The Temple

Chapter 1: Not All Walls Are Solid

In case you ever go to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, I just want you to know something: don't lean against anything. Seriously, don't. My friend Rachel did once, and now she's DEAD. *cue dramatic music*
     Nah, I'm kidding. But for real, don't. Oh, you don't believe me? You want proof? Fine, I'll give ya some. But, if you end up traumatized, just imagine my saying "I told you so". If it helps, you won't be the only one.
     First, a couple of things about me. Yes, I know I may come off a bit mean, but fuck you. And no, I'm not biased, I'm a very good storyteller. And lastly, this is not a joke. Don't try anything, it's not funny. Why would I take the effort to write this all down if it was just a joke? Do I seem like someone that would do so much for a simple prank?
     Yeah, that's what I thought.
     Anyway, let's get this over with. I have more things to do.

When I woke up that faithful morning, my first thought was: "I really have to change my alarm sound." 'Shallow' was blasting through my room. I quickly shut it off, before Jamie could hear and start crying.
     I stayed in my bed for five more minutes before I really had to get up. Waking up is such a goddamn pill. And that day, because of that dumb school trip, I had to wake up even earlier. I didn't even want to go to that museum.
     After a quick shower, I dressed in faded black mom jeans and a black Vans t-shirt. I'm not emo, I just like black. It suits me.
     My dad was already sitting at the table when I got downstairs. As always, dad was drinking his coffee from a cup I painted when I was eight and reading the paper.
     'I left you some coffee,' he said in between sips.
     I sighed happily. 'You're a lifesaver.'
     My breakfast consisted of two pieces of toast, some strawberries and, of course, a full cup of coffee with milk and four teaspoons of sugar. Coffee is great, but without sugar it's really too bitter. Starbuck's coffee is the best by far. Whenever me and my friends come near one, we always go in.
     At five past seven, I told my dad we really had to get going if I want a good seat on the bus and we left. We took the car, obviously. What else do you expect me to do, go with my bike? 40 minutes long? Don't think so, buddy. Global warming isn't that big of a deal, guys. Please calm down.
     With the car, it's only 15 minutes, so we got to school a little early. I quickly spotted two of my best friends, so I waved my dad goodbye and zoomed out of the car. My dad isn't the person you want to meet your friends. Such a dork.
     'Good morning, Violet,' Rebecca Anderson smiled brightly and gave me a tight hug.
Rebecca is a morning person and really unbearable during the early hours of the day. It's scary how much energy she can have after just waking up. Rebecca's thick, black hair was up in a ponytail. Today, she put it up with a yellow scrunchie. I have honestly never met anyone with more scrunchies than Rebecca, it's an addiction. Rebecca is a very proud VSCO-girl.
     'Shut up,' I grumbled, taking a sip of the cup of coffee I filled at home. Rebecca and Jane laughed at my response.
     I looked at our classmates while Jane Taylor filled us in about the boy she'd been talking to online. She has a new love interest every other week, and after a while you kind of stop listening.      Of course, Jason Crawford was there already. Probably had been for the last hour. Everything about this kid screams nerd, from his overly thick round glasses to his last name. I mean, Crawford? You have to be smart with a name like that. Jason was sitting on a bench and reading an incredibly thick book. Why would he bring that on a school trip?
     To Jason's right stood Lucas Clark and Isabella Griffin. Lucas was telling her a story and, based on his hand gestures, he had been wrestling a crocodile or something. Isabella was laughing hard and kept touching Lucas' arm.
     'I bet Rosa is not gonna like that,' I said as soon as Jane was done talking, pointing at the two subtly.
     Jane scoffed. 'Lucas is such a dawg. Did you know he asked me to send him nudes only last week?' she said incredulously.
     'Yes,' Rebecca and I said in unison.
     'I can't believe Rosa doesn't notice Lucas cheated like five times already,' Rebecca mused.
     'Speak of the devil.' We kept watching as Rosa Jenkins walked up to the two cheaters and kissed Lucas passionately. Those two really don't know anything about boundaries in public. After a few seconds, they were basically dry-humping.
    Isabella looked disappointed at the sight of her best friend and her best friend's boyfriend going off on each other. She desperately looked around for somewhere else to go, and then she found us. She waved happily and came over. 'Hey guys,' she smiled.
     'You and Lucas sure do get along great, don't ya,' Jane teased.    
     Isabella smiled slyly. 'Yeah, when he's not eating Rosa,' she leaned in closer, and we did too, sensing a secret was about to be spilled. 'Don't tell anyone, but we made out yesterday.' There it is. 'And Friday we're meeting up again after school. He's not as in love with Rosa as you may think.'
     At that moment, Rosa stopped making out with Lucas to call for Isabella to come back.
     'See ya,' Isabella turned around, but then gave us one last look. A look of secretiveness. She put her finger up to her mouth, and so did we. A lie, of course, but Isabella didn't have to know that.
