Back to School

The weekend is over. It sucks when that happens and it happens a lot more often than it should. Since I’ve spent what amounts to two whole days as Nia, Friday seems like forever ago. The other thing is I didn’t do my homework so I’m in serious trouble. I catch up with Mark at school.

“Dude, did you get your homework done?” I ask.

“Yeah, why?” He inquires.

“I didn’t do mine and I need to copy yours.” I state plainly.

“You want to copy my homework?” He asks not believing what he is hearing.

“Yeah, I got to turn something in. You gotta help me.” I say desperately.

“Dude, you don’t have time to copy my homework.” He says matter-of-factly. Before he finishes speaking the first bell rings which means we have five minutes to get to class. I rush to class anticipating the humiliation I am going to have to endure from not getting my homework done. I notice how trashy our school is compared to Nia’s. Nia’s school doesn’t have any trash on the ground. All the students look nice in their uniforms. The classrooms and halls are all neat and inviting. My school looks like a garbage dump compared to Nia’s school. Like the Librarian said, if you don’t have anything to compare it to, you don’t know what you are missing.

I know there are a lot of nice schools around but most of those schools are private. I also notice everybody’s nose stuck in their phone. In Nia’s world everybody talks to each other face to face instead of doing it on a mobile device. When I get to class and everybody turns in their homework, I have nothing to turn in. I feel really self-conscious about it. I admit that I’m a slacker at times but I usually get enough done to get by. I look around the class room and I notice that Kayla is staring at me. When our eye’s meet she doesn’t turn away but instead gives me a smile. That was kind of strange. I’ve never noticed any girls staring at me before. Maybe I’m still dreaming. Class goes alright and during the break period I walk over to talk to Kayla.

“Hi” she says shyly.

“Hi” I respond. There is some awkward silence. I am a lot better at this kind of thing as Nia than I am as myself.

“Maybe you could hang out with me during lunch” She offers.

“Yeah, okay” I say back. I thought Bobby’s attempt at being smooth was lame but after I hear myself talk I decide that I just sound pathetic. When the bell rings telling us we have just a few minutes to get to our next class, we both go in different directions.

I spend my next class preoccupied with thinking about Kayla. She has dark hair and dark eyes. She is average looking. I don’t know her that well but she seems nice. I have to decide how I want to talk to her. I should probably just relax but the more I think about it the more nervous I get. I don’t know why I put all this pressure on myself, it’s not like I am going to marry her or anything. I start to think why it is so easy as Nia. What is the difference?

Well, the first difference is Nia’s a girl and I’m a boy. The second difference is that Nia is popular and I’m not. The third difference is that I don’t care if Bobby likes Nia or not but I do care if Kayla likes me because I’ve never had a girl like me before that I am aware of.

At that moment a light bulb goes off in my brain. The reason why I’m not nervous with Bobby is not because everybody loves Nia or even that she is a girl, it’s because I already know Bobby likes Nia and Nia is the one in charge. The class goes by in a daze but I manage to zone in just in time to write down the homework assignment. The bell rings and everyone is dismissed for lunch. I can feel my palms getting sweaty and suddenly I notice the rhythm of my own breathing. Mark comes up alongside of me.

“Dude, you okay?” He asks.

“Yeah, I think so. I’m going to hang out with Kayla.” I say.

“You are going to hang out with a girl?” He asks, “You mean you are going to hang out with a real girl?”

“Yes, I am going to hang out with a real girl, how it that so hard for you to believe?” I shoot back.

“Dude, I’ve never even seen you with a girl. Maybe she’s hanging out with you because she lost a bet.” Mark speculates.

“That’s harsh” I respond.

“Well, I’ll see ya, let me know how it goes later.” and with that Mark disappears into the crowd.

I get to the lunch room and I start looking around for Kayla. I spot her sitting with some of her friends. I start to get really nervous and I’m not sure if I can go through with it. I take a big gulp of air and start walking over toward where she is sitting. When I reach her I try to sound confident.

“Hi” I say in as much of a friendly non-threatening and non-creepy way as I can. She turns around.

“Oh, Hi!” she says warmly as she moves over a bit to make a place for me to sit next to her. I sit down and she just looks at me.

“What?” I say.

“Did you forget something?” She asks.

“Forget what?” I ask her back.

“Aren’t you going to eat lunch?” She finally asks plainly.

“Oh yeah, I kind of did forget since you’re the only thing I’ve been thinking about since we had our class together.” I say sheepishly. Did I really say that? That is so lame!

“That is so sweet” she responds, “What if I share my lunch with you so you don’t starve?” she offers. She only has half a sandwich left so she splits it in two and hands me half of it.

“Okay, that is really nice of you.” I answer. As I am listening to myself I realized I am sounding like a dork.

“Are you cold?” she asks me, “You’re shaking.”

“Yeah, I am a bit cold now that you mention it.” I respond. Man, can I sound any dorkier? I’m sure the answer to that question is yes. I take a bite out of the sandwich so I don’t have to say anything dorky for a few minutes. While I’m chewing the bite of the sandwich Kayla takes my hand and puts both of her hands around mine and rubs them together.

“Is that better?” She asks as if the answer isn’t obvious. Her hands do feel nice and warm and she can keep my hand as long as she wants to. When I’m done chewing and swallow my bite I answer.

“Yes, I feel much warmer now.” I try to relax my body so it will stop shaking,

“Have you done anything exciting lately?” I ask trying to get the conversation rolling.

“Not really” She answers, “How about you?” Okay, I guess that’s strike one for me.

“My mom took me to this really creepy flea market on Saturday. They had piles of junk everywhere and I ended up buying this thing that looked like a tin can. It had tiny holes in it and when you look into the holes you see still scenes like from a movie or something. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Sounds interesting. Do you want my fruit cocktail?” She asks, “I really don’t want it.”

“Okay” I answer and start eating the fruit cocktail. She seems nice and she seems like she’s interested in me but I really think I’m bombing here. I want to sound confident and take charge and not only did I not take charge I sound like a loser. The silence that follows is deafening. I’m starting to feel really depressed about it. Maybe a piano will fall on me or something and put me out of my misery. I am so relieved when the bell rings. I thank her for lunch and tell her I will see her later. I am sure she is relieved when the bell rings like I was. I take a few deep breaths and go to my next class.

When I get home from school I go to my room. I find the ‘tin can’ thing and I check the holes. This time there are two scenes that are clear. The first scene is in the hallway with Nia and Bobby. The second scene that is clear is a scene in Nia’s bedroom where Nia has her arms around her sister Katy comforting her. Each time I dream about being Nia, a scene becomes clear in the ‘tin can’. I wondered how many scenes there are and what is going to happen when all the scenes became clear. This time when I go to sleep, I am looking forward to waking up as Nia.