Chapter 10

Crazy Day. Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: NYC 2013, 1-2nd month. July 7th.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I groaned as I smacked my alarm off of my nightstand.

BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEP!

I sighed, rolling off my bed. “I hate Mondays.” I thought, hitting the “Off” switch on my Death device. I let my eyes adjust to the morning light while I searched for something clean to put on.

"At least it's quiet tod-"

Just then, my door was smacked open by my mother, who, upon seeing me in briefs, covered her face,

“Mijo!” She cried in horror,”Ponte algo de ropa!”

I gave an embarrassed chuckle as I grabbed some nearby jeans and put them on.

“Not like I was naked.” I thought to myself.

“All clear Mom.” I stated.

She slowly dropped her hands, eyeing my jeans as if they would walk away.

She coughed,

“I came to tell you that your sister is not in a good mood today.”

“Okayyy,” I thought, unsure as to what that had to do with me..

I couldn’t hide my confusion, “Wait,” I said, “Why, and why does that involve me?”

Mom frowned, “She lost her internship.”

“What?!” I cried, “How? Why!?”

“Silencio!” She put her hands up in surrender, “I have no idea what happened. All I know is that she is now working as a helper for some Mrs. Adams at your school.”

My jaw dropped, “She works with my Physics teacher now?!” I asked.

Mom gave me an “Are you Dumb” look,

“Is she Mrs.Adams?”

I nodded.

“Then I have already answered that question!” She shot, “Now find a shirt and don’t annoy your sister today!”

She then left my room, closing the door behind her.

“Wow,” I breathed, still shocked from the news, “I hope she's okay.”

Was Doctor Diamond to blame for this?

She couldn’t be. They seemed more than fine the last time I saw them, and she was always so nice to me- even throughout elementary school. In addition to that, Doc was always going on and on about how she wanted to hire more people.

I sighed, there was no use in trying to make sense of it now. Plus, I had an extremely long day ahead and that would not help.

First, I had school goals. I wanted to, somehow, get Selina’s number (That’s a school goal, right?). Then, right after school, I would help Jason repair his science project in the club room. After that I had to walk home and pick up my dad’s dry cleaning. After that, I had to walk to Taekwondo practice. Finally, once everything else was done, I had to make it home without getting mugged.

That last one was just something my mom wanted on the list, since it would be pretty dark out by the time I got back (And this was New York).

Once I had found a shirt I liked, a black long sleeve, I charged out of my bedroom door and into the living room.

“Heyyyy!” A voice yelled.

I turned to find my dad on the couch, a newspaper in his hands.

I smiled, surprised to see him here and not at his workplace.

“Hi Dad!” I greeted, continuing into the kitchen for something to eat, “Shouldn’t you be at the plant?”

I heard him grunt as he turned the TV on.

NEW YORK DAILY-

“Breaking news folks,” A reporter lady said, the Synth plant behind her. The building was blocked off with yellow tape and people in hazmat suits crawled the area.

“A radiation leak has been found in the Synth plant, the CDC is here and the water supply in the East Bronx has been shut down.”

Dad turned the TV off and flipped a page in his newspaper,

“I’m off for today.” He said, “Maybe we could shoot some hoops later?”

I frowned, “Lo siento, I have too much stuff to do.”

I heard him sigh, “You better not be outgrowing me Damien.”

I laughed, grabbing some toast as I was leaving, “Never.”

-

I met up with Jason at the intersection like usual. He had his black pullover on, and was wearing blue jogging pants.

“Hey Jason!” I greeted him.

He gave me a half smile back, “H-hey.” He replied.

I frowned, “Is something wrong?” I asked, “You know, besides your parents.”

He slowly nodded while looking down,

“Erm..my science project..I was wondering if you co-”

“Help you fix it?” I finished, holding up my phone, “Yep, already on the schedule.”

This time he smiled.

“Thanks D.” He breathed, relief present in his voice.

The light turned red as we began to cross the street along with hordes of other kids walking to school.

“Sooooo,” Jason queried, a sly smile on his face.

I grimaced, “Que?”

“Is it true you like Selina Morgan?”

My heart skipped a beat as we reached our stop, “Wh-what?!” I protested, “Where did you hear that.. that’s not true!”

Jason laughed.

I frowned, “Who told you?”

He was cackling at this point, “You did, just now.”

I smacked him with my backpack.

The bus stop was packed with kids as usual, but one person caught my eye.

I squinted through the crowd to see blue streaks of hair.

I smiled, “Dude I think Selina lives around here!”

