Sorry for the weird c3ns0rsh1p! Scratch was com1ng f0r me bro </3 First: Here! Next: Not out yet :3 Prior knowledge: Hours = school periods (They have six different classes a day, so six hours/periods) Each "hour" is 55 mins (On Fridays they're only 50) It g0es: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, lunch, 4th, 5th, hero hour (basically free period), 6th hour, home. No hero hr on Friday -- You wanna know what annoys me the most? When your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend keeps annoying you. Like today! In science (my 3rd hour, right before lunch) me and Neo were put together in a project (you know when the teacher assigns our partners if me and Neo are together. I hat3 him so much). Luna kept bugging me about it. Like I was going to try to get back with a guy that looked like a cru$ty chiwawa. I would never in a million years do that. But, continuing on with my story, Luna kept saying stuff like, “don’t try anything, Lilly,” and, “Don’t even look at Neo!” It was so annoying. The teacher finally told her to shut up when I $lapp3d her. He told me off, too. I had barely even touched her, though, and she started to cry. “Neo! Look what Lilly did!” Luna showed Neo a small red mark on her shoulder. “Uhm… Wasn’t that there this morning? When you fell in the hallway?” “$hut up, Neo!” Luna turned away to talk to her science partner, Sunny. “So… Neo, what element should we research for our project?” We hadn’t been able to start or even discuss our project because of Luna. “Oh! Uhm… What? I thought this project was on habitats?” Neo looked puzzled. I was confused too. /Didn’t the teacher say we were researching elements?/ I thought. Neo pointed to the whiteboard at the front of the class. “Today’s project: Habitats” was written on the board. “What? n0 that'$..." “LILLY! What did I say about say!ng th0s3 w0rds in class?!” The teacher snapped. “S-sorry Mr. Green! I won’t do it again!” Mr. Green sighed. “You always say that, Lilly.” He went back to grading assignments. Neo started to laugh. I threatened to s1ap him and he stopped. “Ok, what habitat should we research for our project?” I purposely emphasized habitat. “Hm, maybe forests? I know you really like them-” He stopped short when he realized I was glaring at him. He knew what he did to make me hat3 him bringing up forests… He wasn’t wrong, though, I do. I really do like forests. They’re always so peaceful and I love hearing the birds chirping. “Sorry,” he muttered, “I forgot, really, Lilly, I-” “Would you just $hut up?!” I yelled. Everyone looked at me, so did Mr. Green, “Lilly. Hallway. Now.” He said through gritted teeth. I frowned. Luna was giggling. /Of course/. I thought. /I always get in trouble when I’m near her/. “Neo, you too,” Mr. Green added. “But I didn’t do anything!” Neo pleaded. “Don’t care. Go out in the hallway with Lilly.” I couldn’t help but snicker. Neo pushed me once we both got up. Yeah… I deserved that. “Thanks a lot, Lilly,” Neo told me in the hallway. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking away at one of the math classes. “I’m not sorry,” I said. “You never are,” Neo sounded annoyed. “Yeah, yeah,” I looked at another science class in the opposite direction of the math class Neo was looking at. After a few minutes, the teacher came out of the classroom to talk to us. “Why do you two always fight?” He asked. “Because Neo’s annoying! And so is Luna!” I whisper-yelled. “Because Lilly keeps annoying me,” Neo said flatly. “Why do you keep putting us together on assignments?” I asked. “Because I know you two can get along. I’ll just tell Luna and Sunny to move to the other side of the classroom, ok?” Mr. Green knew nothing about how much I hated Neo. He acts like it’s no big deal when it is! Neo had been talking to Luna throughout our whole relationship. I tried to play it off thinking things like “Oh they’re just friends, right?” But no, Luna liked Neo and Neo liked her back. I broke up with him right when I knew for sure. I should’ve broken up with him sooner but… I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t want to believe it. “Ok,” Neo replied. “Fine… But don’t expect me to start wanting to be friends with him again,” I grumbled. We went back into the classroom and decided to research the Deciduous Forest. The only reason I agreed was because it wasn’t like the forest me and Neo were thinking about. The Deciduous Forest was like where we live. It has trees, mountains, and a bit of desert. It reminded me of how the leaves turn pretty shades of purple, yellow, red, and orange in the fall. “Ok, I’ll do the basic description, climate, plants and how they adapt,” I told Neo. “That leaves me with adaptations, annual precipitation, and animals, right?” “Yep,” I said as the bell rang. Lunch! I met up with Starla outside the cafeteria. We went inside. We both had home lunch because the lunch lines take too long. Kao and Rao were already at the table we sat at. Rao and Kao are twins that I have been friends with since elementary school. +
