chapter two:
Phones and books pt. 1
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Human connection. It's essential for humans to be able to have contact with each other. Without it, we would slowly become forgotten and turn to dust for the rest of the world. When we connect, we feel emotions that we might not have felt if we didn't connect. It could be lovely feelings like happiness, love, compassion or it could be feelings of hate, sadness, and loneliness. In order to feel these emotions, we need human contact. And in a world where the internet and social media has a huge impact on society, connecting with people face to face has never been more important.
So when Haylee was sitting on the bench in the hallway, she put away her phone when a body approached her.
"Hey"
"Hey" Haylee smiled at the boy in front of her.
"Can I sit here?" she smiled at him and nodded. The brunette moved her bag to her other side to make more room for the boy. The act was small but, it was full of kindness and compassion. It's all of those little things that make a person, a person.
When he sat down, Haylee noticed that he immediately pulled out his phone as it rang. And like most of the kids at the school, he couldn't help but answer which made the brunette girl beside him look at the wall beside her wishing that he would put his phone down and talk to her.
Sitting in complete silence, only hearing the clicking on Lucas' phone's keyboard, Haylee could feel a presence behind them. Slightly turning her head towards Lucas, she saw the Matthews girl sniffing him. The brunette girl looked at her like she was crazy before whipping her head around, looking straight at Maya who just shrugged and let her friend continue with her weird actions. Haylee could only be wondering what happened to them during the summer. She always knew that Riley was special but, she never took her as a girl who would sniff other people.
When Riley went back to Maya, Haylee thought that the boy beside her would be willing to talk to her but, with each attempt to make conversation, she never got a reply. And after a while, the brunette girl gave up and headed to class.
Lucas took notice that she left and he wondered why but when his phone ringed again, he couldn't help but smile at the text he got from Riley.
During class, most of the students kept looking at their phones instead of focusing on the class. Haylee was not one of them. She preferred to actually listen to what the teacher tried to learn them and wrote down notes in her notebook.
"You guys don't connect with each other. It's like you can't exist without these. You use emoticons rather than emotions. You're an unfeeling generation of zombies"
At the mention of zombies, Riley and Maya started to pretend to eat each other and make zombie noises. Haylee's head shot up from her notebook and looked at the two girls. She missed joking around with them and she knew that it was her own fault that she wasn't with them right now.
"It'll amaze you to know that there was a whole world before you and cell phones"
"And it'll amaze you to know that I have 394 friends in here" Riley told her father, pointing at her phone.
"And I'm amazed that you believe that." Mr. Matthews went over to the board, picked up a chalk and drew a straight line across it, "This is a timeline of all human existence. Starting here," drawing a line down on one side, "is everyone who ever lived, laughed, loved and understood the value of life. The cellphone era, which begins here," drawing a line on the other side, "pretty much destroys all that. Way to go you."
The boy beside Haylee raised his hand, "Sir, if I may take a different position?"
"Yeah, save me, Mr. Friar. Do I go too far?"
"Always, sir. I understand your point, but I use my phone to video chat my old friends and to find out what's going on in Texas"
"Yeah. How else can he keep tabs on all the hoedowns and cattle pageants?" Maya asked, sarcastically.
"Maya!"
"It's okay, Haylee. I'm unaffected by Maya's view of country life. As my Uncle Buster always says, 'Be like an eagle and soar above the mockingbird.'" Lucas smiled at the blonde.
"You're the mockingbird," Riley told her best friend.
"I know" Maya said annoyed, "It annoys me that I can't get to you"
"Well thank you," Lucas said as he tipped an imaginary hat at Maya, "ma'am." Haylee giggled as Maya shuddered.
"Farkle time, Sir?"
"Oh, I love Farkle time." Mr.Matthews said as they switched places.
"With all due respect to history, Mr. Matthews, what's important to our generation will be on this side of the timeline, when Farkle and technology rule."
That was so typical Farkle. Ever since Haylee had known the boy, he had always been obsessed with ruling the world.
Farkle then walked over to Riley with a grin on his face, "And I will easily be able to make another one of you," pulling out a strand of hair from Riley's head. "Ow."
"And another one of you," taking one out of Maya's head. "Ow."
"Wait, so now there's four of us and one of you?" A confused Riley asked.
"That's awesome. The future, you can't escape it. I'm Farkle!"
"The assignment, you can't escape it. I'm teacher! Okay, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to split into teams and discover whether or not new technology has made us better people. You'll do a presentation on your findings. And here's a twist,"
The class waited in anticipation of what the twist was, "No computers." Mr. Matthews announced. Well, that was a twist that none of them thought about.
"What?!"
"We're going old school. You're going to do your research at the New York Public Library."
"Where?!" Maya exclaims.
"And here's another twist because I trust you not at all. Give me your cell phones."
"No!" Haylee and Riley protest.
"You can't do that, Mr. Matthews. I'm talking to someone really important." Haylee was shocked. How could he just take their phones from them?
"Too bad. Come on, hand 'em up, hand 'em up." Mr. Matthews says as he collected the phones.
"Alright, but you're not gonna like it when you find out who it is." Cory gives her a weird look and continues.
"Thank you, thank you. Okay, so our teams are.. Maya-"
Farkle hurries to Maya's lap. "What up!"
"Haylee, Riley and.." Both girls looked at Lucas as Cory starts yelling, "No!" Then the bell ringed, "No!" Then he looks at Lucas, "Why did you have to come here?"
"Sorry I make you uneasy, sir" Lucas apologized before walking out.
"Oh, dad, we don't even have our phones. I mean, what could possibly happen?" A bubbly Riley asked as she followed Lucas out.
"Don't worry, Mr. Matthews. I will look after her."
"Thank you, Haylee" Mr. Matthews smiled at her. "No problem. Riley is like a sister to me. I will always look after her. No matter what."
"Are you okay with it?"
"It's fine." The truth is, it wasn't really fine. Haylee wanted more than anything to talk to her friends. She might even shout it out if she had the chance to. But right now, she wasn't ready. So she made the best of the situation she was in.
"I'm fine."
Walking into the library, Haylee felt at home. She was one of those people who preferred books to movies. She could easily get lost in books and forget about the time. But that was what she liked about books. She liked how you could get so into the plot of the book that you felt like you were in the story watching it unfold in front of your eyes.
"What is this place?" Riley's eyes wandered across the room, looking at all the shelves full of books.
"This is where the ancients stored all of their wisdom," Haylee explained to the girl.
"Look at all those-"
"Books. They're books, Maya."
"Books." The blonde whispered in unison with her brunette friend.
Looking around the library, Haylee ended up splitting from the group. Reading the titles of the books made her curious about what they might be about. She was about to pull out a book when she was cut off by a scream. Walking back to main area, she found the rest of the group talking to the librarian.
"Do you rent phones?" Maya asked. The lady shushed them.
"There's no one here but us. Why do we have to shush?" Haylee looked weirdly at the lady.
"Let me handle this, Haylee. She obviously likes it quiet. Hello, book lady."
"Well, hello. And who might you be?" The librarian asked.
"I might be Farkle."
"Would you do me a favor, Farkle?"
"Oh, you know I will." Farkle attempted to flirt with the librarian. Haylee wasn't so sure if she thought that it was sweet or creepy.
"Why don't you go over there," she pointed to the other side of the library, "and.. Shh!"
"Well, that turned out just great. Good job, guys."
Posted: November 12th 2016
Edited: December 7th 2019