Here's a little preview to a novel I've been working on. It's a re-write of a really awful fanfic by DDaarrkk (aka James). God it was bad... so bad... *shivers*. But, the story itself had potential, even if it would be extremely difficult to write. So, I took it upon myself to take this awful piece of... ... ... *censored* "respectable fanfiction material" *censored* and turn it into something different. Whether it's good or not, that's up to you to decide. I'm working on chapters eight and nine simultaneously, but this is just a little preview of... the first six I think. Sorry the format is a little F-ed. Gaia does that. Anyway, DDaarrkk is the motivation behind this story, but everything you see here is my own writing with selected dialog quotes from the original. If you want to see the orginal piece of *censored*, here is the link http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3425569/1/The_Transformation_saga . Have a very ninja day everyone.
~Keep it ninja ninja !Oh! And please comment!
Prologue
My life is strange. Perhaps that’s a bit of an understatement. My life is the most unusually, peculiar, and outlandish bit of weirdness I’d be willing to bet anyone has ever thought of. Sometimes I wish what I have written down here wasn't real, but it is. It’s as real as the book in your hands this moment, and perhaps even more real than that. It wasn’t always that way of course. Earth seemed like such a big place, once upon a time. Back in high school, things seemed pretty normal, for the most part. My name is Nick. I won’t tell you my full name, there’s no need, names really aren’t important. But what’s happening to the worlds is... and so is this story. So pay very, very close attention.
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Chapter 1
James Melton hit the alarm clock as hard as he could, in the hopes that it might break. Opening one sleepy eye, he glanced at the calendar on his wall. September 10th, 2006, the first day of school. James groaned as he rolled from the bed, taking the blanket with him. First day of freshman year. He thought to himself. Big whoop... Now I’m officially the scum of the universe.
James threw on some clothes before he made his way through the single story house to the kitchen. It smelt of burnt toast and cigarette smoke, but he was used to it. As he poured himself a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk, James’ stepmother and stepsister came sauntering into the room. “Are you ready for school?” James’ stepmother asked him, in an accusing tone.
“Yes, maam.” James mumbled back, making his way over to the kitchen table. Taking a seat James began to eat. The sugary taste of the cereal helped him to wake up, slightly. James had never liked his stepmother. In his opinion she was dirty, rude, ugly, a control freak, and to him the very epitome of evil. Frankly, I agreed with him.
She looked at James sideways. “Harrumph! Well, fine. You can do whatever you want until it’s time to leave,” she grumbled, spitting into the kitchen trash can.
James looked up, a malevolent smile playing across his features, “When you say whatever...”
His stepmother whirled around, “You know what I mean!” She shouted at him, James’ innocent jest shot down.
James dropped his head back to his cereal. “Yes maam...” he replied gloomily.
“James!” his stepsister shouted at him. She had an annoying tendency to do this when she was right in people’s faces, and at 7:10 in the morning, the noise wasn’t exactly agreeing with James. “You took my calculator, didn’t you?” she said, pointing an accusing finger.
James sighed, “No, Ashley. I did not take your calculator...” he replied in a bored tone as he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the oncoming headache.
“You did too! I know it! I had it on my desk last night, ready for the first day of school, and now it’s not there! Who else would have taken it, huh?” she indicted.
“Look! I didn’t take your stupid calculator, all right?! Besides, anyone with half a brain would know that we won’t need a calculator on the first day of school!” James shouted back.
“James!” His stepmom yelled. “Don’t shout at your sister!”
James grumbled and grabbed his book bag, which he had laid by the door the night before. “I’m out of here. See you when I get back from school.” he grumbled, as he lurched for the door.
It was a bright, warm morning, not typical of the time of season. About twenty minutes later, James was still waiting for the bus. It was already five minutes late and he was beginning to feel like it was just going to be one of those days.
James talked to himself as he waited impatiently for the bus. “Yup, this is my life. A boring piece of--” At that precise moment, James happened to notice the sharp gleam out of the upper corner of his eye.
