Taylor had been walking long enough that the sun was fully above the horizon. The sky was a bright and warm blue shade with puffy white clouds filling the air in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Taylor continued to walk, humming along with the music. The streets began to get busier, cars driving and more people beginning to walk along the sidewalks. He nodded his head along with the music, getting really into the music and starting to forget there were other things around him. He bumped into another person, immediately apologizing before going back to vibing. He laughed to himself, but then saw the school bus drive by. The song ended and suddenly began to play very fast paced breakbeat jazz, filling Taylor with an anxious energy as he watched the yellow and black bus move further and further away. His eyes went wide and he started to run quickly down the sidewalk, trying his best to dodge anybody else nearby. The music filled him with the energy he needed as he kept running. He reached an empty stretch of sidewalk and could see a small group of teenagers all wearing backpacks, standing around as the bus started to slow down. Taylor ran as quickly as he could, but as he ran faster everything around him began to grow cloudy and fuzzy. His vision blurred as he ran.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rggd4Jy9q
“No no no.”
Taylor’s vision was blurry enough that he didn’t spot a small hole in the ground, his foot entering it and causing him to fall forward. His ankle and foot let out a loud breaking sound as Taylor held back from screaming. His earbud fell out as the bus stopped. Taylor pulled his foot out and tried to stand, but his foot bent and twisted horrifically to the side. He was about to fall, but he felt somebody catch him. He looked down at a very short and fat black kid, skin slightly lighter than his own. The kid had very thick glasses, a button up shirt that was too big tucked into very tight dress pants that were just too small, stopping just above dirty brown dress shoes of two different sizes.
“Oh…hello.” The kid said.
Taylor groaned and grabbed his ear bud as he tried to walk, but leaned hard against the new kid.
“Don’t worry, I can help.”
Taylor rolled his eyes as he had to limp to the bus with the new kid helping him. The group of teenagers were taking their sweet time getting on the bus, but then two of them began to shove and shout at each other. One tackled the other when the bus driver quickly ran from their chair, down the stairs, and pulled them back.
“I will not have any fighting on my bus! Maurice, you go sit in the back. Trevon, you’re sitting in the front.” The bus driver said with a southern drawl in her voice.
The boy who got tackled smirked and got on the bus, walking his way to the back. The bus driver got back in as Trevon turned to see Taylor and the new kid.
“That’s gotta be a new record. Started a fight before you even got on the bus.” Taylor joked.
Trevon had a warm smile that he tried to hide by turning his head and picking up his bag. He had short black dreads pulled back messily. His hair was close to the same shade as Taylor, but with more ashiness to it. His shirt was a very old and faded shirt that appeared to have multiple artists on it with their group name, but it was ineligible.
“The fuck you do?” Trevon replied, finally looking down at Taylor’s messed up ankle.
“He was running down the sidewalk when his foot got stuck in a hole and broke. I saw the whole thing.” The new kid said.
Trevon just laughed as Taylor rolled his eyes, moving his arm from the new kid and wrapping it around Trevon’s neck.
“You gonna be able to run today?” Trevon asked.
“I’ll make sure I am.” Taylor said with a smile.
The bus driver honked her horn, which made the new kid run on quickly, followed by Trevon very carefully helping Taylor up the stairs.
Trevons sat in the seat directly behind the driver while Taylor sit across the aisle. The new kid then sat right behind Taylor, immediately lifting his arms and head up to look over the seat and down at Taylor.
“Who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” Trevon said.
“Me?” The new kid asked.
“Naw, the guy in front of you.” Trevon responded in a sarcastic tone. Taylor couldn’t help but laugh as he kept his leg elevated and kept pressure off of his ankle and foot.
“Oh…I think his name is Taylor. I’m not sure though. Today is my first day.” The boy said.
Taylor and Trevon both looked at each other before laughing.
“Yes, my name is Taylor. What’s your name?” Taylor held his hand up for a fist bump, but the boy wrapped his hand around it and shook it up and down awkwardly.
“The name is Stephen.” He replied.
Taylor gave him a warm and kind smile as Trevon just laughed and rolled his eyes.
The bus stopped and they looked out the windows at the large but poorly maintained school. A giant building of grayish concrete, all of the windows reinforced with steel bars and doorways leading inside having duct tape over the hinges. The students began to get off as Trevon tried to help Taylor down the stairs. Maurice came up and laughed when he pushed both of them. Taylor freaked out, but his body was suddenly a few feet further from the stairs then Trevon. Trevon fell onto his side on the ground while Taylor was standing on both feet.
Taylor looked back at the bus confused, but nobody else seemed to really notice or care.
“Oh sorry, didn’t see you there.” Maurice said as he laughed.
Trevon was staring intensely at him when Stephen held his hand out. Trevon slapped it away and got up on his own, looking over at Taylor.
“The fuck?”
Trevon looked down at Taylor’s ankle, which looked completely normal and unscathed.
“I don’t know. I don’t…”
Taylor became lost for words as he began to walk around, his foot able to sustain his weight with ease, even feeling better than his other foot.
“Man…you gotta teach me that trick.”
Trevon and Taylor walked shoulder to shoulder towards the doors, meanwhile Stephen followed a few paces behind, his eyes locked onto Taylor.
Taylor sat in a science classroom, the chair next to him empty as the students sat in groups of three with very large black desks.
Stephen walked into the classroom and looked around.
“Oh you must be the new student I was told about. Stephen, right?” The teacher asked.
