Morning all. It is a frosty 19 here today, but at least it is double digits. I also have a bit of a sore throat I am hoping doesn’t develop into something that can’t be dealt with by a cough drop. Fingers crossed. For now, lets see what today’s prompt holds. Timers at the ready and off we go.
I like the set up of the rivals and everyone wanting to stay out of it, but I don’t know where this story will go. Could be just a character sketch to use later.
Wednesday, February 4th: I sipped the soda slowly.
I sipped the soda slowly. It was my goal to go as unnoticed as possible and I feared lowering the glass would be enough to draw attention. Alex and Evan were at it again. I wasn’t sure what the fight was about this time. I suspected they might not know either.
‘At least this round,’ I thought. Ever since Kate broke up with Alex and dated Evan the two had been fighting. It didn’t matter that Kate moved on and was now seeing Harry. The feud between the two remained.
‘It started long before Kate,’ I thought as I sipped slowly from my straw. In one way or another, the two had been fighting since birth. They were only a day apart in age and in size there was even less of a distance. Same weight, same height, same athletic skills. In any competition one of them was the winner and the other was second place by only a hair.
It was never consistent. One day Alex would be the victor and the next Evan. They were so evenly matched it was always an external factor that decided victory or defeat. It was what made their arguments dangerous to witness. Since the external tended to decide their competitions, they looked for external to settle their arguments.
No ne wanted to be pulled in to help decide the end of the argument.
Thankfully this time the bell rang and suddenly everyone was in motion. Lunch was over and we could all escape to class. Evan and Alex had different classes after lunch so hopefully it would give them time to cool down.
‘Until the next round.’
I ditched my half full can of soda and it’s straw and fairly raced to class not wanting to be kept behind to be drawn in should either Alex or Evan catch me. The competition between them led to anger, distrust and dislike. It only intensified with Kate.
‘Something has to break,’ I thought as I reached my locker. I spun the dial, opened it and took out the books I needed for class. I grabbed them and shoved them in my bag. I meant to grab them before heading to lunch but got caught up with Melanie and forgot. Now I slammed the locker shut and hurried my steps. Calculus was all the way at the far end of the hall.
Kevin liked to claim they put all the advanced classes at the far extremes of the buildings so the smart kids had to walk further to exercise more than their brains. Mike claimed it was to separate the lazy from those who were willing to work from the grades. It was their eternal debate. With so many Ap classes this year it meant I was often running from one end of the school to the other.
I made it to class before final bell, barely. I slid into the room ahead of the bottle neck at the door. The bell sounded as the last of my classmates filtered in through the door. I dropped into my seat and took my notebook out as everyone scrambled.
As was his custom, Mr. Anderson didn’t wait. The bell finished sounding and he moved to the board even as everyone scrambled for seats. His first few words were lost in the shuffling movements, but he didn’t pause or even acknowledge the students. The bell sounded and the lesson began. They would catch up, or fall behind. He would go at his set pace.
Ten til Midnight 