Rarae Aves

“Am! Yo, Am-ski!” A voice could be heard calling for her. Soon, a nudge startled the young teen from her sleep.

“Huh? W-what?” she croaked out, confused as to where she was.

“We’re here,” Mason informed, “Come on, get up.” He patted her shoulder twice.

“I fell asleep,” she mumbled, stating the obvious. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as the other passengers began to file out of the school bus.

Amber got off the bus and walked towards the school, Mason trailing far behind, walking slowly because she was too preoccupied on his laptop. He was getting worse, it seemed. His addiction to that thing was growing. Amber wasn’t going to say anything, though. None of their friends did. They just felt it wasn’t their place. They just let him be, let him get lost in a false reality.

“Hey, guys,” she smiled at her friends as she walked up to them. They were all hanging out at the bench in the lobby.

“Sup,” greeted Devon coolly, flashing a peace sigh. Tia just nodded, a small smile curving her lip gloss-coated lips.

“Yo, girl,” Max said, giving her a few playful, soft punches to the shoulder, “How you feeling?”

Just as she was about to answer the question, a rumbling sound erupted from her stomach. She blushed slightly as Devon answered, “I guess she’s feeling hungry.” The others giggled a little.

“Yeah, I was running late today, so I had to skip breakfast,” she explained, chuckling uncomfortably as she rubbed her stomach.

Tia got her book bag and reached inside, pulling out and revealing a granola bar. Silently, she stuck her arm out, offering it to Amber.

“Thanks, Tia.” Amber took it.

“Oh, hey, Mason,” spoke Jeff, causing the others to turn. Mason had finally just showed up, still missing with his computer.

Instead of answering, the teenager responded with “Move.” He started motioning with his hand for his friends on the bench, Jeff, Devon, and Tia, to slide over. Tia got up, letting Mason have her seat.

“What are you doing now?” asked Devon.

“Shush! Don’t distract me,” grumbled Mason.

Devon rolled his eyes, and Max shrugged, as if to say, “Meh, what can you do?”

Amber ate the granola bar and talked with Jeff, Max and Devon, while Tia listened and nodded from time to time. Sometimes, Tia would let out a barely audible chuckle whenever someone made a joke. During the whole conversation, Mason hissed “Shush!” three times because he felt they had gotten too loud at times. Other than that, he didn’t pay them any mind.

Soon, the bell rang, and they had to all go to their first classes. “See ya, sis,” Devon told his sister, patting her on the shoulder. She silently eased her way into the huge crowd of people, swimming through the messy mob like a fish in water. Everyone else said their “goodbyes” and their “See you laters” and went on their separate paths. Mason packed up his laptop and he followed Amber, seeing as they both had the same first period, and all.

“I was just about to say,” Amber began, looking back at Mason before quickly turning her head back forth, so she could see where she was going, “You have to put that thing away.”

“Yeah, I know,” Mason replied, “I sure as hell can’t have it out when we’re taking the test. Mr. Smith would think I was cheating for sure.” Amber stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening. “Oof!” exclaimed Mason as her bumped right into her, “Damn, Am, what the hell did you stop for?”

“We have a test today?” she practically yelped. Soon, complaints from other students in the hall could be heard as they went around her, frustrated at her for stopping and being in the way.

“Move, dyke,” some girl snarled, pushing Amber to the side as she passed by her.

“Sorry,” Amber muttered, “Sorry.” She and Mason continued walking through the crowd. “Are you serious, dude? We have a test today?”

“Yeah, duh,” sassed Mason, “Mr. Smith has only been talking about the damn thing all this week, yo.”

“Oh God,” groaned Amber, feeling a sense of dread taking over. She wasn’t the least bit prepared. They both were about to turn down the hall at which their class was located. “I-I’m going to take off, man,” she stated, “Please, just cover for me, okay? If he asks, I’m not here…I’m sick or something.” She was about to turn the opposite way, towards the exit that led to the football field.

“No, Am,” Mason asserted, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him, “You’re not skipping again. You skip all your classes too much as it is already.”

“But, I can’t go in there,” she protested, “I’m going to fail for sure.”

“Am, you attendance is horrible. You need to stop doing this. Besides, if you didn’t study, you need to deal with the consequences like the rest of us do when we don’t study.”

“But…” She felt like some heavy weight was crushing her. The thought of getting another ‘F’ on a paper was almost unbearable. Again, came that creeping feeling, like a pair of eyes were on her, disappointed that she wasn’t doing better.

“No ‘buts’,” Mason told her, “Now go in.” Next thing she knew, Mason had done pushed her into the classroom, and everyone that was already in their turned to look at them as they entered.

“Damn it,” Amber thought to herself. She took her seat, expecting the worst.