------ continued below! ↓↓↓ + “Hey, Lilly!” Kao greeted me. “Hey!” I replied. Starla shyly waved. She wasn’t very outgoing like me. We sat down and I told them about how I have to work with Neo again. “Dang, Mr. Green never learns, does he?” Rao said. “I know, right?!” Kao added. Rao and Kao always seemed to agree. “He put me in a group with Candy last project,” Kao rolled her eyes. “Ew!” I said. Candy was Luna’s best friend. They both sucked. “I’m thinking of skipping the next three hours to go explore the abandoned buildings,” I said. “What?” Starla said quietly, “You can’t do that! You might get caught and the buildings are off-limits and dangerous!” Starla always worried for me. “Nah, It’ll be fine. The fact that they’re off-limits and “dangerous” makes it more fun!” I said cheerfully. “...Ok…” Starla said. It was crazy to think she was related to Luna. They were only one year apart and so different. Luna was so loud and annoying and never got good grades (I don’t either, but Luna’s are somehow worse than mine) but Starla was quiet and never got below an A in any class. I bit into my sandwich. It tasted like the only thing on it was mayo. It also fell apart after I bit into it. I sighed and grabbed my fruit snacks. They melted a bit, so they were kind of sticky. “Do you need me to get you something else to eat?” Rao asked. “No, I’m good,” I replied. Well, I actually kind of did want something else to eat. Straight mayo didn’t taste very good. Suddenly, there was a loud sound. CRASH! Some kid had tripped and their lunch tray hit the ground. I snickered. “Oh! Starla, aren’t you writing some poetry in your writing class?” Kao asked. “Yeah, I am,” Starla said. “I’m sure Lilly would like to look over it!” Kao said happily. “Yeah, I’d love to!” I said. Starla never felt confident in her writing abilities even though they were extraordinary, so I always looked over her writing and told her how good it is. “I have the rough draft right here,” she said, pulling it out of her bag and handing it to me. I looked at the title. “The World is a Stage” /Hmm/ I thought. /Probably one of those pieces of poetry that have a great meaning that I’ll never be able to understand/. I scanned over a few of the lines. I didn’t understand a word, but I knew it was just because Starla knew a lot more than me. Just look at my 2.34 GPA compared to her 4.00. “Do you like it?” Starla asked. “Of course! You’re always so great at writing!” I complemented. “Thanks,” she said. I handed the paper back to her. I sniffed the air. Hmm… smells like spaghetti sauce… school lunch must have been spaghetti and “meatballs” today. I say “meatballs” because they’re more of meat chunks. “Well, I’m off to the abandoned buildings!” I said, getting up. “Ok!” Kao said. “Alright,” Rao said. “Please be careful, Lilly, don’t climb through a broken window like last time,” Starla said cautiously. “I know, I know,” I laughed. Last time I went to the abandoned buildings, I climbed through a broken window. The cuts weren’t worth it. I left the school. It was open campus during lunch so nobody could stop me. The buildings were decently close to the school, so I always walked. Once I got there, I decided to explore a building on the left. This particular building used to be an office building. I think. I had explored before, but something about it felt weirdly familiar… Like I’d been there before when I was younger. Not even in a liminal space way either, I felt like I had memories of being there before it was abandoned. That couldn’t be right, though. I went into the building and went to the second floor. I looked around for a while. At the boxes filled with old paperwork, in the desks, at the old musty computers, and I even tried opening a vent for fun. I didn’t find anything, though (I also couldn’t open the vent). /I feel like there’s something I’m missing/… I thought. I checked my watch and saw that I had been exploring the building for around two hours. /Eh, only one class left, it wouldn’t hurt to miss it./ I went back to the first floor and then walked out of the building. I then decided that fruit snacks were not a sufficient lunch after I realized how hungry I was. The gas station wasn’t too far, so I walked for a bit to… buy some snacks. I’m totally not a shoplifter. After walking all the way over to it, I saw that Luna, Candy, AND Neo decided to skip and get snacks, too! I decided to stay outside until they left to avoid any more fistfights with Luna, but they were taking WAY too long so I just walked inside despite them. I could tell Luna noticed me because she started whispering to Neo and Candy as she kept glancing at me. I just took my mediocre hotdog and gummy bears, paid for the hotdog and left to go home (I didn’t have the $1.50 for the gummy bears since I left my debit card at home…). - To Be Continued -
