Virus
Chapter Two

For ordinary people, school can be a place to socialize, to be yourself. However, since my first day at middle school I had been mercilessly poked at because of my hair and eyes. Although in high school the pressure had abated, since students have homework to focus in as well, it still was there- especially in the form of a certain person named Cleopatra Aldritt. She got straight A’s, three-quarters of the entire school idolized her, including the teachers, and yet she still found time to insult me. The only reason keeping me from pleading to my parents to homeschool me, switch school, anything, were Lance and Kira, my friends. Kira, on one hand, is extremely technological. She loves computers, science, especially rocket science, and has a horrible sense of humor. I’ve known her since I was four and was in preschool, and we were friends ever since. As a little child, Kira found my hair fascinating, and not something to laugh at, as some other kids did, and therefore she’s one of the closest friends I have. I met Lance a little later, perhaps second grade. He loves cracking jokes and is extremely passionate about music. In fact, he plays trumpet, and is considered by most the best player in the whole band. As part of the yearbook, I was taking band pictures, meaning that I was watching my partner take band pictures from the sidelines, when we just started talking… and, since Lance, me, and Kira all happened to have science, history, and language arts together, we became friends, and have been ever since. I ran to my stop just as the bus pulled over and hopped into an empty seat. I was always the first of our crew to get on the bus, so until they got on I would read. I opened my book, Inheritance, the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycle, a book by Christopher Paolini, and an amazing one at that. As Eragon and Saphira were embarking on their various adventures, someone knocked on my head.

“Knock, knock.” Lance smirked and slid into the spot next to me. See, this is the sense of humor Lance has- it’s terrible.

“You know, half the time I don’t know why I even talk to you,” I remark with mock anger. We both know it’s not true though- we’ve never really had any major arguments. Soon enough, Kira plops herself down on the third spot, filling the seat.

“Hi Eva hi Lance by the way did you know that in 1936 Russia built a computer that ran on water how are you doing how did your weekend go hi” Kira exclaims. That’s Kira for you- she speaks extraordinarily fast, knows a lot of facts that may or may not be true, and is excellent with computers- well enough that she would make a better Digital Applications teacher that the one I have, Mr. Eildright.

“Hi, Kira,” I wearily respond. “How did your hacking- I mean, how did your ‘computer manipulating’ go?”

“It’s not hacking it’s the usage of code to create outputs that otherwise may require things such as passwords, and actually it went well. I checked out thirty-one books instead of thirty, the limit.”

Again, all that skill and it’s used on books- this is something Kira and I share-our love of books. However, I prefer fantasy novels, while Kira is a steadfast fan of science fiction and dystopian. We chat about life and the time that Bobby McSheiriff smuggled his phone into his hoodie and managed to play games for almost the entire period before Cleopatra- who prefers just Cleo, hence Cleopatra, ratted him out. See, therefore I don’t really like her- she sticks to the rules like glue if it applies to someone else and bends them like clay if its suits her own needs. Her father is extremely rich, and according to rumors her parents already pre-purchased her a car- and a good one to- for when she gets her sweet sixteen next year, and this would be okay if she didn’t brag about it all the time and laugh at people who were intimidated by this- I can hardly believe she’s only in tenth grade. The bus pulls up at Franklin, and we all hop out and enter the building.