Now, I don’t know quite what the odds of the meteor going to the exact location that James Melton was standing in were. And I don’t know what the odds of him happening to look up and move out of its way before it resulted in a trip to the emergency room were. And I certainly don’t know what the odds were of him figuring out just how significant that piece of alien rock was. But I do know, that they couldn’t have been very good, and it could only have been destiny that made this series of strange events come to pass.
He gave a start as he dived to the side, as the ground exploded in a shower of dirt.
“Wha- what was? I just! G-god…” James stuttered, apparently incapable of creating comprehendible sentences.
Despite his momentary shock, James eventually managed to get to his feet and brush himself off. Cautiously he made his way over to the minor crater in the ground, and hesitantly peered into it. Inside, James found the shiniest stone he had ever seen, its silvery coat gleamed in the early morning sun. As he touched it with his finger, he gave out a yelp of pain. It was hot enough to boil water. Looking around, James grabbed a stick, and carefully pried the rock away from the indent it had made in the ground, and rolled it into a shallow puddle on the roadside. There was a hissing sound, and the puddle went up in steam. James reached down a second time and poked the alien rock gingerly. It was cool enough to touch, and he picked it up from the roadside. Examining it more closely, he noticed that the rock was more than smooth, it was faultless. It was a seemingly perfect sphere.
James heard the recognizable sound of the bus as it approached and he stuck the mysterious stone in his pocket.
Chapter 2
I’m not really sure what the definition of normal is anymore, but I would have to say that “normal” describes my first day of junior year pretty well. The alarm rang in my room and as I opened my eyes, a beam of sun hit me full in the face. The beautiful morning was warm and not very humid at all, cleared up by a rain the night previous, but all I wanted to do was sleep. Groaning, I pulled the sheets up over my eyes and dug my head underneath the pillow in an attempt to drown out the alarm. Finding that sleep was impossible, I lazily flung my legs over the side of the Timber Nest loft bed and hopped down.
Vision is an elusive thing in the early hours of the morning. Blearily looking around the well-lit room, I tried to locate the mysterious devise that I had not seen fit to use all summer. Finding the alarm, I smashed the off button and looked around my room. Nothing had changed. The iMac G5 computer sat in its place on my desk, the neatly folded cloths from the night before still lay on the chair, and my bookshelf displaying an impressive armada of manga lay unchanged.
“Nick!” My mother yelled up the stairs, “Hurry up! You don’t want to late for your first day back at high-school!” She urged me.
‘No…’ I couldn’t help but think sarcastically. ‘That would be a disastrous sin.’
Again my mother shouted up to me, “Would you like eggs, or pancakes for breakfast?”
“Uh… I think I’ll just grab a Pop-Tart mom.” I shouted back down the stairs.
“You should eat something! You won’t do well on an empty stomach!”
I rolled my eyes. That was my mother. Always worrying.
Quickly, I gathered up my notebooks that had been left out the night before and stuffed them in my backpack. Looking up at the clock, I cursed. The alarm hadn’t gone off at the right time and I was currently running fifteen minutes late. The house was located out in the country, so I needed to get up even earlier in order to make it into town on time every day. Rushing down the stairs, I passed the landing, which displayed a magnificent antique mirror about three times as tall as myself. Then, running through the dinning and living rooms, I made my way to the kitchen, in which my mother was cooking breakfast.
“Well, good morning sleepyhead.” She teased.
I grunted a reply as I reached into the cupboard for the Pop-tarts.
“Nicholas Kyle,” My mother scolded, using my middle name, “Pop-tarts are not a breakfast. You get something else.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have time mom!” I complained as I ripped the package open and pulling out the pastry. “I’m already late!” I said, making a mad dash for the door as I grabbed up the car keys.
I reached the doorknob when my mother shouted after me yet again. “Did you get your lunch? It’s sitting on the sofa!”
I groaned. I knew I was spoiled and I felt guilty about it. “Uh… You can give it dad, mom. I’m going to eat out with the guys today. You know, first day back and all.” I managed, as I finally bull rushed out of the door.
