Over the Wall: A Collection of Short Stories (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Day 2: The Blackout

It was true that people felt less confined in the dark.

It had been a normal day at school when the lights had suddenly gone out. The class had been in the middle of a history lesson on World War I when it had happened. They had sat in silence for a while until the security guard came in, announcing that the fuses had burst because of the storm and the lights were going to be out for a while. That’s when the class let out a sigh of relief and began their own side conversations as their teacher, Ms. Knight, who was new and still nervous with dealing with teenagers, tried in vain to convince them to listen to the end of the lesson. Once the security guard left she sat in her chair slumped over her desk in defeat.

Sophie Gomez was one of the ones who began her own side conversation. She felt bad for Ms. Knight but she also didn’t want to cause ripples by trying to get the class to settle down. Besides, the lesson was very boring.

She had decided talking with her best friend, Lindsay Hall, was much better than trying to remember all the reasons World War I started in whatever year it started. But apparently Lindsay did not feel the same way. Not about the lesson but about the conversation. She was busy staring at Eric Ford’s head from where she sat two rows behind and a seat to the right from him. Lindsay had a boyfriend and it wasn’t Eric.

It was Ryan, who sat two rows in front of and three seats to the right of Lindsay, just one seat separating him and Eric, who was Lindsay’s boyfriend. He was the only one in the class who was trying to read the notes Ms. Knight had passed out. Ryan had been friends with the two girls since kindergarten and his family had far less money than theirs so he always tried to study, even when he didn’t need to.

Sophie looked back and forth between her friend and Eric a few times before saying,

“Aren’t you looking at the wrong guy?” She meant to say it jokingly but Lindsay’s sudden glare showed her that she hadn’t said it jokingly enough.

“What are you trying to say.” Sophie squirmed in her seat. She wasn’t used to Lindsay speaking in that tone. Well she was, but she had always used that tone on other people, not her.

“Well?” Lindsay said.

“Uh...” Was all Sophie could think of. She wasn’t meant to be the articulate friend. That first comment alone was the most she had said altogether all day, if not this week. Lindsay sighed and turned back to studying Eric’s head. It was proportional, Sophie supposed.

Giving up on starting a conversation, Sophie turned to look around the room and see what everyone else was doing. Isaac Weber was shooting spitballs at Mason Newstrom and his girlfriend Hannah Lincoln, who were making out. Isaac had a habit of acting like he was seven instead of seventeen while Mason and Hannah had a habit of never going five minutes without sticking their tongues down the other’s throat. Near Isaac was Nikki something, who was new. She wore too much make up and too-tight shirts that probably didn’t make her boobs as big as she wanted them too. She was checking her reflection on her phone screen and fixing her bright purple lipstick that Sophie was supposed was supposed to seem exotic. Sophie didn’t like make up. Lindsay said that’s why she didn’t have a boyfriend. Sophie was pretty sure it was the whole not-talking thing. Maybe they were both right.

The only person that really intrigued Sophie was Greg Daniels. He was new like Nikki but was different due to all the differences that came from having a Y chromosome versus a second X. Lindsay didn’t like him since he seemed too “cliche” and was a “Judd Nelson wannabee,” but Sophie thought he seemed cool. Really cool.

She didn’t realize she was staring until Greg caught her eye. She looked away for a second then looked back. He was still looking. Then he smiled. Her eyes widened but she did nothing else. He just smiled more. She started giving him a little smile back and then he winked. He winked and that did it. She blushed horribly and turned forward in her seat to see Lindsay glaring again. This time she wasn’t glaring at her though. She was glaring at Greg.