Chapter 2

Two: The Locker Room

           

            At least the bus ride wasn’t entirely terrible.

            Aiden was first to be picked up, followed by Kirk who promptly took a seat next to him so that they could compare schedules one more time.

            “Hey, Kirk, do you run track by any chance?” Aiden asked sarcastically.

            Kirk laughed.  He was wearing his favorite track jumpsuit, complete with the jacket that bore his name on the back, and a matching wrist band.  He also sported a brand new pair of Puma shoes and his wavy, dirty blonde hair was perfectly pushed out of his face with his sweatband.  In a way, he looked a bit eccentric, but there was no denying that he was quite good looking.

            “Well, I’m just trying to stand out today.  You know how boring the first day of school is… nothing exciting ever happens,” said Kirk.

            “Yeah, that’s true,” said Aiden.

            Kirk whipped out his schedule from his drawstring bag and unfolded it.  “Our Homeroom is in Seven hall again this year.  Hopefully our lockers will be in the middle of the school like they were last year, which was nice.  And then we split for English and meet up again for Chemistry and Gym.  Where do you wanna meet for that?”

            “I don’t know,” said Aiden. “I’ve got English in Four hall, if that helps, but I have no idea where our Chem room is.”

            “It’s in Eight hall.  Angela used to have a locker at the end of Six and you could see the Science rooms from there,” said Kirk.

“Man, still finding ways to bring her up aren’t you?  You really gotta let that go.  It’s been almost four months.”

Angela was Kirk’s old girlfriend of about ten months.  She was captain of the cheerleading squad and the best flier the school had to offer.  Considering Kirk was a star track runner, they actually made a good pair.  Aiden never knew why they even broke up and just couldn’t understand why it bothered Kirk so much.  He could have any girl in the school if he tried.

Kirk said nothing and faced the window.

“Okay, why don’t you just meet me in Four hall outside of my class and we can walk then.  Good?” asked Aiden.

“Yeah.”

The rest of the bus ride was awkward, to say the least.  Neither of them could keep a conversation moving.  Kirk mostly stared out the window while Aiden pretended to polish his gold ring, a typical act for when he was feeling awkward.  Aiden figured that he’d hit a sore spot when he mentioned Angela.  Sometimes Kirk was a little too sensitive, especially when it came to girls.

After Homeroom, they split off to go to their first class.  Kirk was already in much better spirits, having received a lot of attention for his outfit.  That was the thing about Kirk; things just seemed to go his way all of the time.

“See you in a bit,” said Aiden.

“Yep! I’ll hurry over after the bell,” called Kirk.

Aiden’s first period English class was hardly worth remembering.  Consistent with his usual bad luck, he didn’t know anyone and got stuck sitting in the front of the room by himself.  His teacher, Mrs. Prang, didn’t improve his situation either.  She was about eight months pregnant and her mood swings were blatantly obvious.  She also seemed to think that she was absolutely hilarious, even when nobody laughed at her jokes.

Aiden figured that if English was that bad, it could only mean that Chemistry would be a little bit better.

Maybe.

Probably not.

Definitely not.

Aiden barely had to wait a full minute for Kirk.

“Hey.  This way, let’s hurry and get good seats,” said Kirk, grinning.

The two rounded the corner into Eight hall which was much different from the others.  It was obvious that this hallway was constructed as an addition years after the school had already been erected.  The hall was enormous, bereft of lockers but clad in various glass cases that sported school trophies and other rewards.  Aiden paused as they passed a trophy that was larger than he was, bearing a plaque that read, “2005 National Chemical Compound Competition – 1^st Place – E. Hazzlok and Class.”  Fearful of falling behind, he hurried himself to catch up to Kirk, wading through thick odors on his way; one of the Science teachers was clearly not wasting any time in demonstrating experiments.

“Alright, I think this is the one,” Kirk chimed as they reached the end of the hallway.

The classroom was much bigger than he had expected.  It was large enough to hold fourteen lab tables, thirty two cabinets, an emergency shower station, seven Bunsen Burners, a long counter top near the white board, and an odd looking storage closet that seemed out of place.  The two took their seats at a table on the right side of the classroom not far from the closet.  A few more students filed into the classroom and then the bell rang.

