SIXTY-THREE TIMES the number one shows up on a notepad on my phone. That’s how many times I’ve woken up paralyzed in my bed this summer break. The number two shows up sixteen times under the number ones. That’s how many times the shadow-y man appeared over me trying to… threaten me?
I started this routine over the summer. Keeping track month-by-month at first since, by the time I’d started, it was already too late in the year. I thumb to a new Notepad titling it, “SOPH (AUG -”
…
When’s the last month of school? Dang, that’s honestly not something I usually care to remember.
I decide to leave it blank for now. I’ll either ask for a calendar, or I’ll write the month when school’s near to over.
Part way through my shower, I already hear Dré banging hysterically on the door through my loud punk music. “You got ten minutes! I got you on a timer li’l dude. Wit’cho crap old music.”
“Only the best from the 90s and 2000s, bro!” I yell, “By the way, the alarm clock is the same app!” I step out without turning the water off and keeping my music on until before I open the door. “See you outside.” I scurry off, first stopping for breakfast, then darting outside to wait for our ride for the first day of school.
Every morning, it’s a competition to get to the big rock in our front yard. I take my aviators off of my collar and don them. As I open the door, Dré is already laying on the rock.
He stole my shades when he sped past as I just realized he’s wearing them. “Hey, Gar-Bear isn’t here yet, little brother.” It’s weird that Gareth would allow him to call him that. “I’m as fast as I want to be.”
“Yeah, you’re just really bad at starting your alarm clocks for the first, what? Month of school?” I condescend. “I know you haven’t eaten, and Mom’ll be pissed if you don’t. Hurry, before Gareth gets here!”
“One call and you’ll be walking to school, I don’t need no ride, I just want it.” Dré speeds back inside, passing me with a solemn eye-roll and putting my sunglasses back on my face.
Even with how beautiful it was the other day at the park, this shade of brilliant baby blue on this cloudless sky is always my favorite. A filled pocket of air startles me out of my daydream. I take out an ear-bud as Dré is standing next to me and a car matching both of our draw-string bags, cyan with the purple ram mascot of our school on its hood, pulls up.
I jump off the rock as Gareth parks in front of our yard. Dré instantly yells at Vanessa to get out of the front seat. Says he gets automatic shotgun, whatever that means.
Dré ends with, “I don’t appreciate the heat of your butt on my seat, woman!”
Vanessa happily steps out of the car to try and hug him. He quickly sits in the car and closes the door with a SLAM! Narrowly avoiding her constrictions.
“Get in, you’re middle bitch.” Vanessa opens the back door and gestures me in.
My other ear-bud is snatched from my hand as Casey scoots over, shoving it in his own ear. Vanessa pushes me into Casey as he puts his arm around me, pulling me in even tighter on the already uncomfortable hot leather seat. I see her bite her bottom lip as she stares at the back of Dré’s head. I’m looking at her weird, but for some reason it makes me look at Gareth’s hair.
“Whoa, your hair! It’s blue!” I scan the tips of his hair.
“Yeah, Vanessa and I did it after chillin’ with some peeps at Finley Manor after we balled.” Gareth runs his fingers through his hair as he drives. “Blue’s your favorite color, isn’t it?”
My head cocks, this is all somehow so familiar but I respond simply, “It’s strange that you know that.”
The second thing I take notice of is his jacket with a cyan letter ‘A’ on a purple leather shoulder. Gareth is wearing his Aries Rams’ letter jacket. Excitement wells up in me a little, then fades away. This could be the year I get my letter jacket. The only requirement was to play in at least three games for the school and pass all my classes. I did both. Two Bs… mostly Cs, though.
I can feel Vanessa’s vexing stare burning into my Aura. Her eyes are so I go to staring down at my phone as the city passes by our windows.
“These are some good tunes, Judd.” Casey’s grasp tightens as I try to push out of this awkward situation but to no avail.
Dré turns all the way around in his seat and exclaims, “I’m Judd! He’s Judd II. He’s the sequel, not as good as the first.” He thumbs to himself.
“Deuce is a good nickname for him, too.” Vanessa laughs, pointing out the negative context.
The closer we get to the school, the more we recognize people on their way as well. There are speedsters like Dré, fliers like Vanessa can be, and various others. As well as those who are just simply walking.
