Chapter 48 School

School was starting again. The twins would be starting their freshman year while I was starting my junior year. I was hoping for a trouble free year. One where I could focus on my studies and my friends. I also wanted to visit the other councils around the world or as many as I could anyway. I guess I could hold a global summit in Europe somewhere.

“Hey, EJ,” Ethan greeted me.

“Hey, guys,” I replied.

The lost boys graduated last year, so it was just me, Ethan and Lucas this year. We tried to have the same schedule, but it didn’t quite work out. We did have four of our six classes together, so that was pretty good. We had gym, math, science, and history together. My other two classes were English and theater.

“So we have second, third, fourth, and sixth periods together,” Lucas said. “I have music first period and English fifth period, what do you have?”

“I have English first period and theater fifth period,” I said.

“I have English first period and art fifth period,” Ethan said.

“Who do you have for English,” I asked.

“Mrs. Balt, you?” Ethan replied.

“Mr. Tricarico,” I said.

“I have him for fifth period.” Lucas said, as the bell rang.

We headed to our classes. That’s where I met her. She has the most amazing blue eyes. It was like staring into a swimming pool.

“Um, why are you staring at me,” she asked.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. You have amazing eyes.” I said.

“Thanks, I’m Beth.”

“I’m EJ.”

“I know. Everyone knows who you are.”

“Right, being the alpha’s son and the king makes me a pretty recognizable guy, I guess.”

“Yeah, it does.” She said, taking her seat near the front. I took a seat in the back.

“Welcome back juniors,” Mr. Tricarico said. “Take your seats and let’s get started.” He began with the roll call. Afterwards he passed out books, our textbook and a novel called Jane Eyre. “We will be reading Jane Eyre first this year. Papers will be due at midterm. I will give you each a topic to write on next week. So you can go ahead and begin reading the book at home. We will have a daily discussion after our lesson each day. Please come prepared to class.”

Mr. Tricarico started his lesson on essay structure. He had a very different way for us to write our essays. Something he called cd, com, com. He wanted us to start with an opening statement, basically what the essay would be about. Then we were to pick a concrete detail, a quote, to support our thoughts. And we were to follow that with two sentences of commentary. He said we needed at least two and no more than four concrete details per paragraph. He wanted us to write all our essays and papers this way. I thought that would be easy to do.

After class I spoke to Beth again. It was brief as we both had to get to our next class. But I did ask her if she would like to sit with us at lunch. She said no, she would be sitting with her friends.

I met up with Ethan and Lucas outside the gym. I told them about Beth and that I liked her.

“Dude, she probably said no because her father doesn’t let her date and the only time she is allowed to talk to males is at school,” Lucas said.

“Her father is very strict,” Ethan said.

“I get it, he doesn’t want his baby girl to get hurt, right?” I asked.

“Something like that.” Lucas said at the same time Ethan said, “I guess”.

“Let’s get to class, the bell will ring soon.” I said and we went into the gym.

Coach York was still the gym teacher. He sent us all to the locker rooms to get changed. After we changed, we went back to the gym. We sat on the bleachers waiting for instruction.

“Today, I want to teach you a variation of Facdow (fa-doe). Facdow is a fae sport, traditionally it is played while flying. Since you don’t have wings, there will be no flying.” Coach York said. “Now, Facdow is kind of like baseball. You use a long stick to hit a puck or flat stone. If you trip or fall while on the field, you will be counted out for the remainder of the game. The winner is the team with the most points on the board or the most players on the field, in the event of a tie, when time runs out. Otherwise it is pretty much baseball, but a little more challenging. How about we pick teams. Ethan, John, you two are the captains. Pick your teams and we will head out to the field.”

Ethan and John picked their teams. I was on Ethan’s team of course. Then we headed out to the field. Once on the field, coach gave some more instructions and then he did a coin toss to see who would, essentially, bat first.

Our team took the field first. Coach York had to repeatedly tell Sam how to throw the puck. He said you can’t throw it like a ball, more like a skipping stone. Sam eventually got it. John hit the puck and sent it flying over second base straight to me. I caught it and he was out. It stung my hand a little when I caught it. No gloves in this game.

We played the game for about forty-five minutes and then hit the locker rooms. Our team just barely won. We had one more player on the field then John’s team, the score was tied at two. My hands were sore from catching the puck, I’m sure some of the others had sore hands as well.

We got changed and headed toward math class. It was our morning break. We talked about some of the things that happened during the game and what we might do differently next time. When the bell rang we headed into math class.

Miss Mayfield was our math teacher. She was pretty cool. Everyone talked about her being the coolest teacher. As long as we got our work done, we could get away with anything in her class. So while she taught, Ethan, Lucas, and I played Magic the Gathering. We still listened to the lesson and did the work, so she didn’t have a problem with it as long as we kept our voices down.

After math class, we headed to science class. We were taking chemistry this year. I was going to love mixing chemicals together. Our first class, of course, was a safety lesson. Always wear goggles when working with chemicals. Mrs. Holiday was very adamant about that. She also went over the procedure for mixing acid and water, making sure we knew which one to pore into the other.

Then it was lunch time. I saw Beth sitting with her friends and picked a table close to theirs for us. I was surprised when Artemus and Shania sat with us. I had almost forgotten they were still in school. The guys and I played Magic the Gathering while we ate. I had wanted to talk to Beth, too, but Artemus kept going on about Sebastian. She should just move in with him already.

After lunch we went to our classes. I had theater class. I was looking forward to it. Beth was in this class, too. I couldn’t believe my luck. A second class with Beth. Okay, so it’s not a very big school, I should have expected it.

“Hi Beth. How was your lunch?”

“It was fine. Artemus sure does talk a lot,” she said.

“I know, she met this guy over the summer and has been talking about him nonstop. It’s getting to be super annoying.”

“I heard about him. I mean who hasn’t, right?! She does talk about him a lot. I think the whole pack knows she’s in love with the guy.”

“I know,” I laughed. “At least Sebastian is good to her and good for her.”

“Quiet down, students. Let’s get started. For those who don’t know me, I am Mr. Spencer. This semester we will be doing Romeo and Juliet,” he said, passing out scripts. “I want you all to look at the script tonight and decide which character you would like to audition for or if you would prefer to work on props and such.”

“Are we actually putting on a play, like for our parents and stuff,” Jeff asked.

“Yes, Mr. Tanner. We will rehearse during class and for an hour after school with the rest of the cast.”

I looked over the script real quick, knowing what part I wanted. Then it was time for history class.

The guys and I sat in the back as usual. Mr. Simmons was our teacher.