Reaching the car, I slammed the key into the ignition of the old Honda Accord and prayed that it would start. Hearing the engine roar to life, I pulled out of the pebble driveway, and started out on the country road that would get me to school.
“Exit summer… Enter the hell…” I couldn’t help but think as I floored the gas peddle.
Chapter 3
Kenny Kirk was staring the vixen lady straight in the eyes. How he’d gotten there, he didn’t know, but it wasn’t important. The beautiful half-fox half-woman creature rose out of the pool she had been bathing in and slowly walked towards him, almost hypnotically. Placing her hand on his face, she gently brushed his lips as she leaned in closer to him. Kenny gladly received the touch, feeling the warmth of her hands and her breath. If only it weren’t for that annoying ringing sound… Ringing sound?
Kenny opened his eyes. The alarm on the cell phone was still buzzing as he gazed confusedly at it. “Oh… school just had to start today…” Kenny managed to mumble to himself as he quickly switched off the alarm.
Taking a look around the room, he made sure that all was silent. The overhead fan on the short ceiling of his bedroom was still making a whirring sound as it moved the stale air around the room. Kenny sighed and quietly threw off the covers and pulled out the day’s cloths from the dresser that took up nearly a quarter of his small room. The bed took up another half, and in the corner was a very small desk on which sat an HP model PC.
Kenny opened the door to his bedroom and made a quick examination of the short hallway belonging to the Aquarius trailer that was his home. His mother’s snores were audible from the end of the hallway, and Madie, Kenny’s little sister, could be heard tossing and turning in her early morning sleep.
Kenny had always been a morning person, something I envied him for. On the other hand, that was about the only thing I envied him for. The poor kid didn’t have it easy. Kenny’s parents had been divorced for quite some time now, and living at his mother’s place ninety percent of the time wasn’t easy. She tended to switch jobs as quickly as she switched boyfriends, and she usually chewed through them like candy… For all intents and purposes, Kenny’s mom was an all American failure. What made the situation so sad was that Kenny was a true gift to the world. He was an artist born into the freakish hell of the white trash trailer hood.
Kenny put some bread in the toaster, and waited for it to turn a golden-brown. The smell of cigarette smoke was quite potent on the inside of the entire trailer, which wasn’t so incomprehensible given the fact that his mother was a bit of an addict, but Kenny was so used to it, he didn’t even smell it anymore. Or so he said. It may have been that his sense of smell was actually completely killed after all the time he’d spent around the poor little trailer.
The toast popped, and Kenny made a grab for it while it was still in mid-air, catching it in his hand. Without putting anything on it, he wolfed down the bread and, grabbing his backpack along the way, made for the door. He had nearly gotten out when his mother’s all too well recognized tone was heard from the back of the trailer, “Kenny! Did you take the garbage out?!” She demanded.
The groan from Kenny’s mouth couldn’t be suppressed. ‘How does she do that?’ Kenny thought to himself as he pondered the mysterious powers that mothers seemed to hold.
“Uh… I was just doing that mom!” Kenny shouted back.
“Don’t lie to your mother!” Came the retort.
“I didn’t! I was…” Kenny paused and headed back to the trashcan, taking the bag out of it. “Okay! I got it. I’m going now. Bye.”
“Alright.” Came the response.
“I love you.” Kenny said softly.
A grunt of confirmation came from his mother’s room as he stepped out of the trailer.
Kenny now glumly made his way out of the door, and put the garbage at the pickup. Making for his bike, he kicked up the stand, shouldered his backpack, and pushed off as he began peddling toward the first day back at school.
Chapter 4
The school was pretty plain. Just a big brick building with a smaller new wing attached to it. Well, everybody called it the new wing, but it had been around for about fifteen years. It consisted of a few heavy duty hunks of metal for walls, and some rooms with dividing sections so thin you could hear your neighboring classroom’s lecture. The insulation was mouse infected, the food stank, and the school seemed to hang in a perpetual state of gloom. It was great to be back.
