A Tale of the Tweens

Part 3: Being the part in which we we find Kyle in the hospital...

2004-12-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

Kyle spent the next few days swimming in and out of conciousness. When he wasn’t being chased through dreams by ghostly figures that took on the shape of him or his family (Oliver Creighton had danced through a few times. Once as a terrifying hooded phantom. Once as a duck.), he was trying to make sense of the voices that floated into his sleeping ears. It seemed like doctors and nurses were constantly checking on his pulse and blood pressure. Between the worried whisperings of his parents and the incessant beeping of a non-descript machine close by, Kyle found it difficult to determine exactly what was being said. He did manage to figure out that he had apparently hit his head pretty hard; hard enough, in fact, that the doctors were treating him for two concussions. Beyond that, the facts were elusive.

Kyle’s frustration grew as the activity in his room pulsed with the flow of the hospital. The constant barrage of nurses and aides coupled with crying babies and angry next-of-kins prevented Kyle from getting any deep sleep. Each time he finally slipped beneath the surface to meet his inner apparitions, the ghosts were quickly replaced by a nurse muttering to herself about dosages.
During what felt like his first uninterrupted sleep in days, Kyle found himself pulled back toward reality by low whispers next to his bed. He first thought that his parents had come back to sit next to his bed for the night, but the voices sounded younger. The voices spoke in hurried whispers and were mixed with utterings of “Shhh”. He tried to listen closer but the voices sounded like they were crouched by the far wall. Kyle was about to go back to sleep when he felt the voices float closer to his bed.

“Do you think he’s gonna be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. The doctor said that they can take him off the medications when the swelling goes down. It’s just a couple of concussions.”

“Shhhh. Don’t wake him up.”

“Ah, he’s so doped up; he has no idea what’s going on. He probably doesn’t even know he’s in the hospital yet.”

“He looks so sad sitting there. I don’t get it. How did he end up here? It was just a little fall.”

“He fell over a table. And used his head to hit everything on it as hard as he could. Including the floor.” Kyle thought he heard a suppressed laugh.

“It’s not funny! We did this to him! It’s our fault.”

“Shhh. No, it’s not. There’s no way we are responsible for this.”
“You saw him! He jumped away from YOUR little creature.”
“Would you stop it? He couldn’t have seen it! It’s not real. Nobody can see them!”

“WE can see them! There have to be other people in the world like us.”

“No. No, not Kyle. He would have said something!”

“What are we going to do? We have to find out for…” Kyle recognized the voice of his mother drifting in from the door. “Shhh. Did you hear that?”

“It’s the doctor. We have to hide!”

Kyle heard the two visitors scramble under his bed and pull the sheets down low over the side. In a few seconds, the door opened and Kyle heard feet shuffling across the floor.

“Doctor, are you sure he’s okay?” Kyle noted the concern in his mother’s tone.

“His CT scan came back fine this morning. We’re going to give him one more dose of painkillers for tonight, then he should be awake tomorrow. Provided there are no other developments, you can probably take him home in a few days.”

Mrs. Creighton’s relief was almost palpable. “Thank you, doctor.”

“Why don’t you go home and get some rest. The nurse will be in soon to get Kyle his meds, and you can be back early tomorrow morning to see him.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Mrs. Creighton sighed. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

Kyle felt his mother grab his hand, then heard her walk toward the door. When she stopped, Kyle knew that she had paused to take one more look at her sleeping son before heading home.

Mrs. Creighton smiled as she looked back over her shoulder. Kyle looked so innocent that she could not tear her eyes away. She was so absorbed that she failed to hear the nurse slip in behind her and jumped when she heard the door close.

The nurse smiled. “Sorry to startle you.”

“No, I’m fine. He just looks so peaceful.”

The nurse touched her gently on the arm as she walked past. “He’ll be up
tomorrow. You should really get some sleep.”

Mrs. Creighton laughed. “You hospital types are all the same. ‘Get some sleep.’”

“It’s good advice.”

Mrs. Creighton smiled and walked out. Once the door clanked to a close, the nurse turned toward the I.V. in Kyle’s arm.

“Alright, Kyle, let’s get you some sleep too.” The nurse carefully uncapped the tributary on the I.V. and injected a clear fluid into the tube. After gently refixing the cap, she turned and walked away. At the door, she turned and said, “Goodnight, Kyle,” before flipping the light switch and closing the door behind her.

