Ascension (The Ascension Series) (2 page)

“Hey dude,” Charles quickly changed the topic. “I see you’re wearing the coat I got you.”

“Yeah, man. It’s really nice,” John smiled. “It’s even got a hoodie and all.”

“You look good in it, it fits you perfectly,” Charles said.

“I’m telling you, man, I’m gonna wear this thing every day,” John half joked.

“I like when people appreciate my gifts, to be blunt,” Charles told him before finishing up his bagel. He stopped the car at another red light.

“I don’t know anybody more generous than you,” John said.

“You know I believe in spreading the wealth. I got coats like that for Clark and Sarah too but I haven’t seen either of ‘em in it. Bu
nch of schmucks,” Charles chuckled.

John laughed as Charles took a right.
Their school, Franklin Pierce High, could be seen just past the next light.

“You know about Clark’s party?” John asked.

“Oh yeah,” Charles confirmed. “It’s considered an honor for any junior to host the very first party of the year. In fact, I spoke with him yesterday about it. I’m gonna be bringing the booze and I’ll see who’s interested in knowing my good friends, Molly, Mary Jane, and Roxy if you know what I mean. You know what I’m saying?”

“Sounds great,” John said. “A party is just what I need to relax for a little while. When’s it gonna be?”

“This Saturday, that’s the plan.”

“
Where’s it gonna be at?” John asked.

Charles slowed his speed dramatically, turned into the school, and found a parking spot. He answered John right before turning the car off. “The location is still ‘to be determined.’”

They got out of the car and Charles grabbed his backpack from the backseat. He pressed a button on his keychain to lock the car when he noticed that John was without a backpack.

“John… Where’s your book
bag, dude?” Charles asked.

“It’s the first day of school. We never do work on the first day, just a bunch of orientation garbage for our new classes. I’ll bring
one tomorrow.”

“Smart thinking! I always knew beneath those golden locks was a man of great knowledge,” Charles smirked.

The interior of Franklin Pierce High was bursting with color. The moment you walked through the double doors of the front entrance, there was a massive mural of the school’s mascot, the Franklin Pierce Panther. The school’s major color was blue which imbued every locker and checkered floor pattern throughout the campus. But other colors figured in as well. There were orange, green, and yellow banners hanging from every hallway. The floor was pristine and the walls smelled of freshly dried paint.

Principal Walter Hayes, an
older gentleman wearing a polka dot bowtie, was walking down the hallway and enthusiastically shaking the hand of every student in his path, one by one.

Clark was holding hands with Sarah
as he looked at the announcement board.

“This is the year,” Clark said.

“I’m wishing you the best,” Sarah told him. “And I plan to join the volleyball team later this year.”

“Tight schedule,” Clark said.

“Yeah,” Sarah agreed, “But it’s worth it. I’m on my way to Prom Queen and that means I’ll need a king.”

Sarah pulled out her schedule from her jacket pocket. Just as she did this, Charles and John
joined them.

“Clark, Sarah─
how’re my two favorite lovebirds doing?” Charles cracked.

“Doing good, Charles. Nice to see you,” Clark said before turning to John. “And good to see you too, John.
How’s everything going?”

John brushed his blonde hair out of his face and
half smiled. “Things are decent.”

“So are both of you coming to
Clark’s party later this week?” Sarah asked them.

“Yeah!”
Charles and John both said together.

“Wouldn’t miss
it for the world,” Charles continued. “First Clark gets a girlfriend, now he’s hosting a party. My boy’s all grown up.”

“Shut up,” Clark laughed.

The enthusiastic Principal Hayes approached the four of them with a warm greeting.

“Goo
d morning!” Principal Hayes waved.

One by one, he shook each of their hands. He paused b
efore he shook each hand while placing names to faces. “Clark O’Sullivan, Sarah Ryan, Charles Welsh, and John Ahern.”

“Am I right?” Principal Hayes asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” Clark said.

“Wow, you’re good at that,” Charles told him.

“Clark and Sarah,” Principal Hayes addressed them first, “Very good grades last year. Keep up the good work.” He turned to Charles and John. “You two could use some work.”

“I’m on it, Principal Hayes,” Charles said.
“It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new year. I promise that GPA is gonna be higher than ever before.”

“I hope so, young man,” Principal Hayes said
sternly. Then he turned to John. “You too, young man?”

“Oh, yes sir,” John said. “I’m going to give my best.”

“Well then, I’ll see you all later.” And with that, Principal Hayes swiftly turned to another cohort of teenagers to greet and interrogate.

“Alright guys, I’ve gotta go,” Sarah said. She turned to Clark and elaborated, “I’m going to see one of my friends right before class so I’ll see you later today.”