I pulled into the parking lot in the back of the school and put the brake on in spot number 217. The same place I’d parked last year, the same place I’d park next year. It was back to routine already. I couldn’t help but notice that the beautiful morning seemed to shine everywhere except over the school. A dull drizzle had even begun to fall as I made my way up to the rear entrance.
I hadn’t exactly been world’s most model driver on the way into town. Having sped, there were still a few minutes left before the first bell, and I decided to fall in with the horde and look for the guys. Kenny, Matt, Ryan, James, Gary, and Anthony, all of them part of the little group of faithful followers it seemed I had somehow assembled in my years at the backwater town, in rural Illinois. Unfortunately, a lot of them lived in pretty unstable families. I always felt that it was my duty and privlage to keep the sanity in all of their lives at least at the bare minimum. That’s not to say that there parents didn’t love them, or that they were piss broke as a bum, or lived in a broken down old shanty for a house, (although, those were cases for some of them) but they all had little problems that I had always felt proud to be able to help out with. In return, they helped out with my own problems. It was a win-win situation, right?
The bricks on the walls of the school seemed to blend together in a never-ending pattern as I walked by. The grey and white pastels greatly reminded me of the inside of a prison I had seen on a cheap cinema movie the other day and the hundreds of familiar and new faces that passed me were the inmates, myself among them. I thought I knew where I’d find the others in my little troop. I tried carefully not to crash into too many people as made my way down to the cafeteria. A smile spread across my face as I caught sight of Kenny’s curly hair. Crouching low so to conceal myself in the crowds, I began to sneak quietly over to him. He was sipping a carton of chocolate milk he had gotten from the open breakfast counter. It was the usual spot. The table hadn’t changed from last year. It seemed junior year was destined to be the same as sophomore.
‘Carefully now…’ I muttered sneaking up closer and closer. Ten feet, seven feet, five, four… two… “Hiiiiiiya!” I yelled, delivering a joke karate chop to the boy’s back. Kenny let out a yelp of surprise, spewing chocolate milk all over the tabletop. I collapsed with laughter on the spot as Kenny clutched his heart and breathed heavily with shock. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I managed to stutter, “Th-the ninja wasn’t with you I guess… hee hee… heh… Oh, oh it hurts.”
“Geez, Nick!” Kenny managed to gasp.
I took a seat by him, still convulsing slightly with giggles.
“Sorry Kenny… I… couldn’t resist.”
Kenny took a deep breath and managed a small laugh. “Well, guess I wasn’t on guard.”
“That’s right,” I said, a grin spreading across your face, “It won’t be the last ambush of the year. No more slacking. Summers over.”
“Heh, I’ll get you more this year. Just wait and see.” He said confidently.
“Say, have you seen any of the other guys around? I didn’t see them on my way in.” I asked, looking around the cafeteria.
Kenny shrugged. “Dunno. Haven’t seen ‘em yet either.”
I turned back towards Kenny. “Well, I’m sure they’ll find us.”
I already knew it was too late as soon as I said that. The hand touched against the back of my neck, lightly tapping me. “Yes, I’d say I found you.” Anthony grinned, as he took his hand back. “Assassinated.” He stated as if he were making pleasant conversation over a cup of tea. I turned to find him still grinning.
“…Damn.” I muttered, after a moment’s silence between the three of us. Again the laughter started. It felt good, like it was breaking up the gloominess of the back to school dread. That was until the first automated bell rang and we all exchanged glances of hopelessness.
“Well…” I began, “Guess we’d better be getting to class.”
Kenny let out a small groaning sound as he rose from the seat, like an old man rising from an armchair.
“Yeah…” Anthony said as he turned around.
That’s when I heard the next voice added to the group. One I knew all too well.
“Hey guys! Glad I caught you before class!” James said running up to us.
“Yeah, well, barely.” I replied.
