It Started in the Classroom

Chapter 3

I was barely paying attention during roll call but managed to listen to a couple names. One that got my attention was Jamie Herbert. He was this nerdy lanky boy with nudelarmer, noodle arms. I chuckled thinking about it. He was very serious with his "present and accounted for." I don't know if he said that on purpose or not, but either way, I think it's funny. I've barely talked to him throughout the years. I remember in middle school how he was that one kid who would wear sweatshirts in the blazing summer days and shorts in the freezing winter.

"Alright...we're waiting on Philip...Gavin is still trying to move...Time for the first activity," Mr. Howard sighed quietly. "When I call your name," he started to say, getting everyone's attention, "you come up to the board and tell the class your name, two fun things you did over the holiday and one fun fact about yourself." As Mr. Howard explained what we had to do, he pointed a wooden ruler at the board with what he just said written in slanted cursive.

"Chiho?"

"Aw, man, that's me," Chiho muttered in my ear as she got up and made her way to the front of the class. "Okay so, I uh," she looked at the board, already forgetting what she needed to share. "My name is Chiho and two things I did this summer was, uhh, well, I went to Ocean Breeze a couple times and hung out with some friends," Chiho awkwardly scratched her leg. "And one fun fact about me is that my first language is Japanese!"

"Very interesting, thank you," Mr. Howard nodded. "Yusuf?"

Yusuf went up to the front of the room. He had brown skin with gelled hair that he slicked back. "Well, I didn't really do anything this summer other than going to Greece for like a month," Yusuf began. "Oh, and my name is Yusuf. Okay, umm, one fact about me is that I like to walk dogs."

"Okay, thank you," Mr. Howard says. "Since Gavin isn't here, Derek, you're up."

Derek got out of his seat confidently. The only way I could describe Derek was rich and a "bad" boy. He was a bully, too. Also, he had big ass eyebrows.

"Hey, the name's Derek if you didn't know," Derek says and claps his hands together and rubs them. He has this way of talking like he was the smartest person and everyone else were idiots. He talked loudly, too. "Two things I did this summer was that I got a new, hot girlfriend and got my own car. And one fun fact about me is that my family owns fourteen boats."

I glance over at Emilia but I can't see her face. Oh, boy, it'll be interesting to see what Instagram story she's going to post later about this. The next person called was Patty Fisk. I've known Patty for about ten years and I will go out of my way to let everyone know that she was the most generous and kind human being and she was always so positive and amazing. Patty and her father lived on the lake and her father owned a local fishing company that goes out to the East Coast over the summer to help with learning how to safely fish and how to stop littering. Man, this school doesn't deserve Patty. She had the most beautiful red hair and freckles all over her face and arms. Patty had the most contagious smile with her kind, patient brown eyes.

"Hello, my name is Patty. Two things I did this summer was I helped my dad fish in the ocean and hung out with my boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend?" Samuel blurted out, confused. Everyone seemed to look around at the new information.

"Oh!" Patty's smile grew (if that was even possible) and pointed to the door behind us. "There he is!"

I whipped my head around to see Philip Parker, a dark skinned boy with dreads. But the first thing I noticed was he was wet. His maroon shirt clung onto his thin form and he wiped the water off his arms.

"You're dating Parker?!" PD yelled, looking back and forth between the two. "Since when?"

"Over the summer!" Patty replied happily.