She was a young light brown skinned woman with light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was wearing a tight button up shirt and dress pants with glasses similar to Stephen’s. She had a warm smile, but Stephen froze. He stared at her with wide eyes and began to shake from nervousness.
“I…um…yes…” He replied.
Some of the other students began to laugh softly at his nervousness.
“Well nice to meet you. My name is Mrs. Palmers. You can go ahead and sit next to Taylor.” She pointed over while Taylor was leaning back in his chair, not paying attention as he joked with other students. Taylor turned as Stephen very slowly sat in the seat next to him.
“Hey.” Stephen still sounded nervous.
“Hey…” Taylor replied, looking at Stephen confused before looking back at Mrs. Palmers.
“Everything okay with you?” Taylor asked.
One of the students behind them laughed.
“I bet he’s got a thing for the teacher.” He joked.
Stephen shivered and rubbed his face.
“N…no…” Stephen said, covering his face.
Taylor began to look concerned, but then the bell rang for class to start.
“Alright class, we are starting our next unit. We will be looking at velocity and how that applies to things all across the scientific world.” She smiled as she began to write on the dry erase board.
Both Taylor and Stephen wrote down the notes as detailed as possible as the teacher continued to speak.
Taylor and Stephen were the only two really taking notes and the only people paying close attention. Every other student was barely writing anything, sneakily texting away on their phones, or whispering away to each other.
The class seemed to take forever, the seconds stretching out into minutes. Taylor kept writing when he looked over at Stephen. Stephen leaned back, but the chair tipped too far and he began to fall back towards the table behind the.
Taylor was out of his chair, catching the chair and Stephen with a speed that left him surprised and confused.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCOWtyYJ6J
“Um…thanks Taylor.” Stephen replied.
Taylor set the chair back up as the bell rang. All of the other students immediately left the class while Taylor and Stephen slowly put their stuff away in their bags.
“Thank you for catching me. I must’ve leaned back too far.” Stephen said with a polite and warm smile.
“Yeah…don’t mention it.” Taylor was looking down at the ground as he quickly made his way out of the classroom, speed walking to his next class. Stephen frowned and began to walk in the other direction of the hallway, looking down at the ground as well.
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By lunch time, Taylor was sitting with Trevon and other friends. The table was a large white circle, allowing them to all see each other and talk in a large and friendly manner. The seats were small circles attached to the tables by long metal poles, curving up after touching the ground.
“...and I just know that we are going to crush Woodcreek.” Trevon said.
Taylor had subtle but happy glances at Trevon while the other boys were laughing and joking around.
“Well that’s obvious. They’re the worst track team in the state.” One of the other boys said.
“Yeah, problem is Darius goes there now.” Taylor replied.
“Who’s Darius?” Stephen asked, seeming to come out of nowhere. All of the other boys jumped as Taylor looked over his shoulder. Stephen was sitting close to him, yet he hadn’t noticed until now.
“Fuck man! Where’d you come from?” The student asked.
“I’ve been here the whole time.” Stephen replied.
“Who even is this kid?” Another student asked.
Taylor sighed.
“Trevon, Jervonte, Prenell, this is Stephen. Stephen, you already know Trevon. Those two are Jervonte and Prenell.” Taylor said, pointing to each person as he said their names.
“We’re the fastest kids in the country.” Jervonte said.
“Well, nice to meet you.” Stephen held his hand out for a handshake. Trevon, Jervonte, and Prenell all burst out laughing loudly. Taylor put his hand on Stephen’s, pushing it down.
“Alright, anyways. Darius used to be hanging out with this crew. Fast kid, only person we’ve ever seen keep up with Taylor. Problem was he was a hot head. He never won a race if Taylor was in it, so one night Darius and Taylor got in a brutal fight. It was bloody man. Blood everywhere. Didn’t you break his hand or something?” Jervonte slapped Taylor on the arm.
“He was on top of me, I got him off, he grabbed my foot to try and trip me up, I stepped on his hand.” Taylor replied.
“Anyways. We all get there and pull them apart. Darius shoved us away and got one last punch out that knocked Taylor on his ass. Finally got him back and he was expelled the next day. Apparently he was allowed to go to another school though and has won every meet they’ve had, mostly cause Taylor wasn’t there.” Prenell finished the story off.
“So you’re racing them today?” Stephen asked.
“Hell yeah. And we’re gonna crush them like we crush everyone else.” Trevon laughed.
Taylor smirked, looking down at the table.
“And Taylor is gonna break that record!” Jervonte said loudly.
Taylor rolled his eyes and covered his face as he smiled.
“What record?” Stephen asked.
“The fastest four-hundred meters dash. It's currently held by Jack Lars…” Trevon started.
“Fucking white ass name.” Prenell interrupted.
“He had a forty-five second dash, which is fucking great. He got it the very first year this school existed, and nobody has beaten it in the eighty years since.” Trevon continued.
“Wow.” Stephen had wide eyes, awestruck and curious.
“My personal record is forty-seven point two. But I’m going to push myself further and break it.” Taylor said.
“Well I believe in you Taylor.” Stephen said with a massive smile on his face.
The other students laughed, but Taylor smiled back.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsBUcIUdkO
“Thanks Stephen, that means a lot.”41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguHu15QACi
Taylor held his fist up, but Stephen took it with an open hand and shook it up and down.
Taylor and Stephen laughed together while Jervonte and Prenell started to talk amongst each other, but Trevon was staring intensly at Stephen. His eyes were like daggers drenched in fire as Stephen didn’t notice, just laughing and joking with Taylor. Taylor played along, being the nice person he often was.
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