“Sure, Sure, I know that.” I couldn’t help but note that James definitely sounded excited over something, “Listen you three! I have to show you something after classes today. You’re not going to believe it!” This was pretty unusual, not because James wasn’t normally someone to sound cheerful, but because I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Who on Earth could manage to be this excited on the first day of school?’
“Cool. Hey we better get to classes.” I said, shrugging off the strangeness of James’ comment.
“Oh… yeah.” He replied, as the other two nodded their heads glumly.
A frown had managed to creep up onto my face as I stood there. I couldn’t stand seeing my friends so down. “Hey! Cheer up! We’ve only got half a day! They won’t actually make us do anything today anyway!” After a moments pause, and seeing that the team was in slightly higher spirits, I drove on, “How about we get the others together and all go out for pizza for lunch? My treat!” I said. By my treat, I actually meant, my, Matt, and Ryan’s treat. My two other friends that actually had families with above average wage jobs.
“Yeah!”
“Alright!”
“Sounds great! You really mean you’ll pay?” Kenny was the one that had asked the question.
I shrugged, “Yeah, sure. It’s no biggie. You need to put some meat on them bones, you freakin’ skeleton!” I teased.
“Look who’s talking!” He shot back, a grin on his face.
“Uh, guys?” Anthony interrupted, “Not to be rude or anything but…”
“What’s up?” I prompted him.
“We’ve got about one minute to get to class.” He finished.
“… Crap.” I stated simply.
The group had one last short laugh before we ran our separate ways for the first class of the year. And what a year it would be…
Chapter 5
James Melton left the mess hall, rounding the corner to the stairs. “Uh… where do I go?” He whispered to himself, glancing at the new schedule he had been issued about a week ago. It was already slightly crumpled. Grabbing a nearby senior by the arm, he began to ask for directions but before the second word got out, the older boy brushed him off and replied with a rude, “Find it yourself, I’ve gotta get to class.”
James, in desperation, pulled out the planner that all students had been issued at the beginning of the year. Inside the front cover was a map, which looked like a volunteer student had hurriedly drawn it one day over the summer as an after thought to the planner. It was virtually useless. It hadn’t helped, of course, that the school didn’t hold an open house of any sort before the semester had started, so James wasn’t the only freshman helplessly wondering the halls.
In a last futile attempt to get directions before he lost his mind and ran screaming down the halls, James said out loud in a rather panicked voice, “Does any body know where the French room is?!”
Luckily for him, James had caught someone’s attention with his display of dread. A rather attractive someone, I might add, who happened to already be the desire of half the boys in school. Diane Jouin was the current French foreign exchange student at our school, and she was tres magnifiké, if you know what I mean.
“Ah, ze French room?”
James’ back stiffened as he heard the thick French accent directed at him.
“Er… y-yeah.” He managed to stutter as he turned around to face the girl.
She must have been at least a head taller than he was, but then again, she was a senior this year, whereas James was a “mere freshman”.
“You are taking French, no?” She asked.
“Um… That’s right. Er… do you know where the classroom is?” James was still stumbling over his words. Just the sight of her had sent the young boy’s mind reeling, and probably not in a good way.
“Oui, oui monsieur! Follow me, se vous ples.” She giggled in her cute, high-pitched voice as she grabbed James’ arm, which had been hanging limply at his side, and began to drag him off to the French room. “I’m very glad to zee zat more peoples are taking ze French course. So many people dezided zey liked Spaneesh!” Diane declared to James as they made their way down the hallway.
I may as well note now that James was not what anyone would call a lady’s man. Sure, he wasn’t piss ugly, but he wasn’t exactly smooth around the gender of the opposite persuasion. So the fact that the most sought after girl in the school was now dragging him along behind her was a very nerve wracking experience the poor hormone stimulated teenager. Luckily for him, the French room hadn’t been far.
“Oh, Mr. Cohooooon!” Diane said in a singsong voice as she entered the classroom. A dark haired man wearing round rim glasses looked up from his desk.
“Oh, hello Diane. Who’s this?” Mr. Cohoon asked. The teacher had a kind face, and was perhaps just a little bit on the chubby side, but clean-shaven and young looking.
