Nestled in the Chicago suburbs rested the small, one school town of LaginaWood. A sleepy little city where teenagers drink, date, party, and hopefully study. Where citizens hail the Cubs without much reason, high school football is practically a rel...
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Raiden
My plan to keep my phone turned off had one advantage: I couldn't see if June had dumped me, meaning we could be together. Obviously that meant we could be finished, but if I didn't know, we'd still be together in my mind. It was like that one scientist guy with the cat I'd learned about the year before: we were both dating and broken up at the same time, but only when I turned on my phone could one option be decided on for sure.
This plot came with two downsides. Firstly, I couldn't know whether or not Armann had retrieved the pictures off Tristan's phone. Secondly, with my phone turned off, I didn't have an alarm and had overslept, missing most of first period. But that was only commons, so it didn't really matter.
Part of me knew I needed to find June, rip the bandage off, and stop tormenting myself with wonder. But if there was any chance that cat—my relationship—was alive, I'd let it go on forever. I could still sort of function if I could believe we were together. Without her, I'd be lost. There was no Raiden Bedagi without June.
Wandering towards fourth period Speech class, I bumped into Ben and Motor. I hadn't even noticed them, but Ben snagged the handle of my backpack and dragged me towards them.
"What gives, man?" Ben demanded. "Skipping practice last night? Coach is royally pissed. I reminded you."
"No you didn't," I said. In all reality, I couldn't remember if Ben had reminded me or not. I hadn't even remembered there was practice.
"Yeah, I did."
"Coach said slacking off in week one is unacceptable," Motor added. "He's being a crazy hard-ass this year. If you miss again this week, you're benched on Friday."
I raised my hands in defense. "Guys. It's me. I've never missed practice before. So relax. Scrimmage with JV tomorrow, right? I'll be there."
"Better be," Ben muttered.
I shrugged off my friends and headed on my way. Somehow, I felt worse than the day before. It had been shock, a total blur and disbelief in my own idiocy. Now, I was alert. Buzzing, sick with dread, but alert. I slogged into Speech, Hartfuer's class of chaos. She wasn't a bad teacher, but if sophomore year had been any indication, her flightiness would let the class go wild. All the better for me.
"Alright, people," she announced after the bell had rung. "Today I'll be introducing our first formal speaking assignment. You'll get up, and in two to four minutes, let us know something you believe in. World peace? Santa Claus? Free extra credit? Which will go to whoever the class votes as the strongest speaker."
What did I believe in? I believed I'd fucked up. I believed I couldn't function without June.
"Because this is just our first assignment, I just want to see your natural inclination for speaking. Fifteen minutes to prep, and we'll start presenting," Hartfuer said as the class broke into nervous whispers. "Don't worry. I'm not grading you for your ability, just for whether or not you attempt the assignment. The feedback you get will help you for your long term projects this semester."