Jason saw where I was looking, “Oh wow,” He said, “At least now you get to spend quality time with her.”

I looked at Jason before delivering another backpack smack.

“H-hi Damien.” I spun back around to find that Selina had made her way to us.

I immediately lost all cool, “O-oh u-uh hhi Selina.” I managed.

“Smooth.” Jason proclaimed from my side.

“So you live around here?” Selina asked me.

I nodded, ignoring Jason’s smiles, “I live on Bronze,” I pointed at Jason, “And this guy lives on Draxon with the rest of the rich kids.”

Selina’s smile grew brighter, “You’re cool with being friends with rich kids?”

I slowly nodded, “Yea..? Are you rich?”

Selina rapidly shook her head, “No no no,” She said, “I just think it’s cool that you can be friends with different people.”

Jason rolled his eyes.

“Yea, I-I guess.” I agreed, “But me and Jason have been friends for as long as I can remember.”

Selina nodded, “I have a friend like that,” She said, “You’re lucky.”

Jason’s smile widened, “Yea he is.”

Backpack slap.

Just then, the bus pulled up and the doors slid open.

“I’ll see you in Physics!” Selina shouted, running up the bus steps.

Jason pulled me out of my daze and dragged me through the bus to the back.

“You okay?” He asked when we had sat down, “I approve of her.”

“More than that.” I replied, “I’m great….She’s great.”

Jason laughed, “Yea, and smart. She’s 14 and already in Physics like us.”

I nodded, “Like I said, she’s great.”

-

We both ended up falling asleep (As usual), which was fine because the bus driver could wake us all up with his voice.

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE HEEEERE!” He yelled.

I jolted upwards and Jason accidentally smacked his head on the seat in front of us.

“Ow.” He announced, massaging his forehead, “That hurt.”

I yawned, watching Selina get up and leave a couple of seats away,

“See you at lunch.” I said, crawling over Jason to get out first.

He raised his eyebrow, “Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Imma try to get Selina’s number.” I answered, standing up in the aisle.

He chuckled, “Are you sure you can even get the words out?”

Glaring at Jason, I gave him a final backpack slap before running out of the bus.

I met up with Selina halfway up the wide concrete stairs of SOS.

“Hey,” She said upon seeing me.

“Hey,” I replied.

“So uh,” I started, “Could I possibly..uh.”

My mind went blank, "Have your uh-"

Selina laughed, “have my phone number?” She proposed.

I smiled, “Y-yea.” I was turning red at this point, and it was getting hard to climb stairs and talk,

“If it’s okay with you.” I coughed.

She laughed again, producing a pack of sticky notes and a pen from her pocket.

“You just carry those around?” I asked as she signed her phone number on the pink slip.

She nodded, folding the note and handing it to me,

“I’m an architect. I need to be ready to design something at any moment.”

She said this so seriously, I gave a little chuckle,

“Right.” I continued, “So I was thinking we could all sit together at lunch.” I said, fingers crossed behind my back.

She looked confused, “We all?”

We reached the top of the stairs.

“Yea,” I said, “Me, you, and Jason?”

She smiled, “If you can pull him away from Melissa.”

I returned her smile, “So that’s a yes?”

She nodded before leaving me and running inside.

I would’ve performed a victory dance if it wasn’t so public.

While I was walking inside, I reached into my pocket to pull out the sticky note from Selina.

I nearly tripped over my feet when I read it.

There was her phone number, with two little hearts drawn next to it with a winking emoticon.

How she drew the emoji perfectly was beyond me, but at this point I didn’t even care about the public. I danced my way over to Physics without a single care in the world.

-

As I walked into the classroom, all eyes were on me.

“I wasn’t late.” I thought, taking a seat next to Selina.

“Hey.” She whispered, “You two are related right?”

I glanced up, nearly having a heart attack upon seeing my sister.

I had totally forgotten she would be here.

Sarah was standing beside my teacher, combing her hair with her fingers awkwardly.

She gave me a small wave.

I smiled and waved back.

Mrs. Adams coughed, “Attention class.”

All eyes switched from me to her in three seconds,

“As you may have noticed, we now have someone that can help you around projects and other assignments!”

She pointed at Sarah, “Everyone, please give a SOS welcome to Ms. Reyes, Damien’s sister!”

Everyone clapped for her, which made me significantly more happy.

“We have a difficult topic to cover , so it is fortunate that we have her today.”

Mrs. Adams continued, “I will be grading your tests from last week while Ms. Reyes goes around and helps with the lesson today.”

Ms. Reyes.

That was funny.