     'So, Lucas is now also cheating on Rosa with Isabella. Should we tell Ginny?' Rebecca turned to Jane and me.
     'Of course,' I scoffed, 'do you think I care about keeping Isabella's secrets? We're not even really friends. She only talks to us when there's no one better.'
     'That's true,' Jane mused.
     'Yeah, I don't really like Isabella either,' Rebecca agreed.
     I was just about to say something, when Adam Miller distracted me by blasting out of his dad's Mercedes. I rolled my eyes while Adam high-fived everyone in sight, even Jason. He did a lap of honor, for no apparent reason, and then ended at the football team. Or, the few football team members who were going on this trip. Adam took out a speaker and started playing Travis Scott loudly.
     We were still staring judgingly at Adam and his crew when someone sneaked up on us.
     'Wow,' the person sighed from right behind us. We turned around to see Rachel Martinez, my best friend. She has had the biggest crush on Adam since forever. Actually, it was since 3rd grade. Adam helped Rachel up, and she never forgot about it. 'He is such a cutie.'
     'Sheesh, pathetic,' Jane grumbled.
     'Look at those biceps, it feels like forever since I last saw those,' Rachel was basically melting.
     'Keep it in your pants, girl. It's been a day,' Rebecca reminded Rachel.
     'I know,' Rachel pouted, 'I'm just saying it feels like forever without him around.'
     'God, if you like him so much, why don't you go talk to him?' Jane asked tiredly and tried to push Rachel in Adam's direction, but Rachel wouldn't budge.
      'No way! We've been over this, Jane, whenever I try to talk to him, it just ends up being super awkward. I'm not like you,' Rachel said, a hint of jealousy in her voice.
     'You know, he's human, too. What's the worst that could happen?' I smiled devilishly, enjoying all of this way too much.
     'What a cliché, I expected better from you, Violet.'
     I turned around to see Ginny Greene, her hands on her hips and her dark curls held back by a blood-red bandana. With her chocolate skin tone, her full, red lips and her gorgeous hair, Ginny is easily the prettiest of our group. No wonder all the boys are crazy about her.
     Anyway, I smiled brightly and gave her a hug. 'Sorry, I'm working on some stuff.'
     'If you're here,' Jane pointed her finger at Ginny after also giving her a hug, 'the bus must be leaving soon.'
     Ginny smirked and started to reply, but then one of the teachers who was coming with us on the trip, Mrs. Collins, called for our attention.
     I snickered as Mrs. Collins started to explain some rules to us. Don't eat in the bus, don't talk to strangers, blah blah blah. This wasn't our first rodeo.
     We made sure to be at the front of the line so we could get the best seats. The doors opened and we rushed inside. We got the seats at the back, but not the absolute back, because the football team was sitting there. Because there's five of us, one of us had to sit next to the four football team members. Jane said she didn't mind.
     I sat next to Rachel, obviously, on one side of the bus and Ginny and Rebecca on the other side.
     Adam, who was in the middle, kept his music on and soon all four footballers were rapping along to the incredibly sexist lyrics.
     I rolled my eyes internally, but Rachel just stared at Adam lovingly.
     'Dear god,' I muttered.
     'What?' Rachel asked.
     'How was your weekend?' I asked. I knew I could count on Rachel to talk for a while.
     We had to sit in that stanky bus for three hours, and when we got out, Mr. Willis happily told us we were going for a walk around the city. Apparently, there's a lot to see in Ann Arbor. Never heard of the place before today, but alright.
     We had to split up in three groups of fifteen and after a bit of beautifully chaotic chaos, the five of us were in a group with the four football players, Lucas, Isabella, Rosa, weird emo girl Kate, her super gay, closeted boyfriend Simon, Jason and Mrs. Walker, the history teacher. How fun.
     We walked to the hottest spots in town and a guide told us all about Ann Arbor's great history. Apparently, the first name for this gorgeous town was "Annarbour" and it was founded in 1824. The University of Michigan moved here from Detroit when Ann Arbor was only 13 years old.
And then –you guessed it— our guide started talking about politics! Since the 60ties, one group of politics decided to move to Ann Arbor. The guide gave us a bunch of examples of famous politicians that lived there. I knew maybe one.
     After having heard the lovely history of Ann Arbor, we went on a scavenger hunt. In groups of five, we had to go and find the famous Fairy Doors. We got half an hour to find five Fairy Doors and take photos with them. We were done after about 15 minutes. Then the five of us just sat down somewhere and chatted for the rest of the time.
     We then went on a one-hour tour of the University of Michigan. All I learned is that I never want to go there. If I even go to a university –big if there– I'd want to go to New York. I love New York. When I was nine, I went there with my family. We spent a long weekend strolling through the endless streets till late at night. I remember not getting much sleep. Well, you can't expect on a long good night of sleep in the city that never sleeps. No, the junkies and hobos will make sure you're up till at least 4.
     I still love it, though.
