The Jingoist

Brick 217- Drip down the Legs

"Oh Floydd! You look so handsome!" Mrs. Waters cried, as he sat innocently at the table eating his cereal. It wasn't that Floydd looked particularly goodlooking that day, it was just that he was leaving for Lambryd that afternoon. She was trying to be nice of course, telling him he looked good in his new uniform.

Mrs.Waters hands shook with pent up energy as they combed back his dark hair. "Oh if only your father were here to see this," she exclaimed sighing," your father was a model of a man."

It was ironic. Alive, his father was only complained about, but dead, why, he was practically a saint. Finishing his cornflakes, Mrs. Water's kissed Floydd on the cheek. It felt dry and tasteless on his cheek. "You have fun at your last day of school now, honey. Say goodbye to all your little friends," his mother smiled at him, "I'll pack your things up while you're at school, now hurry before you're late."

At school, all the boys looked awkward, uncomfortable in their new, often oversized uniforms. Floydd felt weird about it, especially since the girls still remained in the old uniforms. He felt a little bummed knowing that they would be seperate now. To a certain extent Floydd really liked girls, they were often cute and bubbly, telling him how pretty his blue eyes were or how nice his skin was.

The teachers called them all up according to what school they were going to attend and announced it to the class in order from unheard of to most prestigious. Floydd was the last and only boy able to stand up when Lambryd's name was called. He felt embarassed, alone in his burgundy uniform. He could sense the eyes on him, questioning his validity.

The class' smartest kid in purple uniform glared at him from his seat. Since he was not particularly rich,artistic, or athletic, and only excelled in academia, he had been forced to take the 5th best school in the country. Only the most gifted in both academics and athletics were supposed to qualify for Lambryd. Floydd was neither. Floydd could hear the whispers, "Bet his families just rolling in the dough," "What? That little prick?" "Must've been a mix up."

This was the one thing that Floydd could not stand. He hated to be judged and watched by people. He didn't cry, but he sure did blush, and his pale skin made it plainly obvious to anyone around. He felt the pink begin to form on his cheeks, began to squirm under all the scrutiny. Finally, the teacher allowed him to go back to his seat and he ran back, face down, trying to hide his rosy cheeks. But even then, safe in his anonymity,lost in a sea of chairs, Floydd could still feel that uncomfortable sensation of so many eyes on his skin. Eyes that wanted to burn him and make him disappear.

Floydd grabbed his arms, pushed his nails into them, continued to stare at the front of the class, wait for the teacher to give directions. But inside, he was in turmoil, and truthfully he agreed with the other children, he wished he didn't exist too.

The bell rang for the morning recess and Floydd felt relieved. His friends rambled around him as they went outside to the blacktop. The sun shone down on them but the wind was blowing hard that day, so everybody hung close to the shelter of the building rather than running wildly around as per normal. It was at this point, that he realized he was not ready to leave for Lambryd. It wasn't that he wasn't ready to leave his mother, He had simply never kissed a girl.

For some reason this troubled him, it was his last day around girls for the next six years of his life, yet he hadn't taken the first part of his life to make any effort to kiss one. Suddenly he was calculating his chances, the shallow conversations of his friends and their plans for what they were doing at academy became unimportant. He walked away, and over to a girl named Vera. He'd talked to her before in class, she'd sat in the seat in front of him the year before and they'd gotten to know each other. He knew she liked him because she was a very outgoing girl and her friends would always broadcast the news of whoever she liked. At the beginning of the year it had been Brian Crodfield, but a few weeks into sitting next to Floydd it had changed and he hadn't heard anything past that.