Chapter 1 - I Miss My Bus

As usual, I awoke to my bus driving past my stop. Again. It was the third time this week and I was getting tired of it. Sighing loudly, I jumped out of bed hastily and threw on my wrinkled clothes from of my bed which is full of past clothes (I found something growing under there once!). My room is a mess. Now, Back to the story, I grabbed my pre-prepared book bag from off the floor beside my desk (which is also dirty). Then, going as fast as I could I flew down my carpeted stairs, skipping each step.
On my counter was a cup of orange juice. I stopped to chug the cup, but then continued sprinting outside into the crisp cold November air. You may be wondering how the heck I’m going to catch up to a bus going to 25 miles per hour. I could run full speed after and hope to get my bus drivers attention (which would never happen, considering that she’s always focused on her jelly filled donuts). I’m smarter than that (I wish)! I live on Bluetree Avenue, which is the street that my bus comes to pick me up on (duh). After picking me up, the bus turns down Loraine Street to pick up more kids. Then, a right takes them on a road going parallel to mine.
300 feet (100 meter dash!) from my house is a back road that connects my street and the other. It is called Black Way. So, I ran to Black Way and turned down it. Running with all my might, I hit the parallel road right when the bus turned onto it. Bending down to catch my breath, I thanked God for cross-country. When the bus was close enough I started to jump and wave my arms around. Unfortunately the bus driver was to nice to stop for me, let alone wave (all the while engrossed with her jelly donut).
I walked home completely and utterly angry. My mom would have to take me to school. Again. When I arrived at my house, I was surprised to see my mom outside sitting on our porch staring at the sky.
I waltzed up to her. "Whatcha doing mom? I've never seen you out here before."
"No, you haven't, Aclaeus. I have been out here every morning, starting on last Monday. You haven't noticed me in all your rushing." She paused to look at, her black hair still on her chest.
I nodded. "Well, um... I need a ride to school again. I... missed the bus." Why was I stuttering? Mom looked back at the sky. I walked past her heading to the door.
"Aclaeus. A beautiful name. Your father chose it well. It means 'power' in ancient greek." Father had caught my attention. "I loved him very much. He was an important man, the king of a whole empire. He left us because of family reasons. His brothers and sisters did not approve of him with-" She paused. "-us." I immediatley thought of racists people (I'm black). "He said that he would take care of it and then he would come back to us, you and me. You were one year old, Aclaeus.
"There was a storm brewing the day he left. Almost as if it were reacting to him leaving. I remember turning away from him, sad that he was leaving and mad that his realatives would do this to me and him. Behind me, lightning struck so close, I could feel my hairs stand on end from the static electricity. When I turned back around, He was gone. Leaving behind a broken heart. That was 11 years ago. I've waiting out here every morning for him. HE was good man, Alclaeus." My mom looked down at her hands and said faintly, "He was a good man." I stood there taking in all that she had revealed to me. Then I went inside to eat breakfast.
All ther was for breakfast was cornflakes. So, i poured out some of it in a bowl along with some milk. I wasn't half way through the bowl whenmy mom interrupted me.
"I'm ready, honey," she had said. I looked behind me to see if anybody was there. Nobody.
I picked up my bowl and set it in the sink. Then, i picked up my book bag and headed out side. Our 1970's Camero was up and running by the time I got outside. I couldn't wait until I got my Temps. The car swayed under my weight as I got in to the old car.
"Well mom, lets go." The car reversed out of the driveway slowly, then righted itself and drove off.

I was late to school again, even with my mom's crazy driving (we got three tickets on the way. That's a record). For 1st period I have Honors English. Mrs. Brown is a hard teacher. She doesn't accept late work, no extra credit, and if you turn a paper in with a tear or a wrinkle in it, it goes into the garbage. Today, in my class we were reading a short story called "The Landlady". It's about a 17 year old teenager who travels to Bath England to go to a meeting or something. He gets tricked in to staying at a Bed and Breakfast with a crazy old lady who kills and stuffs him. Really nasty buisness.
Second period I have Pre- Algebra with Mr. Carlton. In this class we're learning about Formulas (d=m/v).
Third period is Social Studies, my favorite class. We were comparing the religion of Egypt and Greece. For som reason, I just love mythology. There's this girl in my Social studies class. She catches my eye alot. Boy, she's hot. Her name is Meredith. She's greek like me. Merdith and are are kind of like friends. we just don't like hang out or talk that much. Fourth period I have Industrial Tech. I get in a lot of trouble in Fourth period. I guess talk to much.
Lunch is next, with my eighth grade friends. Funnest time of the day! Mrs. Sherry is the Lunch aide at this period. She is the nicest teacher I have ever had. Then, I have General Music. Jamila's in this class to. I was staring at her the whole time that day. She was wearing skinny jeans and a red blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her perfect forearms (pretend I didn't say that).
My last class of the day is Science. This class goes so fast it feels like only 10 minutes by the time the bell rings. I usually bring all my books and homework to Science so I can just go strsight to the bus and get a good seat in the back. Today I didn't have enough time. When the bell rings i had to go to my locker. I have a lot of friends there but there's this one kid named Bradon who ruins it all. He's really fast and is, weirdly enough, is always on top of everything. Like once, these to kids, Kris and Daniel got in a fight over a chicken nuggit. Bradon knew everything they said, every punch thrown as if he was there. He was at home sick that day.
Because I had to go to my locker, I got the THE worst seat of all. Next to Bradon. He talks so fast that his words like melt together in this volcanoe just spewing out words. I got a massive headache. He kept on talking about how he's perfect at all these things and has a 11:30 two mile. I only have a 12:43, and I'm faster than usual kids. Anyway, I was so glad when my stop came. As i walked off the bus some girl yelled, "Run after the bus!". Last year, I had made it a habit to run after the bus. A lot of times I could keep up with it. I heard Bradon say, "That should be me".
I decided not to. Before we go our seperate ways, my friends Eman, Demetri, and I talk over the days events. I, naturally, brought up what Meredith was wearing that day. "Did you guys see what Meredith was wearing," I had asked.
"Who didn't! Black skinny jeans, a blouse," Eman responded.
Demetri of course had no idea what we were talking about. "What does Meredith look like?" Eman and I stared at him.
"Thats why you need a phone."
We turned back to each other. Eman said, "That girl is fine! She could easily be the daughter of Aphrodite! Like in Social Studies."
"Yeah, right!" I looked back at my driveway to see if my mom was home. In the driveway was a new shining gold Potiac. I turned back to my friends. "Look I gotta go," I said. "Somebodies at my house." THen, I turned around and ran started running home. The closer I got I could see this aura around the car. It was like pure lightning. at the edge of my driveway I stopped.
Like all kids, I got curious and touched the car. The aura reached out and touched my finger. It felt as if a rock hit both my rists. I jumped backwards, shocked (in both ways). I assumed that it was a electricity field, but that made no sense. Why wuld a car have an electric field? I walked inside,rubbing my hand. I looked back at the Pontiac a few times. Still the car glowed.
I opened the door and walked in. "Mom, this car in the driveway just shocked m-," I stopped when I saw him. I must have been the man with the car in the driveway. He looked just like me, other than the fact that he was caucasian. His nose matched mine and his eyes were gray also. He had medium long blond hair with strips of silver mixed in. He was wearing a buisness suit. "Who's this, mom?"
It was then that I noticed how happy she was. Her eyes were glittering and a smile tugged at he mouth. She had never been this happy, ever. Well, of course ever since dad was here... "Aclaeus, this is your-," The tall man shushed her. He was so gentle in how he did this, as if they had known each other forever.
"I am your father, Zeus."

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment