Chapter Text
As much as Symere wanted to say he hated school, he just couldn’t. It was already September 3rd, the day before the new school year, and it felt as if summer had passed in a blink. He’d spent most of his break working at his part-time job at McDonald’s. If he wasn’t working, he stayed inside his room binge-watching anime. And when he wasn’t doing that, he skateboarded around his neighborhood.
Symere wouldn’t necessarily say he was a pro at skateboarding, but he wouldn’t say he was bad either. Whenever he did skate, he would do simple tricks and maybe throw in some tricky ones. His favorite trick to land was the heel flip.
Symere was ready for school, maybe even too ready. He’d been planning his outfit all week, double-checking that everything matched perfectly. His bag was already packed with supplies, and he was excited to see all his new classes.
A problem with him being all this excited for school, was not being able to sleep. It was already 9:37 p.m. and he did not feel an inch of tiredness. This happens every year. Symere would accidentally stay up until midnight, of course not on purpose. Every year he accidentally stayed up past midnight, and every year he woke up energized despite the missing sleep. Once he came home from the first day, that’s when the exhaustion slammed into him.
That’s why this year, he has a plan. He had made his mom get him some tea to fall asleep better. His mom loves her tea, she had so many blends. She claimed they could either boost your energy or knock you out.
Symere headed down the stairs where the kitchen was. As expected, his mom was still at the table, sipping her green tea.
“Hey sweetie, everything alright?” she asked, putting her cup down and getting up to hug him.
Symere hugged her back. “Yeah, Mom. Everything’s fine. I was wondering if you could make me a tea to help me sleep.”
She jumped in excitement. “I thought you would never ask!”
She moved around the kitchen so quickly. She pulled out a mug from the cabinet. She then grabbed a tea bag from her stash. Then she started to boil water in the teapot. After a few minutes she poured the hot water into the cup and dropped the tea bag in. She set the steaming mug in front of him and stirred it gently.
“Thank you mom,” he said, pulling the cup closer. “What kind is this?”
She sat down at the table with him, “It’s lavender tea, one of the best kinds to help with sleep. Did you know lavender smells even help with calming you down to sleep. Maybe you should try that out,” she says nudging Symere’s shoulder.
“Yeah whatever, it’s not my fault I’m excited,” he said bringing the cup to his mouth and taking a sip. His eyes lit up to the taste. The taste was very weird to explain, it’s as if you were drinking from the words calm itself.
“Mom, this tea is so calming, maybe you should drink more lavender than green,” he said nudging her shoulder back.
“You better watch it,” she teased. “I’ll gladly never make you tea again.”
Symere just kept drinking his tea until there was no more. He thanked his mom once more before heading up to his bedroom. He turned off all his lights except his star projector. He didn’t care how old he was, he loved his little projector. He turned to his side and closed his eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.
___________________
Symere’s alarm went off, waking him up very sudden. He sat up quickly, leaning towards his nightstand to turn it off. He saw that it was now 5:30 a.m.
He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and headed back to get dressed. His outfit that he picked out was very simple, or at least to him. Tight black long-sleeve shirt, a gray zip-up hoodie, black ripped skinny jeans, chains from his uncle, and white Vans. He tied his dreads into two pigtails, leaving some strands falling into his face. He then put his white vans on and headed downstairs with his bag.
“Good Morning Sweetie, I made some eggs for you,” his mother said, handing him a plate.
He grabbed the plate. “Yes, thank you mom,” he said kissing her on the cheek.
He walked over to the table, his dad was already sitting there. Symere sat down and started eating, he had about 5 minutes before he had to walk to his bus stop. After those minutes had passed, his dad said goodbye to him.
“I’ll see you kid,” his dad said waving to him as Symere walked out to the front of the house.
The bus stop was only down the street. He saw other kids starting to walk the same way as he went down the street. He knew most of them because they were his neighbors and they all went to his school. Symere just never really talked to any of them. About 7 people, including Symere, were standing at the stop. After 2 minutes or so, the bus was pulling up. All the kids got onto the bus. Symere always sat in the middle section on the right side, he loved looking out the window.
After a few more stops, the bus arrived at school. Kids from every grade filled the front walkway. Symere headed toward the building, his thoughts already racing.
Well, here I am.
Symere walked through the doors and went inside the building.
______________________
The way their high school did schedules was very simple. They had 6 classes everyday, with a two day cycle. Symere liked his schedule. He had English first, then Algebra II, Graphic Design third, lunch, Chemistry, Painting, Forensics, and finally Economics. On Day Twos, Graphic Design switched to Creative Writing.
He climbed the main staircase toward his English class, but someone stopped him at the top.
“Wassup, Vert?” Jamaal said.
“Hey dude! How you been?” Symere asked.
“Oh you know, I’ve been down at the skatepark, practicing my skills. You should come down some time so we can practice together,” Jamaal said.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it. See you around,” Symere said, waving him off.
