What Happens in High School

Ray’s POV

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ri….. “Hello?” I tiredly answer into my cell phone at six in the morning. On the other end of the line was my best friend since preschool, Max. I’ve decided that waking up in the morning to my loud, obnoxious and generally depressing alarm clock was not a fun parade, so two years ago Max offered to take away some of my morning suffering by calling me every day so the first thing I would hear is my best friend’s voice. It was arguably my favorite part of any day, except when she didn’t call or I simply didn’t wake up at which point I’d show up twenty minutes late to homeroom and my whole day would be screwed.

Today was the first day of junior year and I wasn’t so excited, but with Max’s help, I dragged myself out of bed and threw on my uniform; a white buttoned down shirt tucked into khaki pants and a red, plaid tie. I slipped on my converse which were against the dress code but it’s like I really gave a fuck.

She stayed on the phone for about ten or fifteen minutes with me every morning while we each got ready to take on the day. It normally went something like this: “LOOK ALIVE, SUNSHINE!” Max would sing into the receiver in her cheeriest voice. I never understood how she was always so awake in the mornings. “Good morning to you too. Seriously Max, you never fail to wake me up, you know, except when you forget to call…” I hear her chuckle on the other end, “Yeah I know, but I promise; this year I won’t miss a day.”

“Sure you won’t,” I sarcastically replied.

“No, I’m serious,” she pleaded, “you ready for today?”

“Not really, if it wasn’t the first day, skipping would sound great.”

She laughed again and agreed with me. At this point we were both dressed and as ready as we’d ever be to kick off junior year. I hung up and waited for Max in my room. I couldn’t get my damned tie tied right so Max would have to do it like she did basically every day. I heard a knock at my door and walked downstairs to open it and see Max in her little skirt that matched our ties, white shirt and converse. She didn’t care much for the rules either.

She entered my house quietly and we walked up to my room. I had come out with my shirt half tucked in and my tie on completely wrong. She and I hated the uniforms as much as I think anyone in our school could hate them. I finished tucking in my shirt then buckled my belt and gave her my best puppy dog eyes. I didn’t even need to say anything at this point. We’d known each other long enough to be fluent in the other’s non-verbal language, and this look was the classic, “Please help me; I can’t tie my tie for shit.”

She smiled at me and let out a sigh like laugh. She undid the mess I had already made with my tie and corrected it. I didn’t understand how a 16 year old boy who had been wearing this uniform and tie for years still didn’t know how to accomplish this simple task. It was safe to say I was a little ashamed of myself in that respect. Once I was put together, we grabbed our bags and left the house. We got into the car and blasted some Iron Maiden, one of my all-time favorite bands. My car, so my tunes, but Max never complained and even though she wouldn’t admit it, I knew she liked Maiden too. We headed down the street ‘anxiously’ awaiting our junior year.

“So,” I started, “how do you think this year’s gonna be?”

“I don’t know, all I’m sure of is that I really don’t want to find out,” She responded.

I answer, “You and me both. Oh hey, would you mind if we got someone else for school?”

“No, of course not. Who? Mikey and Gerard? Frank?”

I respond with an answer she probably wasn’t expecting. “Bob.”

I had called Bob the night before to see if he wanted a ride to school. I figured with him being the new kid and all, riding the bus in would suck, plus this gave us the chance to make friends and help welcome Bob to Belleville.

We pulled up to a blue house in the cul-de-sac down the street from mine and Max’s houses. Both of us got out of the car and walked up the path to the front door. I knocked. A moment later we heard Bob reply from inside, “Just a second.” And soon the tall blonde boy our age came to the door with his uniform on, all except the tie.

“Hey Ray, sorry I can’t get this freaking thing tied right.” I answer, “Ha, that’s okay, I can never do it either. Oh hey, maybe Max can do it, she ties mine just about every morning. Right Max?” When I said this she seemed to snap out of some kind of daze.

I had noticed the other day at the music store that she seemed a bit off. She was shyer and a bit more awkward than usual. I could tell she liked Bob, she didn’t have to tell me for it to be obvious. I wasn’t going to say anything unless she came to me about it first though. Boys had always been a touchy topic for her so I didn’t want to push it.

It took her a moment to remember that she was this ‘Max’ that I spoke of. “Oh, right yeah, that’s no problem.” She turned toward Bob but this time he was looking back at her. I felt awkward as they stared at each other but luckily this only lasted until Bob interrupted the moment with, “It’s okay, I don’t have to wear the tie.” You couldn’t hack through the awkwardness in the air; even if you used an ax.

“Unfortunately you do.” Max stuttered out relatively smoothly before letting out a small laugh. “School policy.” Bob just smiled shyly at this as Max went on.

“Right, uh, well let’s do this.”Oh god, she was babbling, but somehow she remained charming. She stepped up to the next stair to better reach Bob. She busied herself with the task of fixing his tie and made quick work of it. I swear she could be a professional tie tier; if that was a job. When she was finished, Max fixed his collar and said, “There, that should do it.” Bob examined the handiwork and gave and her a both approving and thankful look.

I could start to feel an awkwardness build up again so I broke it with, “We should get going or we’ll be late on the first day.” Max agreed and rushed down the steps and to the car and bit more quickly than I had expected. Smooth, kid. I opened the door to the driver’s side and slipped in just as Bob and Max got into the car. When Max sat down, I mouthed to her, “Are you okay?” and she nodded back.

I felt really bad for prying but she was acting weirder than usual, and that’s saying something. I could tell she was uncomfortable which was strange because she never cared much about what others thought of her. It was obvious that Bob would be her first exception. We drove to school in relative silence, the only sound to break the awkwardness; Iron Maiden.

We arrived at school just in time. We had about five minutes to get to homeroom which, lucky for Max, she had with Bob. My homeroom on the other hand was all the way across school, so when we got in I had to bolt down the hall to avoid being late. I told them I’d see them at lunch as they made their way down the hall together. Godspeed, Max.

Notes