• 1. GOODBYE, HELLO


    We only get one life. We have as much time to do all the things we ever want to do until we leave the earth. After doing that thing, there’s no need in doing it anymore. Then we say goodbye. I’ve never longed for a second chance more than I did now. My brother and I were traveling down the road when I finally woke up from the nightmare. Matt stared down the road, a bleak look on his face. He looked at me and patted me on the shoulder.
    “Everything is going to be okay,” he said. I wish I could’ve believed him. I couldn’t bring myself to do that, though. A few tears ran down my eyes and I lay the side of my head on my frozen arm. I sniffled a little, but I didn’t fall back asleep. I went into my bag at the base of my seat and grabbed the nearest book I could find. My book list was fresh, so any book I picked was new to me. I flipped through the pages and looked at the back. It sounded promising. Maybe I would use it as a distraction. We pulled into a nearby McDonald’s. He parked the Volvo and we went inside. I went to find us a booth as he ordered the food. I played around with the salt shaker and tasted a little bit of it.
    “Nate, a little help, please.” Matt said as he held a tray with two drinks and a bag that had food bulging from it.
    “Sure,” I replied. I grabbed the bag and carefully placed it on the table. Matt sat my drink next to me and we prayed over our food. My two chicken sandwiches were good, but it was the honey mustard that made it better. Everyone there made me feel uncomfortable. From the other teenagers walking from the bathroom to the girls who were laughing at another booth, I couldn’t handle it. I stared down at my soda and took a few gulps. Matt had finished his food a few minutes before I did. While he waited for me to finish, he started a conversation.
    “Look, I know you might not like it here. Trust me, though. You’ll love it.” he began. Now was my time to speak.
    “Who said I didn’t like it?” I began, looking around at all the other people, who were paying attention to their everyday life. I began again. “Okay, so maybe I don’t. I’ll get use to it, though.” Matt smiled and nodded. He knew that I was willing to try, but he didn’t know that I was risking it just to make him happy.
    “See? There’s the spirit.” he said. After I had finished, I dumped the contents into the trash bin and placed the tray on top of it. We walked out the door into the darkened street and in the Volvo. The jolt of the engine gave me a little headache. We were out of the lot much faster than I thought. Still licking his lips from the salty fries, he began to speak again.
    “Well, where we’re going to live is nice. It’s a nice apartment in good old Maryland.” he talked more and more about how he used to live with his best friend while in College.
    The apartment building was only five miles away from where we were. I decided to start reading the book again. It was a good book. I read more than one-hundred pages already; that’s how fast I could read. It didn’t take real long for us to get down there. Matt stopped the car and got out.
    “Here we are.” he said. I stepped out of the car to see an apartment building. It was a tan colored building with street lights on almost every corner. There were some people coming out and going inside the building, mainly adults. It was real huge with white borders around the windows, doors, and signs. We were greeted by a middle-aged doorman who was about six foot two; good enough to be a basketball player. The inside of the building was elegant and had a fountain flowing with fresh water and little naked angel babies statues spat out the water into the pool. Matt walked up to the landlord who was behind the big beige colored desk. The landlord’s skin was pale, and he had a ring on his finger. His brown hair was even on both sides except he had a huge bald spot of the tip of his head. His glasses were a little foggy, too.
    “Hello, Mr. Roberts. We’ve been expecting you.” he said in a warm yet suspicious voice. He looked at me. “Oh, you must be Nathaniel.”
    “Nate,” I corrected. He grinned a bit and turned back to Matt.
    “Well, so I won’t be in your way, here are your keys.” he handed Matt two golden keys. Matt handed me one of them. The landlord went back to his desk.
    “Mister---?” Matt said but paused.
    “John. The name is John Smalls.” The landlord answered.
    “Mr. Smalls, what room do we have?”
    “Your room is on the fourth floor. Room number four-o-two.”
    “Thanks again.”
    “No. Thank you.” he said and went back to his post. Matt and I went over to the elevator and waited. The doors finally opened, exposing a family of three. We stepped in as they stepped out. Matt pressed the silver four and we waited.
