Chapter One: School Daze
My name’s Noah, Noah Connors, and I live in a world a lot like your own.
Well, at least I used to. I don’t know where I am now.
Anyway…. I should probably start from the beginning.
It was Monday, February 16 and I was lying in bed dreaming of magic and other impossibilities when my piano riff alarm interrupted my thoughts. I woke and shut my phone’s alarm off and hopped out of bed and readied myself for another day of school. I threw on my usual T-shirt and black shorts and combed my bright orange hair to the side.
About a half hour later, I was in the car on my way to school. “Bye mom!” I shouted as I leapt from the car.
“See you soon, sweetie!” She replied. Walking into the school building I headed straight to my first class, which unfortunately happened to be Algebra 2. The good news, however, is that my friends were the smartest kids in school and were all in my class since they only had one Algebra 2 class for freshmen. Speaking of my friends, they were all there when I walked in that morning.
“Hey silvers,” I said walking up behind a silver-haired boy and messing up his hair. His name was Nate Moral, my best friend. He was extremely pale and wore his usual dark jeans and white jacket covering his Pokémon shirt. We’d known each other since we started elementary school and he was a bit of a prodigy. Nate had always been good at everything. Math, Science, you name it. He didn’t like being the center of attention, but it was hard for him not to be when his G.P.A. was literally off the chart.
“Aw, watch the hair, hot-head,” he said, joking at my orange hair as he gently shoved me aside, but I knew he was kidding.
“There you are, Noah,” said Mikey. “You’re later than usual.” Mikey was the shortest of us, but he made up for it in speed and cunning. He was the kind of kid that could trick the teacher to raise his grade because of a mistake on a problem that never existed. He had black hair and was wearing his usual cargo shorts and a Digimon T-shirt. And yes, I said Digimon, he was into that stuff.
“Yeah, Mrs. Stine already handed out today’s assignment,” said the fourth member of our little group. Her name was Kara. She had red brown hair that she always wore in a ponytail and consistently wore ripped jeans and nerdy T-shirts.
“Oh, well what’d I miss?” I ask.
“She just handed out the papers, that’s it. It’s another group project, so I assume we use the same strategy as usual?” She said with a smile.
“Yup, so we meet tomorrow at Nate’s?” I ask looking at Nate.
“Yeah, same place as usual.” He replied.
6 hours later…
The bell rang for the end of 6th period. Nate and I quickly grabbed our bags and fled the English 2 classroom. “I still don’t get why need would ever need to learn clauses…” Nate sighs.
“Well, saving the world is definitely dependent on clauses to me.” I joke and he sighs heavily. We then turn the corner in the hallway and walk into the keyboard lab. I should clarify, the piano lab, not computers. Nate and I walk over to our assigned keyboards and look at our new assigned pieces. “Für Elise???” I exclaim. The teacher had assigned us Beethoven! I look closer and the assignment said that Für Elise was the piece we needed to learn for our final exam this coming June.
“Yup, looks like it,” Nate said, immediately playing the piece by heart. Nate was good at everything. Math, science, history, and the other subjects, but where he really made magic happed was at the piano. His fingers would fly across the keys. However, Nate already knew Für Elise, that wasn’t the impressive part. No, the impressive part was that he learned it by ear and memorized it.
“Another piece you already know Nate?” Mr. Sands, our piano teacher asked.
“Yeah,” Nate replied. “Oh, by the way there’s a typo on page…”
“I don’t want to hear it, boy.” He barked back. “I’ll find you a piece you’ll never learn…” he muttered as he walked away.
“That was nice,” Nate said before starting to play Small, by KC. That was his favorite song. He’s known it forever. We spent the rest of the period just talking while Nate played things on the keyboard. Eventually, the bell rang and we walk together to the front of the school. My mom was there to pick me up, like always. Nate and I said goodbye and he started walking home. He didn’t live far away.
On the way home from school my mom asked me the generic questions like, “how was your day,” and “what did you learn,” and I answered her. We got home in about ten minutes and I leapt out of the car and raced inside.
Later that night, I told my mom good night and headied to my bedroom. I climbed in bed and went to sleep, expecting to wake up tomorrow for another day just the same as that one, but the reality was, I wouldn’t be seeing home in a long time.