Throughout the class, I tried to do the physics packet, but it was confusing me even after half an hour of staring at it.

“Umm,” I thought hopelessly, flipping through the pages, “I hate string theory..”

“Need some help with that?”

I glanced up to find Sarah standing over me.

“Yes please, Ms.Reyes.” I replied, smirking as I put emphasis on her title.

As I flipped to the pages I was struggling with, I decided to address the elephant in the room,

“So..” I started, “Everything alright?”

I heard her sigh over my shoulder, “It’s really best not to talk about it.”

I was about to press more when she stopped my hand from flipping any more pages,

“I think it’s this page,” She concluded.

She was right of course. Sarah knew that I was having difficulty with this type of thing since she was the one who typically helped me with physics in the first place. My dad was a genius, but he was usually at work whenever I needed help. Not this time I guess, but I was at school.

“R-right.” I stuttered.

“Oh, me too!” Selina requested from my right.

Sarah smiled, “You must be Selina?” She predicted.

“Yea..” Selina said, “How did you know?”

I blushed and squeezed Sarah’s hand violently. For her to say anything more would probably violate some kind of sibling code, right?

Sarah laughed a bit, "Lucky guess.”

I heaved a small breath of relief.

I enjoyed Physics more than usual that day. I hadn’t realized how much I missed having my sister around.

At the end of the period, Sarah stood at the exit, holding the door open for people to leave.

I was the last one out.

As I headed towards the door, I decided to press once more,

“So,” I started my interrogation as I entered the hallway of the first floor, stepping to the side of the classroom door so that others could leave,

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Sarah nodded dismissively, “100 percent. Aren’t you going to be late to your next class?”

She went back to holding the door open for my classmates, completely ignoring me while giving smiles to kids as they left the Physics room.

I winced as I turned around and began walking to Spanish.

“Well that was Harsh,” I thought, making a left and entering the Language hall.

The language hall was vibrant with colors plastered onto the school’s typically quartz colored walls, all representing different nations or countries that shared a certain language that was taught here at SOS. It was honestly one of the less bland areas of the building and it was pretty cool to look at.

Apparently my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, thought of the idea when the seniors here now were only freshmen. That made sense though, since Mrs. Rodriguez was one of the nicest, if not the nicest, teachers I’ve had.

It just seemed like something she’d do.

I was the teacher’s assistant during Spanish class, kind of like what Sarah was for Physics now, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t love it. First, I barely had to do any work; second, I got to help people; third, this was a class with a lot of kids my age; and fourth and last, Jason was in this class.

As I approached the Spanish room bordered with a blend of red, white, and green, I was tapped on the shoulder.

I turned around to find Selina trailing right behind me.

She smiled, flashing incredibly white teeth, “Looks like we have Spanish together too!” Selina exclaimed.

It would appear that I had found a number five on my list...maybe I’d trade it for number one.

I opened the door and held it for Selina.

She smiled, “What a gentleman,” she laughed, walking inside.

I laughed too, “So did you just get this class today? I didn’t see you last week.”

She nodded, “Yeah I did, I talked with the principal and-”

She froze, suddenly aware of the rest of the class.

I let the door close before facing their eyes.

They were all smiling.

“If you two are done..” Mrs. Rodriguez coughed from my left.

Selina and I blushed as she took her seat. I walked, extremely embarrassed, to Mrs. Rodriguez’s side, staring at my shoes as she started the lesson. The classroom was very simple looking. Rows of seats faced the front where a Smartboard sat, and various supplies were littered across the room.

“Today, as you can hear,” Ms. Rodriguez started, “I am not speaking in Spanish!”

A couple of people gasped dramatically from their seats.

Typically in our class, the teacher speaks all Spanish with a small bit of English to create a sort of “immersion environment”, only using the English to clarify stuff.

But not this time, apparently.

She chuckled, “That is because what I am about to say I need you all to understand clearly.”

She further explained what we were doing today, which earned excited noises from all the kids. Everyone would partner up with someone and record themselves having a conversation in Spanish. It was a mastery grade, which basically meant don’t screw up.

Once everyone started going around the room, Mrs. Rodriguez pulled me aside.

“It’s good to see you Damien.” She said, “How was your Independence Day?”

I smiled, “It was fun.” I said plainly, “Hung out with my sister and her boss..”

She nodded slowly, “Oh...What I need you to do is just go around helping people start conversations. They will come to you when they’re ready to record. You will grade them.”

She then handed me a small recording device, a rubric, and a pencil before heading back to her desk.

I gulped.

I had hoped I could just lay low this period.

