Dark Friends (12 page)

              “Don't worry honey, there's plenty more kids to pick up, your stop is just the first.” The black woman called from the front of the bus. Then, she turned the hula-hoop size wheel and eased the shuddering vehicle onto the road. Amelia gazed out the window, wondering how long the ride would be. In less than three minutes, the bus stopped again and two black boys got on, politely greeting the driver and sitting down in the middle rows. They didn't seem to notice the pale, big-headed girl in the far back. Amelia noticed they wore near-matching outfits, the only difference being the colors of the stripes on their shirts.

              Along the drive, the bus stopped four more times, each time picking up one or two kids and no more. When she had been alone on the bus, she could hear the sputtering of the great engine and the whine of the belts and valves, but the gradual build-up of kids had created a dull roar, irking Amelia. She watched in complete silence as two kids would try to talk and have trouble hearing each other, only to raise their voices as the kids next to them rose theirs. The kids in the front tried to speak over the ones in the middle, who tried to speak over the ones in the back. Soon, one of the quiet black boys half-stood in his chair, garnering him a more advantageous position from which to voice his thoughts. It was not long before other kids were standing, too, and then they were all standing and yelling. The cacophony crushed Amelia's ears, ignited her blood. What the hell was wrong with these fools? Couldn't they see that if they all spoke quietly, then they could all be heard? She surprised herself with the anger that she felt towards the driver, who smiled serenely, like she was deaf. For a moment, Amelia wished Ellis were there;
he
would straighten these monsters out. When she pictured him in her mind, though, her heart seized up and Amelia tried to banish his memory from her mind, which proved impossible.

              After twenty-two minutes on the seat in the rear of the bus, they arrived at the school. The bus driver pulled up and opened the weird doors, and the kids all tried to get out at once, rubbing against each other obscenely. Amelia shook her head again, what were they in such a rush for? A small part of her was curious about this public place of learning, though a larger part of her yearned for the new-familiarity of Steven and Catina's house.

              As she entered the building, Amelia was
shocked
. The kids ran free, talking, jumping, throwing whatever they could get their hands on. There were Caucasian, African, Asian and Hispanic kids. There were even kids from nations that Amelia did not know, whose features spoke of desert-dwelling heritage. She made a mental note to identify their origins. They seemed docile enough, and the black kids seemed to be the wildest. At a glance, Amelia knew there were more white kids than any other race, though the blacks were much more animated and noticeable. The Hispanic kids grouped together, speaking rapid-fire Spanish. The adults, Amelia noticed, they were the most bizarre group of all. They lounged by walls and doors, watching the kids with bored expressions. If Amelia didn't know any better, she thought they were even
afraid
of the kids. These thoughts buzzed through her mind as she stood in the main doorway of the school, and a group of kids started shoving behind her, sending her scurrying over to the corner, her heart pounding. She closed her eyes. In a very real sense, Amelia yearned for the control and order of an Orphanage. Taking a deep breath, Amelia opened her eyes and searched for the administrative office, to check herself in as a new student.

              The office was a zoo in it's own right. Kids stood in lines, waiting to speak to counselor's to change their classes. Others waited to register. Still others didn't have the correct schedules, the correct books or, in the case of one girl, the correct school. Amelia waited patiently in line, and when she reached the small Asian female receptionist, she couldn't understand a word that the woman said,

              “Whot zoo nama” she said in a loud, nasal tone.

              “What?”

              “Zo nama! Whot es et?”

              “She's asking what your name is.” the boy behind Amelia said helpfully.

              “Amelia Gannerson.” she told the woman. The woman scanned her computer screen for several seconds, then seemed to notice a yellow sticky pad attached to her screen.

              “Fola me” the woman said, curling her index finger in the universal sign for 'Come'.

              Amelia was led to an assistant principal's office, and she sat down in front of an obese white man with a 'Big Gulp' soft drink on his desk.

              “Amelia, my name is Mr. Romney. I'm the assistant principal for kids with last names F through L. You're here because I just received some very interesting paperwork.”

              Amelia watched his stubby fingers leaf through a few folders, eventually locating the right one with an 'Aah' and a small grin.

              “Amelia, it seems you have been identified as gifted. With that in mind, you will take accelerated tenth grade classes this semester, and if all goes well, you'll graduate high school in less than one and a half years.” The fat man handed Amelia a revised class schedule and said no more, indicating the end of their meeting.

              “Thank you, sir.” Amelia said. Who had identified her as gifted, she wondered.

              She went back to the halls and using the classroom numbering system, navigated her way to her first class; Geometry.

              The teacher was a short, brown haired woman who was reviewing the class rules and expectations when Amelia walked in, and the room went silent.

              “Have trouble finding your way here? Show me your schedule.” The woman said, stopping her teaching.

              Amelia went to the front of the class and she felt every eye in the room on her. Her face turned red and her hand shook as she handed the teacher her schedule. The teacher eyed the schedule critically, stared hard at Amelia, then pointed to an empty seat close to her own desk.

              “Sit there.”

              “I can make room for ya, little tomato.” A prematurely balding boy called from the back of the room. The class burst into uncontrolled laughter.

              “One more comment,
Eric,
and I'll make room for you in the principal's office.” The teacher said, silencing the room.

