New Necessities (To Live and Let Go)

Jack knowingly spaced out for the rest of his first class of the day, thinking about the cow in the morning and why in the world Alex — Alex of all people — would try to talk with him.
Jack kept telling himself to pay attention to Mrs. Greppetho's lecture on lateness and chemistry and politeness and chemistry and respect and CHEMISTRY and oh God why can't Jack just ask Alex if he wanted to be friends? Clearly, if he talked to Jack out of no where like that, they had to be more than acquaintances? So was Jack going to finally be IN a group?

Time pushed on.
It pushed on like time was a triathlete and it was pushing a little wheeled twenty-five pound box along.

Soon enough, the bell rang, and Jack quickly went to the mob in the front of the sterile chemistry room to meet someone special outside. Rian was slowly pushing his way through the doorway next to Jack.
"Jack, did you see the fire truck come through?"

"Yeah..."
Jack wasn't used to people talking to him first.

"Did you know they tried to get it over to the window where the cow was but the vice principal didn't want to get tire tracks on the grass?" asked Rian.

"No..." Jack started, but seeing as it looked like he was expected to have more of an opinion, he continued, "But that's really stupid. The vice principal cares more about grass than a fricking cow. I'm sure that's normal."

"Definitely," said Rian, leaving Jack to the packed hallway all by himself.

In the distance of three doors down was Jack's older brother, Zack, speaking with that kid who looked really familiar to Jack in the morning. In the more memorable standing spot though, Jack remembered who the kid was. He was that friend who yesterday told them all about that Jordan Kelly dude. The gossipy dude, Jack thought.

Clearly the two seniors were being private and gossipy again from the way the marched with a slight hunch and hand movements.

When the two brothers had good enough eyesight to make eye contact, they did, and smiled together.

"And he's playing hooky. It's only the second day of school man, something's up," Jack heard.

"He's probably just getting a head start on his mid-school laziness, he IS a senior now, and drives himself to school," Zack defended.

"I don't think Coach should let him start this year. He just doesn't get it," complained Zack's friend.

"C'mon..."

"Hi Zack," Jack pitched.

"Hey," Zack responded, putting full attention on his brother. "Ready to go?
"Hey Parker, gotta' go."

"See ya later, dude."
Parker the gossip left left while the two Barakat boys started walking right with Zack backtracking.

"So who were you talking about?" questioned Jack.

"Jordan Kelly. He's real good with sports, but real stupid in all other types of living. Parker heard that Jordan Kelly got the cow up there somehow, which is actually something he'd do 'cause he's. So. Stupid."

"Oh..."

So Jack and Zack walked onward to Jack's geometry class with a "HUZZAH!"-like attitude.

When Zack left his brother though, that's when school turned into Survivor of the Grassland. Jack tried to be quiet not to anger any other teachers like Mrs. Greppetho, although none of his others teachers were like that, but Jack didn't know that at the time. His first impression of a high school teacher was ruthless and dangerous like the lion. Making Jack that out of place woodland deer looking behind himself every other step sticking out through unfamiliar tall grass.
Except when Zack was beside him. Then Jack was that out of place woodland deer with a rebel lion.

But then what did that make Alex?

Jack shook his head from where he was sitting next to a cool wall in the heavily math poster decorated classroom.

He needed to just stop thinking about Alex or a lion teacher would eat him because he spaced out looking like a deer in headlights. It was only the second day of Jack's high school career. He had a long time to think about why Alex wanted to just talk to him out of the blue.

The bell rang the minute Jack's geometry tried to complete a thirty minute lesson on basic geometry.

"Don't forget to do your homework!" she called hurriedly to the stream of leaving kids.

Zack the lion was waiting for Jack this time.
"You really only have to do homework for first and fourth quarter," the older Barakat boy tipped, overhearing the geometry teacher.

"Sweet!" celebrated Jack.

Once again, Zack guided Jack through the halls to the sophomore's next period. Once again, Zack was greeted about every fifteen feet by people seeming to be strangers in Jack's eyes. Once again, nobody said a hello to Jack.

Zack looked right at Jack and said in the nicest way possible outside Jack's third period, "Don't get caught up with all the weird shit that happens here. Just ignore it. They want people to notice and that's why they do it."

Jack nodded nonchalantly, hearing this speech for about the hundredth time from someone older than him. "Okay. So, act like I don't give a shit about the cow?"

"Exactly."

Zack's face changed to a happy-go-lucky one. "See ya!"

The younger brother, unable to talk once his older brother left his side just smiled and waved. Smiled and waved. And ten headed into the classroom.

Ma'am Soizzi (pronounced "Nazi" with an 'sw') was Jack's English 'professor'. From the first day, Jack gathered that she liked to use overweight words that were way past big and that Jack didn't know. She also liked to pronounce every consonant that should be pronounced with a New England accent, making her a self-appointed professor, not teacher.

For some reason, she was one of Jack's favorite teachers.
Maybe it was because of the thing she said on the second day of school.

"So I majored in French in college, and –"

A kid comes through the doorway with a slightly panicked face.

" – You sir, are tard."

The whole class was shocked and whispering in an instant.

The late student looked like he saw a ghost with a sandwich.
"Excuse me, Ms. Swazzee? Did you just call me a retard?"

"I'm Ma'am Soizzi, and are you taking Spanish?" she asked.

"Yes...?" answered the scared boy.

"Well then I understand why you thought that," Ma'am Soizzi concluded.

Jack thought it was weird that she didn't even really say whether she actually called the dude a retard or not.

But that 'tard' kid sat through the rest of the period very uncomfortably in his assigned seat. Jack felt bad for him, he looked like a nice dude.

All they did in that English class was read over the month's calendar and discuss more English with Ma'am Soizzi Rules for Success. Then at lunch, all of Zack's friends were happy to see Jack at their table again with Zack.

And the rest of Jack's day at school passed by as uneventful as watching a race between ordinary rocks. There was a lot of nothing and a fair amount of thinking about Zack and Alex.

Zack, a licensed driver, drove the two of them home to a house containing a mother. They greeted each other and then Zack made his brother do his homework, to which replied the brother, "Only if you do yours too."

And then Jack couldn't really remember anything else from the second day of school, except thinking about cows, Alex, and the jungle while kicking around a soccer ball with his bro Zack.