When he finally got to his English class, there was already a lot of students. Symere sat in the back middle row. The bell had finally rang, everyone was sitting in their classes by now. The teacher, Mr. Wooden began to make his way towards the front board.
“Hello class, today is officially your first day in my English class. It will not get easier from here. All of you are juniors, soon to be seniors. They say to always focus on the present, but I’m here to teach you that the future matters a lot. I will help guide you guys so when you are making your essays for college, you have no problem writing it,” he then turns to write the word “future” and circle it on the board, “this is what matters.”
Symere was already bored out of his mind. He never really cared for English classes, only when he could express himself through writing, but anything else was boring. But he did take what Mr. Wooden had just said to thought.
The future?
Mr. Wooden continued to talk more about how the course is graded and what each of our units will cover. Symere already knew next class they would jump right into the material, which was very annoying.
After an hour of talking, the bell rang. His next class was Algebra II.
I hate algebra.
He walked in, recognizing faces but no friends. Walking over to the seat in the middle again, but this time it was more closer to the front.
The teacher, Ms. Willow, started off greeting everyone and telling stuff about herself. She seemed like a very calming person, the opposite of Symere’s geometry teacher last year, Mrs. Miller. She was like the devil. Always yelling, always having an ugly look to her face, it was hell.
“Well, it really is nice to be back in school. I’m happy to meet all of you, I’m sure to know all of your names by the end of this week. I am Ms. Willow, Ms. W even is fine, doesn’t matter to me,” she moved to walk towards the middle of the classroom. “Algebra two is way harder than one, but I think you guys are all smart enough to figure that out by the name,” she smiled, letting out a little laugh.
Symere wasn’t the best at math. He’s had tutors before, but none has ever really helped him figure how math fully works. He didn’t expect to understand any time soon either.
“With that all being said, I think we should do some review. It has been a long time since yall used your algebra skills,” Ms. Willow said before walking to the board to write basic concepts.
Symere was already staring at the clock, slowly moving.
Today is gonna be a long day.
___________________
The bell finally ringed, Symere was the first one out of the door. His next class is the one he was most looking forward to, Graphic Design.
He walked down the left staircase that was next to his algebra two classroom. Once he was on the main floor, he made his way to the art section, where all the art classes were. He read the room numbers, looking for Room 135.
Room 127…..129……..131……..133……..135!
He opened the door and stepped into the classroom. The tables were old science tables, two people per table. Symere made his way towards the last table on the far side of the classroom.
Maybe if I choose the last table, I’d end up sitting by myself.
He sat on the left side of the table. As he settled down, more kids came into the classroom. Symere could tell most of these kids were younger than him, which made him feel out of place. As time passed, more tables were filled up, making Symere the only one alone. The last bell finally rang.
That means no one else would come, looks like my plan worked out well.
The teacher made his way towards the door to close it. The door was about to close until a foot stopped it from fully closing. The teacher looked up confused.
“Sorry sir, I had to clean up a mess in science, someone had spilt their water bottle and I wanted to help,” the unknown person said, still outside the door.
The teacher smiled. “It’s no worries, as long as you were helping someone, nothing I can complain. Come on in, and take a seat, anywhere.”
The person finally stepped into the classroom, breathing heavy as if he just ran to get here.
The kid seemed not as young as the other kids in the room, maybe he was in the same grade as Symere. The kid searched for an open seat, his eyes moving to each table. When his eyes finally landed on the chair next to Symere, he made his way to the table. He pulled the chair out and sat down.
Who is this kid?
Symere has seen this kid before, maybe last year at a rally or in the hallways, but he’s never talked to him.
The teacher finally regained his focus from the interruption. “Good morning class, I am Mr. Draven. This is Graphic Design. This class will really focus on expressing your thoughts into work. I hope by the end of the semester, you all will leave my classroom with a different view of how to express yourself.”
What does that even mean? Doesn’t everyone know how to express themselves? This teacher makes no sense.
Mr. Draven walked over to his desk and grabbed a paper. “I will be doing attendance. Please say here if you are here.” He then started calling students names out, alphabetically from last name.
Two students had already said here before the he called out the next name, “Jordan Carter?”
“Here,” the boy beside him answered.
Jordan Carter….? I’ve heard that before. Yes, he’s the one who the girls in my English class were talking about last year. Of course he was late to class, he most definitely thinks he’s better than everyone in this classroom. I bet he doesn’t even know how to work a computer. Can he also move his stuff to his side of the table. This guy…. I cannot survive a whole semester with him. He’s just so—
“Symere Woods? Symere?”
Symere snapped out of his deep thought at the sound of his name. “I’m here, sorry,” he said looking up.
Mr. Draven concluded attendance, “Alright, let’s get into our four main things we will focus on this year. First, it’ll be about color. I know everyone knows how color works in art, but do you know how to change the meaning? That’ll be our first thing. The second will be….”
Symere already started taking notes. For some reason when it came to art classes, he could write all the notes he wanted, but for English, a blank paper.