“We’re here, boys!” Gareth rolls down all of the windows as Aries High School, painted with a single stripe of purple and cyan and the ram above that and exclaims, “We’re ready for school!”
The rest of us hoot and holler out the windows alongside him, being joined in by some nearby people on the way. Vanessa sounds like a swooning nightingale as most of her focus is still on my brother. I’m sure many think we’re idiots. Who cares?
We circle the lot for a spot that Gareth says can be seen by the cameras. I doubt there’s really enough of a problem for it to be necessary, so I think he’s being paranoid, but I stay silent. That’s when we realize we’re being followed by two on foot. Probably have been for a little while.
Casey’s door opens before Gareth even turns the car off. As I step out after him, I’m pulled from the seat, nearly dropping my bag. I’m hugged to a point of pain and my feet aren’t even touching the ground.
“No wonder, it’s the weird one wit’ no shoes,” Dré comments.
“Sam, I missed you so much!” The high voice, the falling brown cowboy hat, no shoes, that tells me everything I needed to know. “I missed you all summer!”
She puts me down finally. Looking down you’d likely expect to find a pair of riding boots, but you’d be wrong. Like Dré said, she wears no shoes, she never has. Why? It has something to do with her powers.
When I can breathe again, I say, “It’s good to see you, too, Raneé. I was just chillin’ at home all summer.” I was conveniently hiding from everyone for a bit. “They’re making me take more Fragment classes this year because I didn’t do so well with all academics last year like I promised I would. I had to study up.”
“Yeah, and I had to babysit.” Dré rolls his neck with his arms folded. “Hey, Gabby, we’re in the same color,” he says taking notice of her bell-sleeved crop.
Dré tries to take Gabriella’s hand but she pulls away and says, “As if, you just called my best friend a weirdo!” Below her white bell-bottoms, Gabriella reaches to click a button just under her foot on her red, heeled shoes to retract a pair of wheels under the incline.
“Those are really cool!” Gareth comments.
Gabriella locks arms with him and says, “I call them skatelettos. I’ll be getting them patented soon now that I know I like them.”
Gabriella sways away taking Gareth with her, taking notice to his hair, putting her manicured sharp-nailed fingers through it. Apparently it’s really soft and I hate my life because of it. Vanessa tries to take Dré’s arm, but is swiftly called a name and denied. Dré follows glumly behind what looks like a happy couple, then Vanessa, then me. But I’m the only one hiding it. Casey and Raneé, being the only other cheery ones, standing on either side of me.
“Gabriella and I hung out literally every day of summer!” Raneé just continues talking as we tail through the entrance doors into the building covered in the colors we’ve become accustomed to, “Did you see the Trulove’s school spirit video?” She gasps, “We all hung out with Gabriella, Jake and James at their place for it, Grandpa wouldn’t let us do it at our place,” she ends with a giggle, “I wanted to make one, too. Oh, nothing like that, though, of course!”
Gabriella snaps selfie after selfie as we all stand along the doors staring at the crowded lobby. “Smile, Dos-y.” She points her phone in my direction after I lay on the floor to take my own picture with the Aries Ram mascot being avoided by footsteps.
An Aries High Cardinal rule: don’t tread on the ram!
I post the picture to my FragSpace while Gabriella probably does the same to her large CometGram following. Me included.
“Hey are we taking selfies?” As I stand, Kaven pulls me with his cold grip into his dark purple shirt, holding his phone out with his other hand. “You stoked for tryouts Friday?”
I shrug as Kaven looks at me with an adorable smile of suspense before hopping away, jacking my aviators from the collar of my shirt to snap photos with others. I barely notice the cloud of giggling girls trailing Kaven until Taven comes wheeling his way out of it.
Taven wheels around the floor mascot his own black and white ski hat that covers his ears with flaps. The closer he comes, the more my heart feels ready to jump out of my chest and do gymnastics. It looks like he’s coming straight for me. Not something that should make me nervous, we’re friends, right? So why is it the only part of my body I can feel is the heat in my face and ears?
My body tightens as he sits directly in front of me for several seconds. Say something, Samael! Don’t just stand there!
