Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Chapter 1.2

            Sunlight finally broke through the window and Aiden’s eyes shot open.  He rolled over and stretched under the blankets, nearly knocking his snoozing cat off the bed, who took off at a run.  He sat up and matted down the thick chunks of gingery-brown hair that stood erect on his head and rubbed the crust from the corner of his eyes.  Grudgingly, he slipped out of bed and pulled on some athletic shorts and a T-shirt and trudged down the hall to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

            As soon as he reached the table his heart sank.  The calendar on the wall to his left read “31 August,” which meant that this was Aiden’s last day of summer vacation, his last day of freedom.

            Over at the stove, his mother, Lauren, was whipping scrambled eggs together while tending to toast and bacon.  Lauren was a middle-aged woman with curly black locks and fair skin.  She stood just about the same height as Aiden and was very thin, as she always had been.  Her short-trimmed, square glasses were pressed against her tiny nose, not moving an inch as she bowed her head over the stove.  She turned around and made eye contact with Aiden, but hesitated to say anything just yet.

            Aiden flopped down into an empty seat at the counter and heaved a great sigh.  The thought of beginning his sophomore year at Eastern Regional High School was absolutely terrifying.  As teachers and his parents liked to say, this would be the first year of the rest of his life, the year that he would take his first big steps into adulthood.

             But Aiden was not ready to grow up just yet.  He wouldn’t even be turning sixteen for another two months.  He didn’t want to have to think about responsibilities or his future just yet.  However, his mother made this nearly impossible.

            She gave him plenty to think about.  She said it was her way of preparing him for what’s to come so that he could stay calm and be successful.  It didn’t work out in her favor, though.  All it did was make Aiden more nervous and stressed.

            Lauren finally broke the silence. “Do you want anything besides what I’m making?”

            “No, this is fine,” said Aiden.

            Lauren turned the bacon over and sidestepped to avoid getting hit by the hot grease that popped furiously in the pan.

            “I was thinking that we could go shopping after breakfast and get some last minute school things.  I’ve got a couple of coupons that I’d like to use before they expire,” said Lauren.

            Aiden sighed and gave a half of a laugh to hide the annoyance in his tone. “Mom, we’ve gone through this a hundred times already.  I have everything I need.  Honestly, this year won’t be much different than last year.”

            Lauren gave a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, really?  Then I guess college only exists in Fairytale Land and the SAT test was created by the government solely to torture teenagers like you.”

            “That’s not what I meant, Mom.”

            “I know, Aiden.  But you have to think about this kind of stuff.  I don’t hound on you because I like to, you know.”

            “Yeah, but college is, like, three years away…”

            “Good grades this year means advanced placement next year and then Advanced Proficiency courses your senior year, which count as college credits.  Wouldn’t you rather work a little bit harder now instead of really busting your butt your first year of college?”

            Aiden really wanted to say “no,” but he knew if he did that it would mean an even longer lecture from his mother.  When she got going like this, there was usually no stopping her until Aiden felt guilty enough to give in and agree with her.  He could never win.

            She handed him a plate of eggs and bacon and turned to collect the toast.  “So, what are you going to do today since we’re not going shopping?” she said.

            “I don’t know.  Might try to get a Frisbee game going or something.  I kind of want to enjoy my last day of summer since it’s my last day to be a kid,” he said somewhat mockingly.

            “Well, maybe it is, Aiden.  It’s almost time for you to get a job.  Even if some school things are up in the air, the odds of you getting a car are one hundred percent, and they don’t pay for themselves.  You’ll have about a year to get enough to pay for most of a used car.  There is only so much your father and I can help you with.”

            Aiden said nothing.  He wanted to get out of the kitchen as soon as possible because he simply did not want to talk about his future anymore.  Sometimes he wished that he could just live in a fantasy world where nobody had to grow up and be responsible.  He quickly finished his breakfast and left the table.

            Back in his room, he grabbed his Frisbee and his cell phone and slipped on a pair of ratty sneakers, then went back to the kitchen.  Still annoyed with his mother, he made his goodbye quite short.  “I’m going to Kirk’s.  I have my phone on me,” he said.

            Lauren nodded as she cleaned the table.  Aiden turned, picked up his skateboard next to the front door, and left the house.  He figured it would be rude to show up at Kirk’s without warning so he pulled out his phone and sent him a text.

          Mom’s annoying me.  Heading over to your place. Frisbee?

            His ride to Kirk’s was pleasant as always.  The roads were flat but winding and he lived only a few minutes away if Aiden traveled by skateboard.  Kirk was Aiden’s best friend, despite the fact that the two were pretty different people.  One was always significantly better than the other at something.  However, Aiden sometimes thought that he was just average and that Kirk was better than he was at everything.

            He reached the front of Kirk’s dumpy, old house and rapped three times on the weather-beaten door.  Mr. Acari answered the knocks.  He was extremely tall and towered over Aiden, but was about as intimidating as a teddy bear.  He wore a blonde goatee to cover up his boyish face.

            “Hey, Aiden, what’s up?  Kirk’s just finishing up his summer reading project in his room.  You can come in if you’d like,” he said.

            Before Aiden could respond or even set a foot through the front door, Kirk was already there ushering him back out on to the front walk.  This was a normal occurrence because Kirk was thoroughly embarrassed by the condition of the inside of his house.

