The bell rings, and everyone runs out of their classes. Brenton opens his locker, takes out the stuff he needs, then throws his drawstring in there. Then, he grabs his bag, dumps the stuff in there, and rushes out.
He stops, right outside of school. Right. Alex is gonna walk home with me from now on...Brenton thinks to himself. He couldn't really get how the kid managed to smile so much. It kinda creeped him out, but, he pushed that thought aside as Alex came up to him.
"Hey, Brenton! Thanks for letting me walk home with you," Alex thanks.
"No prob," Brenton replies and starts to walk. He puts his hands behind his head and sighs in relief. A bright light shines behind him and Brenton turns around. The light shined for not even a millisecond if you blinked you would've missed it. Brenton didn't know if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not.
"Did you see that?" Brenton asks, looking everywhere around Alex.
"See what?" Alex asks, looking a little uneasy.
"I guess it was nothing," Brenton shakes his head and turns back around. Now I'm getting old, Brenton thinks of it as karma. A paper falls out of his bag pocket and Alex picks it up.
"You dropped this," Alex says and hands him the piece of paper.
"What's this?" Brenton questions and opens it up.
Hello Brenton,
You don't know me yet, but I know a little about you, from your parents. If you can manage, I would like for you to come to the woods behind 6 neighborhoods. I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about. Be there at 6 in the evening today. I look forward to seeing you there!
"What?" Brenton stares blankly at the paper.
"Oh! I got the same one! Except mine said Alex and grandparents but that's not the point...let's go together!" Alex suggests.
"Why would you accept a sketchy note like this?" Brenton asks, looking confused.
"Well, what's the harm in seeing what it is? It's all good dude," Alex answers and puts his elbow on Brenton's shoulder. He rolls his eyes.
"Wow..." Brenton's voice trails off. Well, I can't let him go alone..not like I can do anything but still. Brenton debates in his head. "Okay, I'll go with you. But this is a really stupid idea," Brenton agrees. Alex smiles brightly.
"Yay!"
Alex's hand glows, he then puts it in his pocket. A blade of grass turns into the flame, in less than a second it burns out.
--
Owen pulls up his hood. With his hands in his pockets, he starts to go for the door. His backpack bouncing behind him. Everyone knew to not talk to Owen when he has his hood on, or at least, he never responded to anyone.
Even now people waved at Owen, he waved only to find out that they were waving to someone behind him. He quickly brings his hand to adjust his hood. That was embarrassing..! Why do I do this?
He never talked to people outside of class, and even then it was only for work. He just had trouble talking as a general statement. A very shy kid.
He passed by people laughing and talking amongst their friends. What's it like to not be pressured into doing something you love? Owen thinks. Shaking his head, he plugs in his headphones to his phone and plugs the earpiece into his ears. If you're forced to do something you love how can you even say that you're a living person? And I got deep again...
He feels a piece of paper in his pocket, then takes it out, with a confused face. "What's this?" Owen opens up the piece of paper and reads it. Scoffing, Owen crumbles it and puts it back in his pocket. At the bottom of his foot, a little crack appears on the floor. It might just explain these weird things that have been happening to me, Owen muses. And it has something to do with my grandparents.
The ground shakes lightly, so lightly that it wasn't noticeable.
--
Urana places her books into her backpack, then proceeds to swing it over her shoulders and closes her locker. She taps the lock up and it locks her locker. She runs a hand over her skirt, the wrinkles coming back. "I swear, no matter how hard I iron this thing," Urana mumbles to herself. A paper near her shoe catches her attention.
Kneeling down, Urana picks up the paper. She gets back up, straightening out the paper. Scoffing, Urana crumbles the paper back up. The paper gets wet in Urana's palm. Sighing, she puts away the paper, not wanting to deal with, what she assumes, a prank. Urana starts to walk out.
"You got the same note as me!"
Urana quickly turns around. Behind her, or now in front, is Ava. Urana narrows her eyes. "Seriously! Here, look," Ava pulls out the paper and shows it to her.
So she's not lying, Urana thinks, yet she could be the one who wrote the note.
"You've seen my handwriting. That's not me," Ava points out. Urana looks up from the paper.
I keep forgetting that she's not as simple-minded as she looks...just because she's the Jokester doesn't mean she's not good at reading people's thoughts, Urana reminds herself. Ava smiles.
"Let's go to the place together," she suggests, putting the note back.
"When it comes to this, how do I know if I can trust you? For all I know, you aren't a real 9th grader," Urana questions.
"I'm Ava Mcgarden. My mom is technically single, Shannon Mcgarden and I have a younger brother named Tyler Mcgarden. Here's a picture that was taken on the first day of school. And c'mon, we've been in this town since we were kids," Ava pulls out a photo.
Sure enough, it shows Ava, a small boy with blonde hair and brown eyes, and a woman with light red hair and very light hazel eyes, almost silver. Ava has a mixture of hazel and brown.
"Could be a fake," Urana argues.
"Oh c'mon! You're one of the smartest in the grade! You should know I have nothing to do with this the way you're thinking about this," Ava grabs Urana's hands.
'You can tell the truth from a person by looking at their eyes, the eyes never lie', Urana recalls her mother's words. Ava's eyes were showing a pleading look for her to believe her. Curiosity was also there. And some other emotion Urana couldn't point out. She's complex, Urana realizes. And what the heck? It's just eyes, they can't show emotion.