 For a moment, the class sat in silence, waiting and wondering where their teacher might be.  Aiden leaned back in his chair for a second and nearly fell over from the noise that erupted from his right.

 The storage closet door swung open violently and a tall, well-dressed man emerged.  He walked quickly, but gracefully, to the front of the classroom with a slight click from his dress shoes scraping the tile floor. His long, jet black hair remained cemented to his head.  He took his place in front of the counter top, fixed his glasses, and drew a marker from his breast pocket.  Nobody said a word as he spun around, his frilly white dress shirt swishing as he moved, and began to write on the board. 

Seconds later, a cursive “Mr. Hazzlok” made a bold appearance in front of him.  Aiden instantly recognized the name from trophy in the hallway.

“Hey, Kirk, this guy’s name was on that huge –“

“I don’t think it would be wise for you to break the silence on the first day in my class, young man,” said Mr. Hazzlok with his nose stiffly pointed into the air.  He drew a small pen-like object from his rear pocket and pulled it apart like the end of a straw to form a pointer.  He whipped it toward the white board and underlined his name. 

“… Mr. Hazzlok.  I do not prefer Mr. H or any other derivation of my name.  I am not a fan of aliases, so you will all do well to remember me as such.”

Aiden could tell that he was not going to like him already.  Within two minutes, he had already shown that he was snobby, strange, and short tempered, not to mention that this man had called him out in front of a group of people that he would be sharing classes with for the next nine months.

“Welcome to tenth grade Chemistry.  We will go over classroom safety procedures tomorrow, assign lab partners and such at a later date, and talk about what makes Chemistry better than Biology whenever we please”

A few students gave a fake laugh, which seemed to please Mr. Hazzlok. His stone face broke into a half smile.

“This year is going to be fun.  We are going to mix things, make colorful liquids that can melt metal, create great flames and fumes, and most importantly, we – will – blow – things – up!”

It seemed like every head in the room was turning toward its neighbor’s with wide eyes and excited faces.  Suddenly, Mr. Hazzlok didn’t seem so bad.

“Unfortunately, because it is the first day of school, I am required, by the state, to fully explain the syllabus.  Bear with me for it is slightly long… You, the one who tried to rob me of classroom control just a few moments ago, pass it out for me,” he said, leering at Aiden.

That’s twice now that Hazzlok had singled him out.  Aiden felt heavy as he stood up, as if all of the eyes in the room were glued to his back.  He decided that he was going to be defiant and not let this teacher get the best of him.  He didn’t want to start the year on the wrong foot.  He boldly took the papers from Mr. Hazzlok, who suddenly seemed much taller up close than he appeared from across the room, and handed a packet to all twenty eight students.  Aiden took his seat and Hazzlok began to go over the syllabus.

To say the least, Mr. Hazzlok was quite a unique teacher.  He spoke much differently than Aiden was used to.  It was almost like he was too proper.  His grammar was perfect, his word choice was sometimes odd and outdated, and he had a slight hint of an eighteenth century London accent.  His posture was perfect and he moved as if he were an actor on a stage.  Despite all of this, Aiden could not help but dislike him.  And judging by how Hazzlok had treated him earlier, the feeling was mutual. 

Aiden began to zone out, but was brought back when Hazzlok’s pointer smacked the table in the front of the room.

“Also, although this is not on the syllabus, I would like to add that there is no such thing as falling behind in my class.  You are all expected to do every assignment that I give and if you fail to do well on exams, you will be required to stay after school with me to improve.  Is that clear?”

A few students mumbled their approval.  Some nodded their heads.  Aiden shook his own in disgust.  He loathed this man.  It was time to get out.

And he was quite right.  The bell chirped furiously through the classroom as his classmates made their way to the door.

“I shall see you all on the morrow,” called Hazzlok.  “And next class you will leave when I dismiss you, not the bell!”

Everyone filed out of the classroom, Aiden and Kirk in the back of the mob.

