A Shade of Cool

I: The Bus

I woke with a start at the bell rang throughout the room. My eyes were heavy and my head was drooping, a reason I was glad I sat at the back. I looked like i was having fit as I dropped in and out of sleep.

I stood, tiredly and took my books under my arms as I looked across the room to see my bestfriend Anaya race over to me, "Thank god it's Friday!"

"Huh?" I blinked a couple of times, my mouth agape.

"Dumbass, you heard," She snorted as she put her arm around my shoulder and walked out of Math with me, "I saw you sleeping away back there, getting to you, huh?"

"No!" I lied. It was. I was slacking today, my momentum was out of tune and it wasn't just because it was the afternoon. My strict schedule of study was cracking me and it was only a week into Senior year. I got up, get ready, studied, went to school, studied at break, went home, studied and slept. The majority of my days were looking at my scribbly writing and making out notes I'd written a year ago. I literally hadn't time to talk, sleep or eat, "It's just been a long day."

"I know Jacob Green and Jacob Green doesn't sleep during classes, that's Anaya Mackenzie's job," She said.

"Don't do that," I cringed as we made our way out of the class. I quickly waved to our teacher, Ms Bryan, who quickly wiped the chalk board clean.

"Do what?" Anaya frowned.

"Speak in third person, it's weird," I explained.

"Okay, Grumpy Boy," She spoke in her usual intimidating baby voice as she pinched my cheeks. I flinched and grumbled. Anaya carried this vibe about her, one that you could only deal with if you were the happiest person on Earth. She was too bubbly, too teasing, too everything. But I loved her.

"Leaflet?" A girl stepped out in front of us as we made our way down the busy hall. As my eyes adjusted I saw it was Kathy Armstrong. She was easily parted from the crowd. Tenth grader, blonde, beautiful. And no, that's not why I was blushing. I was blushing because of her brother; Noah Armstrong. She looked so much like him.

Noah was something else, unlike her. He was blessed with a million things; looks, personality and intelligence. The Armstrongs had moved into town during eighth grade, by then me and Anaya were good friends. Noah was in most of our classes but we were separated in High School. He was my crush. In fact, I'm sure by now the 'crush' had moved into a completely different category. I'm sure I was in love with him. The Armstrongs were a beautiful family of golden hair, all kind and all homely. His Dad was a Doctor, his Mother was a vetnerian and his sister Kathy had harboured that most obsessive crush on me since they arrived on the scene. Kathy was sweet, but she was no Noah.

As my mind rested on Noah, Kathy handed Anaya a leaflet, "Thank you, Kath," She smiled and irritably nudged me from my daydream. I looked at Anaya quickly and then at Kathy and passed her a smile, "Thank you," I took the leaflet she so adamantly held out to me. I looked down at it to see it was for a pool party. Eric Stock's Annual Pool Party. My eyes couldn't have rolled any harder. Eric Stock was Noah's little sidekick. Full of shit and full of it, he was the last person I intended to spend time with. Plus, I had to study.

"You will come won't you?" Kathy said, an awkward smile forming over her face as she shuffled a bit.

"Um... you know, it's really not my scene. Sorry," I replied. It wasn't. I wasn't popular enough for this, Anaya was just about passable but me? I was in no way ready for this. Kathy gave me a disappointed smile and nodded, "Aw, okay, well see you around, Jacob."

"Yeah, you too," I gave her a 'I'm-so-sorry' smile even though I could care less. I never understood parties. Anaya and I turned and carried on walking, "You studying tonight?"