A soft breeze blows through, Urana's hair flowing towards Ava, who's ponytail flows back.
"Okay, I'll believe you," Urana looks down at her hands. Ava lets them go, then smiles brightly, putting her hands behind her back.
"Thank you," she tilts her head.
"Since it said 6, let's meet up at 5:50, at the forest," Urana instructs.
"Okie dokie! I'll meet you there!" Ava waves then walks off. Urana waves back, not sure if she was making the biggest mistake in her life to go.
Urana's hand drops with water, so she places it on her skirt. It was dark enough to cover the watermarks. Drops of water fall from the sky, the soft breeze throwing the droplets everywhere.
A quiet rain in the silent wind.
--
"This is the stupidest thing I've done in all my life," Brenton sighs, tugging on the white straps of his red hoodie.
"Wow, you really don't go out, do you?" Alex says, turning towards Brenton.
"What's that supposed to mean?! I go out!...a lot!" Brenton protests. His arms up in the air. Alex couldn't help but laugh.
"Just as I thought. You really don't take the time to enjoy anything," Alex concludes.
"At least I don't just jump at the chance of danger," Brenton counters.
"Besides, you don't even know me," they both say at the same time. They look at each other, surprised.
"Well...let's get going then," Alex smiles and starts to walk again. Pushing branches out of the way. A branch smacks Brenton and he looks irritated.
"Watch where you're letting go of the branch!" Brenton scolds Alex. Alex laughs at his face.
"Dude, you should see your face right now!" Alex exclaims.
"Ugh, what was I thinking? I should've just let you go alone," Brenton questions his actions. "Me and wanting to keep you safe like I'm your mom..."
"Well, it was your choice," Alex giggles and looks ahead.
"I see some people!" Alex exclaims and starts to run. Brenton grabs him by the hood of his orange hoodie. It wasn't obvious, but sure enough, there's a bandage on Alex's face. Brenton didn't think anything of it, and just assumed it was from a fall or playing rough.
"Do you not have a brain? For all you know, those guys could be killers," Brenton scolds Alex. Brenton then flicks his head and lets him go, taking the lead.
"Ow..." Alex rubs his head and follows.
Brenton crouches behind a bush. He could only see the back of this person, but the person had a green hood on. The person is also wearing shorts, like him while Alex was wearing sweat pants.
"Hi, there!" Alex exclaims and walks past Brenton, who just facepalms. This guy is such an idiot, is the first thought Brenton had. The person turns around, and Brenton comes out from the bush.
"You're Owen!" Alex and Brenton realize at the same time.
"Yeah, so?" Owen replies, clearly not interested.
"Well, isn't this cool? It's not every day you meet one of the class brains and shy dude, Owen," Alex smiles.
"And you're Alex? The Clown right?" Owen asks, everything about his face told you he really couldn't care less. But Alex didn't pay attention to it.
"Yup! The one and only!" Alex answers and points his thumbs towards him.
"And you're the famous skateboarder, Brenton," Owen identifies.
"Yup. Ugh, what was the point in coming here again?" Brenton questions, thinking out loud.
"To see who gave us the note, dummy," Alex answers like it's the most obvious answer ever. That sparked Owen's interest.
"You guys got a note too? One with asking us to come here?" Owen asks.
"Yeah! That's the one!" Alex answers.
"Well, I didn't think one of the class brains would take a note like that seriously," Brenton begins.
"Well, you took the note seriously," Owen counters.
"Just to keep this one-" Brenton points to Alex "-out of trouble. Although, I doubt I would be any help, especially after seeing what this guy is capable of."
"I can stay out of trouble without your help, thank you very much," Alex says, in a sassy tone and his arms crossed, a smile still on his face.
"Ugh..you're reminding me of Urana," Owen sighs and tilts his head back.
"Someone's thinking of unpleasant memories~" Alex says, while behind Owen.
"Jeez, is everyone annoying?" Owen asks no one in particular, mumbling.
"That is the same question I ask myself every day..." Brenton's voice trails off.
"Glad to see someone knows what it's like," Owen replies.
Alex pouts. "You two are mean!" He cries.
The sound of rustling leaves turns the boys' attention behind them. They look at each other, then look at the place where the sound is coming from.
"Uh, who's there?" Owen asks, unsure of his own question.
"Ava! Hey! Did you get a note too?" Alex waves and goes up to greet the equally optimistic female.
"Yeah! Glad we're on the same boat!" Ava smiles.
"Ugh, you're here," Owen groans.
"Argh, why do you have to be here?" Urana questions, matching his annoyed tone.
Well, this is gonna end well...Brenton thinks to himself.
We're all so different from each other...
What could we possibly have in common so that the note brings us all together?
Everyone is now in a circle. Owen and Urana across from each other, Alex and Ava next to each other and Brenton near Owen and Urana.
Suddenly, light leaves from Alex's hand. Fire, from Brenton's. Water, from Urana's. Colored wind, from Ava's. Rocks from Owen's. Everyone looks up, confused yet awed. The different elements spiraling around each other and disappear in multi-colored light.
"What was that?" They all question at the same time.
"I can answer that...if you are willing to listen.."