“Well, guess we know which class is gonna suck the worst already,” said Aiden as they made their way back through Four Hall.

“Ah, come on, man.  You’re just mad because he called you out.  It won’t be that bad.”

“Are you kidding?  Were you even paying attention?  He’s so arrogant I could scream.  And you know I’m going to be screwed with his exams.  I’ll have to stay after thirty six times a week.”

Kirk laughed. “Okay, Mr. Three Point Nine Five GPA.  Yeah, you’re so screwed…”

“Nine four, but whatever.  He hates me already!”

Kirk shrugged.  “Just suck up to him next class or something.  I don’t know, man.”

They soon reached the door to the locker room and pulled it open.  The smell of sweat, body odor, and powerful deodorant already tainted the air.  Aiden could feel his nose crinkling involuntarily.  The smell was awful.

Aiden found his locker from last year and stuck his padlock on it, claiming it as his own.  Kirk’s was also vacant so he did the same.

“Well, judging by the stink in this room, I’d say we’re doing a little more than just stretching and jumping jacks today,” said Aiden.

“I’m really hoping it’s dodge ball or something exciting.  I’d even take soccer today… my first class was a snooze-fest,” said Kirk as he slipped on his gym clothes.

“Yeah, I’ll second that!” called a voice from behind them. 

Aiden and Kirk whipped around to see their long-time friend Dylan Criss.  Dylan looked much like Kirk, except that he had very prominent buck teeth and a rather large mole on his cheek.  He was thin with a muscular chest and broad shoulders from a few years of BMX riding.  Dylan loved to make jokes and stir up trouble in his classes so he was always a ball of fun.

“Yo! I thought we weren’t going to have classes together this year, what’s up?” Aiden said with a smirk.

“They had me in the wrong History class so they had to rework my whole schedule this morning.  Kind of annoying, but now I feel way better!” He grinned and handed Aiden his new schedule.

“Awesome! We’ve got Latin, Lunch, History, and Graphic Design together!” said Aiden.

“Looks like a good year for us,” said Kirk, beaming. 

The three exchanged high fives and exited the locker room.  They moved out into the huge open floor, scanning the gymnasium for any hint of what they might be doing. 

The basketball nets were raised to the ceiling and inaccessible, there were no cones laid out, and no bases or nets set up.  Aiden groaned and the three took a seat on the cold, wood floor.  He gazed aimlessly around the room while Kirk and Dylan discussed Track and Field stuff.  Everyone seemed to be coming in from the locker rooms now. 

At first it began as a secretive glance and then immediately evolved into an obvious fixation.

Aiden’s eyes were locked on to the short, blonde girl who was making her way over to him. 

He was mesmerized.  Her perfect hair was pulled back in a pony tail, revealing her icy-blue eyes and smooth, pale face.  She had the body of a ballet dancer and moved with the grace of one.  No, she didn’t just move.  It was more like gliding, like a figure skater.  She carried herself so confidently.

He couldn’t stop staring at her.  There were a million pretty blonde haired girls at Eastern, but she seemed different, somehow.  Aiden felt nervous and excited, like he was at the top of a roller coaster.  As she fixed her hair, he noticed a flash of a gold ring on her left hand, much like the one that he wore. He was smiling bigger than ever.

She was looking at him, too.  She blushed.

Was she coming to talk to him?

It seemed too good to be true, and it was.  A hand waved in front of his face and he turned around.  Kirk and Dylan were laughing.

“Got your eye on the new girl there, Champ?” Dylan taunted.

“Wha-what? She’s new?” stammered Aiden.

“Yep.  She was just in my English class.  Said she just moved here a few weeks ago.” Kirk chimed.  “Really quiet, though.”

Afraid of being further provoked by Dylan, Aiden pointed to the door that their teacher, Mr. Bunkley, emerged from.  He was a tall, fit man in his late twenties, who strode with sort of a lazy swagger.  He had a fine-trimmed goatee that made him look cockier than he already was.

“Ooookay,” he bellowed in a drawn-out voice that echoed off of the bleachers.