“I-I’m James.” The freshman managed to spit out. “I just started!”
Mr. Cohoon looked at the clock just as the bell to begin class rang.
“Well, take a seat James. Glad you could join us. Diane here is this year’s student teacher.” Mr. Cohoon explained.
“Oh. That’s cool…” James said looking at those already in the room. By the looks of it, there were only seven other class members, all freshmen. James guessed the Spanish class was overflowing.
James took his seat and the introductions began. It was just like it had always been. Mr. Cohoon wrote his name on the board and explained what the French I class would be doing this year. James couldn’t concentrate, though. His hand kept going to the pocket that had the strange space rock in it. He would occasionally run his finger over the flawlessly smooth surface of the orb.
“And near Spring Break, you will be given the opportunity to actually visit France!” This caught James’ attention and he straightened up in his seat instantly. Mr. Cohoon continued to explain, “It will be a two week tour for anyone who wishes to go.” Mr. Cohoon began to pass out pamphlets with information on them. “This is completely voluntary, and is something we do every other year. We’ll do a lot of sight seeing, but it’s meant to be a valuable learning experience as well.”
James glanced at the paper. This was cool! A foreign country? A chance to get out of the hellhole that was known as this pathetic, backwater town? Even as a small reprise, it sounded nice. It sounded like an adventure. It could be just like out of one the fantasy titles on the Border’s bookshelf. All dreams of adventure evaporated from James’ mind, however, when he looked at the bottom line. All students would be charged $5,500 for transport, food, and extraneous expenses. James groaned. He knew his stepmother would never give him that kind of money, even for an educational experience.
The twenty-minute period ended soon enough, and students had another five minutes to change classes. Before James could leave the room, Diane grabbed his arm for a second time.
“James? I’m glad you dezided to join ze French class. Do you ‘ave much experienze vith it?” She asked him.
“Yeah! Er… that is. I started practicing a little over the summer. You know. I was pretty excited to learn such a cool language.” James shrugged, trying to look cool.
Diane clapped her hands together. “Zis is brilliant! I am glad zat you ‘ave such an interest in ze language. Vait one moment.” She said, winking as she began to write something down on a piece of paper. When she was done, she handed it to James.
“What’s this?” James asked, reading the paper.
“Zat is my little zister’s inztant mezage name! She iz over in France at ze moment. She’s very lonely, I hear from Mama. I ‘ad ‘oped you could zay hello to ‘er? She speaks better English zan I do, I promise!” Diane giggled.
“Your English is great!” James reassured her. “But, I’d be happy to drop her a line. You know, I was thinking about going on that trip. Maybe I could get a little preview.” James lied.
Diane gasped, “Truly? Zat vould be superb!” She exclaimed. “It iz so refreshing to meet somvone as interested in ze culter as you, James.” Diane said, batting her long eyelashes. “Vell, I shall let you get to your next class zen. Au revoir!” She gushed.
James was left a little light headed as he watched her run off. Smiling dumbly, he looked up at the clock. One minute, and he had no idea where his next class was.
“…Crap.” He said, smile drooping.
Chapter 6
Well, the day went on. I went to my classes and my friends went to theirs. Nothing really special. It was all that “first day of school” intro crap, and we were bored out of our minds by the end of it. What else was new? The short periods were a blessing though, and we were all looking forward to the fore promised pizza. The other students were bustling about, getting stuff from their lockers, chatting with friends, and making for the doors. I stood by the usual spot in the cafeteria as I waited for the rest of the guys to meet up with me. I had a spoon in my hand that I was trying to act casual about inspecting. I must have looked weird though, just staring at the silver utensil, but I had my reasons. I smiled as I saw the crouching figure behind me in the reflection of the spoon, and casually brought up my arm to block the fake karate chop I was about to receive to the neck. Anthony blinked.
“…Dang. How did you…?” He began to ask.
I waved the spoon in front of him. “I’m on guard this year.” I replied.
