Seven On The Dot
Look, I didn’t sign up for this. Sure, I made some mistakes, and yeah, some of them might’ve been partly my fault. But I’m not the type of guy who goes looking for trouble. Trouble, though, has a very sneaky way of finding me—and that’s never a good thing.
Now, you might be wondering, “Hey, Marcus, what exactly did you do?” Well, my friend, sit tight because here’s the story of how it all went down the drain—literally and figuratively.
It all started two days ago. I was just chilling with my best friends Eva and Leo during recess at school. We were doing all the usual things high schoolers do during recess—talking, playing around, and poking fun at anyone within sight. The only thing we weren’t doing was eating our lunch, and that’s because some bullies had taken it from us. You know, the usual stuff.
“Have you seen Mr. Thorston?” asked Eva, running her hands through her red hair that cascaded down her shoulder.
“Yeah, every day, with that wicked smile of his and all that hair,” I joked.
“No, I mean—” she shot me an exasperated look. “Have you actually noticed him? Like, in detail. I think he’s hiding something.”
“Here we go again,” Leo chimed in with his trademark playful smile, his caramel-curled hair dancing in the breeze. “Eva, you always think that. Last year you said Mr. Anderson was an undercover spy—”
“Because he was!” she protested.
“He was not, and you know it well.” Leo crossed his arms. “And now you think what? That Mr. Thorston is some kind of alien? Or maybe some undercover FBI agent? Or—wait—some sort of shapeshifting magical cat who wants to take over the world?”
“Sure, Mr. Funny.” Eva rolled her eyes.
“You’re nuts,” Leo said.
“I hate you.”
“I hate you more.”
“You two are so cute when you fight,” I teased them, earning myself an annoyed look from Eva.
“Shut it, Marcus,” said Eva, looking at me with her emerald-green eyes, as if I had done something very bad and might go to detention where Mr. Thorston was waiting to punish me severely. Maybe he’d even take me to Area 51 if it turned out he was an alien.
“Yeah, Marcus. Go eat some soap,” agreed Leo.
Before I could start arguing with them, the bell rang, echoing across the basketball courts, prompting a chorus of curses from students. Kids started to get up, and as you guessed, nobody picked up the trash. It was left out there, blending with the gray color of the court.
So, right now, I can give you a super tip: Never enter Crestwood Academy. Even if your parents are convinced it’s the best school in all of California. Don’t. It’s the worst mistake you’ll ever make.
You can’t even walk a few meters without seeing a piece of shit thrown on the floor. It’s as if the people in charge of cleaning didn’t give a damn about children or cleaning . . . or anything involved with the school (just like me!).
“Guess recess is over,” said Leo.
“No kidding, Steve Jobs,” I said as I got up from the bench we were seated on. And since I was a good boy, I picked up my trash. “So, is Mr. Thorston a horse? A wrestler? A drug lord?”
“You know I didn’t say that.” Eva sniffed and turned up her nose.
“You basically implied it.”
“I didn’t.”
“You totally did,” said Leo as he stepped onto the basketball court, where most of the kids were already evacuating and now trying to go to the bathroom or attempting the impossible mission of getting to class on time. “I think I might have an exam,” he said dimly.
“Maybe you can sweet-talk Mrs. Hally,” I said, giving him a knowing grin. Everyone knew Leo had a crush on Mrs. Hally since the first day of classes—even Mrs. Hally, who now treated him like the teacher’s pet. Possibility of jail? Probably.
“Ha, ha. So funny,” he replied dryly.
The three of us followed at a normal pace toward the imposing school doors where all our nightmares began. Well, at least my nightmares started there. I wasn’t one of those kids who got scared thinking Frankenstein was going to eat their toes.
“So, Eva,” continued Leo, “what do you think Mr. Thorston is?”
“You’re going to make fun of me.”
“I won’t,” Leo said, then he glanced at me and exchanged a silent conversation that went something like this:
Leo: We’re going to make fun of her.
Me: No, we won’t.
Leo: C’mon, you chicken.
Me: You’re the chicken.
Leo: I’ll tell Eva you peed in your bed.
Well, I didn’t have any other option, so I had to agree. And I can assure you I didn’t pee in the bed. It was just a . . . mistake. Yeah, nothing to do with me, absolutely nothing.
“You promise?” she said, looking at the doors without turning her head. “You promise you won’t make fun of me?”
“I promise,” said Leo with a broad smile over his lips. The fingers crossed on his back said otherwise. I clenched my fist and resisted the urge not to slap him across the face.
Eva took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll meet you at my house at seven. You better go,” and then, before we could say anything else, she rushed through the doors and disappeared, leaving us there looking like two creeps.
“Great,” Leo muttered. “Now she goes.”
“Yeah.”
“Seven, right? She speaks too fast.”
“Seven on the dot,” I confirmed. “I think she’s going to tell us something about Mr. Thorston. She’s really into figuring out if he’s a secret agent.”
We stopped walking and stood just outside the two big wooden doors, while many students were entering the school like it was the end of the world.
“You have a free period?” Leo asked.
“Yep. Lucky us.”
“Lucky you. I have class right now.”
“Right, with Mrs. Hally,” I said, giving him a wink. He answered with a very evident roll of his eyes. “Then get moving; you’ve got a date to catch.”
“I swear one of these days you’ll wake up with no teeth, Marcus.”
I grinned at him. “I’ll see you try.”
And with that, he walked on to his class, only turning at me at the last moment to show me his middle finger—a gesture I definitely appreciated. It was like the universal sign of I love you for the both of us. So sweet.
Given that I had no other class left in my schedule and that my eyes were getting really tired from a week filled with thousands of exams, I decided to go home.
A nice bath combined with some sleep didn’t sound that bad. Besides, after finishing a restful nap, I could go to Eva’s and enjoy some treats (cookies, candies, cake—everything was good for my stomach).
Great day ahead.
So, I crossed the street and left the school behind.