            “Hey, got your text.  I’m up for a game,” Kirk said with a grin.  He had two water bottles in hand and gave one to Aiden.  “I’ll be back later!” he called as he turned and waved to Mr. Acari.

            The two started walking to the park down the street from Kirk’s house.  Neither spoke yet as they were busy sending texts to others in an attempt to make a pick-up game.  After a minute, Aiden stuffed his phone into his pocket and looked at Kirk.

            “Thanks.  Mom got into school mode and I just didn’t want to hear it.  Not on the last day of summer,” he said.

            “I know, man.  You’d think I’d committed a crime or something with the way my parents had me locked up doing my summer reading this weekend.  And the lectures on how important this year is going to be… I could vomit,” said Kirk.

            “It seems to be a trend among parents, I guess.  But whatever.  Who did you invite for the pick-up game?” said Aiden.

            “The usual.  Dylan, Ray, Andrew.  Few others.  We’re bound to get a couple of them to play.  It’s too nice out to sit inside.”

            They quickly reached the park and set their water bottles on one of the picnic tables and Aiden dumped his skateboard underneath a bench.  The place was deserted so they had the whole field to themselves.  Kirk jogged away and held up his hands for a pass.  Aiden obliged and sent the disc flying in his direction.

            They tossed back and forth for a while, forcing each other to make a great effort for a catch.  Kirk was a much better thrower than he was.  He threw with such style and could make it look simple no matter what type of throw he did.  Left-handed throws, hammer throws, flicks, and even left-handed flicks.  It was almost as if he had control of the wind.  After half an hour, the two sat down on a nearby bench, tapped in to their water bottles, and checked their phones.

            “I got a bunch of nothing.  How about you?” asked Aiden.

            “Same. Everyone’s doing their summer reading it seems like.”  Kirk sighed.  “I really wanted to do something other than think about school.”

            “Well, I guess it won’t be that bad this year.  I mean, you and I actually have a few classes together this time around.  And anything is better than last year,” said Aiden.

            Aiden’s freshman year was a complete train wreck.  He had zero classes with Kirk and hardly had any other friends.  His teachers all seemed to dislike him and graded him a bit unfairly.  It was the first time in his life that he received anything lower than ninety three on his report card and his mother threw a fit.  Not to mention that he had broken his left ankle and couldn’t skateboard for two months last Spring.

            “Yeah… come on; let’s work on your hammer throws.  They still sink too early,” said Kirk.

            Aiden and Kirk spent the remainder of the day working on trick throws and walking the town to enjoy their final day of being stress-free.  Dinner time approached and they decided to call it quits.

            “See you tomorrow, bright and early,” called Kirk as Aiden made his way home.

            Aiden entered his house to find Lauren sitting on the couch, reading.

            “Your father’s on his way home.  He’s picking up a pizza for dinner if you’re interested,” she said.

            “Maybe.  Kirk and I ate not too long ago,” he replied.  While this was true, Aiden really just didn’t want to eat dinner with his parents so he could avoid another speech about his sophomore year.  If he had to hear “that he should go to college to get a good job so that he doesn’t have to work long hours like his father” one more time, he was going to lose it.  “I’m going to take a shower,” he said.

            Aiden loved taking long showers.  The warm water was relaxing and it was his time to be alone and think about things in peace.  Tonight, however, his thoughts were clouded by what was to come tomorrow.  He could not shake what his mother had been telling him.  Instead of taking his time, he washed quickly and got out.

            In his towel, he wiped the steam covered mirror to look at himself.  He saw an average boy with an average looking body and an average looking face staring back at him.  He didn’t have too many unique features.  Except maybe his hair.  Mostly red with tawny shades and very thick.  For a red head, he had no freckles splashed across his face to speak of.  Instead, he had a clear, baby soft face which was actually quite handsome.

            A thought struck him.  What if Lauren pressured him about school so much because she knew that it was the only thing that he was good at?  Top of his class, but no other qualities to boast about.  He wasn’t a sports star like his best friend.  His musical talent wasn’t anything special.  His creativity and artistic ability were subpar.  Maybe she thought that he was meant to lead an average life.  It was fitting, though; his life was not very exciting.  Feeling down, he went to his room, dripping water behind him along the hallway.

            He slipped on a pair of sweatpants and tossed himself on to his bed.  He scanned his room, truly looking at his walls.  Pictures and posters of professional skateboarders, video games, book series, and musicians were tacked up on nearly every inch of the white walls.  How nice it would be to travel the world as a skater or a guitarist.  How wonderful it would be to be the main character of a book or video game that was destined to save the world.  But life was not a fantasy that he sought after.  It was reality, and he had to face it whether he liked it or not.

            In his mind he could hear his mother’s voice, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.  Part of him knew that she was right, but he didn’t want her to be.  He wasn’t ready for it, and maybe he didn’t need to be.

 After all, it was still the same school that he knew last year, the same people who would treat him the same way, and the same horrible teachers who would horribly teach.  And he would go on, day by day, living his boring, uneventful life.  He was destined to be average, and it was time to accept it.

            He drifted off into sleep, oblivious to the fact that, after tomorrow, he would realize just how wrong he was.