“Start stretchin’ while I do attendance.  Let’s see here… Kirk Acari! … Laura Adonis! … Alyssa Berkheiser! … Aiden Brande! …  Myriah Conway!”

Aiden’s insides began to scramble when the pretty blonde haired girl raised her hand.

Myriah Conway… what a pretty name, he thought.  It just had an easy flow to it.  She was fascinating.  Kirk made her out to be quiet and shy, but for being new to the school, she looked quite comfortable.

Bunkley finished roll call and yanked a large, mesh sack out of the storage closet and Kirk leapt to his feet.  Sure enough, an assortment of colorful, squishy dodge balls could be seen through it.

“Line up for teams!”

Before Aiden, Kirk, and Dylan could guess at how the teams were being split, it was too late.  Bunkley was going down the line, alternating between team one and team two.  Aiden and Dylan found a home on team one while Kirk was hung up on team two with what seemed like way more girls than boys.

“Ha! That’s fine.  Gives our all-star a handicap,” Dylan whispered to Aiden excitedly.

Bunkley tossed five balls to each team and a warzone of blurred colors erupted.  Aiden was on his toes, determined to beat his best friend on the first day of Gym.  A ball shot out from Kirk’s hand like a cannon and whizzed its way past Aiden’s ear as he ducked just in time.  Before he could regain his balance, he was forced to dive to his left to evade the incoming assault.  As his body smacked the cold, hard floor, he saw one of the school’s baseball players, Devon Buterick, lock his eyes on Aiden’s exposed body and he began to wind up.  Trapped, he stuck his arms out… he had no other choice; he had to catch this one.

            The ball zoomed toward him so quickly it seemed like it defied space and time.  Aiden felt it rebound off of his fingertips and soar into the air behind him.  He barrel rolled backward on the floor as if he were trying to put out a fire and caught it with one arm outstretched.

“Nice, dude!” whooped Dylan as he gave an encouraging clap.

“Nice moves, Brande!” called Devon who was immediately whistled to the sideline.

Aiden was so caught up in his spectacular display that he barely noticed how many people had already been eliminated.  It was now a four on four.  Aiden, Dylan, and two cute girls who had managed to avoid being knocked out solely because of their good looks remained on one side.  On the other, Kirk, a red-haired girl, and two blondes, one of whom was Myriah, remained.

“Come on, knock the chicks out!” called a voice from the sidelines.

The remaining players seemed to comply because four balls immediately connected with one of the girls from Aiden’s team.  Dylan pegged the red-haired girl while Aiden snatched up a red ball with his sights set on Myriah.  Maybe if he didn’t hit her too hard he could make a flirty apology later.  He wound up his arm and released.  His aim was perfect, but his power was nearly non-existent.  The ball fell short of her by a full five feet.

            Whoops… too light, he thought to himself, and apparently everyone else thought so too as the whole sideline erupted in laughter.  Aiden found himself next to Dylan.

“Hey man, I know she’s cute and all but I wanna win this thing.  Get her out,” he panted.

Myriah scooped up the blue ball by her feet that had bounced off of the girl next to her, and squared up at Aiden.  He was ready for it.  Surprisingly, the ball flew from her hands with great velocity but, strangely enough, dropped short a few feet from his ankles.

 It was two on two, finally.  Kirk and Dylan had obviously set a focus on each other, leaving Aiden and Myriah to duel.  They reared up simultaneously and threw, both with much greater force this time. 

It was pathetic.

It looked like they both pitched with their off-hand.  Both balls missed their marks wide left.  Aiden was quickly losing his temper.  Sweat began to drip down his forehead.  Myriah seemed just as aggravated.  With teeth clenched, they both ran to a new ball for round three. 

At the same time, they threw again even harder and their throws fizzled out once more.  Aiden’s shoulder pinched from the force of his toss.  He looked to his left just in time to see Dylan and Kirk nail each other in the chest.  Kirk stamped his foot on the ground and cursed under his breath as he took his place on the sideline.