Kyle was suddenly overcome with sleepiness and he felt himself drifting back into infinity just as the sheets under his bed were swept to the side. Out crept two silent figures that stumbled toward through the darkened room.

“Well, it looks like we’re out of time. Come tomorrow, their going to start asking him questions about Monday. What’s he going to say? If he tells them what he saw, they’ll think he’s crazy.”

A weighted silence fell between the two. The second figure was staring pointedly at the floor. “We have to talk to him. But they’ll never let us in here once he’s awake.”

“They will. We’re friends from school, right?”

The second figure laughed. “As soon as he wakes up, he’s going to tell his parents about the kids at school. They’ll never believe us.”

The shorter of the two pulled something from an unseen pocket. “Enter Plan B.”

“What is that?”

“It’s Plan B. I am going to stick this in his hand,” the figure stepped over to Kyle and placed a folded piece of paper under his fist, “and when he wakes up, he’ll find it. Hopefully before the doctors do.”

“What does it say?”

“It just advises him to keep the details to himself for now. We’ll check in with him later.”

The first figure grabbed the second by the hand and moved toward the door. In the busy atmosphere of the hospital, no one noticed the two teenagers in plaid uniforms sneak quietly out the front door.

Part 2: Being the part in which I introduce to you the main character I left out in Part 1

2004-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

By the end of his first day, Kyle’s doubts had been confirmed. Through the course of the school day he had found himself at the front of four different classrooms with four different teachers burying him under questions about the numerous places Kyle had lived, how Creighton compared to other schools, and the antics of his eccentric grandfather. Each session grew more tedious than the last and, due to the small size of the junior class, Randy and his cronies had easily begun memorizing Kyle’s responses. By the third period of the day, it was no longer necessary for teachers to ask questions of Kyle directly. Invariably, Randy or a close flunky would shout out the answers before Kyle could react.

“I’m having a psychic flash, Mr. Muhlroney. The new kid is from Dayton, Ohio.”

“Libra. I think. No, no, wait a minute…wait just a minute…VIRGO! Aren’t you getting that Virgo vibe from him, guys?” At which point each of the goons would sport a scholarly look (or what they approximated to be a scholarly look – something that tended to evade them, Kyle noted with some satisfaction) and nod. “Yes, yes. Definitely a Virgo.”

Kyle’s personal favorite had been when the goons ran out of information and decided that their lack of knowledge was no reason to give up their outbursts. Before Kyle left his fourth period classroom, his father had become a refugee who had fled from the U.S.S.R. in 1999 and now worked long hours as a human lab rat for cosmetic corporations. Kyle decided against pointing out the fallacy in their argument. In all likelihood, the other students knew that the stories about his past were fabricated, but that did little to curb Kyle’s apprehension.

As Kyle dragged himself to his last class of the day, he began fantasizing about escapes from this over-priced house of horrors. Everything from jumping through the second story windows to hostage situations crossed his mind, but, sadly, nothing feasible. And his far-fetched schemes did not make him feel any better. Kyle had decided long ago, when his parents first placed him in a private school, that it was always easier to wait for the school day to end than to put forth the effort required to manage an escape. His mood did begin to lift when he stopped visualizing himself flying through plate glass and started daydreaming about chucking Randy through it. Kyle laughed, “Now, THAT would be worth the effort!”

“Again with the talking to yourself? You really ought to have that brain of yours checked out, you know?”

Kyle looked up to see a perfectly uniformed Ashley standing in front of him, grinning from ear. “Hey! What happened to your uniform? It’s so…uniform.”

Ashley smiled bigger. “Mr. Norton. We hit a compromise. If I conformed to school society’s dress code, he’d let me wander the halls during first period.” She shrugged, “seemed worthwhile to me.” Kyle noted that she seemed a little more distant than when they had first met; a different look filled her eyes.

Kyle rolled his eyes, “Must have been nice,” he replied bitterly. “Where did you go?”

“Well, I wandered around a bit, and I looked for Justin because he often exhibits the same desire to skip class that I do, but he chose today to be a law-abiding citizen. I ended up sitting outside the math lab and eavesdropping for a while.”

Kyle’s mouth went dry and he gulped, trying to appear neutral. This explained the change in Ashley’s demeanor. “How many, uh, math labs are there in the school?”

Kyle swore he could feel a ten degree drop in the temperature. After a pause, he heard Ashley utter, “Just the one.”

