Viper

Ch.7

  You may be thinking, "Silent, I thought you said this was an adventure story. Where's the adventure?"

  Trust me, it's coming soon; but for now, please be patient with me. I'm struggling to make the boring part of the story not so boring. Also, I may have messed up some information. All of us are in our Junior year, not Senior. Anyway, back to the story.

  Ostentatious and I strolled to the Algebra 2 classroom since we were early. I looked closely at the halls for the first time. White tiles checkered the floor. Whoever chose white for the floors should be fired. I mean, honestly, no janitor is ever going to be able to keep the white floors of a highschool clean. I don't even want to know what happens on these floors.

  Lockers lined the walls of the right side, about two feet from the white ceiling. On the left wall there were bushes, benches, and water fountains for whoever dared to risk getting sprayed by the faulty nozzles. Also on the left were the classroom doors, spaced about twenty feet apart.

  We met Owen, Brave, Michael, and Grace outside the door to our classroom. Thankfully, Grace and Brave were talking off to the side and didn't bother including the two new boys. Michael, per usual, was leaning against a wall in the corner, on his phone. Owen left his conversation with the girls and walked to Ostentatious and I, balancing a stack of books in his arms. "Hi," he said, introducing himself, "I'm Owen. I'm in your home room."

  "Hi," Ostentatious said, "My name's Oliver, and this is Silas." I nodded in greeting, afraid that if I spoke, my voice would crack and I would embarrass myself. "Are you in Algebra 2?"

  Owen nodded and tapped the book on the top of the pile; his algebra book. "How did you guys do in the first year?"

  "Uh, we've already taken Algebra 2, and yes, we passed."

  His eyebows furrowed.

  "Please, don't ask questions. The situation is too long to explain."

  "Sure--" he gave them a suspicious look-- "But I hope you'll warant me some leeway for suspicion."

  Ostentatious looked at me. "Um, I don't really know what that means."

  Owen and I both answered. "It means, don't get mad at him if he's suspicious." We looked at each other. He burst out laughing, but my face turned red from embarrassment. I don't know why humans think situations like this are amusing. An awkward silence settled over the three of us, ended by the bell warning us to get to our classes soon. We filed into the room, us three the only quiet ones among the chattering crowd.

  Surprisingly, Owen chose the desk on my left side; Ostentatious sat on my right. I thought that, after that awkward scene, he would sitt on the opposite side of the room from us, but he didn't. Grace sat directly in front me, adding to my growing embarrassment. Thankfully, she didn't acknowledge my presence behind her. Michael and Brave sat on either side of her.

   The teacher began to drone on with an introduction of himself and the class. I was bored before the arms of the clock passed five minutes, so I looked around the classroom, trying to pass the time quickly.

  There weren't many students in this class. The school as a whole was pretty small, but the six of us from our home room made up half the class. The other six students sat in the same formation as us on the left side of the room. It was a strange seating arrangement, but I wasn't about to complain. I'd rather be surrounded by people I at least know the names of than complete strangers.

  The room was as bland as classooms come. The entirety of the walls that weren't covered with whiteboards were painted with an off-white color. The teacher had a rickety podium that squeaked and creaked whenever something touched it and an old, beaten-up desk that looked like it was about to collapse any second.

  The teacher himself was as steriotypical as they come. He wore khakis and a white shirt with a navy blue tie. His glossy brown shoes made no sound on the thinly carpeted floor. At the moment, he was outlining, with a black marker, the schedule of the class on the board. The marker squealed every so often, causing the class to cringe into their chairs.

  The period passed relatively quickly once the teacher actually started talking about algebra and before long, we were back in the halls, standing around and chatting. Well, Ostentatious and Owen were chatting. I stood to the side and listened. After a few minutes, Owen asked what class we had next.

  Ostentatious answered. "We have P.E. next."

  That didn't seem right. I fumbled around with my backpack for a moment, trying to find my schedule. After I extracted it from the mess of papers and books that had already accumulated in my brand new bag, I scanned the list of classes and times until I found the fourth period. "Hey. I don't have that class."

  "You don't?" Ostentatious asked, taking my paper to look at. "I guess you don't. I thought we had all the same classes, but, apparently, I guessed wrong."

  "What am I supposed to do?" I asked as I was handed my schedule back.

  "Go to band class. Duh."

  An unpleasant feeling settled over me. "Alone? Os- Oliver, I can't do that!" I was starting to panick.

  "Calm down; you'll be fine." He patted my shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

  "Don't worry about it? It's band, and I can't play an instrument! What can't I worry about?" I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs just wouldn't expand enough.

  "Silas, are you okay?" Ostentatious asked. "You look pale."

  "Yeah, I- I'm fine. I just need a minute with some quiet."

  "Good luck finding any here," Ostentatious snorted.

  Owen spoke. "Um, I'm not sure if this helps you at all, but I'm in band- and so is Grace, for that matter. We both play violin."

  I honestly didn't know if that made me feel better or worse. On one hand, I don't think I could call him a stranger anymore. On the other, if Grace was going to be there, band class would be even more humiliating, provided that could be possible. I just nodded before a warning bell rang and we separated; Ostentatious alone and me with Owen.

  As we walked, Owen spoke. "There is one thing you should know: our band class is more of an orchestra than a band. We don't have drums or anything like that. We just have the typical woodwinds, strings, and brass."

  I nodded, acting like I knew what he was talking about.

  "What do you play?" he asked.

  The question caught me off guard. I thought he had heard me when I mentioned to Ostentatious that I couldn't play an instrument. Now, I didn't know what to say. "Um, I don't."

  Owen stopped walking, causing a jam in the hallway traffic. "You're taking band class and you can't play an instrument?" Someone bumped into him, pushing him back into the flow of the crowd. "What were you thinking?" he asked.

  "I didn't choose. Long story."

  "What? I can't hear you; can you talk louder?"

  My face burned. What was I supposed to do now, say no? I focused all of my attention on keeping my voice in control, directly defying the curse of my name. "I said--" deep breath-- "I didn't choose." My voice cracked on the last word. I hung my head, not wanting to look in his eyes to see the laughter that would surely be there.

  "Oh," he said, " Weird. Well, we need to hurry to get to class on time." He sped up, leaving me behind as I contemplated in confusion. The kids that I had previously gone to school with would have been cackling hysterically. I sped up, realizing that if I lost Owen, I would never be able to find the band room.