Color Coded (A Frosh Story)

Corresponding Combinations

   He had always wondered what the sky looked like. It was an endless sheet of emptiness, the color remaining constant.

   His mother said that it was a beautiful color. It was her favorite. Young Fred, at only seven years old, couldn't think why the dull grey was her favorite, before he knew that blue was a color.

   Maybe he would learn to like blue.

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   The sky was full of grey clouds. It had rained today. Fred had gotten to school almost chilled to the bone from the water.

   There were constant whispers about the new kid coming tomorrow.

   "I can't believe they'd let someone from Marble Hill into our school..." Nicole mumbled to Michelle, the other girl nodding too enthusiastically, her curly hair bobbing.

  Carter closed his locker. "Yeah, I know. He's probably trash. I mean, they can't be serious, right?" He asked, and the three all shared a solemn sigh.

   Fred resisted the urge to smack them.

   The rainy day persisted, having to spend gym cooped up with the other kids, and the rain hitting the roof in history made it difficult to concentrate.

   He was lucky not to have Ms. Cobb today, but he had her tomorrow thanks to their schedule.

   English was, once again, boring as anything could be. Ms. Cobb would have been better. He spent most of his time either doodling or staring out the window, like always. The class talked quietly to themselves, as the teacher didn't seem to kind. She never did.

   "Hello." A voice said beside him, accompanied by the scraping of a chair.

   It was Rowan. He didn't know she was in this class.

   "I'm the girl you bumped into yesterday, do you remember? You seemed intriguing enough." Rowan went on, tucking her hair behind her ear.

   Fred didn't know wether to be insulted or not. He nodded dumbly, choosing the safer root of not commenting, "Yeah, I know. How has your day been?" He asked, glancing up at the time. He wanted to get out of this class.

   She shrugged. "Same old. You've heard about the new student, I'm assuming, correct? I don't really mind if he's from the rival school, such a stupid thing to pressure someone into..."

   He started to zone out from her rambling. Rowan didn't show any signs of stopping. He continued to doodle in his notebook, until the bell sounded.

   "... and I wonder what classes he'll have, from being from the other school and all-"

   "Uh, look, sorry but..." Fred cut her off, standing up and gathering his things. "I've got to get to my next class."

   He tried to ignore the hurt look on her face as he walked into the hall.

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   The rest of the day was more of the same. Classes with people he didn't like, teachers assigning too much homework to be legal, and more students ranting about 'the new one'.

   Fred burst out of the classroom, making a beeline for his locker. The last bell of the day had rang.

   Grabbing his bag and closing his locker, he turned to walk towards the buses. He stifled a yell as he was met with a familiar face inches from his own.

  "What the f- Rowan, may I ask what the actual hell you're doing?" He hissed.

   She only scowled, her eye makeup accentuating the look, "You seemed too busy to talk earlier, so I thought I might as well give you my number so that we can talk outside of school. You're welcome." Rowan stated in a cool tone, handing him a slip of paper before walking down the hall.

   He was left dumbfounded, the girl already gone as he held onto the small piece of paper with digits on it.

   Fred could already tell that this potential friendship would be intriguing, as she had described only hours ago.