Young Writers Society

part two

First period was boring, as it always had been. Pre-cal was one of my strong points so I hardly paid attention. I was heading to chemistry where the dreaded test awaited me. I was, again, looking over my notes when I over heard my teacher, Dr. Robinson, talking to someone. His gruff voice was clear even across the room.

“Good morning, Mr. Try. Welcome to our class,” I looked up to see none other than the same Mr. Try I met this very same morning. “We’re just taking a test today to lay back and do what you like,” I watched them carefully and Damon bowed his head politely.

“May I see what the test it on?” Damon asked and was handed a few sheets of paper I guessed were the notes. He read over them and handed them back to Dr. Robinson. “May I try it?” By the look on his face Dr. Robinson was just as surprised as I was.

“Sure, if you want,” Dr. Robinson said. “Do you know anyone in the class?” Damon nodded. Did he know someone other than me? He hadn’t looked over this way yet, that I knew of anyway. He may have looked over when I was looked at the notes. “Then you can find a seat near them so you can get the material that we’ve already covered.”

With a nod Damon walked away from his new teacher and sat down in the seat next to mine. I guess I was who he was talking about. He considered me a friend already? He was so mysterious and how could he have been ready for that test already? “Photographic memory,” Was his answer to my unspoken question. “All I had to do was read over the notes, as I did, and I memorized them,” He smirked as he put his bag under his new desk. “So this is one of the classes we have together.”

“Photographic memory? That’s not fair. You read the notes fast, though. Can you really remember it even with just a glance?” A questioned him; hiding the happiness I felt that we had at least one class together.

He let out a soft laugh. “Not fair? It’s just who I am,” He responded. “I am an interesting person, aren’t I?” He was using my words against me and he threw in a sly smirk for effect.

“You’re almost too interesting,” I spoke my mind. What else could this guy pull out of his hat? He just chuckled.

“If you say so,” He said and then Dr. Robinson passed out the tests. I had been right: It’s never multiple choice.

---

I sighed gratefully when I heard the bell ring, signaling the end of second period. The test had been hard but not as hard as I thought it would be. I thought I probably got an A- or something close to it. Now I would be able to get my mind off of chemistry with Art, one of my favorite subjects and the reason I went to that school.

Damon came up beside me as I walked out of Dr. Robinson’s classroom. “What do you have next?” He asked and I realized how tall he was by how much I had to look up. He wasn’t too tall but defiantly taller than my 5’4” frame.

“Art,” I answered automatically. “What about you?”

“Band,” He said with a smile. “It’s right on the way to the art department.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re the only one who memorizes the map before you get here. Even if it’s just because of your photographic memory,” I said and sighed. I wasn’t good at memorization. I always ended up studying for hours at a time. I was amazed I even got in the ‘School of the Arts.’ Luckily for me I was able to send in a painting as an application which was miraculously accepted.

“Photographic memory has its pros and cons,” He said with no trace of emotion. “I remember everything, even things I wish I could forget.” I studied him as he seemed deep in thought before he stopped walking and turned to me. “We’re here.”

I looked away from him to see that we were, in fact, in front of the art department. “Wait,” I realized something. “Isn’t the band room back there?” I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb with a confused expression. He nodded and gave me a smile.

“Hopefully we have another class together. We might have lunch together! If so I’ll see you there! See you later, Garnet,” He said and turned around and walked to the band room.

“Bye,” I whispered. I figured it didn’t matter if I whispered it or not because he was already far down the hall. This Damon Try seemed different for some reason but I didn’t think it was because he was a transfer student from Greece.

I walked into my art classroom and put my backpack down near a table before grabbing an easel. We were going to paint, I remembered from the day before; I just didn’t know what yet.

---

I really did love my art class. I was able to express myself in ways I wasn’t able to anywhere else. I never paid attention to the other students who always mouthed off to each other.

I got some green paint, mixing it with black to give it a dark effect, and started painting on a canvas. At that time I didn’t know what the painting was going to turn out like. I cleaned my brush and watched the clear water cloud green and I dipped my brush in red, still not knowing what the painting was. I would have to wait awhile before I would find out.

---

I watched the long hand on the clock in the far corner of my US History classroom as it went around its face. Just a few more minutes; I could survive a few more minutes. That ticking was getting annoying, though. I looked at my watch briefly, not wanting to let the teacher know I wasn’t paying attention, to notice the hands were slightly off. I must have been really bored if I figured out the different ticks were point two seconds off. I looked back up to the clock as another second went by.

“Garnet?” I peeled my eyes away from the clock to look at Nori, who was sitting in the seat diagonal to mine. “What’s on the Chemistry test?” That’s right; Nori had Chemistry in fifth period.

“Everything,” I mumbled as I looked back at the clock. The hand was almost at the three, where the bell would ring.

I could just feel Nori pouting. “That’s not helpful at all!” She whined. “Are there any questions you remember?” She asked hopefully.

“You’ll do fine if you know everything. Did you study?” I said, not bothering to turn back towards her. Only a few more seconds left.

“Of course I studied. Just not as much as usual,” She said, hoping to get some answers out of me any way possible.

“I can’t remember,” I said bluntly and right as the bell rung I stood up quickly and ran out of the classroom. Finally, it was time for my favorite subject: lunch.

“Wait up, Garnet!” I heard Nori behind me but I ignored her and kept going. I hated US History. It was the only class that I had any trouble in and I hadn’t paid any attention in class. Nori caught up with me. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I’m hungry,” I lied. In reality, I was actually wondering if a certain boy had the same lunch as me.

“What format is the test in?” Nori was still prodding me for information. It wouldn’t give anything away if I said the format, right?

“Fill in the blank. It wasn’t too hard, though,” I said, knowing that wouldn’t comfort her.

“Fill in the blank is the definition of hard, Garnet!” She sighed in defeat. “Let me guess, spelling counts?”

“Like always,” She let out another sigh.

“You still won’t help me at all?” She tried weakly one last time.

“Right,” We got to the cafeteria and Nori waved before joining some of her other friends; probably hoping one of them would give her some answers.