All of Them People

“Attention students these are your afternoon-break announcements. Would the following please report to the office...” The noise of the classroom barely altered as most kids continued their conversations; talking over each other and holding their school books, impatient to leave. The teacher sat with his feet up on his desk staring into his phone, heading no attention to the class. Cian was sitting in the back left corner desk tapping his pencil impatiently for the announcements to end. He sat closest to the portable's back door so he could leave as soon as he could and spend as little time in class as possible. In front of him were two of his friends, turned around in their seats, in conversation with Steve, who sat beside Cian.

“Hey man, ya listening?” One snapped Cian back into reality by flipping his hat off his head. Cian glanced around seeming just to realize where he still was.

“Wha- oh ya ya ya ya ya last weekend right?” He definitely was not listening.

"No dipshit, THIS weekend. Party at Tawny’s Saturday. It’s a good chance to make some dough, you in?”

“Hellz ya." The classroom began to get quieter as people began leaving before the announcements were even over. The teacher, waved his hand at them, not taking his eyes from his phone. That's why everyone loved Mr. Belshaw.

“Students should prepare for a school spirit assembly as well, that is all.”

“Skipping?” Cian held out his fist to Steve in front of him. Steve nodded and fisted him back. One of the other group members punched Cian in the shoulder, swiped his hat and backed it out of the door.

***

“Would all leadership students involved come down to the career center please,” Sean groaned and let his head drop onto his desk as realization hit him. He had forgotten his speech for the assembly at home. And to top it off he had just finished a brain-numbing math test.

“How do you think you did?” asked a small raven haired girl.

“Horrible,” He replied as he gathered his school work “but I'm sure you did great.” She grinned and he kissed her on the cheek.

“It’s probably because I'm Asian.”

“It’s obviously because you’re Asian, but I gotta run to a meeting.”

“Oh before you go, there is a party at Tawny’s on Saturday, you should come!”

“Sure see you then!” Quickly he leant down to hug her before running through the hall to the career center which was really just a normal room with a giant table in the middle. There he proceeded to listen to a boring speech that lasted 15 minutes. Suddenly he couldn't wait to go home.

***

“Ok, so what’s happening Saturday?”

“We’re supplying the weed,” Steve said “She’ll pay us the rest when we get there. We need to be there by eleven. Or was it ten… maybe we should just make sure we’re there by nine-ish, or is that too early?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Cian hissed, taking the joint from him and inhaling it deep. “It doesn't matter as long as we get paid. I need the money.” Steve looked up at the sky and let out a sigh at the realization that the day was gone, and it was getting dark.

“Well I’m gone, later.”

"Hey, you're sure I can't stay one more night?" Cian asked, already knowing the answer.

"I told you, man. My dads' whore wife is moving her whore family into our house. There's no way. Plus with them there you would probably prefer... well, anywhere else," he added in as an after thought.

Cian stayed until the last of the group dispersed. He literally had no place to go as of now. It was already cold out and was about to get much colder. He gritted his teeth in frustration, but started heading towards the one place he knew would be free shelter and maybe free food. The homeless shelter was only a couple of blocks away but it seemed to take forever to get there. It wasn't his first time there, he'd been kicked out before, but he made a point of not becoming a regular so no one would know him. After hesitating outside he finally went in and to his dismay the servers were from his school.

Sean let out a sigh of exhaustion, he had really wanted to rest at home but as fate would have it he ended up volunteering at the homeless shelter. A friend of his, who normally volunteered at this particular shelter had run into unexpected problems and wasn't able to come help so they asked him to help in their stead. And of course he couldn't refuse so he let his step-brother know he was leaving and briskly jogged to the shelter which was quite a ways away from his home. So now he stood at a counter serving warm soup to the homeless with a couple other people from his school that he was not well acquainted with. He spoke little except to say things like “You’re welcome.” “Here you go.” or “We need more soup up front.” The darker it got the more fatigue he felt and he couldn't believe how much his feet had begun to ache. His thoughts wandered ever so slightly to his step-brother who was likely still up and playing around with complicated codes and whatnot on his laptop. Then it shifted to how much work he needed to do for leadership, then to how much time grad preparations would take up in the coming months. He also thought of the rugby tournament starting in May, and inwardly cringed at how much training his coach would make them do and finally he thought about the party this Saturday. His girlfriend Minho wanted him to come but he didn't know if he’d have enough energy tomorrow to do so, though he knew when it began he’d be there. Even if he wasn't fond of drinking or delirious people he would go just to make sure nothing happened to her. But at the moment he needed to focus on the task at hand so his mind stop wandering and he got ready to serve the next person who walked up to the counter.