Chapter Text
There is nothing more annoying than a lie that doesn't come true.
Yeah. Hi. I'm Claire. My crew consists of Aaron, Jack, Robert, Jason, and Cole. No. These are not our real names. But we are very real. All of us are real people, just like you think you are.
But this story isn't real. So don’t think for a second I'd do any of these things for real. Or that any of this stuff is possible. At least, I really hope it's not.
It was high school. We were sitting at blue lunch tables in the center of the school, talking. Eating lunch. Nothing important, much. Of course, Aaron and I were arguing about some physics thing. Jason, Cole, and Robert were talking about some anime I'd never heard of, and Jack was not there with us. Usual.
Out of nowhere, Jason decided to scream something about "flying banana butts," which was not that unusual, either, and we all turned and looked at him. Jason was the resident "so what?" with curly brown hair, and he was slightly on the chubby side.
"Why do I hang out with you idiots?" Aaron sighed. The resident "nerd," Aaron completed the stereotypical look with glasses and cargo shorts.
"Yeah, why do you hang out with us?" I shot back at Aaron. I was the other resident nerd, with the glasses and a camouflage jacket. Aaron and I hated each other, which was a shame, because he was really smart when he wasn't being a pain in the butt.
"What if we could fly?" Cole asked. He was skinny, he spoke with a lisp, and he was always curious.
"It doesn’t matter if we can fly," Aaron said in his quiet, but fast and intimidating manner. "First, humans are not aerodynamically designed to produce lift, so that would never work. Second–"
"A-hole, you didn't answer his question," I said, eyeing Aaron sarcastically. "And if we could change the laws of physics, then we wouldn't have to worry about lift. We could just strength of gravity."
"And I would tear the Earth apart. Flying is boring compared to the destruction of planets," Aaron sneered.
"Whatever," I said, turning to Cole. "Do you think it'd be cool to change the laws of physics?"
"How would you change it if you don't even understand it?" Robert asked. He turned to Jason and Cole, and they started to talk about the latest anime video game that I had never heard of.
"I think that'd be cool," Jason said, finally.
I shrugged. "That's great." I slinked away from the group to find Jack.
As usual, blond and skinny Jack was hanging out at his mother's classroom. His mother was an art teacher, and he seemed to spend every lunch at her room. Or this time, he was outside the art room.
"Hey Jack," I said. "How's lunch?"
"Not bad," he said. "What's up?"
I shrugged. "I have an idea…"
The six of us met up in a secluded staircase at the edge of the school. Lunch was almost over, but I had a plan. A plan the escape the meaning of reality.
But that plan started with a lie.
"Nothing can change the laws of physics, right? That's impossible," I started. "But Nothingness is something."
"What's your point?" Aaron interrupted. "Lunch is almost over. I have to get to Algebra 2 Honors."
"Shut up," I hushed. He gave me an obscene gesture. I ignored him. As you can see, we're great friends. "So, if nothing can change the laws of physics, what if we became nothing? Would we be able to change physics?"
"Why are you so obsessed with this idea?" Aaron shouted. "It's stupid."
"It's not stupid," Cole argued. Jack laughed. Despite the harshness, our arguing was usually good-natured.
"How would this even work? What is you point, anyway?" Aaron demanded. "How would this help us?"
"Aaron has a point," Robert said.
"You're a douchebag," Jason said. This was getting nowhere.
The bell to end lunch stubbornly rung, even in our secluded area. We dispersed, heading to our fifth period classes. Aaron had a point. Aaron always had a point. It was the only reason I bothered to insult him at all.
Sitting in fifth period, waiting for the late bell to ring, I was already thinking about how I would accomplish any of this.