Vanishing Into The Elements
Chapter 2

And so we went. As the small amount of kids walked through the hallways, the 1-minute bell rang, causing a rush of shuffling feet, dropping books, and unfinished talking. By then, we were already in Trig class, room 208. Hardly anyone was ever in class, usually around 9 or 10, not including me and Amanda.

“Amanda Day. Come up here and solve this equation.” Mrs. Ghunders

Everyone turned their heads to her and started to whisper things. She slowly stood up and walked to the board. Picking up the marker, she started to write out the problem and her steps from her homework problem. For being top of the class, she was was not the most efficient.

After a few minutes of slowness, she finally set the marker down and looked back towards the class. None of us were surprised, but the time she took made up surprised. Looking towards my paper, I had the same answer. I made a star on the number, and looked to my side to see herself sitting down.

“Everyone, remember the test is tomorrow, and this test will have no retakes, so study up! Now, finish the rest of the paper and share the answer with your desk partner when you are done. You have the rest of the period to do this, and I will be calling you all up by name to show you your current grade.”

Turning to Amanda, I spoke in a whisper tone, “Do you think you will still be top of class? Or that I will a B+ instead of that C+ because of that test?”

“Do I? I know so, but for you, I think you will be fine. School is almost over, and since the test is tomorrow, do you want to study with me? You know your parents wouldn’t let you come over last year because you were failing.” She smiled and looked at the equation.

“Yeah. They weren’t too happy with my D+, but luckily I did incredibly well the next semester, I didn’t have to retake the first half again. An 110.46% for the last semester was crazy.”

“You know it is. Now come on, let’s get number 2-5 done. I really don’t want to do this at home, because this test is like a pass-fail for you, and don’t say you don’t need help. because you do.”

“Amanda Day, come up here.” Mrs. Ghunders called, and everyone, including time, seemed to stop.

She was up there longer than anyone anticipated, and when she came back, she was teary, so I asked, “What’s wrong.”

“Nothing. Just the fact that me and you have the same grade, so we are both top of the class.”

“Really? Are y–”

“Heather Moon, come on up.” Mrs. Ghunders called, and I slowly got up.

I walked slowly, and breathed in heavily when I got close to her. There was a blue plastic chair next to hers, which was a comfy suede chair. Sitting down in it, she was sorting papers until she noticed me. When she pulled up my name, I gasped. Amanda was right.

“For top of the class, you and Amanda are tied, well, at least for Math. Do you want to see your other grades?” She spoke. her voice sounded chalk against a chalkboard.

“Sure. I suppose it won’t hurt.” I spoke, and she clicked and typed away.

“For Math, you can see you have an A+, History with a B+, Chemistry you have an A-, and Reading you have a B-. Do you really care about your electives?”

I shook my head, “No, and thanks for showing me my other grades.”

She nodded, and I stood up and walked back to my seat. legs weak from surprise. Her voice called out the next name of the man named Henry Discus. For someone who’s just 5′0", he’s pretty good at basketball. I’ve watched him shoot past boys taller than him. And that’s not it, he’s kinda hot. Not to say it’s a secret crush, but he’s really cute.

When I sat down, Amanda already had all of them done. I looked at her and she nodded, copying down the answers and the work, just in case. Just as I finished the last question, the period ending bell rang. Quickly, I gathered my things and hurried to the next class because the 3-minute clock was ticking. Where I had to go was the same as Amanda. We had all the same classes together, which were rare nowadays.

“Computer Science. Man, why do I love to hate the teacher, but hate to love the subject?” Amanda asked, stopping at her locker to put away her books, since we had no need to have them all today.

“I dunno. The teacher is horrible, but he puts up lessons so he doesn’t have to teach it. But that class is pretty good. Anyways, we have about two and a half minutes left till the ‘You better be in class or you are tardy’ bell rings.”

“Yeah. We better be going. It’s going to take up most of the time to get there.” She spoke, closing her locker door, now only holding math papers and the Computer Tech book.

She was the one that had it since we were a group. People started running once the one-minute bell rang. We were almost there, so we weren’t in as big of a rush, unlike the other people. A few seconds after we entered the class, the ‘You better be in class or your tardy’ bell rung, leaving loads of people left out in the hallway as teachers closed their doors.

The room wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either. It had a electronic board called a SmartBoard. It had a 4x3 computer setup, and me and Amanda sat in the front. The computers were on, as per usual, and Mr. Brock turned on the SmartBoard to put up the assignment. Today’s was pretty simple, well to me at least.

Opening the coding software, I entered the coding on the screen, line by line, text by text, and command by command. After what felt like forever, I finally got it, and all within 30 minutes or so. Turning my head, Amanda didn’t seem to get it, so I helped her get all the correct format and where to put each code and rulings.

“Guys. Read the article on your desk and bring it back to me by tomorrow, all the questions answered. Five sentences per question at least.” Mr. Brock spoke as the bell rang.

Getting up, Amanda and I headed towards the door. I had all my books, but something didn’t seem right. Then again, nothing ever did. Screams rang throughout the hallways as school was being released because of Winter Storm Frank. No one took it seriously until it started to snow like crazy.

“Manda, you ok?” I asked, looking at her.

“Yeah, I just don’t feel well. Come on, let’s get our stuff and go before the snow packs us all in.”

