Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

The school seemed more crowded tonight than it did yesterday. There still was still a noticeable amount of people around, but not as much as there would be during the day. The halls were filled with loud laughs, people rapping, and lockers slamming. I didn't know that night school students got lockers, too.

"What now, Sikorski?" Officer Delgado asked, blocking the office door from Mason.

"She needs to pick up her schedule," Mason answered, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Then I'm going to show her where her classes are."

I shrugged myself out of Mason's grip, scooting away from him a little. He didn't seem to notice. Officer Delgado crossed his arms across his chest and darted his squinted eyes between Mason and myself. He scooted away from the door, allowing us entry.

Mrs. Cherry was sitting at her desk, staring at the calendar that spread across the whole desk. Mr. Higgins noticed me before Mr. Cherry did.

"Mrs. Bridges, Mr. Sikorsky, please step into my office for a moment," he said, ushering us into the tiny room. He sat behind his desk, and started fiddling with his computer. I sat down in one of the chairs that were positioned in front of his desk, while Mason just stood behind the other; tapping is fingers on the armrest.

"Mr. Sikorski," Mr. Higgins said from his computer, not looking at Mason. "Hats off."

Mason smacked his lips, and obeyed. His thick wavy hair flopped out of the white and black stripped beanie, covering the front of his face.

"Alright, let's see here," Mr. Higgins sighed, pulling a sheet of paper from the printer that hid underneath his desk. He leaned over his desk and turned the paper so it faced me.

"This is your schedule," he said, tapping the black lettering on the paper with his pen. "First day, you'll go to Mr. Johnson's English for two hours, and then switch to Ms. Coursey's chemistry class. On your second day, you'll go to Mr. Burch's history class, and then Mr. Goldman's Calculus for the rest of the day."

"Sounds good," I said with a small smile.

"This is for you," he began, handing me my schedule. "It has all the room numbers on the side of the teacher's names. Mr. Sikorski will show you around. I suggest that you go there tonight and pick up your books. Your locker number is at the top of the page. When you have collected all your books, you can store them there."

"Thanks, Mr. Higgins," I smiled, reading the schedule. The hours were a bit strange. Instead of having class start on the dot of the hour, or in fives, it always started seven minutes later.

"My pleasure," he chuckled, writing on a yellow sheet of paper. "Mr. Sikorski, this is your pass. If I catch you alone without Ms. Bridges, you'll be serving detention before school. And you know what that is. It's supposed to be raining tomorrow, and it will not be fun picking up wet trash. Keep that in mind."

Mr. Higgins handed Mason the yellow slip. In addition, excused us from his office.

"Look, Delgado," Mason grinned, waving the yellow slip in front of the large officer. "I got a pass to show her around. Ask Mr. Higgins."

"Boy, get out of here before I taze you," Officer Delgado grumbled, keeping his arms crossed.

Mason sneered at the officer, and started walking down the hallway. There were still people everywhere.

"Alright, if you're going to be kicking it with me you have to meet some people," he said, grabbing me by my elbow and dragging me toward a small group of boys who were beat boxing and rapping.

The one who was speaking unbelievably fast had on a beanie with blond hair sticking out, an overlarge shirt, and dark jeans that were hanging off his butt. He was extremely short, and the sagging pants just made him seem even shorter.

“Hey, Mase!” one of the friends shouted. He also had a beanie, but instead he had brown hair hanging over his shoulder, and sagging skinny jeans. “Drop a rhyme!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll lay out a few lines here,” Mason agreed, letting go of my elbow. He started swaying to the beat that another boy was spitting.

I guess it didn't matter if we were in a school setting or not. The few lyrics of Mason's rap that I did understand were loaded with graphic and vulgar obscenities.

The four guys started hollering, blown away by his rapping skills. It was pretty cool that he could come up with all that on the spot. I checked my watch for the time. School was supposed to start for them in ten minutes. I wanted to grab my books and things before class started.

“That’s why Mase is the king!” the short boy cheered, holding up Mason’s arm as a sign of victory.

“Thank you, Thank you,” Mason bowed. “I wanted to show y’all a friend of mine. She’s new here. Her name is Riley.”

Mason grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me in front of him. The four boys looked up and down my body, making me feel extremely uncomfortable. I began to wish that Luke were here.

“She is off limits, alright?” Mason said sternly, shaking me a little.

They nodded and crossed their arms in front of their chests, taking some sort of crew stance. It was frightening.

“Riley, this one right here is Louie,” Mason introduced, pointing to the short guy who was rapping when we walked over here. “The guy in the orange beanie who was beat boxing is Camero, we just call him Kass. That ugly blond kid right there is Travis, and the dude next to him is T.J.”

“Hi,” I said quietly with a weak smile.

“What’s up?” Louie asked, nodding his head toward me.

“She won’t be here until next Tuesday,” Mason said, patting my shoulder. “But right now I got to go help her get her books.”

“Catch you in English then,” Kass nodded.

Mason grabbed my elbow again and dragged me down the hallway.

“Why am I off limits?” I asked, my face twisted in confusion.

“You’re Squid’s, ain’t you?” he asked, looking down at my schedule and at the room numbers on the doors we passed by.

“What?” I shouted.

“Aren’t you Squid’s girlfriend?” Mason asked, pulling me down C hall.

“No?” I answered suspiciously.

“Really?” he asked, looking at me with a confused face. “I thought you were?”

“Did he say that?” I asked, yanking my elbow out of his grip.

“No,” Mason answered, shaking his head. “I just thought y’all were together. Excuse me, damn.”

“Not as bad as what happened yesterday,” I mumbled, crossing my arms across my chest. “Mr. Higgins thought I was pregnant with his baby.”

“What?!” Mason shouted, looking as if he was waiting to explode.

“He thought Luke and I were having a baby,” I repeated, laughing a little.

Mason started throwing himself against the lockers, pounding his fist and roaring in laughter. The amazing part was the kept walking forward with closed eyes as he did so.

“Oh my God! That’s hilarious!” he wheezed. “Squid doesn’t like sex! Even porn scares him! Oh my God, I am going to give him so much shit for that!”

“Don’t,” I pleaded.

“Why? Is baby Squid going to get upset?” he teased, patting my stomach.

I pushed him away from me, laughing when he almost ran into the doorframe of the Bio-Med classroom.

“You like him though, huh?” he asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “No, he’s just a friend.”

“Mhm,” he hummed, shooting me a sideways glance. “Sure he is.”

“He is,” I shrugged.

“That’s bull,” Mason scoffed. “Here. This is your Calculus class. Go grab your giant book, and meet me out here.”