The Tragedy of Waiting

The Tragedy of Waiting

By Mattk97

Riverwood, Pennsylvania

Summer, 2015

It was a breezy afternoon as Theo Peterson laid in the field that he had come to so many times with Winnie. Gazing up at the cloudless blue sky, he thought about the past months. ‘So much has happened’ Theo thought. He smiled as he felt a soft hand rest on his chest.

“I really do love it here” Winnie whispered.

“Me too” Theo said, “Me too.”

This field, it was special, and held so many memories. Each of them had an idea of why the field was so special and they often argued over who was right. But there was one thing they could always agree on. It was always there for them; much like Theo was always there for Winnie, and Winnie, for Theo. Well, almost always. It wasn’t like this in the beginning, and in fact, at the start of it all, they had quite an animosity towards each other.

But that’s getting ahead of the story…

Chapter One: Winnie

September, 2014

“First day of school. Fantastic.” I mutter with very little enthusiasm.

“C’mon, sweetie, it’ll be fine, new school, new start, right?” my mom says as she pats my leg.

“Mom. Eyes on the road.” I say and I can practically feel her eyes roll at me. My comment does it’s job though and we spend the rest of the drive in silence. When we reach the school, I’m reluctant to get out of the car.

“Winnie. Look at me.” my mom coaxed, grabbing my chin with one hand and turning my head. “Everything is going to be fine, okay?”

“Right, yeah sure.” I mumble, removing my chin from her grip and getting out of the car. This doesn’t deter my mother though because all she does is roll down the window.

“I love you.” she calls after me, causing several people’s head to turn my way. I put my head down and keep walking, making a mental note to apologize later on. Okay Winnie, you can do this. no big deal. I think to myself as I walk through the seemingly foreboding set of double doors that leads to the school. Right then the bell rings.

And its like all hell breaks loose.

Suddenly kids are scrambling to get to their classes, teachers are yelling and random couples are having last minute kissing-fests which makes me want to throw up. (In retrospect, it probably wasn’t like that exactly but in the moment it sure seemed like my own personal hell.) And me? I do what I do best. I disappear. And I almost succeed. That is, until I run into some random girl carrying a guitar.

Brilliant move, idiot. “Oh shut up.”

“Excuse me?” says random guitar girl.

“What? Uh. Nothing. Sorry. For running into you. Anyway. Bye!” I mutter, my face getting even redder as I talk before running in the other direction. Carefully, and without anymore accidents, I manage to make it to my first period class...which just happens to be math. Oh and look, theres guitar girl, minus the guitar, sitting in the front row, next to the only empty seat. Of course.

I make my way down the aisle to the desk, and since I was the last person into the classroom, all eyes are on me. I keep my head down and try not to trip over my own two feet...again. I sit down and I take out my notebook, prepared to zone out while the teacher drones on.

As I start to doodle, a crumpled up piece of paper lands on my desk. I sigh, Great, just like last year all over again. I ignore the paper and continue drawing. A few seconds later, another ball of paper gets tossed onto my desk. I look up, trying to find where the balls are coming from. Just then a third ball hits me in the back of the head.

I whirl around in my seat and look at random guitar girl, who’s sitting there smirking at me. “Hey, what was that for?!”

She shrugs, “You look like you could use someone to talk to.”

“What?”

She gestures to my desk, “Head down, doodling and looking like you want to be anywhere else. I was like that last year and I really wish that someone would’ve said ‘Hey lets be friends.’ So here’s me, saying, hey, let’s be friends.”

I furrow my brow, thinking this has to be a trap. I look at her for a couple seconds longer before finally deciding I have nothing left to lose. “Okay. Let’s be friends.” I say slowly, waiting for the inevitable ‘Oh wait I was just kidding.’ that usually follows.

Instead, she held out her hand, “I’m Nora.”

I just blink at her, Wait what. I think. My brain registers that shes still holding out her hand and I hesitantly shake it. “I’m Winnie.”

She giggles, “Winnie? Like the bear?”

“Hey!”

Nora holds up her hands in surrender, “Kidding, kidding. I like it. Its..unique.” She looks around the classroom, and points to 3 girls gossiping and giggling in the back of the class, “See them? They’re all named Shannon. It’s like there’s no originality in this town.”

I raise an eyebrow, “Wait, they’re all named Shannon? Really?”

She nods in response, “Really.”

Before I can say anything else on the Shannon matter, a very grumpy and strict looking man comes breezing in. He puts his bag down and peers at us from behind his desk, already looking annoyed.

“Phones away, notebooks out, no talking and pay attention!” he says gruffly and frowns at us as we all just stare at him like he has four heads. “NOW!” he shouts at us and we all spring into action. He starts writing on the board in messy scrawl, “Welcome to Algebra 2, my name is Mr. Lancaster and in this class I expect you to pay attention to what I’m saying because if you don’t you will fail.”

With this last statement, he turns away from the board, revealing a rather complicated looking equation. “Does anyone know what this is?”

