Calendar Marks

It was a few days before Lucus was truly able to go back to school. Each day was long and meant nothing but a new mark on the calendar. Homeschooling each day was even harder. They had seriously amped up the rate at which they learned. Even a few days in the hospital had left Lucus feeling he had missed the gun in a race, and they had already circled around him twice. With each step his friends took at school, he took as many as he could. Some days he even learned two new units. He was rapidly learning at incredible speeds. He had missed this feeling. The familiarity. Not needing to wonder if he could really keep up. No asking for where to place his pencil. Each lesson has its own familiarity. Some days he even came close to beginning to see the benefits of staying. He immediately recalled conversations with his friends whenever this happened. Nothing was going to hold him back from the life of a normal kid. Each mark on the brand new calendar he had brought his sister to the store to help pick out. They went to the nice ones too. This one was made with thick paper with beautiful markings and indents. Each day was written with puffy letters. They specifically picked ones containing pressed in flowers so that he could "read" the pictures. He spent a large portion of his free time running his fingers up and down the pages. Even if it was just for a short countdown, he had this itching feeling that this calendar would contain many more special moments to look forward to. After a long wait, he was finally going back to school.

He had been out for a total of 2 weeks and 4 days. When he arrived at school, to his surprise, everyone clapped. Almost everyone. Even while surrounded by clapping sounds all around him as he made his triumphant climb up to the steps of the school, he could hear a few quiet whispers.

"Look at the 'King of the school'. He looks so freaking idiotic up there."

"Yeah, isn't he blind?"

"He's only getting this cuz' he's blind ya know"

"This is dumb, wanna skip?"

Lucus tried to ignore this as he held his head up high. The claps were surprisingly quiet. They were soft, like the ones they used back home. They were like a christmas eve dinner, when even his sisters and brothers who had left the house came to share. Even those who now lived far away, or had left many years ago never missed this event. Not a single seat prepared, was left empty.

The moment he stepped foot on the second step of the school entrance way, Lucus was met with two huge hugs. Each was filled with familiar sounds, smells, and heartbeats.

"Ben! Alicia!" He exclaimed. One broke off before the other. Alicia. She stepped back with a small cough. Lucus wasn't sure, but her heart seemed to beat a bit faster. Oblivious to anything outside of the safe house, Lucus thought nothing of it.

"Dude! You were gone so long! Glad your back, but you missed a lot." As they walked to their next class, Ben and Alicia were lagging behind. He could hear some whispering and Ben elbowed Ana jokingly. He listened carefully, but the crowded halls made it hard to make out any words. They seemed close now. Almost like they were his family back home. Lucus smiled contentedly. When they neared the classroom, Lucus pushed on the doors. They were locked. No sounds were coming from the inside of the classroom either. Ben, Alicia, and a few other classmates gathered around him and Lucus stepped to the side for others to look.

"No class first period. We gotta go to the auditorium. That's annoying. Why didn't they just announce this on the loudspeakers earlier?" said Alicia with a slightly annoyed tone and let out a small sigh. "Look, it's on all the other rooms too."

"Every room?" asked Lucus in confirmation.

"Yep, even on the elementary and middle school classrooms." answered Ben, in place of Ana. They headed towards the auditorium. Lucus had never been to this room in the school before, but they passed it every day on the way to art class. He could tell from there hollow footsteps, it was large. Many other classes had already filled in and their teacher was waiting for them. It was a regal area. Large blue curtains hung from the ceiling in front of the stage, and each chair was on par with that of a small movie theater, or the seats at the opera. Cushioned and large. This was the true regalness of such a powerful school, held in such high regard. Even before entering middle school, this school had always been the talk of the town. When he was given the opportunity to go, Lucus had not wavered to accept the invitation. They filled their seats. Ben went in first, followed by Lucus and Alicia. They sat pretty far from the other highschool classes. They were placed all the way at the front. Most of the highschool students were placed in the back. This was so that they wouldn't obstruct the view of much smaller middle and elementary school students. The auditorium was almost full at this point, and hundreds of students were sitting comfortably in their seats.

"You have to pay attention to the nice seats here," started Lucus, patting his seat. "They really sprung for the nice stuff." he bounced up and down in the cushy seats and Alicia latched, covering her mouth.

A few minutes later, the principal stepped out onto the stage. It was easy to recognise him, to Lucus. He had the same warm way of walking that he did a few days ago, after all. He did have a nice aura to him. It seemed that every kid sitting up in the front row felt this too. The principal tapped the microphone causing a loud screeching feedback. Lucus covered his ears. The principal waited a second, before beginning to speak.