    When we reached our room, I opened the door with my key. The room was a nice tan color. It was already set up with our old stuff from home. There was mom’s special rocking chair that she used to use when she would put us to sleep and there was dad’s desk where he used to work.
    “You could have the room at the end if you want; I don’t care.” Matt told me. I nodded and walked down to the room and looked inside. Except for my bed, drawer, mirror, and books, there was nothing else to put in there. All my things were in the wrong place, though. After I moved everything to its rightful place, I went downstairs to get my other things. It was amazing that Matt could pack all our stuff in the backseat and trunk of the small Volvo. All the things he had filled almost two boxes, considering that he was older and had to take care of himself and me. He helped me get all the stuff and we were walking back in.
    “Just put your things in your room; we’ll unpack later.” he told me when we were back in the room.
    “Where are we going?” I asked. He shook his head.
    “Anywhere, I guess. Why don’t we check out the place?” I nodded, happy to be getting out of the room and ecstatic to be going somewhere that maybe I wanted to go. Matt shrugged.
    “So, where do you want to go?” he asked.
    “What about the bookstore? Or maybe the shoe store?” I asked.
    “Well, you have enough books to supply you to college, so maybe the shoe store sounds nice.” I nodded. He began again. “Sure. We could go to the bookstore, too, but only to look. We’ll buy books another time.”
    We headed out the door when we saw a tenant who looked like he was nosy.
    “Going somewhere, I presume?” he asked. Yep, he was nosy.
    “We’re just going out to the stores.” Matt answered.
    “Oh, well, welcome to the Grand Hamilton.” He said and walked away.
    I ignored him and headed to the elevator. Matt was behind me.
    “How do you like the room?” he asked me. I wished he’d stop asking me that. I sighed.
    “I like it. Really, I do.”
    “See? What did I tell you?” I guess he wanted me to give in to his idea that I would actually like Maryland that fast, but I wasn’t going to. The elevator opened and we stepped out the door. There were some people coming in bringing bags full of clothes.
    “Maybe we should go buy some sheets.” Matt suggested. I nodded and got into the Volvo.
    As Matt revved up the car, I pulled out my MP3 and started listening to the Beatles. I decided to put it away since it reminded me of mom and dad. I turned on the radio to soft jazz music. We pulled out the lot and into the road full of vans, cars, and trucks. I looked into my mirror. I was an average fifteen year old. Matt looked just like me except for his longer hair. We had Native American ancestry; we were from the Iroquois. I had skinny sideburns, too. My hair didn’t come past the bottom of my neck. Matt and I had the same color eyes: brown. Our mother was a mix of black and white. Our father was the Native American. In Montana, we’d learned how to hunt and ride horse back.
    “What are you thinking about?” Matt asked me.
    “Nothing.” I lied.

    When we reached a nearby town center, Matt let me go to the bookstore. He walked down to the Foot Locker to buy some shoes. When I entered, there was a security guard nodding at me. I guess he meant hello so I nodded back. I went to the teen section and started scanning. I saw one book that I might have bought if I had money. I picked it up and read the back. It was about a boy who could travel back in time. I flipped through the pages and the book slipped out my hands. Clumsy me, I thought to myself. I reached down to grabbed it when I saw pink Chucks. I looked up at the most beautiful girl ever. Her hair was black with a little bit of red. She had ember eyes and nice caramel skin. Her shirt was blue and white with a white vest-like hoodie.
    “Hi,” she said in a pleasant voice. I was dumbfounded. Finding the right words, I said, “Hi.”
    “Are you new here?” she asked.
    “Yes. I just blew in from Montana.” I sounded like an idiot in front of her. She chuckled.
    “Well, I’m Alison. Ali for short.”
    “I’m Nathaniel. Nathan or Nate, whichever you like.”
    “I like Nate.” We talked about books, movies, and different things. She was beautiful. I tried to find the right words again.
