1 Movement

I hadn't noticed the copious amounts of steam rising from the shower and yelped when the sizzling water came into contact with my leg. I cranked the temperature down and sluggishly wondered if the small incident would combat the drowsiness weighing down my body. A foolish thought of course-- the warm water was lulling me into a dreamlike stupor. The thought of lying down in the shower and spending the rest of the morning there crossed my mind. I lowered the temperature even further to sober up.

Breakfast was already neatly wrapped on the table when I went down to the dining room-- sausage, spinach, and yesterday's porridge. I elected to skip the porridge and checked my messages. It seemed Dad hadn't returned yet after being called down to his company at around 11 last night. I also checked Evelynn's message to make sure I wasn't running late. No... but I had to eat quick.

I crossed the street and knocked on the door. There was no response so I rang the bell and Eli inevitably barked at the sound before bounding over. I waved to him through the glass to stop the barking but there were suspiciously no human footsteps drawing nearer. It took about half a minute before Evelyn's brother David came down the stairs and welcomed me in. Eli sniffed at my new shoes a bit before returning to his post in the living room.

"Aren't you a bit early Allen? Ev's still asleep."

"Huh? She said that we needed to go earlier since you had a morning meeting." He shook his head so I showed him the message and we deduced that I had been fooled. David half filled a glass with water and handed it to me. "Why don't you wake her up?"

I debated whether to follow through with it or not but remembered that I had 40 minutes to spare anyways. Evelyn didn't even move when I entered her room. I crept closer and noticed that her pretty face was wearing a dumb expression with her mouth more than just slightly ajar. If I had been lucid enough to think it through, I wouldn't have made such a mistake.

Her initial reaction was to shriek but the water had caught in her throat. I watched on, mortified at what I had done while she coughed uncontrollably. I came to my senses and hit her back several times but when she had regained control over her breathing she immediately barred my arm.

"You're fucking dead," she growled.

The noise from the ensuing scuffle brought David upstairs and he watched in amusement for several seconds before announcing matter-of-factly, "You can make breakfast today sis. You're up early after all." He motioned for me to leave the room. Evelyn huffed at my apologies as we made our way out, closing the door behind us.

"How about uh... I make breakfast." I suggested. He shrugged.

"If you need something just ask." He stooped down to pick Eli up, who had been roused by the commotion and wandered upstairs. "Eggs and toast sound good. You can make some for yourself if you'd like."

"Not that hungry."

"Suit yourself. C'mon boy... let's go for a walk."

My thoughts drifted to Evelyn while I waited for the pan to heat up. It occurred to me that I had never seen her sleeping before, and her defenselessness starkly contrasted with her usual fearless demeanor. I had been growing more conscious of the changes that were affecting our bodies, but she seemed to act otherwise. I could hardly guess at what that girl was thinking. This was after all the girl that told me at the end of the fifth grade that she had a crush on me and took it back the next day. And we hadn't seen each other as much since we went to different middle schools. But someone who could inflict such cruelty and laugh it off was not to be trusted...

Speaking of which, Evelyn was coming down the stairs right now. I was still feeling some amount of guilt but she had probably gotten over it. "Kind of you to do my job Allen," she chirped. Maybe not.

I considered apologizing again but thought better of it. "Why'd you wake me up so early?"

"You always seem so tired so I thought it would be nice if you were a little more energetic for our first day."

"So you woke me up earlier? Does that make sense to you?" And hadn't she been sleeping like a log just a moment ago?

"Yep!" Well, I was certainly feeling more awake but for other reasons. I helped myself to some yogurt in their fridge after plating up the Chen sibling's breakfast, and soon David returned. Eli immediately came running to the dining table and started begging to Evelyn. A habit that had gone unchecked... or perhaps even encouraged by Evelyn.

"Oh, you don't want this toast boy. It's too dry." Evelyn said.

David snorted. "You want some water?"

---

David dropped us off at the station before heading to work. I wasn't familiar with the subways since my dad had shuttled me around throughout middle school so I just followed Evelyn's. She had been taking the subway over the summer for the school's softball training camp. The car wasn't nearly as crowded as I had expected. There were other students keeping to themselves or their own small groups and adults making their morning commute.

"You can put your guitar under the seat," Evelyn told me.

I did so but realized,"It might slide."