Aiden’s fury was now mingling with nervousness.  He and Myriah were the last two standing and all eyes were on him as the favored winner.  He tossed two balls at her in rapid succession and she barely needed to move to dodge them.

“I think someone’s got a crush!” mocked a voice.

Crush or not, Aiden could not fathom why he could not strike her. He was playing as if his life depended on it.  A lone ball sat motionless on the center line.  He saw Myriah start for it and he quickly followed suit.  They drew near the center and their eyes met as they reached for the single ball. 

Her eyes, like solid spheres of ice, pierced his very gaze and a chill encumbered him.

He felt his legs give out a little. 

It suddenly felt like he had not eaten in days. 

What seemed like hours translated to a silent and motionless two seconds where both remained fixated on one another.

Aiden and Myriah’s knees each buckled and they fell to their backsides.  Fury and confusion quickly came over Aiden.  Fearful of being taunted, he immediately rolled over and clutched his ankle, feigning an injury.

“Hey! Easy you two!” barked Mr. Bunkley.

Aiden scrunched his face up, pretending to be in pain.  It must have been pretty convincing because Dylan and Kirk were immediately at his side.  A few other boys came over to help Myriah up but she brushed them off and stood up on her own.  Aiden’s eyes met hers and he saw a hundred different things in those deep cerulean cesspools. 

Anger.  Sadness.  Mystery.  Confusion.  And most of all, fear. 

She looked at him as if he had just threatened to murder her and she ran toward the locker room.  Aiden hung himself on Dylan and Kirk’s shoulders and hobbled his way over to the Boys’ room.  Once inside, they propped him down on a changing bench.

“You alright, man?” asked Kirk.
 “Fine,” Aiden said, clenching his jaw.
 “That was the weirdest looking-“
 “I know! Go ahead.  Mock me for losing to a girl!  Just go keep playing…”

Dylan looked like he was about to say something when Kirk put a hand on his shoulder and redirected him to the exit.  The two left Aiden alone in the locker room.  When he heard the door shut, his anger consumed him. 

Ugh!  Why me!?

He punched his locker as rage swept over him like a tidal wave. 
 Again he struck the locker and the clang of the metal echoed throughout the hollow room. 
 Another blow.

And then, something incredible happened.  He slammed his fist and tried to rip the padlock off.  A surge of heat filled his body and his hands felt like they were burning.  Maybe it was from punching the locker, or maybe it was because his hands were literally engulfed in flames.  Liquid metal that had once been a solid padlock oozed from the webbing of his fingers.

Horror and panic flooded his mind.  He was paralyzed with fear.

The padlock that he had put on his locker no more than twenty minutes ago was now completely unrecognizable.  A puddle of a black and grey metallic substance stained the tiled floor.

His hands were still on fire, the light reflecting brightly off of his gold ring.

Why wasn’t the ring melting?

Never mind that, why didn’t this fire hurt?

He stared at his hands is complete shock.  Maybe he was too shocked to feel pain.  Was he hallucinating?

Aiden bolted over to the sinks and turned the cold water on, full blast, and stuck his hands under.

The pain was unbearable.  Now it really did feel like his hands were burning.  But there wasn’t any steam.  In fact, the fire wasn’t even being doused in the slightest.  He was running out of ideas.

Should he scream for help?

 He tried waving his arms to put out the flames but that only seemed to make them grow larger.  He ran aimlessly around the locker room flapping his arms like a bird.  The wooden bench next to him began to blacken and smoke like a campfire.

Aiden’s body was a complete inferno.  He was surely going to die.

 In a matter of seconds, the fire alarm had begun screaming and the sprinklers activated above his head.  Jets of water shot at him like liquid shotgun shells, and they felt like it, too.  Aiden roared in agony as he ran for the exit, he had to get out of here. 

He whipped the door open in time to see Mr. Bunkley, Dylan, and Kirk running at him.  The whole gym had stopped what they were doing.  Kirk stifled a scream as he watched what was left of the flames burn out on Aiden’s body. Before Aiden could say a word, his soaking wet body slapped the gymnasium floor and everything turned black.