I shrink in my seat, praying that he doesn’t call on me. Thankfully, my prayers are answered because a smart looking guy two seats across from me, raises his hand. “Its a quadratic equation and it uses the "a", "b", and "c" from "ax2 + bx + c", where "a", "b", and "c" are just numbers. It’s used when an equation cannot be solved for "x" to find the zeroes”

The entire class looks at the kid, incredulous. What the hell, did this guy swallow a textbook or something? I think. Mr. Lancaster just nods and says “Correct.” before launching into a lecture about quadratics.

20 minutes into it, I’m lost and just zone out. Thankfully, Lancaster isn’t paying attention to me because he’s focused on the Human Textbook who knows all the answers and seems to be the only one who isn’t lost. The rest of class progresses like this: Lancaster asks a question and Textbook answers.

After what seems like forever, the bell rings and everyone rushes out of the class except for Textbook who stays behind to talk to Lancaster about extra credit. Nora grabs my arm and drags me out of the class before I even have a chance to put my notebook away.

“What’s the rush?” I ask, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

She snorts, “Oh come on, you’re telling me you weren’t itching to get out of there.”

"Well yeah, who wasn't. Well. Except walking talking textbook."

She laughs,"That's genius, and I was rushing out of there before Lancaster remembers to give homework."

I nod, "Makes sense. Anyway, what class do you have now?"

She stops and looks at her already crumpled up schedule. "Um...biology." She makes a face. "You?"

I had already memorized mine, "Chemistry."

"Oh well, I guess I'll see you later, save me a seat at lunch. Later!" she says and skips off.

I smile and go upstairs to the class. A few stragglers are still leaving and my eyes land on a boy with dark brown hair and hoodie. I look down quickly, Boys are the last thing you need to be thinking about. I chastise myself. When I look up again, the boy is gone and I quickly shuffle to my seat, and spend the next hour glaring at the clock, willing it to go faster.

Chapter Two: Theo

September, 2014

“I see it! I see it!” I yell as I look out the window for the bus. I grab my bag, snatch my lunch from my mom’s hand, and throw on my shoes.

“Have a good day today Theo” my mom says with a smile.

“You too Mom” I reply as I give her a quick hug and bolt out the door. I practically run to the bus and hop up the steps.

“Morning” the bus driver says as I reach the aisle. I nod to her.

It’s always good to choose a nice seat on the first day, mostly because people get used to where someone sits and that’s usually the seat that you wind up with the rest of the year. I glanced around as I walked to the middle of the bus. There were kids that I had occasionally seen on the bus last year, along with a bunch of new faces. I sat down in an open seat and pulled out my phone. I tried to drown out the freshman voices that droned on and on. It’s way too early to be fully awake kids, I thought. I plugged my headphones into my phone and began listening to music until we arrived at school.

“Have a good day today” the bus driver said as all the kids pile off the bus. I jump off the bus and let out a sigh of relief. I’m Back. I smile and made my way into school.

I head straight to my locker. “Hello Old Friend” I say under my breath as I put in my combination and open the locker.

“Dude you’re crazy” a voice behind me says. I smile and turn around.

“I was referring to you James” I smile.

“Oh right” James replies.

James Wilkerson is my best friend, and we go way back. We didn’t really know each other that well in elementary school, but once we hit junior high, we became great friends.

I finish putting my books into my locker and shut it. I look at James. We hadn’t seen each other since the beginning of August. “So…..”

James stands there awkwardly. Then, suddenly, we both smirk and high five. “JUNIOR YEAR MAN” James exclaims.

“I know right! This is going to be awesome!” I reply. “Do you realize that we have almost every class together?”

“And English last period too!” James says.

I nod, “So do you think we’ll have Mrs. Summers again for English?” I ask.

“I really hope so. She was awesome last year.”

I nod again. “Better get to class.”

“Yeah, I gotta hit the loo first” James says with a smirk.

“Alright.” I wave goodbye and walk to class. There were still kids coming through the front door. Uh hello? Late on the first day? Get with the program. Jeese. I shake my head in disapproval. I make my way to my first class, Chemistry.

James had already gotten to class, and luckily, saved me a seat. I sat down next to him as Doctor Thompson walked in.

“What’s Up Juniors?!” Doctor Thompson said as he sits on a table in the center of the room. We all laughed.

Doctor Thompson seemed like he was a new incarnate of the Doctor from Doctor Who, and yet, he didn’t seem to look like a Chemistry teacher.

“Ok here’s the plan for the year” the Doc says as he begins class. Yup, school had officially begun. Third year of high school. Here we go, I think as rest of the class and I listen to Doctor Thompson tell us about what he calls “The Yearly Plan”, which was basically the entire school year of Chemistry planned out by month. It was a lot to comprehend on the first day of school.

The rest of class was fairly simple. We learned about Doctor Thompson’s academic history, where he went to school, where he earned his Phd, etcetera etcetera etcetera. After that, we had time to talk among ourselves. I turn to James.

“What do you think about the Doc?” I ask.

James smiles. “Dude he seems awesome.”

“Agreed.”

The bell rings, and we all leave the classroom.