    “So, how was Montana?” she asked me.
    “Montana was great. I used to live with my parents, but…” she knew where I was going with this.
    “I’m so sorry.” She said, rubbing my shoulder. I blushed. Luckily, I was dark enough for her not to see it.
    “It’s okay. Thanks. I live with my brother, Matt, now. He got a job offer working at a hospital. It’s not a major job, but it helps us.”
    “Oh.” she looked as a man waved her over. “Well, there’s my dad. I have to go.”
    “Wait,” I said, not thinking, “will I ever see you again?”
    “What school are you going to?”
    “Flowers I think.”
    “Good. I’ll see you there. Maybe we’ll have classes together.” I began to rejoice inside. I was happy to be seeing her again.
    Before she left, Matt came in. She caught a glimpse of him and smiled. I guess she thought I was just a copy of him, as everyone else thought the same thing.
    “This must be Matt.” she said, smiling.
    “And you are…”
    “Ali. Ali Stone.” Matt smiled and shook her hand.
    “Ali. Nice to meet you,” Her father came over with her mom. He was a middle-aged man with brown hair. He had on a Yale shirt with dark denim jeans. He had on an old pair of Nike’s. Her mom was a nice-looking woman who had black hair and a flower dress.
    “Hi. I’m Mr. Stone and this is Mrs. Stone.” Mr. Stone extended his hand to Matt and then to me. Mrs. Stone shook our hands, too.
    “Hello,” Matt began, “we’re new here. We just moved.”
    “Dad,” Ali began, “this is Nate (Short for Nathaniel). He’ll be going to my school come tomorrow.”
    “Oh,” Mrs. Stone said, “that’s great.” She seemed enthused.
    Matt nodded and motioned to me.
    “Well, I guess we have to go. You ready, Nate?” I nodded.
    “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” I said, and we left the bookstore, joy filling my face. We soon went to a Chinese restaurant at the town center. It was one of my favorite foods. Matt and I ate and hated mostly the same things. As we ate, Matt brought up my conversation with Ali.
    “So what’s up with you? You were acting weird when I came up to Ali.” I didn’t want to tell him that I was a little jealous that she recognized him more than me, but my expression showed it.
    “You were jealous!” he exclaimed, laughing. “You don’t want Ali to ignore you.” He was laughing to the point where he started to tear up then he stopped when some people were staring, mainly teenagers.
    “No, I’m not.” I retorted. Who was I kidding? I was bad at lying, especially to Matt. I went to him for everything.
    “So, you’re not?” he asked. I didn’t answer and he laughed again.
    “My little brother has a crush. Wow, we just got in Maryland today and you have a crush by nightfall.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. He was right; I did like her, but only in a “crush” sort of way. When we returned to our new home, sheets in a bag in our hand, we set up our beds and went straight to sleep.



    Charles Flowers High School (Flowers for short) was huger than my old school. Matt drove me up there so he could register me in. The school was nicer on the inside. The cafeteria actually looked like the food court from the town center. I came in some khaki gray pants with a white polo shirt, a green sweater to top of the shirt, and some Chucks: the school’s average uniform. I’ve never worn uniforms before, so it was new to me. It felt a little disgusting to me to walk around everyday in the same outfit and color. Everyone else seemed to like it, though.
    As we walked into the office, Matt told me to sit in one of the chairs in the corner. I did and sat my book bag in another seat. Matt walked up to the desk and asked about registration. A lady told him to come to the back and he motioned toward me, telling me to come. In the back, there was a desk that had a sign saying “Mrs. Benson.” A lady sat behind the desk looking at some papers about a boy being suspended. She looked up at Matt and I. She smiled and began talking.
    “Hello, gentlemen,” she began, “you must be registering today, hmm?”
    Matt answered and she went to a cabinet behind her. She pulled out an information sheet and handed it to Matt to fill out. She looked at me and asked me a few questions.
    “So, what is your name, young man?” she asked first.
    “Nathaniel, Ms. Brown. Nathaniel Roberts.” I answered. She smiled at me.