“You have until the end of the period!” She shouted over the noise,

“Guess I better get started.”

I twirled the square device in my hands as I walked through groups, listening in on conversations. Some people we’re talking about the Synth plant, some were talking about upcoming tests, and some were just talking about life.

“Hey Damien!” Jacob called out, walking up to me.

Jacob was a short guy I knew from the basketball court off of my street. I met him there before highschool had even started. Although I would consider Jason my only really good friend, I had many basketball friends who I solely knew from the sport.

I smiled with that expression adults always use on kids, “Need help?” I asked.

He shook his head, “Nah..We’re ready to record.”

I nodded as he led me to his partner.

Once we reached the back of the room, I saw that his partner was Jason.

“Hey lover boy.” He greeted me.

I almost smacked him, but I had to remain teacher-like.

Jacob coughed, “So um, how does this work?”

I explained that I would count down from three, and once they finished I would give them a grade.

“Ready?” I asked, looking at the rubric.

They both nodded.

“Tres”

“Dos”

“Uno!”

Beep!

Jason coughed, “Hola”

I couldn’t help but smile as I began checking things in boxes. Being a teacher must’ve been fun. Well, fun besides being underpaid and having to grade like a million things.

A small crowd of kids who also wanted to record had gathered to listen to this group, probably planning on making revisions after they had heard someone else go.

This always happened with these kinds of assignments.

Jacob nervously cleared his throat, “¿Cómo te vv-ba?”

I knew this was technically only Spanish 1 but dang...

Jason cleared his throat, “Est-oy bien ¡Gr-Gracias!”

He continued, “¿Y tú?”

The boy scratched his head, “ Bien, ¿Qué pasa?”

Jason struggled to respond, “Uhh-”

“Time.” I interrupted. Pressing the stop button, “That was actually very good. You have most of the words down, you guys just need to work on speed and clarity.”

Suddenly, before I could mentally congratulate myself for my professional feedback, I was bombarded with requests for testing.

“Do me!” Someone demanded.

“No me!” A girl shouted.

Didn’t everyone know that they would all get a chance to go?

“Oh boy..” I thought, gazing at the angry mob of children that had formed.

By the end of the tests my mouth was dry from talking to people, and my hand hurt from grading so quickly.

I had changed my mind. I saw no joy in teaching.

I didn’t have to fail anyone, which was always good. If enough people failed, that hurt my grade too. Selina did the best out of all of them, and I wasn’t even saying that because I had a crush on her, she just..was.

Mrs. Rodriguez pulled me aside after the grading was over to collect the papers. She obviously double checked them herself along with all the saved recordings.

“How did it go?” She asked, smiling.

I groaned in response, earning laughter from her. I could act like this around Mrs. Rodriguez, as she and her family often visited our house for those ‘adult get together’ things.

There were five minutes of class remaining before lunch... but since it was lunch, we were in no hurry to leave. Once I had turned in the last of the test papers to Mrs. Rodriguez, I found Jason sitting by himself in the back and took a seat next to him.

He seemed to be in his own little world at the time so I slapped his shoulder.

“O-oh hey D.” He said, a grin appearing on his face. He was on his phone when I interrupted him.

“Oh, you got your phone back?” I noticed.

He nodded, obviously still thinking about something else.

I prepared another slap, “Are you okay Hermano?” I asked.

“Y-yea, it’s just that I can’t stay after school today.” He responded.

“Oh,” I said, “Why not?”

He shrugged, “Parents wouldn’t say.”

I nodded, “Well I guess that means we’ll fix your project during lunch.”

He looked at me, “You’d do that?”

I shot him a confused expression, “You sound surprised,” I pointed out, “And plus, you did pretty good on the test so..”

He grunted, “Still didn’t give me a 100.”

I rolled my eyes, “A 95 is good!” I defended myself. When his expression didn’t change, I just shook my head,

“And I can’t pick favorites.” I added.

He looked at me in shock, “And what about Selina?”

I shook my head in astonishment, “Wow you’re an idiot...besides her.”

We both laughed as Selina came to our table.

My laugh turned into a cough and Jason’s only grew.

Selina raised her eyebrow, “You guys are weird.” She pointed out. She then motioned around the now empty room, “Aaand the only ones here.”

“O-oh.” I realized, “We have to get to the lab.”

Jason got up, “R-right. See you there.” He said, beginning to walk towards the door, “Selina’s coming right?”

I looked at Selina, silently hoping for a yes.

She nodded, “Lunch room’s too loud anyway.”

I once again resisted my victory dance urge and decided to settle for a smile.

“Alright, let’s go!”