Ashley’s eyes seemed to bore into Kyle’s skull as he desperately searched for another place to rest his gaze. Suddenly his brown loafers seemed especially interesting. “So, uh, you were listening outside the door?”

“Yeah, apparently Mrs. Sparrow was really given some poor sap the third degree.” Ashley paused for a minute. Kyle knew that she was giving him the chance to interject with his confession. When he did not, Ashley’s voice dropped a notch and she continued. “I guess Creighton’s kid showed up after all.”

Kyle looked up, hoping that Ashley hadn’t made the connection. Unfortunately, the look in her eyes proved quite the opposite. “I’m sorry.” Kyle felt horrible. He had been so concerned with saving face that he had ruined his chances with the only decent person he had met at this ridiculous school. Kyle’s eyes fell back to his shoes.

“I’ll bet you feel pretty awful right now, don’t you?” Ashley’s voice had a taken on a lighter tone, almost mocking. Kyle nodded. “Good.” Kyle found himself the victim of a playful punch and waited to see if it was just the first blow in a well-earned boxing match.

Ashley smiled, “Ah, it’s alright. I probably wouldn’t have told me either. Besides, I suppose you’ve been punished enough for today. That happened in every class, didn’t it?”

With a huge sigh of relief, Kyle grinned sheepishly, “Yes! It was worse than when the local press figures out where our house is.”

Ashley laughed and, to Kyle, the atmosphere in the hall became ten times lighter. Behind him, the first bell began to ring out and Kyle felt a crushing weight hammering back down to earth.

“I guess we had better get to class. Do you know where Room 320 is?” He sighed again and realized he was becoming adept at expressing emotion through exhalation. “I think I am due for another interrogation.”

A mischievous glint sparked in Ashley’s eyes. “Follow me, Mr. Cray-ton.” She made sure to hold out the first part of his name for emphasis, “I’ll lead the way.”

“No way, I’ve already made you late for one class today; I don’t want to have to feel bad about another.”

The glint was still evident in her eyes, “Hmm, that would be nice, but there’s no need.” Ashley’s humor was met with a confused stare. “We’re in the same class”.

Kyle felt like singing.

Kyle and Ashley walked into their last class just as the second bell was ringing. No sooner had they crossed the threshold than a tall, gangly guy on the far side of the room began waving enthusiastically.

Ashley rolled her eyes, “That’s Justin. Sometimes he’s a little energetic, but he’s cool. He’s the only person I sit next to in this class. Mostly because he’s not like the other guys here. He can actually form words with more than four letters.”

Kyle smiled, but before he could respond with a witty retort concerning the mental capacities of their classmates, a bear of a human being descended on them from the front of the room. “So glad you could join us, Miss Tannon. Why don’t you take a seat next to your puppy before he piddles on the carpet and let me continue Mr. Creighton’s tour?”

Justin flinched like he had been socked in the stomach and sat down abruptly. The rest of the class laughed hysterically. Ashley glared menacingly at the teacher, but quietly went over and collapsed next to Justin in a huff. Kyle ventured a glance in their direction and thought he saw a tear slip down Justin’s crimson cheek. Kyle didn’t even know this teacher’s name, but he had already decided that this colossal twerp of a man would fit in very nicely with Randy and his herd.

“Well, Mr. Creighton, why don’t you come up to the front and tell us something about yourself. It’s not every day that we get a celebrity through our halls.”

From the back of the room a chorus of contained laughter drifted forth. Kyle could feel Randy gearing up for another bout of newbie-bashing, so he put on his best defiant face and walked toward the front of the room. Kyle felt the eyes of every person burning his back. It reminded him of the time one of his cousins had tried to roast a hole in Kyle’s shirt with a magnifying glass. Kyle felt like he was walking through a haunted house, knowing that there were creatures watching him from the shadows, just waiting for him to turn the corner. After what felt like years, Kyle found himself with his back to the dry-erase board, facing his fellow juniors with a smug teacher to his right and no means of retreat in sight.

“Alright, Mr. Creighton, we’ll start with an easy one. What brings you all the way to New Jersey?”

“Um, my parents recently moved us here for my father’s job.”

The teacher fixed Kyle in an icy glare. “Mr. Creighton, I don’t know how you were raised, but, in this classroom, you will address me as ‘Sir’”. Another round of giggling erupted from the back of the room.

Kyle felt a familiar burning sensation as the blood rushed to his face. “Sorry, sir.”

