The next day I walked the hallways with Dominic and Ava; we discussed the school's current state of condition.
"I don't know, it feels so different here now, it used to be all shiny and new, but now it's just kinda gross and dark," Ava explains to us. "I guess I just sort of miss not having all of these difficult classes."
We both nod our heads in agreement; things were different here and not solely for those reasons. Sign Language isn't an easy language to understand, let alone teach. So they were forced to cut the program because of the rigor and not enough people were "bothered" to learn it. He's been finding it difficult, but he's been learning how to lip-read to make it easier on others. And for me... Let's just say ignoring Sean isn't the easiest thing.
"AND1," one of Sean's teammates screams in a prepubescent voice; Richard Johnson. Sean was a player on the Varsity Basketball team, just in case you needed more evidence as to why I should give up on this crush.
"Chill bro, it's not that deep," Sean says, chuckling. "That's why you're just in JV," and the whole hallway clamorously erupts into a unified "Damn."
Richard and Sean walk to Mr. Gibson's class laughing and talking to each other. Sean turns around to meet my gaze. And once again, a short, brief moment of silence commences, only interrupted by the pump of blood in my heart restarting it. "Hey Daniel," Sean says before getting playfully shoved into class by Richard.
"Get to work, studious fellow," Richard says, laughing as he runs to meet up with a girl in the hall. "I thought you were going to talk to Sean today?" he says very loudly. I stand stagnant for a few seconds before walking once more. Ava and Dom pull me in and usher me into class.
"Good Morning, Mr. Gibson," I say in an excited tone, trying desperately to hide my emotions. He was a new teacher, so he didn't know something was wrong with me. I take my seat near Sean. He looks at me and smiles awkwardly.
"Why're you smiling," I say chuckling. He begins laughing and scratches the side of his neck.
"Look at this," he leans over and my heart starts pulsating rapidly, my body gets warm and I sit glued to my chair as I grasp the edges of my seat. He shows me his phone and it's a Tik Tok of rapid images and loud noises. I begin to laugh uncontrollably and he follows suit.
"That is pretty funny," I say, regaining my strength to talk after laughing until my sides compressed.
"My friends didn't think it was, I'm glad you did," he says taking back his phone and continuing to smile. "Hey I was wondering; basketball season is gonna start soon, did you wanna come to watch? I'll get you in for free," he says eagerly.
"Sure, text me when and I'll be there," I say in a nonchalant sounding voice, hiding the deep-rooted excitement that bellowed within me. And before we know it time is up and the bell is rung, we all exit the class and head to the second period.
As I navigate through the halls to the science lab where my class took place; Forensics. I arrive and my teacher appears to be grinning from ear to ear. Her teeth were remarkably straight and white and she waved eagerly at me. I smile and wave back as I enter her class, but she stops me.
"Good Morning Mr. Jones!!! You look so radiant today," she says as she dismisses me. I smile as I take my seat next to my lab partner who was a girl who had red hair and who was about my height which is about 5'6. She had multiple ears, nose, and belly button piercings. She was wearing a green crop top with a white top, white pants, and Dr. Martens. She smiles and waves at me.
"Sorry I wasn't here yesterday I was still in Oregon, my name is Grace," she tells me.
"Oregon? That sounds fun I hear so many good things about it," I say very intrigued with her story.
"Oh my God, yes it's a dream there," she says passionately "I'm gonna live there one day, I might just go to college there," she says contemplating before returning back to the conversation.
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Daniel," I say in an excited voice "but you're gonna go even with the out-of-state expenses?" I ask her while chuckling.
"Oh, of course, that stuff doesn't really matter to me," she says in a confident tone. We talk all throughout class, talking about just about everything like celebrity crushes; Grace's was Timothee Chalamet. And before we knew it class was over and the third period would start soon. Everyone packs up and meets at the door eager to leave.
"Bye Daniel! I'll see you tomorrow," she says happily as she rushes out of the class with her Red Bull in hand.
The rest of the school day was boring and uneventful, and it would remain that way for the next few months until October. There were fun moments throughout the months though, once, Grace and I drank three energy drinks in the span of 5 minutes. Dominic, Ava, and I went to the movies to go see Shang-Chi, me and Ava were fangirling over Simu Liu the entire time. I especially liked that my Dad and I were getting closer. My mom still was a bit standoffish when it came to emotional support, but she was always there for me academically.