When Gary woke next morning, he wasn’t hungry, so he just drank a glass of whole milk for breakfast. As usual, his mom was gone, but she had left a note.

I have a big project to finish today, going to be home late! Have a great day.

--Mom

Gary was used to his Mom having to stay late for work, it was nothing unusual. To kill the silence, Gary put in earbuds and turned on a Spotify punk-rock playlist. He slung his backpack on and left for school, humming softly along to the music.

He mindlessly biked to school under a rising sun that lit up the cornfields with a soft light. The cornfields always looked best under the glow of a morning sun, and today was no different.

Gary arrived to the usual hustle and bustle of school. He high school was around average size, give or take 3000 students. That was enough to create a mayhem of cars every morning. Luckily, Gary usually biked or walked to school, so he never had to deal with any car problems.

The teen anonymously entered school. Like most kids, nobody paid much attention to Gary. He wasn’t particularly loud, or funny, or popular. He was just kind of there.

Gary approached his locker and took out his Chemistry book.

With a yawn, the boy turned around, and spotted Sally at the end of the hall, talking to a few of her friends. The only thing scarier than approaching a girl was approaching a group of them, Gary thought, so he quickly wrote off talking to her.

One thing that bothered Gary about Thomas Jefferson, his high school, was the appalling lack of decoration. There were no murals in the hallways, no poorly drawn pictures of the school mascot, a patriot. Nobody even tried to make the place colorful or interesting or unique. It was not only boring, but it had embraced being boring.

Instead, the walls were just plain gray. Every now and then, the principal, Mr. Frawd, would tape notes and notices up on the walls, but they were usually in plain black lettering.

Mr. Frawd was a short, plump man with a constantly red face. He looked as if you made him angry enough, he would internally explode. Needless to say, the most kids tried to stay away from Mr. Frawd if at all possible.

Every now and then Dom stick a picture of an anime character or a vulture or something on the wall as a prank, but they would never last. Either Mr. Frawd or some other teacher would grumpily remove them, swearing to find the culprit and put him in detention.

Dom has never been caught, however, except once by Mr. Flores. Instead of punishing him, Mr. Flores just smiled and looked the other way.

Gary walked to Chemistry class with a yawn. If he got lucky, maybe he could get a worksheet or something, rather than have to sit through another boring lecture.

No such luck, Mrs. France, their Chemistry teacher, had prepared a lecture on ionic and covalent bonds. Gary had trouble staying awake, but he did laugh when Mrs. France told a story about her dog eating her pizza.

After Spanish class, Gary had lunch, where he sat with Cedric and Dom in a basic cafeteria, comprised of tile floor and round, gray tables. For lunch, they had suspiciously soft round blobs of meat, beef nuggets, and a yellowish lump of mash potatoes. Of course, they all got a carton of milk too.

Dom chugged the milk, but didn’t touch his food. “Eh, wish they made chili or something, their beef nuggets taste like pee.”

Cedric, his mouthful of nuggets, almost choked. With a painful gulp, he took a breath of air and said, “Ah, come on Dom. Don’t ruin them for me, they’re my second favorite school food!”

“Yeah, we know Cedric,” said Gary. “And your favorite is…”

“Calzones,” Cedric said in a dreamy voice.

Dom adds, “I’m a calzone fan myself, to be honest.”

“I like them pretty well, but I don’t think they are that amazing,” said Gary, who had just started to nibble on the nuggets. They tasted slightly better than they looked, but that didn’t really mean much.

“Speak for yourself, school calzones are da bomb,” said Cedric.

Gary looked around the room and saw the usual, a jock table, a table full of popular girls, a few nerd tables, all the classic high school cliques. Gary never really knew where he fit in. He wasn’t cool enough to be popular, and he was athletic, but he didn’t play football or basketball, so he wasn’t a jock either. Gary, Dom, and Cedric didn’t fit into any categories, so they just did their own thing. At first, this bothered Gary, because he felt like he didn’t belong. However, after a few months, he just got used to it, and it didn’t seem very important anymore. He always thought it was pretty silly to try to categorize people anyway. People usually don’t fit into three or four categories, he thought.

After school, the three headed straight to their favorite station. It was a hot day, the sun bearing down on them, an optimistic glimpse at the approaching summer. After all, summer was little more than a month away.

“Man, I can’t wait till summer. Sophomore year has been even dumber, and more boring, than freshman year.”