The teacher leaned back against his desk with a self-satisfied air. “Now, what kind of activities are you interested in? Have you thought about joining any of our clubs?”

Kyle was beginning to feel safe with this line of questioning. While his other instructors had asked polite questions, it was clear that they really wanted to know about his grandfather. He hoped that this teacher did not know who he was. “I don’t really know any of the school clubs yet, sir. But I enjoy writing and photography.” Kyle noticed that Randy was strangely silent this period, but still had a smirk on his spiteful face.

“Good, good. Tell us a little bit about your family.”

Kyle cringed. “Well, my father is a troubleshooter for a telecommunications company…”

The teacher cut Kyle off, “Tell us more about that.”

“Well, when one of the company’s offices is having problems, my father spends a few months in the region helping address any issues.” The teacher looked a Kyle expectantly. “Sir.”

“Very good, continue.”

“Um, my mother works out of our home. She writes for a humanitarian newsletter in Washington.” His information thus far was true, if not comprehensive. His father was in the telecommunications industry; he worked for GlobalCom, the only company to offer satellite communications to non-industry businesses and consumers. His mother worked in the public relations department of the United Nations Committee on International Aid. When Kyle was young, he had pronounced the acronym, “U.N.C.I.A.” like the sound “Un-key” so his family had come to refer to the organization as “Uncle”.

The teacher smiled patronizingly at Kyle, “Are there any other interesting people in your family?” A heavy silence fell over the class. They knew that this was the question the teacher had been waiting to ask. Kyle felt like he had been lured into the cave of a bear.

Kyle hesitated a moment. “Um, not really. I am an only child, so it’s just the three of us.”

The class looked disappointed, but Kyle was relieved to have dodged another question about his grandfather.

The teacher, however, was far from relinquishing. “I’m curious, Mr. Creighton. Why, of all the schools in the region, did you parents decide to send you here?”

A feeling of dread sank through Kyle like a brick as he realized that he had been had. There were a number of other exceptional private schools in New Jersey, but Creighton had won his parents over with their offer of lowered tuition; in honor of Oliver Creighton, of course.

Kyle was growing weary of the day’s constant barrage of sneers and stares. He knew that students were bound by an unspoken oath to be creeps, but the teachers were supposed to be on his side! Why was this one deliberately setting him up for embarrassment? Kyle looked down at the carpet.

“My…my, uh, grandfather founded the school,” he mumbled.

The teacher grinned, “I’m sorry, Mr. Creighton, I didn’t quite get that. Could you speak up a bit?”

Kyle closed his eyes and tried to collect his thoughts. With his last smidge of strength, he managed to lift his head and face his attackers. “My grandfather founded the school.”

The class snickered as Kyle’s eyes darted around the room trying to find a friendly, or at least a neutral face. He would have settled for someone snoozing in the back row, but he found nothing. His gaze came to rest on Ashley and Justin, who were whispering together determinedly. For a second, Ashley caught his view and Kyle was sure he saw her wink. It happened so fast that when Kyle blinked and looked again, her gaze was locked on the teacher at the front. She and Justin were both staring so attentively at the instructor that they no longer seemed to notice Kyle.

The instructor was oblivious, “And I am sure that our fine administration offered your parents a nice tuition cut.”

“I don’t know much about the money, sir.”

The teacher looked at Kyle with a face filled with unmistakable disdain, “Yes you do. Of course they did.”

Kyle just stared at the back of the room.

“So, Mr. Creighton, are you telling me that the grandson of our own illustrious Oliver Creighton is here on scholarship?” He spit the last word out like the very fact that it had crossed his tongue was offensive. Kyle could feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. “It’s so sad that family means nothing anymore. You’re parents had to accept the charity of our school to reserve you a seat. Riding on your grandfather’s coattails, are you?”

Kyle whipped his head around to glare at the teacher. His contempt for the teacher and this school in general had risen to the surface and was dangerously close to bubbling out of his mouth. This teacher had crossed the line and Kyle could feel his anger gurgling in his throat. But before he could fire a remark in his defense, Kyle jumped as a glowing apparition appeared above the instructor’s head. Kyle’s anger was immediately forgotten as a white cloud began to swirl and expand between the teacher’s very obvious hairpiece and the tiled ceiling. In the period of a few seconds it had grown from a tiny white dot to a grey, curling entity that was beginning to show signs of form. The entire class froze when they saw Kyle’s face turn from a vibrant red to the color of a ghost. The teacher frowned at the look of astonishment in Kyle’s eyes. He was speaking, but Kyle no longer seemed able to hear him. Slowly, a visage became discernable in the fog. Kyle was shocked to see his own features staring back at him from the mist. With a devilish grin, the ghostly Kyle reached toward the teacher’s rug and made to yank it from his head.