    “What a nice name for a sweet and pleasant boy.” she said. I smiled.
    “Thank you,” I said.
    “I think you’ll like it here at Flowers. What grade are you in?”
    “Tenth Grade. Sophomore.” I answered.
    “I remember my sophomore days. There were the best.” she said. She recalled on her past as a young high school girl.
    Matt finished filling out the papers and handed it to her. She looked it over carefully, making sure everything was filled out, then smiled.
    “Great. Well, you can come with me.” she said. Matt was getting ready to leave. I was nervous for a second; I always got nervous with new things, like a play I previously did. I grabbed my bag and went with Mrs. Benson to a computer. On there was a schedule. I hope I got to choose my classes. Everything was in place besides some classes. I needed at least three more.
    “So, is there anything you’re interested in?” she asked me. I tried to think.
    “I do like computers if they have that. I also like Spanish and Gym is okay.” She put those classes on my sheet. After they printed out, I looked at it and examined what class I had today. The top class said “English, Mrs. Stewart.” Mrs. Benson showed me around the school. I like where my locker was: right next to the bathroom and fountain. She then showed me to Mrs. Stewart. She was a lady with red hair. She had glasses and wore a black shirt with dark blue jeans. Her room was rearranged in rows. Her room was elegant with a little library in the corner.
    “Hello, this may be a new student, I presume?” she asked.
    “Yes.” I answered. She looked at me and smiled. I could tell she was going to be a good teacher. Mrs. Benson wished me good luck and left to go back to her office downstairs. Mrs. Stewart told me to sit in a desk in the head of the class. She didn’t make me stand up like all the other teachers do to other kids. She signed a paper that Mrs. Benson gave to me and gave me a textbook. She told the kids to turn to a page in the nine-hundred’s. I did so and we read about a poem by Robert Frost. She had the students randomly shout out answers. This was going to be a fun class.
    After her class, I had Science. Mr. Lopez invited me in.
    “Hello Mr. Roberts. Welcome to Science.” He was strict at times to some kids, but he was okay. I didn’t do much, since it was my first day, but I did pay attention. I sat with three kids: Raney, Louis, and John. They were okay with me. They were funny. His class was okay, too.
    Next was computer class, which I had with Louis. The room looked like a science lab, and the floor rose one level higher than another. We sat down and my teacher, Ms. Johnson, made us create a flier for a school dance and basketball dance. Making the flier was boring, but Louis kept me awake.
    After computer class, we had lunch. I decided to get a cheeseburger and some fries. I sat with Louis, Reggie, John, and their friends who invited me also. At least I had a few friends for a first day.
    “So, how is this school?” I asked.
    “I guess I should ask you the same thing.” Reggie said, laughing. He patted me on the back.
    “The school’s okay. It’s the teachers, though, that make it boring.” I remembered all my teachers I saw today and wondered how Reggie thought they were boring. But, I didn’t see all of my teachers so they could be boring.
    “Well, the school is great. It’s bigger than my old school.” I said.
    “Where are you from?” Louis asked.
    “Montana.” I answered.
    “I’ve always wanted to visit Montana one day.”
    “Trust me it’s better than Maryland. Well, in my perspective.” We ate some more as some kids passed me. It looked as if they were rushing to their table. There were three girls and two guys. The caught a glance at me and gasped almost in unison. I furrowed my eyebrows.
    “Who are they?” I asked. Louis looked at them.
    “Oh, their just some friends who sit together all the time at lunch.”
    “What are their names?” I asked again.
    “The three girls are Amelia, Jessi, and Sarah. The two guys are Zane and Sterling. They’re not related, but they act as if they are. Zane’s the one with the brown hair. Sterling is light skinned. Amelia has red hair. Jessi’s is jet black. And Sarah’s the blond.”