My name’s Noah, Noah Connors, and I live in a world a lot like your own.
Well, at least I used to. I don’t know where I am now.
Anyway…. I should probably start from the beginning.
It was Monday, February 16 and I was lying in bed dreaming of magic and other impossibilities when my piano riff alarm interrupted my thoughts. I woke and shut my phone’s alarm off and hopped out of bed and readied myself for another day of school. I threw on my usual T-shirt and black shorts and combed my bright orange hair to the side.
About a half hour later, I was in the car on my way to school. “Bye mom!” I shouted as I leapt from the car.
“See you soon, sweetie!” She replied. Walking into the school building I headed straight to my first class, which unfortunately happened to be Algebra 2. The good news, however, is that my friends were the smartest kids in school and were all in my class since they only had one Algebra 2 class for freshmen. Speaking of my friends, they were all there when I walked in that morning.
“Hey silvers,” I said walking up behind a silver-haired boy and messing up his hair. His name was Nate Moral, my best friend. He was extremely pale and wore his usual dark jeans and white jacket covering his Pokémon shirt. We’d known each other since we started elementary school and he was a bit of a prodigy. Nate had always been good at everything. Math, Science, you name it. He didn’t like being the center of attention, but it was hard for him not to be when his G.P.A. was literally off the chart.
“Aw, watch the hair, hot-head,” he said, joking at my orange hair as he gently shoved me aside, but I knew he was kidding.
“There you are, Noah,” said Mikey. “You’re later than usual.” Mikey was the shortest of us, but he made up for it in speed and cunning. He was the kind of kid that could trick the teacher to raise his grade because of a mistake on a problem that never existed. He had black hair and was wearing his usual cargo shorts and a Digimon T-shirt. And yes, I said Digimon, he was into that stuff.
“Yeah, Mrs. Stine already handed out today’s assignment,” said the fourth member of our little group. Her name was Kara. She had red brown hair that she always wore in a ponytail and consistently wore ripped jeans and nerdy T-shirts.
“Oh, well what’d I miss?” I ask.
“She just handed out the papers, that’s it. It’s another group project, so I assume we use the same strategy as usual?” She said with a smile.
“Yup, so we meet tomorrow at Nate’s?” I ask looking at Nate.
“Yeah, same place as usual.” He replied.
6 hours later…
The bell rang for the end of 6th period. Nate and I quickly grabbed our bags and fled the English 2 classroom. “I still don’t get why need would ever need to learn clauses…” Nate sighs.
“Well, saving the world is definitely dependent on clauses to me.” I joke and he sighs heavily. We then turn the corner in the hallway and walk into the keyboard lab. I should clarify, the piano lab, not computers. Nate and I walk over to our assigned keyboards and look at our new assigned pieces. “Für Elise???” I exclaim. The teacher had assigned us Beethoven! I look closer and the assignment said that Für Elise was the piece we needed to learn for our final exam this coming June.
“Yup, looks like it,” Nate said, immediately playing the piece by heart. Nate was good at everything. Math, science, history, and the other subjects, but where he really made magic happed was at the piano. His fingers would fly across the keys. However, Nate already knew Für Elise, that wasn’t the impressive part. No, the impressive part was that he learned it by ear and memorized it.
“Another piece you already know Nate?” Mr. Sands, our piano teacher asked.
“Yeah,” Nate replied. “Oh, by the way there’s a typo on page…”
“I don’t want to hear it, boy.” He barked back. “I’ll find you a piece you’ll never learn…” he muttered as he walked away.
“That was nice,” Nate said before starting to play Small, by KC. That was his favorite song. He’s known it forever. We spent the rest of the period just talking while Nate played things on the keyboard. Eventually, the bell rang and we walk together to the front of the school. My mom was there to pick me up, like always. Nate and I said goodbye and he started walking home. He didn’t live far away.
On the way home from school my mom asked me the generic questions like, “how was your day,” and “what did you learn,” and I answered her. We got home in about ten minutes and I leapt out of the car and raced inside.
Later that night, I told my mom good night and headied to my bedroom. I climbed in bed and went to sleep, expecting to wake up tomorrow for another day just the same as that one, but the reality was, I wouldn’t be seeing home in a long time.