We were on the opposite side of the school, and I don’t like crowds. Sure, this town is small, but there were more 9th graders then 10th grader. There were hardly anyone in the hallways by the time we were in the 10th grade hallways. My feet stumbled as I carried my books, while Amanda only had a book and a few papers.

Turning the lock, I entered the combination. I opened the locker door and grabbed my coat and backpack, which held my math book and a few random items, and threw in some papers. Setting down my bookbag, I put on my coat and zipped it up. Amanda was just waiting as I did so.

“What?” I asked, and she swiftly turned her head away, “What were you looking at.”

“Huh? I was just thinking about things.” She spoke a little quickly as we walked towards the front of the school to leave.

“Like what? That you are head over heels for Janus?”

“What?! No!”

I started to laugh as we opened the front door of the school. By then, it was like a ghost town, where nothing lived at all. The bitter cold didn’t help the fact that we didn’t know whose house we were going to. Every step we took, the falling snow filled it back up, like water filling in cracks.

“Which house are we going to? We have several more hours before night hits.” I asked, and Amanda looked at me with a ‘Are you seriously asking me’ face.

“My house doesn’t have heating, because the cold destroyed the heater, and we can’t get it replaced until spring. So yours.” She responded, crossing the street.

“Ok, I am sure your parents wouldn’t mind you staying till 3?”

“I am sure. They are home usually around 5.”

Slowly, we treaded through the soft, think snow. The snow grew heavier as I neared my home, where trees hid it nearly perfectly. Smiling, I ran towards it, with Amanda not so far behind. Running up the porch stairs, I opened the door and sighed.

The heat was amazing, and I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to leave it, so I walked forwards and took off my wet, snowy boots. Amanda waited outside for me to finish, and I took off my coat. I really didn’t want to go to school tomorrow, but I knew they were going to have to cancel it due to all this snow.

Amanda came in as soon as I stepped away from the door. She then started to take off her stuff while I watched her. When she looked up, she saw me watching and started to smile. Slowly, I started to walk towards the kitchen, Amanda hopping behind.

“Mom, can you make us some cocoa? We are going to study for a little bit and chill out.” I asked as I entered the kitchen.

“Did you forget your birthday?” Mom asked, looking over the bartop counter.

I did, and I wasn’t the only one. Amanda was just as surprised and started freaking out, since she clearly had not gotten me anything, and that was ok. Amanda started pacing the floor, muttering about how stupid she was about forgetting my birthday. I couldn’t blame her, I hadn’t even given a thought about it.

“I keep asking you this, but do you know when I was born? Every time I have asked, you shrugged and dismissed it.” I asked, my mom looking towards me.

“I don’t know where the birth certificate is, honey. You can go look in the attic if you want, but I haven’t a clue to it’s whereabouts.” My mom replied, looking down and picking up two cups of unfinished cocoa.

“Hey Mrs. Moon, can I have marshmallows in mine?” Amanda asked, sitting in a bar stool

“Sure, and Heather, put on a mask. You know how you get in dusty rooms.”

“Fine, I will. But I think I will be fine, though.”

“Well, I haven’t opened it in several years, so it could be bad or good.”

Going around the counter, I opened a cabinet with cleaning supplies, and pulled out a facial mask. I put it on and made my way down the hallway, looked up, and pulled the latch. A ladder slid down, and dust fell with it. Putting my hands on the ladder, I slowly began to climb it.

The attic was indeed dusty, and not just that, rotten. Every step I took, the frame looked disgusting. Least to say that this was an old home, but everything was modern except our attic. The insulation was visible, rotten, and probably old. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of boxes to go through.

Opening the first box, it was a lucky choice. It’s contents were mostly about me and, not only about me, it was about father. Picking up the dusty photo, I scanned it. Father had a brown beard and cleanly cut hair. Smiling, I felt several tears shed.

Beneath several other pictures was my birth certificate. It was dusty, and of course, had my full name; Heather Marie Ann Moon. I personally didn’t care for my name, but my last name seemed odd. I haven’t thought about it until now, but why Moon?

Closing the box, I breathed heavily. Sure, I had found it, but something was wrong. Climbing down the ladder, I handed Amanda the birth certificate. She breathed in and squealed. Shrugging, I looked towards mom, who hadn’t a clue about what was going on.

“Have you a tattoo?” She asked, looking at me.

“I have none, why?” I was getting curious to where this was going.

Why would she be asking me this? Is something wrong? Something about Dad I don’t know about him? I dismissed these thoughts. Soon, I heard the microwave beep, and the smell of hot cocoa filled the air. Smiling, I grabbed the cup and took a sip.

“This is good, Mrs. Moon. Where did you learn to make it this good?” Amanda asked after she took a sip.

“It’s easy. I have a family recipe that I hope to pass it down to Heather someday.” My mom spoke, smiling as she cleaned the dishes.

“Well, it says you were born at 10 am, which is only a few short minutes away, so it wouldn’t be a birthday without start it from it’s roots!” Amanda stated, looking up at me.

“And? What is 10 am of any importance to me?” I asked, and Amanda facepalmed.

“Well, I don’t know, maybe because you were born at that time.”

I don’t know if she’s trying to get to something, but I think 10 am is only a time, not of anything of importance. I mean, I have lunch at school at that time, but that doesn’t mean anything. I looked at her and sighed. How wrong could I get from it?