Anthony was, perhaps, a bit mysterious for a high schooler. He was one of my better friends, true, but I really didn’t know him as well as I would have liked. He was perhaps a bit chubby, but I’d say the term ‘healthy figure’ would better describe him. He had short cut sort of dirty blond hair and he was about as tall as me give or take an inch, that’s about 5’ 11”. The strange thing about Anthony was his ability to pop up somewhere and have no one really notice him, even when he was sitting right in front of you. I guess our little group just sort of got used to it. He would pop up at the lunch table, be there for about ten minutes before someone would finally say, “Where the hell did you come from?” He would shrug and shoot us a smile. Truth is, it was quite entertaining, if a little scary. The others slowly trickled over to us. Kenny, Ryan, Matt, and finally James. The poor guy looked like he had had a rough day. Among us, he was the only freshman.
“Hey James!” I waved. “ So, what’s this cool thing that you were going on about this morning?” I asked him.
Instantly, his features looked brighter. “Oh! That’s right! Here, let me show you.” James dug his hand into his pocket and saw the smile slip right off of his face. “Huh?” He looked in his pocket, fishing around with his hand. He checked his other pocket, his backpack, and binder. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened here.
James groaned. “I can’t find it anywhere!”
I frowned. “Bummer, dude. What was it, maybe we can help you look?” I suggested.
“No…” James’ features were downcast, but he pretended to shrug it off. “Forget about it. Let’s just go, guys.”
The pizza joint was packed. We weren’t the only ones with the idea of consoling our back to school blues with a treat out. I was chatting with Ryan and Matt as the waitress set us to one of those party size tables. Something interesting about Ryan… He’s blind. Well, he has a visual impairment. He was born with it, and as if that weren’t bad enough, he has some pretty severe physical inabilities. I know narcolepsy is one of them, which can be a little scary at times, and I know stigmatism is another, which is really inconvenient given his already extremely poor eyesight. The reason it was called a visual impairment was because he still had some peripheral vision, but try to imagine seeing out of the side of your eye all the time, and then mix that with constant rapid eye motion and not knowing the next moment you’re going to fall asleep! Not fun.
The waitress sat us down and we all decided to go for the buffet. God I love Pizza Hut buffet. As I was picking up a few slices of pepperoni I leaned across the buffet table where James was carefully thinking about his own selection.
“Hey dude… you sure you don’t want us to help you look for that thing? You seem pretty upset about it…” I asked.
James shrugged and put on a half-grin. “Nah…” he pretended not to care. “It’s one of those things you just know will never come back, you know?”
I nodded. Yeah, that sort of thing happened to everyone once and a while, I supposed. Back at the table I began wolfing down the precious substance known as pizza. I nudged Matt in the side. “You’ll help me pick this up?” I asked quietly. He nudged Ryan in the side. “You’ll help Nick and me pick this up?” I laughed as Ryan nodded.
Matt was a real skinny guy. Rectangle glasses, naturally straight, short, brown hair, and a weird disfigurement on his chest. A bone stuck straight out of the center of his rib cage. Not though the skin or anything, it was just this weird lump. He liked to joke about it. “You know that movie ‘Alien’ where the creature plants an egg in the guy’s stomach and it pops out and kills him?” He would say. “Well, I had one of those too, but mine had a mental disorder and he forgot what he was doing and starved to death halfway out.” It always got a laugh. He was a genuinely funny guy. Spent a little too much time on Xbox live though.
“So, Ryan, how was the first day?” I asked.
“Eeeh…” he sighed, “Pretty good, I guess. You know…” he said as if reminiscing, “Summer break wasn’t long enough this year!” he complained.
“Well, it never is.” Anthony confirmed.
There was a “Hear hear!” from the rest of table and a raising of coke glasses.
All in all, a pretty good first day, considering. Just then I saw James reach into his pocket out of the corner of my eye as he pulled out a slip of paper. He looked at it confused for a moment before a small smile slipped onto his face.
‘Huh.’ I thought. ‘Maybe a cute girl gave him her number.’
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