“Later Doc” I say with a wave as James and I exit the room.

“Oh hey, have a good day today fellas!”

“Thanks” we both say.

“Ready for art?” James asks.

I let out a sigh. “Yeah. Even though its only been an hour of school, I’m ready for a break.” We both laugh and make our way past the math hallway to the stairwell. James was craning his neck backward to see who was coming out of the Algebra 2 classroom.

“Looks like Shannon is back in Algebra 2 again.”

“Which one?” I ask with a smirk.

“Yes” James replies with a nod, followed by a smile.

I laugh. “All three of them again? Wow.” We make our way down the stairs and head to the basement.

The basement is like its own school. It’s filled with kids that you normally wouldn’t see on the regular floors of school. It’s home to various groups of high schoolers; the eccentric, outgoing, artistic kids, the music-loving, theatrical kids, and of course, anyone affiliated with tech classes… which, from experience, is just a bunch of potheads and druggies who are barely trying at all to have any effort in their “academic career.”

It’s also home to any class that the A+ academic student would not take.

"I'll bet you a bag of chips that there will be at least one kid who doesn't show up to class the rest of the year besides today" James said.

I laugh. "You're on" I say as we shake hands on the bet and make our way into the classroom.

Chapter Three: Winnie

“BRING!” The bell rings loudly, signalling the end of class, and my head jerks up from the desk. I sigh, “Stupid economics.” before standing up and walking out of class. I breathe a sigh of relief, Last class of the day, Thank God. Its not like today was horrible, it was just a normal day. But it was so incredibly boring. Lets hope English is good.

I walk into the class and my eyes fall on Hoodie guy that I saw earlier. Oh you have got to be kidding me. I sigh and go to take my seat next to some random person sitting next to Hoodie guy, which of course, happens to be the only seat left.

I take out my notebook and resume the doodle I was working on in Math, resisting the urge to just put on my headphones and drown everyone out. Unfortunately, I didnt even get my hand into my backpack before I feel a tap on my shoulder.

Groaning inwardly I turn to look at the random guy I sat next to, “Uh. Do you need something?”

He winks, “Only your number.”

I blush, Is he serious?, I think before asking my question out loud, “Are you serious?”

He leans in, “Deadly serious.” he says, holding out a hand, “James Wilkerson, nice to meet you.”

I hesitate before shaking his hand, “I’m Wi-”

He interrupts me, “No, I already know who you are.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, confused.

“Oh yes, you’re an angel.” he says, smiling widely.

I resist the urge to bang my head on my desk. “Can you let go of my hand now? We’re supposed to be paying attention.”

“I am paying attention, just not to the teacher. I’m paying attention to the beautiful girl next to me.”

The teacher interrupts him with a loud, “SHHHH. Unless you are talking about the syllabus, then I suggest you be quiet and pay attention.”

I look down embarrassed and go to turn my attention back to the board when I hear Hoodie guy say, “Nice going guys. Not even 20 minutes into class and you’re already in trouble.”

James grins, “Oh you know me, the troublemaker.” he manages to say before getting shushed again by Hoodie guy.

At this point I tune them out and continue drawing, hoping for this class to end soon.

Chapter Four: Theo

I hardly notices that the bell rang when I feel James tapping me on the back.

“Dude we gotta get to English. Last class of the day” he says.

I snap back to reality. “What? Hm? Oh right, sorry. Let’s go.” I hop off my art stool and walk out the door following James.

“I’m betting on Headphones Kid” James said as we walk up the stairs. I laugh.

“You think Headphones Kid isn’t going to show up anymore? Oh no. It’s definitely Quiet Girl.”

James smirks. “Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see.”

“Guess so.”

We make our way to the English loft and walk into the classroom.

“Let’s sit over there” James says, pointing to the back corner of the room. I nod. James and I sit beside each other observing our other classmates making their way into the room. I feel James hit me on the arm as I take out my English notebook.

“Dude. Dude. I call dibs.”

“Dibs? On what?” I ask as I flip open to the first page.

“Girl walking this way. I call dibs.”

I look up from my notebook to see who this girl that James had just called dibs on was. Now if there was any outfit that screamed “IM A GIRL”, it would be what she was wearing. She was wearing a short blue dress with a jean jacket. ‘Way too much blue’ I think to myself. I look back down at my notebook before she noticed I was looking at her.

“Whatever dude” I murmur to James under my breath.

Of course, as if the universe was siding with James, and Blue Dress girl sat right next to James, in the last empty seat in the room. I look at James. He was already leaning on Blue Dress girl’s desk talking to her. I sigh and direct my attention toward our teacher, who was going into detail about the course of the year. At one point the teacher stops to shush James and Blue Dress girl because they “weren’t talking about the syllabus.”

I fought with my conscious not to yell at them, but I lost. “Nice going guys. Not even 20 minutes into class and you’re already in trouble.” I hear James make a comment about being a troublemaker, and I kick his leg from under my desk.

“SH!” I hiss quietly. I fix the hood on my hoodie and go back to listening to the teacher.