     We got an hour for lunch. At 2 o'clock we had to meet up with our group at the Kelsey Museum of Archeology, Mrs. Walker was very specific about that.
     So, the five of us went to Subway, where we found the football players. We ate with them; which Rachel was both happy and upset about. At least she knew she was awkward around him.      At Subway, I started texting with one of my brother's old friends. He told me he had found some pictures of my brother he wanted to send me, and I was waiting for them to upload. I didn't notice us leaving and walking all the way to another shop only until we were inside it.     
     Starbucks, of course.
     I ordered a Frappucino and sat down, still waiting for the photos to upload.
     'Earth to Violet?' Jane waved her Starbucks cup in front of my face, trying to get my attention.
     'What?' I asked, a bit more crossly than I meant to.
     'Remind me not to interrupt you when you're texting your boyfriend.' I rolled my eyes at her. 'I asked if you were excited for the museum?'
     The museum was about old dead stuff, how fun.
     'It's a school trip to a museum about people that died over a thousand fucking years back.' My friends snickered. 'Does live get any worse?'
     Rachel laughed so hard she spat out a bit of her drink. 'You sound just like that guy in Friends: "Could I be wearing any more clothes?"' Now I also started laughing. I dared Rachel to watch all of Friends in two weeks. She didn't sleep for two days.
     'Oh, god, please stop talking about that tv-show,' Rebecca groaned. Rachel and I stopped laughing, as best as we could, and I took a deep breath. That made Rachel laugh again, which made me laugh again.
     'STOP!' our friends cried, which, of course, only made us laugh harder again.
     Later, we were walking in the museum. It was about gods, Greek, I think. There were all sorts of weird temples we could look at. Verrrrrry interesting.
     Rachel and I lost the group somewhere in the temple for the ultimate big guy, Zeus. We had a guide, who was telling us how exactly Zeus killed his father Kronos. He was super excited about it, and I'm sure he thought Zeus was the best god to have ever existed. Not that they're real, but you get the picture. He didn't seem to realize that basically every Greek myth starts out with Zeus cheating on his wife with some way hotter chick. Hera obviously choose the wrong husband.
     Anyway, we walked to the temple devoted to Athena. It looked kind of boring. It was the same as all the other temples, but without the nice patterns carved in the walls. The only thing on the wall was one sad owl, Athena's trademark. Like all the other temples, one side of the wall was partly surrounded by pitch-black clay. There used to be a statue of the particular god or goddess within the black clay. Now, it just looks weird.
     Rachel and I sat down against the wall and started talking. We talked about all sorts of things –mostly guys, Rachel's favorite subject. We talked about Adam, of course. Rachel really couldn't go five seconds without mentioning him. But was she ever going to ask him out?
     'Of course not! Are you crazy? I don't need my hart broken,' Rachel said.
     Suddenly, Jason entered the temple. 'There you are! The class is waiting for you. And you're not even looking at the temples, you're just sitting. So disrespectful.'
     I rolled my eyes and stood up. 'We were looking at the temple.'
     'Yeah,' Rachel chimed in, also standing up, 'we were looking at this beautiful clay door thingie.'
     'It's not just a clay door.' Jason looked at us disapprovingly. 'A statue of Athena used to be there. Did you even know this is the temple for Athena?'
     I scowled. 'Of course, we, –or, at least, I— am not stupid.' I got a punch from Rachel for that comment. 'There is an owl, the mark of Athena.'
     Jason actually looked impressed that I knew that. Yeah, I know my basic mythology. I've read Stephen Fry books.
     Now Adam also joined us. 'Hey, what's taking you so long?' he said to Jason, and then he saw us. 'Oh, hello ladies,' he winked.
     I rolled my eyes, but Rachel almost collapsed. 'Hi, Adam,' she said in such a sweet voice it made me want to throw up.
     'Let's go, they're waiting,' Adam said to Jason again.
     Jason scowled. 'It's not my fault!'
     I snickered. 'You're the one who wanted to look at this mysterious clay door, didn't you, Crawford?'
     'Again, it's not a door.' Jason looked super irritated, which made me want to tease him even more.
     I started pushing random bricks in the wall. 'Didn't you say you thought this door would open if you push the right stones?'
     'Come on, Violet,' Rachel said, leaning against the "door". 'No one is gonna belie—' She couldn't finish her sentence because –I swear to god— she fell through. She fell through the brick wall. Her feet were still on our side of the wall, but she quickly pulled her feet through as well.
     'Awesome!' Adam called. He jumped through the wall head-first. Reckless little...
     I was still super perplexed and looked at Jason. He looked about as surprised as I felt. His face made me grin again.
     He saw my grin. 'Don't even think about it,' he said sternly.
     Hearing him tell me not to do it, made me want to go through even worse. Maybe I'm a little reckless as well. But still, who was he to tell me what to do and not do? I narrowed my eyes at Jason, then looked at the clay door thingie and casually walked through.