with the distinct taste of half digested eggs and bacon on his lips he grabs a paper towel from the container.  After sipping some cold water and then splashing some on his face, he wipes it dry and stares into his own eyes in the mirror, his body exhausted, his mind completely blank.

Author's Note

please ignore grammar as this is the first rough draft.....I'm looking for basic feedback such as is my writing style interesting to read or amateurish....does it seem like something you'd continue reading? This chapter is just basically introducing the main characters