“What is the matter with you, Creighton? Did you really think that I didn’t know how you got into our hallowed halls?”

The teacher was moving slowly toward Kyle and the students were staring at the scene in bewilderment. Kyle was becoming aware of his surroundings again and realized that no one else in the room showed any sign of fear. He was beginning to think he was hallucinating. Kyle blinked and rubbed his eyes, but the grinning apparition was still there. Its now fully formed transparent body was sitting on the teacher’s shoulder and making lewd gestures toward the instructor.

The next series of events happened so quickly that no one in the room could have placed them in any kind of order. From the back of the room, a booming voice rang out, “THAT IS ENOUGH!” Every head in the room turned toward the tall woman who had just walked in the door. In the same instant, Kyle say his mirror form bolt past the teacher’s head and fly straight toward Kyle. Kyle screeched and jumped out of the way, flying backwards over the lab table situated at the front of the room. Atomic models and numerous other scientific-looking items scattered in all directions as Kyle slid across the smooth surface and toppled over the other side. The screams of the other students and the stammering of the teacher were all Kyle could hear as he felt the solid surface of the lab table give way to the startling sensation of weightlessness. The last thing Kyle saw was the apparition that had leaped at him disintegrate into tiny wisps of vapor. Then Kyle passed out.

Part 1: Being the part in which I introduce to you the main characters.

2004-10-31T23:49:00.000-08:00

Books and papers flew through the air. Pencils newly purchased and freshly sharpened snapped in half as school supplies spilled across the courtyard.

“Welcome to Creighton, sir. We’ll see you in class.” The thundering oaf smirked, “Oops, make sure you get some new pencils there, newbie.”

Kyle’s face burned as he heard the bully’s laughter fade into the distance. He waited a full minute before rolling onto his back and sitting up, hoping that any onlookers would take him for dead and move along. Regardless of location or tuition level, private high schools were all the same; arrogant teenagers with too much money and too much time on their hands. Kyle glanced around to get his bearings, or the bearing of his backpack, more precisely, and sighed. His pencils were broken, the brand new graphing calculator purchased for him by his grandfather lay shattered a few feet away, and he watched wistfully as his class schedule floated away on the fall breeze. Family had always been a personal hassle, but it was in this new environment that Kyle realized the grief his last name could cause in the world outside his family home.

Kyle reached for his glasses, which had landed in a small potted rose bush behind him, and stood up. “Another year, another school,” he said to himself. “The President’s kids don’t move around this much.” With another long sigh, Kyle began the slow task of collecting his belongings and assessing the damage. Aside from the pencils and calculator, his school supplies seemed to be in good working order, if no longer in pristine condition, so he began the trek to the registrar’s office for a new schedule.

Kyle trudged through the courtyard toward the administration building, pointedly staring at the complicated red brick pattern on the building in front of him. He knew that if he looked to either side, he would find some reminder of the difficult school year that faced him. Being the grandson of a wealthy entrepreneur had earned Kyle undo acclaim from a young age. Countless times, he had been approached by complete strangers who had lauded the generosity and business practices of his absentee grandfather. Kyle had always refused to accept these occurrences as the norm, preferring, instead, to believe each one a fluke.

Now, here he stood. Being overshadowed on three sides by buildings that shared Kyle's family name only served to reinforce his feelings of insecurity. It had taken a full hour's deliberation before his parents agreed that a private school in his grandfather's name was the perfect place for their little boy to grow up. And while the name recognition earned his parents a tuition break, Kyle knew it would earn him only the stares and laughter of his classmates.

"And, don't you know, that's exactly what I need." Kyle kicked at the ground in frustration, narrowly missing a plaque embedded in the cobblestone declaring this area the Creighton Courtyard. A low growl escaped his throat as Kyle tried to stifle a much more colorful outburst about the contributions of his grandfather. "What? Are you following me now?" With the taunting of his relatives beckoning him from the ground, Kyle did not realize that he had an audience.

"Psychologists have shown that one of the first signs of schizophrenia is unprovoked conversation with imagined characters."

