2020 Vision | Unus Annus

Chapter 1 - Humble beginnings

Unus's POV

"Ethan! Pay attention!"

I quickly turned my head back to the board, the class giggled at my mild embarrassment.

I couldn't help it, I could just see the playground out there, waiting to be used. The slides glistening in the California sun, the monkey bars ready to burn holes in the soft flesh of anyone who tried to cross them, a swing set drifting in the light breeze.   

A sudden jab in my side pulled my attention back, once more.

Mark, one of the four kids at our little group desk quickly made a nod from me to the front of the room. A look of almost pity on his face, but he couldn't hide a hint of amusement in the form of a small smile.

I turned around to see what he meant.

Across the colorful carpet on the floor leading up to the board was Ms. Jennings, she looked like she was waiting. Not quite impatiently, anyone could see she's done this before.  To the right of the board, her little wall of class photos from 3 or 4 2nd grade classes of the past proved that.

"Ethan? Did you hear me?"

I shook my head nervously. 

She pushed her blonde hair behind her right ear.

"Can you name one of the planets in our solar system?"

I glanced around the room quickly, looking for some sort of visual aid or reminder. I had to be quick. Times tables on the wall by the desks, colorful behavior chart by the door, reading section in the corner, the date that read 2007 on the board, cat pictures telling me "You can do it!" and my peers all eyes on me. I could feel my face warming up. My eyes settled on a globe on a desk in the corner, a small smile crossed my face, bingo.

"Earth" I responded confidently.

A bunch of kids giggled and I grinned, it didn't feel so bad this time, I knew I was right.

It wasn't quite the answer Ms. Jennings hoped for but she was satisfied enough it seemed.

"Okaaaayy" She said, her blue eyes darting around, looking for someone else. "Who else can name a planet!"

I glanced over at Mark and doodled a bit on the table, he didn't look down at them despite my best efforts of trying to get his attention. He must have actually been interested in Ms. Jennings guessing game.

A girl from another table raised her hand.

"Mars!" She said, pleased with herself.

"Good!" Okay, what else.

She continued for a while, Mark and I would usually take this time to pass drawings or whisper jokes, I had drawn a tic tack toe board next to my doodles and poked him once again but he seemed pretty focused on these planets or whatever.

Abandoning my table games, I once again focusing my attention on the shiny swingset outside.

Maybe, if I can swing high enough, I can see Mars or even Pluto!

I figured I'd let Mark in on my plan later.

"Okay, guys! It's 12:15, time to go to lunch! Everybody line up, Arin, your line leader today! Dan, your caboose, Ethan and Mark, you two are on lunch bag bucket duty!" Ms. Jennings announced, I grinned at Mark, he returned the look. Finally, freedom.

"And when we get back, we're going to talk about the school play again, anyone who wants to join can talk to your parents tonight, I'll remind you again when we get back. We'll be starting English and today we're going to be talking about roots!"