"Mmm... how about this?" We ended up holding it in place between our feet. Evelyn looked up to check how far we were in transit. "Oh, Jackie's the next stop. I think she has a brother two grades up?" Jackie was one of her friends from middle school. I had caught glimpses of her several times in our neighborhood but we never really spoke. Several minutes passed. "Here it is."

Unlike Evelyn, Jackie's appearance had changed rather drastically for a high school debut. She was no longer wearing glasses she had grown her light brown hair out, styling it in the process. Her brother was a good deal taller than all of us, and he was listening to something through his earbuds. He caught a glimpse of my guitar and it looked like he might say something. He ultimately took a seat across the aisle and closed his eyes to indulge in his music while Jackie sat next to Evelyn. We introduced ourselves and she took her schedule out to compare with Evelyn's.

"Show yours too, Allen," Evelyn said.

"I forgot to print mine out," I lied. I peeked over at Evelyn's schedule and was relieved to see that we shared a class. I wasn't looking forward to sitting through the classes where I didn't recognize anybody. I stopped eavesdropping on the two girls when the conversation shifted to other topics and started practicing fingerings on my forearm. It was hard to keep a steady rhythm with the sporadic clacking of the subway car gliding through the tunnels. A few students gazed at me quizzically but I ignored them.

My lack of nervousness was slightly troubling. I remember fretting endlessly while preparing for notable events in the past. My hands would sweat, my heart rate would rise, and most notably my mind would dart from one place to another-- all of that was absent now. Was it that I had conquered the anxiety or I just didn't care enough? I prayed that it was the former.

Jackie suddenly raised her voice and I realized she was addressing me,"Are you trying out for the jazz band?"

"Yes, are you?"

"My brother's in it. He's a lot more talkative at home, believe me. His name's Harris by the way."

I wasn't very good at keeping conversations with people but it seemed like Jackie was making an effort so I tried meeting her halfway. "Ev's got a brother too."

"Oh... umm, I knew that," she laughed.

Evelyn had tears in her eyes while she elbowed my side. "You're going to have to work on whatever that was. Don't be so awkward, Jackie's real nice."

"Sorry." I cleared my throat quietly. "Are you planning on joining any clubs, Jackie?"

"I've asked around but I'm not really sure yet."

"Just come to our first practice then Jackie! We're always in need of more bodies," Evelyn chimed in.

"I don't really know Ev. I get tired pretty easily."

"We'll just have to get you in shape. You know you sorta sounded like Allen for a moment there..."

By now, we were making quite the commotion (that is to say that Evelyn was.) A few of the older passengers sighed in relief when we finally got off our stop. We were all overwhelmed when we arrived at the gate at the volume of students clamoring about. Some of them were raucously celebrating their reunion with friends and old classmates but there were just as many if not more students milling about, lost in the sea of faces. The clamor was almost drowning out the voice in my head.

Evelyn checked her phone. "We still have time to spare. You two should definitely come with me and check the field out, they constructed a new addition over the summer."

"I gotta store this somewhere. I'll see you ther-...later."

"Well, at least he's honest huh?" Evelyn stuck her tongue out at me before dragging a somewhat reluctant Jackie along.

I looked around. There were a few faculty greeting students and I considered going up to them for directions, but they were already getting crowded out with questions. Perhaps I should go inside first?

"Hey. Allen right?" A low voice addressed me. I turned around to see Jackie's brother Harris behind me. "I can show you where we store instruments."

"Ah, thank you." I didn't think it was possible but the noise inside was even louder than outside.

A bookish older lady quickly noticed and called out to me. "Freshman?" I nodded and she handed me a pamphlet. "Welcome to Abingdon Charter." She just as quickly turned to another target. "Freshman?"

Even in that short of a moment, Harris had gained quite a bit of distance but I could easily make out where he was due to his height. There was a particular section of the hallway that was almost completely blocked due to the students congregating around lockers at both sides of the hall. I somehow forced my way through them and caught up to Harris. Somebody yelled out in pain. I think my case might have hit their shin.

The storage room was tucked away down a corridor next to what appeared to be the choir room.

"Upperclassmen have priority on lockers but I've got plenty of space. You'll probably get assigned one later." Harris said. "You can keep your guitar here temporarily." He took his drumsticks out and slid them into his backpack before heading for the door.

"So how tough's the audition?"

Harris shrugged. "We've got a new teacher this year. Any other questions?"

"Yeah. Can you help me find another room?" I reached for the schedule in my backpack but he was already closing the door behind him.

"Try asking a teacher."