Kyle snapped around and found himself face to face with a plain looking girl dressed in the mandatory Creighton plaid uniform, although the girl had untucked the oxford shirt and tied the tails together in a complicated knot. He could understand why he hadn't sensed her approach; the girl reminded Kyle of a mouse and he decided that she could probably move as silently as one too. Her shoulder length brown hair was pulled back in a matching plaid holder and she had tied her uniform sailor tie to her wrist like a bracelet. Kyle felt at ease around this grinning face immediately, sensing the same slightly rebellious spirit in her that his mother often tried to punish out of him.

"Sadly, this character is far from imagined. He just doesn't happen to be in the courtyard at the moment." Kyle took a step back as the girl moved forward to look down at the plaque that had drawn his attention.

"Ah. Your conversation was with Mr. Creighton? Better be careful about things like that. Some of the students here are convinced that he is watching us through hidden cameras and stuff. You never know. He might have heard you."

"You don't believe that, do you? I've read about conspiracy theorists. Aren't you supposed to be holed up in a shack somewhere in Wyoming?"

The girl looked taken aback and, for the first time, a hint of a frown appeared on her face. "Not a conspiracy theorist. Just a realist. Besides, if I had the money to build an entire school, I'd want to keep an eye on its proceedings." She looked up towards the cloudy sky and sighed, "Anyway, it's just a rumor. You'll hear a bunch of them if you are going to be at school here. I heard on the bus this morning that Creighton's snotty nephew is starting here this term."

Kyle couldn't stop himself. "Grandson," he blurted. Then blushed and looked away.

"Oh, you heard that too? Wow, news travels faster than I thought. Isn't this your first day? I haven't seen you in any of my classes."

Kyle felt like kicking himself for his inability to turn off his mouth. "Yeah, um, sorry. My name's Kyle. Kyle Creigh..." Kyle cut himself off before he completed the name.

"Kyle Cray? Well, my name is Ashley. You're bound to find a bunch of snobs around here, so I always try to introduce myself to the new kids as soon as I see them. Gotta cut off the supply lines of new prey before the jerks here assimilate them."

Kyle smiled to himself and felt relieved to have found someone resembling normal.

Ashley looked irritated. "Why are you smiling? Did they already convert you?"

At this, Kyle couldn't help but let out a laugh. "No, it's just that I've already been introduced to the school of jerks and I think I failed the entrance exam." Kyle's experience with the bully a few minutes earlier was already beginning to sink to the back of his consciousness.

"Yeah, I saw him as I was leaving the Hacket dorms. That was Randy Batttleson. His dad is the head of the board of trustees at the school. Which, inevitably, makes him a creep creep, but don't let it get to you. In a few days, he will have gotten bored with you and moved on. And if that Creighton kid shows up anytime soon, you'll be a thing of the past."

"Great. Fresh meat."

"Exactly. And not only that, fresh meat with novelty attached."

Kyle felt bad about misleading the first person to treat him kindly since he arrived, but not bad enough to tell her the truth and face her judgment. "Well, I've got to go. I am already going to be late." Kyle slung his backpack over the opposite shoulder and, once again, headed off for the administration building.

Ashley jogged up behind him, "Why are you going that way? Classes are over here."

"I know, but I have to get a new schedule. Mine is probably halfway to Oz by now."

"Oh. Well, I'll walk with you. The Admin can be kinda confusing at first." Ashley felt into step next to Kyle and proceeded to walk determinedly toward the registrar's office.

"No, really, it's okay. I am already going to miss the second bell; I don't want to get you in trouble too."

Ashley shrugged, "Ah, it's no problem. Mr. Norton hates me anyway. He can't stand the fact that I won't let him get away with quoting directly from the textbook for an hour. He's a teacher, for crying out loud. So, teach! If I wanted to read the history book, I wouldn't have used it as kindling at the back-to-school bonfire!"

Kyle found himself laughing again. He was having trouble remembering why he had been in such a bad mood seconds before and was enjoying his conversation with the vivacious female on his right. Kyle let her keep talking all the way to the registrar's outer office without interjecting once and Ashley seemed perfectly content to provide the entertainment. Before he knew it, Kyle had a new schedule in hand and was headed to Algebra II as he listened to Ashley tell him about the incident with the dead chicken in the wall of the boys bathroom. Kyle chuckled and silently prayed that his new friend represented the majority of the students. For some reason, he doubted it.