He really took art seriously, he loved it the most. When he was little he would watch videos about how to shade correctly or use color theory. His mom and dad got him art supplies and he would draw his favorite characters. It’s really cool how far he has grown in his skills.
“….Well that’s all we will do for our course. Now with all that being said, let’s get started. Everyone open up to our classroom and click the color slideshow,” Mr. Draven said moving to his laptop.
Symere was already there, unlike Jordan. He seemed lost, his computer wasn’t even opened to the main screen.
“Hey, uh… can you show me where the classroom link is?” Jordan whispered, turning his screen toward him.
Symere sighed and helped him. Jordan thanked him quietly. Symere ignored it.
How can one be that stupid? Finding the classroom link is like middle school shit.
Symere did notice something though. Jordan’s nails were painted black. He thought that wasn’t something a person like him would do.
Mr. Draven started back up with the lesson. “Colors are very interesting. Every color has a different emotion. Each shade of a color has a different mood. Light shades verse dark shades. A bright blue could tell you one thing, while a navy blue could say a whole different thing,” he said clicking next on the slides. “But, did you ever think you can change what that color means?”
Everyone in the classroom was just paying attention, but do they know what he meant by that statement? Symere sure didn’t.
How can you change what color means? Thats like saying red is sad and blue is angry. It just doesn’t make any sense.
“Now, you may think I’m crazy, but I’m not,” he let out a little chuckle, “Color changes by the way it is arranged. If you were to put a regular shade of green in the middle of a mix of dark and light shades of green, would you say that’s the peace in the mix? Even though light green would be a more peaceful thing, you see the regularly shade the peaceful one.”
Symere was still taking notes, but now he was understanding.
What he is saying is that, you can change how what a color means by changing the way it shows from other colors.
Symere was now interested to learn more about this. In the other hand, Jordan was looking over at Symere’s paper.
What is he looking at?
He then whispered, “Do we have to be writing?”
“No,” Symere said flatly.
There’s no way he just asked that question. It’s pretty obvious.
Mr. Draven continued to talk about the slideshow and showed more examples that we will be practicing next class. The bell rang and now it was time for lunch. Symere texted his friend, Jamaal, to meet up at the lunch line. Jamaal received the text and met up with him.
“Wassup Vert, how’s ya classes been?” he said slapping his hand into Symere’s back.
“They been good, mostly just boring stuff though,” he said hitting Jamaal’s hand back.
They both got their lunches and sat at their usual table. Jamaal fixed his headband before digging in to eat.
“You know a guy named Jordan Carter?” Symere asked.
“Not that I know of, maybe Rocky knows though,” he said swallowing the rice he was eating.
“Yeah well Rocky knows everyone so that wouldn’t be a surprise,” Symere replied back.
Jamaal just nodded his head in return. They both ate their lunches before it was time to go to their last three classes. Symere made his way up the main stairs again to go to chemistry. When he arrived, he sat near the door.
The teacher, Mr. Turks, gave out a syllabus and talked about it. He then showed how to navigate his page. He gave out an easy Ed-puzzle for homework before the class ended.
Symere then made his way back to the art section and went into room 125. It was his painting class. The teacher was also the Art one teacher, Mrs. Lease. She was a very kind teacher and loved Symere in his past class.
She just talked about their projects and how they will learn to work paint brushes and blending colors, nothing that Symere didn’t already know of.
After that class ended, Symere went towards his last class of the day, economics.
He’s heard that the teacher was a very rude teacher, but while sitting in his class for the last block, he was nothing but kind and seemed pretty chill. Mr. Trell sounded like he would be an evil teacher, but he’s the opposite. He shoulda not trusted the rumors he heard about the teacher.
The last bell had finally rung, the first day of school was officially over. Symere and Jamaal walked out to the doors and got on the bus together. Jamaal got off a stop after Symere did. When the bus stopped at Symere’s stop, he got off, waving bye to Jamaal.
He walked home and when he arrived at the door, he was welcomed by his mom. She wanted to hear all about his day, but he walked up to his room before she could ask anything.
“You better tell me at dinner then!” She yelled up to the stairs.
Symere just laid in bed, still processing his first day of junior year was now done for, and that he would go back for his second day of junior year tomorrow. He got up and headed towards the shower, taking a warm long shower.
When he got out, he changed into his pajamas and headed down to the kitchen for dinner. His mom had made some macaroni and cheese with broccoli.
“So, how was your day Symere?” His dad asked, while his mom passed out the macaroni.
“It was good. My classes are all interesting,” Symere said back.
“How about that one class you were excited about? What was it? Oh! Graphic design. Is the teacher cool?” His mom asked eagerly.
“Yes, he is a pretty cool teacher. He was explaining us about the first unit and it was very different, but in a good way,” Symere said eating the macaroni.
They all ate the macaroni, exchanging stuff about each other’s days like usual.
Once Symere was done, he headed to his bedroom to lay down. He was still tired from the lack of sleep from the night before.
He started to doze off, or tried to. He still couldn’t get a name out of his head.
Jordan Carter.