“Heard that,” Cedric agreed.

“I wish our teachers cared more,” said Gary thoughtfully. “Except for Mr. Flores, they all look like they don’t actually want to be there, ya’know?”

“Don’t blame them,” said Cedric. “Having to deal with kids like Dom for a living can’t be easy.”

“Hey!” cried Dom. “I don’t really act up in class. Only every now and then I’ll say something just to be funny.”

“I think I might want to be a teacher,” said Gary.

“What?” Dom croaked. “Really dude? You sure about that?”

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, I’d like to be one of the cool ones, like Mr. Flores. One of the teachers that make class fun and interesting and all.”

“I can see that,” said Cedric. “Teaching ain’t easy though. One of my aunts is a teacher, and she’s always complaining about grading papers.”

Gary shrugged. “So? Isn’t working supposed to be hard? I mean, otherwise it would just be boring. I don’t mind a challenge, really, not at all. In fact, I think I actually want a challenging career.”

Dom grinned. “My older brother works for the government. He makes a ton of money, and he hardly does anything! That’s what I want to do!”

Gary and Cedric laugh. Sounds like something Dom would enjoy.

“Maybe my mom should work for the government,” Gary said softly. “She’s always busy.”

The three boys were quiet for a few moments. “What do you want to do Cedric?” Gary asked.

“I don’t really know,” he said honestly. “Seems like every week I want to do something else. Last week, I felt like I want to be in the Navy. Now I think I want to go to college and just figure it out. I think I can get a scholarship, maybe. I don’t know, it’s too hard to decide.”

Finally, they had made it to the station.

Instead of the surly looking woman, Spencer was there. “Hey boys!” he said with a worn smile. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, Mr. Spencer,” said Dom. “Say, how’s the gaming progress?”

“You know, I’m coming right along,” said Spencer casually. “It’s a sweet game, don’t you guys think?”

“Definitely,” Cedric agreed.

“Tell you what, Red Bulls on me today,” said Spencer.

“Really?” Gary said. “Sounds great!”

Spencer opened a mini-fridge under the counter, and handed a Red Bull to each teen. “Don’t drink them too fast!” the old man said cheerfully.

“Thanks!” Gary said as the three boys started to leave the store.

“Wow, Spencer is a total bro,” said Dom as he cracked open his can with a satisfying hiss. The sun was really blazing now, the hot, humid weather was making Gary feel sluggish.

“Agreed,” said Cedric, who was already halfway done with his can.

Gary had just opened it when he mused, “You know, isn’t it kind of weird that a smart, cool guy like Spencer would be stuck working at a gas station? Don’t you think he could have done something more with his life?”

Dom shrugs, “Yeah, you got a point. Maybe he really likes gas stations or something?”

“Gary, I think you're right.” Cedric added. “It does seems kinda odd. I bet there is some cool story that would explain it. What do you say we ask him next time?”

Gary took a moment to think. “He might appreciate that. Instead of phrasing it like, why do you work at a gas station, let’s just ask him what he did before this.”

Dom yawned. “Nah, I think we should go in, guns blazing. Just say it, why are you working such a boring job, couldn’t you have done something else with your life? Just like that.”

Cedric shoved Dom, and he stumbled, laughing. “Sheesh, I’m just messin’.”

The three arrived at Gary’s house in high spirits. After all, ForeverQuest online was right around the corner.

When they logged in, they decided to go explore the outskirts of Verdant Plains. So far, they had yet to explore much of the field, just the shallow part with a bunch of weak monsters.

They ran past a couple Giant Slugs, which wasn’t a problem at all because Giant Slugs are, well, pretty slow. (Unless you aggro them, in which case they can be fast.)

At first, it seemed like there wasn’t much to be found. Just more stretches of land spilling out into the distance, populated with the occasional thin pine tree or wispy shrub. However, some giant landmark started to appear in the distance.

Dom was the first one to notice it. “Dude….. Is that? Really a floating mountain?” To Gary, it just looked like a giant blob in the air. “Not sure,” he said honestly. “Just looks like a blob to me.”

“That’s definitely not a floating mountain,” said Cedric. “I think it’s just a normal mountain! I mean, why would a mountain have to float? That’s pointless.”

“There’s only one way to find out!” cried Dom, and he sprinted toward the blurred figure.

“Wait up!” yelled Cedric as he took off after him.

“Come, on, don’t leave me behind!” Gary scampered towards his two friends.