    “Oh.” I said. The bell rang and the group rushed out and on to their business. I went as they went catching up with them. I tried to walk with them, but the split off into two directions. I looked at my schedule. I had History next. I followed the light skinned boy and the blonde girl. The girl left, but the boy was still in my direction. He had history with me, too; I guess I could talk to him in their. My teacher, Ms. Helms, told me to sit next to a girl named Jenny. I sat next to her, looking back at the boy and wondering why him and his friends gasped. The teacher told us to pair up. I paired up with the boy and asked him a few questions.
    “Hello,” I started. He smiled at me.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “What’s your name?” I asked.
    “I’m Sterling. You must be Nathaniel.”
    “Nate.” I corrected.
    “I wish I could have a shortened name. Ster or Ling doesn’t work.”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    Ms. Helms looked at me and Sterling. She had a certain glare when Sterling looked at her. I think he was trying to intimidate her or something. She soon smiled and turned back to the board.
    “What’s her problem?” I asked.
    “Ms. Helms just kid around at times. She thinks it’s funny.”
    “My teachers would never play that way if I were back home.”
    “This is your home now; you might as well get used to it.”
    “Yeah, right; like that would happen.” I said. He chuckled and he continued to do his work. I went along and helped him. He looked at Jenny and then back at me, wondering if I were looking at him. I was. I didn’t ask why he was looking at her that way; he looked at her the same way I looked at Ali. Class was over in a few minutes. I then went down to the guidance office and gave Mrs. Benson the paper of scribbled teacher signatures.
    “Thank you, Mr. Roberts. Have a nice sophomore year.” I thanked her and left. Matt was outside in the sea of students. I went to him as the group of kids went from left to right. He patted me on the back and we got in the car.
    “So, how was the first day of a new school?” he asked. I sighed and answered.
    “It was great. I made some friends.”
    “That’s good.”
    “My teachers are cool, too.”
    “Well, my first day on the job was great. I work on the fourth floor. I didn’t really do anything. They just showed me around and told me about the hospital.”
    “Oh. I guess you and I had the same day.”
    “Yeah, we did.” We drove back to the apartment where I decided to rest for a while; school was tiring once someone has been in it for over eleven years; it’s sort of like someone doing a job for over sixteen years.
    I slept and dreamt of mom and dad, wishing they were back. I woke up to the apartment empty and the stereo playing an old blues song. I looked in the fridge and got some chocolate milk. I went to go watch some TV; maybe a DVD or something. The view from our floor wasn’t high, but I had a good view.
    “I wonder where Matt went,” I though aloud. I guess I could start on my homework. The teachers came up with a way to give new students homework. They just gave me sheets of paper making me explain my recent summer vacation, what I like to do, what music I listen to, and all that sort of stuff.
    I went to the fridge again to get some of Matt’s Chinese food mixed with mine; I was the only one who ate food after it was refrigerated. I looked at the freezer at a piece of paper folded. The yellow paper had my name on it. I took it and sat down on the couch. I read it.


    Dear Nate,


    Look at me, sounding all proper. Anyway, I went out back to the hospital; they called me back to work. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. And to think, I was happy sleeping in my bed. You know where the food is. You know how to operate stuff. You know what my number is. If you need me, I’ll come back. Go to the town center if you want. Call one of your friends and ask if you could get a ride. Keep your cell phone with you. Call me if you go down there or text me. I don’t want to come home and you’re not there. What kind of brother would I be?

    -Matt


    Since this was my opportunity to get out, I called Louis and asked if he, Reggie, and John could come pick me up. Reggie’s mom was going to take them; they talked about it over lunch. The phone rang four times ‘til he answered.
    “Hello?” he asked.
    “Louis, it’s Nate.”
    “Nate? Oh, hey! What’s up?”
    “I was wondering…I know this is sudden and all, since I’m new, but do you mind if I come along with you and the guys to the town center.”
    “Yeah, sure. Be ready in about ten minutes.” That was easy. I dressed in my favorite “Got Milk?” shirt. After that we left to go to the town center. I sent Matt a text.


    Matt,
    I’m gone to the town center with Louis, Reggie, and John. See you later.