The Soul for Some

“In the light of the burning moon,
they came forth.
I could see nothing but their eyes,
like stars, burning white.
My hands clawed towards them,
covered in iron flames.
I heard only one call out my name.”

“Very good, Very good.” Mr. Lee exclaims, as I headed back to my seat. The class had to be rather quiet due to Lee’s sensitive hearing aid. He shakily picked up the stack of poems left on his desk at the front of the class. He tried to neaten them, but dropped them all over the floor. Everyone in class collectively cringed. No one knew his exact age, but Mr. Lee had to be somewhere over 80. He was still working due to the fact 25 years ago, he lost his retirement savings in a Ponzi scheme. I’m certain the school kept him on the payroll out of pity. Mr. Lee tried to bend over to pick it all up, but couldn’t. He looked helplessly at the class, tears brimming in his eyes. Our school president, Carson, silently got up along with several other people in the front row and helped pick up the paper. Then he tidied it up and placed it on the desk. Mr. Lee smiled gratefully at him. Then he pulled himself to his full height, faced the class, and spoke the following,

“Well then class, before you go I would like to give you your homework assignment. Create a poem about one of your greatest firsts. Your first crush, your first time driving a car, your first time seeing a new sibling. It could be anything you please. What I’m looking for is good emotional expression. Thank you for your time. You may now leave.”

Our bags were already packed, so we got up and left, silently and swiftly. Everyone liked Mr. Lee. He was a nice man, and despite his physical handicaps was still overall a very good teacher. Once I was in the hall I broke into a full sprint and began skidding down the halls. Several of my classmates did the same. We had classes on the other side of campus, and we started in five minutes. I soared ahead of them though, I was a member of the school basketball team, and also the school chess club. I saw a head of bright blue hair in the crowd ahead of me. That was Julian, one of my new friends. I waved to him as I whizzed pass. He clapped and laughed as I squealed to a stop in front of a door that lead to the outside. I pushed it open and headed across the baseball field. It was separated from my class building by a wire fence. There was a hole at the bottom of it behind a bush. Just big enough to squeeze through. I made a beeline for the bush that hid it. Once I got there I crouched down to find the hole. To my horror, it had been repaired. I still had some time, so I began to scale the fence. “HEY!” I heard a voice shout behind me. Whoever they were, they were too late. I was on the other side and sprinting to the class building.

I yanked open the door to the class building and slammed it behind me. I let a small “oof” as I found the nearest chair and sat down heavily. I noticed a group of guys laughing by the window. They were all looking at me. One of them came up to me. “What’s your name?” he asked, still breathless from laughter. “Beatrice” I replied, equally as breathless from running. He questioned the name but moved on to clapping me on the back. “I have never seen anyone run that fast. Ever.” he told me, and then burst into another spurt of laughter. “Hey, Ken, tell her already!” shouted one of the guys from the group. “Well Beatrice, you are now an elite troublemaker, a proud escapee of notorious school hall monitor Adam.” Ken said with a smug grin. “What?” I asked, confused. Ken took a good look at me. “Are you new here?” he asked. I nodded. “I just moved into town two weeks ago.” I replied. Then, the bell rang.

Everyone went back to their seats, the door opened to reveal a slightly paunchy, middle aged blond woman. She ran to the front the class. She was short of breath, disheveled, and every inch of her body seethed with rage. She went on to introduce herself. “Hello, I’m Mrs Mariyenne, but you can call Ms. Mariyenne. I’m so sorry for being late. You see, my soon-to-be ex-husband stole my car and sold it in order to pay off his debt to a casino. So, I was forced to sprint 5 miles to get here. Now, back to business. Class, open your government books to page 173, and read the section on women’s rights.” I look at her, wide eyed, my mouth slightly agape. “Now, if you would excuse me.” She murderously glared off into the distance for a small second, turned on her heel and stormed out the door.

As soon as the door shut behind her, I turned around and asked the girl behind me “What on earth was that?!” She replied with a sad smile. Then she said “Ms Mariyenne got married to a man she’d known for five days last year during her trip to Seattle. His name is Collin, he is a twenty-five year old gambling addict.” I simply stared at her. She sighed. “This story is too long to tell now. The school has a reddit page devoted to reporting the latest on Ms Mariyenne’s drama if you want to check it out. Just look up “Ms Mariyenne Georgianna Highschool.” I nodded slightly, and took some time to process what she just told me. Then I told her quietly “I thought I accidentally walked into drama class when she first walked in.” The girl chuckled. I saw someone standing behind the girl, and looked up to see that Ken had walked over. “Hey, shouldn’t you be in your seat doing schoolwork?” I asked him. He raised an eyebrow. Then he repled coyly “Then shouldn’t you be doing the same? Instead of gossiping with Yo-” He was cut off by the girl elbowing him in the stomach. He playfully frowned. Me and the girl laughed. I smiled at her and said “Hi, my name is Beatrice. And you are?” The girl reached out to take my hand, and shook it. “Yolanda. I’m Ken’s cousin.” She pointed to my desk. “I haven’t seen you here before.” She remarked. I nodded. “Yeah, I was doing some catch up work for transferring mid-semester, so they let me start attending some of my classes later.” I replied. Yolanda furrowed her brow. “Why would you transfer to this shithole?” she asked. I laughed a little. “My dad and his boyfriend live here. My mom is doing business so I’m just getting taken care of for a few months.” Ken spoke up, he now stood beside Yolanda’s desk. “Where do you come from originally?” he asked. I replied “California.” Ken grinned. “Cool, you’re a California girl huh? Did you go to a lot of beaches?” he asked. I pulled up the sleeve of my sweater to reveal skin so pale that blue veins seemed to wrap around my forearm, like delicate jewelry, and thrust it in his direction “No.” I replied. Ken looked at my arm for a second. “I thought the sun shined down there . . .” he remarked humorously. I smiled and tugged my sleeve back down. Then I told him “Not in the North. I lived in a neighborhood surrounded by pine trees, so when the sun did shine it was filtered through the branches. Not only that, I spent a lot of time helping my mother at work or at working school, so I was mostly indoors. Even our school’s basketball court was inside.” Yolanda and Ken both gave me looks of slight surprise. We all turned at once when doorknob into the classroom began to turn. Ken ran back to his seat, and the other students who had been milling around the room followed suit. I scrambled to open my textbook.

I had flipped open a random page and was pretending to study it when I saw a waist come in front of my desk. A low “oooooo” sounded from everyone in class, and I looked up. A guy, with a loose fitting shirt was staring at me. “Who are you?” he asked pointedly. I gave him a confused look. “Hello?” I asked. “What is your name. Full name.” he asked. “Who are you?” I replied. He smirked. And replied “Adam. I saw you boosting the fence earlier. Do you know how dangerous it is to sprint across a grass field and climb up a steel fence? I tried to stop people like you from doing that by sewing up that hole!” he cried. I just sat there, aghast at his attitude. He looked at me harshly. Then Yolanda’s voice came from behind me. “You know Adam, you could just chill for once.” She snarled. Adam looked at her, his back ramrod straight, pondering what he should do with her. Then she added in a low voice “Her name is Beatrice.” Adam jerked his head at her, thanking her almost. “Beatrice, please don’t do dangerous things.” Then he stalked out of the classroom. There was awkward tension in the room for a while, and then kids began to chat again. I turned my textbook to page 173. I had plans for tomorrow to go see what little the town could offer with Justin and another girl called Kelly. Yolanda and Ken seemed like nice people, so maybe I could hang out with them some other time. I’ll avoid Adam though, I decided. He seemed unpleasant.

End of Chapter