New Computer/Boring Story

[Adam]

In honor of the new computer I just got, I'm writing a story or book or novel or whatever it'll turn into...

“The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain,” said the recording to the quiet room. The children repeated and as if it had been listening it said, “Very good.” A pattern of rhyming tongue twisters filled the room and the children repeated to hear a polite “Very good” from the record player.

One child however didn’t repeat. He silently sat in his desk in the middle of the classroom and read his book. As pointless as he saw the exercise, he wasn’t being rebellious. Just inattentive. He honestly hadn’t noticed what was happening around him. The words in the book seemed so much more interesting. James wasn’t scrawny, but he didn’t have much muscle. His jet black hair reached his shoulders. He wasn’t very well tanned. He burned easily, so he was more inclined to stay inside and read. He loved reading. Always has. Only thing was, his teacher didn’t. Not altogether, mind you, just when the class was doing another activity.

The teacher didn’t immediately make her presence known to the boy as she stood beside him. She had kept an eye on him ever sense the day she met him. He wasn’t remarkable in any way, shape or form. He never talked. He never made a mess. He never made an A or a C on anything save for the occasional 90 on a test. A B student. Ordinary. That was probably it. He was boring. To boring to be normal. Stacy was mildly OCD. George would randomly start to burp his ABC’s. Tiffany would play football. James…he just sat and read. Alice was new to teaching this year, but she knew how to handle children. She grew up with three younger sisters and would often baby-sit them. Becoming a teacher was a dream come true. She had always wanted to be a young person’s role model and help them when they needed it. She knew, however, that she was far from James’s role model.

“Is that book really that good?” She asked him. A bit startled, James looked up. The recording was still playing, but all of the other student’s eyes were on him. Annoyed he looked back down at his book.

“Why is it always me? I’m sure I wasn’t the only one not doing the exercise.” He said knowing he was more than likely wrong.

“Because you were the only one I saw.”
“You’re only watching me.”
“Don’t talk back to me.”
“I wasn’t. Just stating a fact.”
“And you don’t call that taking back?”
"Not personally.”
“So it’s not personal if I give you a detention slip?”

Outsmarted. He knew he had lost. He sighed and closed his book. “She sells sea shells by the sea shore.” Alice smirked and sat back down behind her desk and continued to check roll.
“Pwn’t.” Said Michael after class. “Shut up.” James retorted. As much as he hated to admit it, though, “pwn’t” was a good way of describing what had happened in class. He and Ms. Kelly had never seen eye to eye, exactly. He had figured she just disliked him. He hadn’t done any thing. Not much of anything at all. He wasn’t in the same class with any of friends, so he never talked (and why he recapped anything eventful to Michael. He was the first person James saw when he left for the day). He never failed anything though, admittedly he never really tried his best unless a test was involved. The way he saw it he was simply her target. He shrugged. “Just don’t understand why she only picks on me!” “I don’t get it either,” said Michael picking a scab on his elbow. “Maria and Daniel had her last year. They said she was cool. They always tell stories about how they all play World of Warcraft-” “Well she’s never even mentioned that to me,” James snapped. Michael just patted James’s shoulder. “She can’t only be getting onto you. Maybe you just don’t notice. Have you been reading in class?” James didn’t respond.

Alice sighed. She knew James was probably right. She was only watching him. Even if no one else in the class had been repeating the record she wouldn’t have noticed. Or cared. It was a pointless activity. She just couldn’t put her finger on why in the world she cared so much. She sat quietly in the empty classroom. She must have thought on this quite intently for before she even noticed, Mike was standing at the other side of the desk. “You plan on going home?” The question startled her. Mike just laughed. “Relax. You gonna be online tonight?” Mike was a level 6 Night Elf. A noob. He relied on her to level up. But, because she invited him to WoW, she got a free month. Symbiotic relationship. “Yeah,” She answered. “Forgive me if I’m…”She waved her hand around her head, searching for a word. Not finding one, she simply said, “Out of it.” Mike chucked again. They had been best friends forever. They met in college and had a lot of the same classes. They had dated for a while, but things didn’t work out. Mike was a good friend, but a terrible boyfriend. He’d seldom call, and when she’d call him, he was probably playing video games and wouldn’t really listen to what you were saying unless it was a serious situation. He was tall. Very tall. She hadn’t asked him lately, but she was sure he was at least 6’ 7”. He was handsome as well. That’s what had attracted her in the first place. He was muscular and well dressed. He had fair skin and his blonde hair was loose on his head and about three to four inches long. He was really into the latest things and Alice was surprised he hadn’t been playing WoW. He patted her head as if she were a puppy and turned to leave. “See you then.” He then left the room. Alice picked up her things and left for home.

Outside the school, Michael told Maria and Daniel what James had told him. Michael was a heavy guy and he seemed to just not be able to lose the weight. He was quite active and played touch football, but the excess fat simply stuck. James remembered thinking once that Michael simply wouldn’t look right without it so he never really cared. Maria and Daniel were one year older than the other two, but hung out with them forever. Daniel was a geek through and through. He’d be the first one to tell you. James would consider him to be scrawny. He had spiky hair and wore big glasses and some awkward cartoon, video game, Star Trek or some other weird t-shirt everyday. Today he wore a green shirt with a character from one of the old Final Fantasy games shooting a bolt of energy from it’s hands. Under it were the words “People don’t kill people, magic missiles kill people”. A Dungeons and Dragons reference. Maria on the other hand was also a geek, but didn’t look the part. She was beautiful in James’s eyes. Her dark, clear skin went well with her long, dark brown hair. She was slender, but not scary-slender like some of the girls James had seen at his brother, Jess’s school. She always dressed nicely like one of the really preppy kids, but call her a prep and you’d never hear the end of it. James constantly found himself wondering how in the world Daniel had gotten her to be his girlfriend for so long-or at all for that matter. Michael finished the story as Daniel and Maria laughed out loud. “That’s hilarious!” Daniel said. “Why did she care so much? She used to always tell us how dumb that tongue twister thing was.” “You’re smart enough, guy,” Maria added in between gasps. “You are one of the only people I’d ever tell to put down the book and watch some TV. Rot your brain a little.” James just looked annoyed. “Wasn’t even that funny…” “We should ask why she cared so much tonight,” Maria suggested. “ Wait…tonight? How?” James asked. “Didn’t we tell you we play WoW?” “You don’t hang out in there…do you?” James asked. “Well, yeah. We told you she’s cool. Why wouldn’t we hang out with her?” James just groaned. Soon he heard the sound of his brother’s beat up old truck. It roared into the drive-way and stopped in front of them. “C’mon, dude. We gotta go.” Jess yelled over the roar of his vehicle. “Coming,” James said. He said bye to his friends and climbed into the passenger’s seat.

Well?

[Adam]

Well?