I gulp, putting my hand up. “Hello, there,” I say in a fake British accent.
In my head, I’m face-palming myself. Buffoon!
“Will we see you on the team this year? You really showed some skill last year.”
“Yeah—I mean, um—thanks, I’ll be there, count me in.” I thumbs up.
What did I just agree to? My mind goes into a panic. I haven’t even made my mind up yet!
Saying that to Taven really feels like a commitment, even though it’s truly not. Yes, my shorts, jersey and shoes are in my bag alongside my notebooks, but I already have the burden of Fragment classes now. I don’t really know how the expectations of the basketball team will mix with that for me. Plus, basketball took a lot of Photography Club time from me last year.
Taven pulls me down for a hug and says, “I’m alright after our ‘little stunt’ by the way, thanks for asking.”
He saw my message! There’s no way he can’t feel my heartbeat from here.
I hold back a corny smile as he pulls away from me, putting his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone, but Coach said that if I ever find the ability to walk, I’m guaranteed a team spot.”
Oh, wow, how wholesome of Coach Brown.
The surrounding squealing girls are unwavering, shouting various things. “The Trulove Twins should make out!” can be heard clearly above the crowd. “That’d be so hot!”
Weird, is the first thing that comes to mind.
What I’d really like to say, though, is that the Taven and Kaven Trulove are not twins. They’re in the same grade but Taven is older by several months. They’re Irish Twins, meaning within a year apart. But they’re not real twins. They’re names definitely rhyme, though. Odd choices, Mr. and Mrs. Trulove.
“Did you hear that, brother?” Taven looks up at Kaven with a raised eyebrow.
“I-I did.” Kaven holds his arms behind him swaying a knee left and right. “What should we do about it, big brother?”
By now I have my phone set to record regretting not bringing my more professional camera to school today.
Taven pulls his brother down by the collar with a sinister smile. “Give them what they want, I’d expect.”
“M-me too.” Kaven stutters as the space between them shrinks.
An uncontrolled giggle comes out of me as Vanessa painfully elbows my ribcage. “Don’t laugh while filming! You of all people should know that, you’re the Photo Club’s teacher’s pet.” I don’t think clubs can have a “teacher’s pet…”
I shrug in agreement, though. The space between the brothers’ noses is less than centimeters. The crowd around us is quiet with the exception of a few drawn out gasps of anticipation. My own chest hurts, my heart giving it not a single break. Two extremely attractive boys are going to make out right in front of me! The fact that they’re full-blooded brothers seems to have escaped the minds of everyone except me, but I’ve elected not to care at this moment.
Taven and Kaven close their eyes slowly as their noses finally meet. My eyes widen, a big clown grin painted across my face, and my chest is going to explode!
Then…
Right before the fireworks in everyone’s pants can go off, “I wouldn’t make out with my brother!” Taven laughs as the two push off of each other.
“Yeah!” Kaven sticks his tongue out and puts a finger in his mouth. “That’s fraggin’ gross!”
I knew it was too good to be true. I’m honestly rather disappointed, even though I shouldn’t be. I guess I shouldn’t expect any less from the Trollin’ Truloves!
The fifteen-minute bell rings as the crowd thins in a pathetic groan. “Send me that footage, Dos?” Kaven finger-guns at me. “That’s priceless Trulove of Memes content!”
I thumbs up and Taven calls back, “See you all at tryouts Friday!” He winks back and it looks like it’s directed at me, but I can’t be sure.
“I have never met a black man that blushes more than you do,” Vanessa comments as she and Casey walk alongside me up the stairs and down the hall of lockers to store bags and retrieve school books.
I swiftly correct her with a touch of sarcasm, “I’m half black, but thanks for the observation.”
“Yeah, that’s why we have matching freckles!” Casey remarks putting his face up to mine.
“Morgan Freeman has freckles,” I use, as an example. “I, however, do not!” I slam my locker as we proceed to each of our classes.
Okay, maybe I have some light freckles, but I’ll openly acknowledge them when Hell freezes over.
I look down at my paper schedule in my hand and then up at the number on the door. “English room 205. Here’s my stop, guys.”
“See you at lunch!” Casey waves as I take a seat around the middle of the classroom.
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~ J. D. 💙🖤
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