              Amelia sat through the class, mostly staring at the other students. She listened to the teacher with half-attention, already familiar with quadratic equations. She was fascinated. Some kids took notes furiously, never bothering to listen to the teacher. Others just listened, never lifting a pencil. One boy fell asleep, folding his arms on his desk and pulling his hood up. One of the black boys leered at a black girl's cleavage the whole class, not even bothering with stealthiness. She either didn't notice or didn't care, because she let her large, bra-less chest practically fall out of her shirt. To Amelia, the class represented both extremes and everything in the middle of the energy-spectrum. There were some kids who tapped their legs and feet constantly, looking for stimulation. Others appeared to either be on drugs or had not slept in two days, their eyes shutting against the light.

              When the bell rang, Amelia nearly jumped out of her chair in fear. She was slightly embarrassed when all the other students jumped out of theirs as well, not in surprise, but in relief. They swarmed out of the classroom like it was on fire, not even thanking the teacher for her competent lesson.

              “Thank you, Ms. Allpure.” Amelia said as she gathered her things.

              “For what?” Allpure blurted out.

              “The lesson. It was informative and well-structured.”

              Ms. Allpure stared at Amelia like she was an alien.

              “Have a good day, Amelia.”

              Amelia's next class wouldn't begin for nearly ten minutes, though she arrived at the room after only two. The door was closed and locked, and Amelia hovered by the door, hoping the packs of raucous boys and chatty girls didn't donate her any attention. After a few minutes, a scarecrow-like man with enormous bifocals walked up to the door and produced a set of keys. He opened the door and caught the stare of the pale, terrified girl waiting by the door.

              “Coming in?” he smiled kindly.

              “Yes sir.” Amelia said, studying his shoes. The teacher thought that was a strange, overly-formal response.

              “I'm Mr. White.”

              “Okay”

              Amelia sat in the back of the class like she had sat on the bus, hoping to fly under the radar. The class slowly filled with students and Mr. White walked them through the syllabus and class structure. After another hour of half-hearted listening and full-hearted people watching, Amelia made her way to her final class of the morning. Biology. Amelia started to feel like all the classes lessons and protocols were blending into a mountainous mush of routine, and she only felt apprehension for one event of the day: Lunch.

              The cafeteria was rowdy and colorful. Here, Amelia realized, the animals ruled. Despite all her mental will-power, she couldn't help but imagine the lunchroom was an African savannah, with all the different animal groups represented perfectly. She only saw gorillas, alligators, birds and the bees. The adults who had procured lunch-duty were huddled in the teacher's lounge area, not even watching the lunchroom. They were there for simple accessibility, not active supervision.

              Catina had not packed Amelia a lunch that day, instead giving her a twenty dollar bill and hoping it would force Amelia to interact with new people. Amelia did not feel right, however, using the money freely. She had choices of the food types, their quantities and how much of it she ate. Instead of getting in the lunch line, Amelia just sat at a table and watched the other kids robotically file into the serving area entrance, then leave the area with a tray of assorted meals. The kids sat in random locations throughout the room, avoiding the gaze of the poor girl who seemed like she couldn't afford a lunch. After a time, Amelia felt a small tap on her shoulder. She looked up, and Jenny was there:

              “Hey girl, what's up?” Jenny said, an upper class-men standing behind her, obviously waiting for her to get back to him. Amelia only gave him a cursory glance, for Jenny was a sight to behold. She wore a tight, black leather skirt and a sleeveless white top. She also had earrings, lipstick and a sparkling purse.

              “C'mon Jenny, let's go” the boy whined from behind her.

              “One minute, honey” she purred at him, causing him to smile broadly, and Amelia thought, lustfully.

              “Amelia, this is Dan. He's a senior. You wanna eat lunch with us?”

              “Hi Amelia” Dan said, “Where's your lunch at?”

              “I'm not hungry.”

              Jenny turned to Dan and stood on her tip-toes, whispering something into his ear. After he and Jenny exchanged a deep, meaningful look, they looked at Amelia with something resembling pity.

              “C'mon, let's sit over there” Dan said, gesturing for Amelia to follow him and Jenny.

              Amelia followed the couple to a huge, round table in the corner of the cafeteria. The table had room for more than fifteen people, though the three students were alone.

              Jenna and Dan ate silently for a minute, then Dan pushed half of his sandwich wordlessly towards Amelia. Finally feeling like she was being
told
to eat something specific, Amelia tore into the sandwich ravenously. The entire lunch ended up being just the three of them, with Dan and Jenny giving Amelia portions of their meals. After the lunch period was over, they walked together towards Amelia's next class: History. They parted ways and Amelia watched Dan and Jenny walk away, arms around each others waists.

              Her four afternoon classes went by in a flash. Being the first day of school, the actual lessons themselves were minimal. The teachers mostly talked about how the semester would go and in P.E. They made the students stand up and introduce themselves. Amelia felt nervous at first, but let her self-doubt fall away as she saw the casual nature of the introductions.

              “Hi, my name is Amelia. I grew up here and I enjoy reading, writing and hanging out with my friends.”

              The disinterested expressions of her new gym mates was all the validation Amelia needed. It was the first day of school and she finally felt a little less conspicuous, thank God.

                                                                     
Chapter Twenty-One

              “Oh my”

              “Yea, I know.”

              “But this, it's huge...it's incredible!”

              “Yea”

             
Catina and Steven were lounging on the couch in their living room. Catina held the letter from Dr. Ailez in her hands. Amelia was
abused
? Amelia is a
child prodigy
?