She kissed Clark and he stared at her until she was out of sight.

“Clark, you gotta tell me
, man,” Charles said, “how’s she in the sack?”

“I’m not about
to disclose my sex life to you, dude.”

“Come on, man,” Charles joked
, “I wonna hear all the juicy details.”

“She’s not just some random chick,” Clark told him bluntly, “That’s my girlfriend.”

“So this is what love does to a man?”

“You’ll never know, Charles, you’ll never know.”

“What’s that up there?” John interrupted their banter and pointed to a flyer on the announcement board.

“I
nformation about tryouts next week,” Clark said. “I really want to make the team this year.”

“Don’t worr
y man, you’ll get it,” John told him.

“I don’t know. I didn’t make it last year,” Clark said.

“As I told Principal Hayes, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new year,” Charles said.

“Yeah, b
ut you were lying,” John laughed.

“Yeah, that may be true. It’s unlikely my GPA will increase any at all but that doesn’t mean some pretty big changes aren’t
about to occur. I’m calling it now. This is our year.”

“There’s just a lot of pressure,” Clark admitt
ed. “And I really need this.”

“
If being liked is what you want, that’s what this upcoming party is for. You’re going to be the coolest kid in this school besides me,” Charles said. “And I’m gonna send out a message to every site I visit. So don’t worry about it. For now, just divulge the details about the cheerleader you been tappin’ every night.”

“No!”

Charles looked at his watch and took a peak at his schedule. “Alright, alright. But I’m going to get it out of you later. I gotta go. First class is Pre-cal. It’s gonna kill me but at least it’s first so I can get this crap outta the way. Alright, John, Clark, I’ll catch you two later.”

Clark and John
took a look at their schedules and each noticed they had the same first period, Mrs. Tessler for History class. They walked together down the hall and into the classroom. It was a large standard room with full scale posters of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King on adjacent walls. The teacher was standing by her desk, flipping through notes as other students walked into the room. Clark and John both took seats next to each other on the side of the room closest to the door. They wanted to be the first ones out.

Eventually, all of the students made their way into the classroom and each
desk was occupied. Mrs. Tessler introduced herself and passed out a syllabus for each student. As she went over a large list of class rules, Clark’s eyes began to glaze over. John tapped him on the shoulder and he awoke from a stupor. Clark looked around and noticed the teacher was still rambling. So he opened up his notebook and began doodling. It took him a few minutes but his doodle progressed into a stunning illustration of a wolf as John watched him draw the eyes, ears, nose, body, and tail of the creature in blue ink.

“That’s excellent,” John whispered.

“Thanks,” Clark whispered back.

After a few more doodles, the class was over but not before Clark received a text message from his girlfriend.
And a text or two from Sarah was usually enough to get him through another droning hour of class. Every moment he spent with her strategically widened his grin and filled him with the type of infatuation that only teenagers feel. He couldn’t wait to see Sarah again and her latest text message was to assure him that she’d see him during lunch.

When the history class was finally over, Clark parted ways with John and headed directly to computer class. In the large computer lab, he sat between two boys he knew. 
One of them was Andrew Lockman. Andrew was a stoic brown-skin boy with long curly hair. He was a perceptive street-smart kid with a distinctive dress style. Andrew always wore polo shirts tucked into khaki pants. He never left home without a rosary around his neck, and sometimes a second dangling from his hip. He lived just blocks away from John in the region’s poorer neighborhood.

When
Clark sat down, he exchanged a friendly greeting with Andrew and told him about the party he was planning for Saturday.

“Where’s it going to be?” Andrew asked Clark.

“Haven’t figured that out yet but I’ll know tomorrow. I’ve been racking my brain all morning for possible locations.”

“When you find o
ut, let me know. I’ll be there,” Andrew said. “I just got a job working at a grocery store after school but I’m still free on the weekends.”

“Cool,” Clark said.

“And besides,” Andrew continued, “I’m graduating after this semester so it won’t be for long.”

“Are you going to college?” Clark asked.

“I think so,” Andrew answered. “Certainly if I can get on a sports team.”

“I
know the feeling, man,” Clark told him.

The class bell rang and a rugged middle aged man
with a tattered briefcase entered the room. It was Mr. Kelsey. “Yes!” Clark quietly murmured. Andrew grabbed a hold of the rosary around his neck and smiled.

They were happy for one reason: Mr. Kelsey was notorious for being a teacher who didn’t care what anyone in his class did. You could play PC games on your computer, surf your favorite websites, or text all of your friends and Mr. Kelsey just didn’t care. The teacher passed around the syllabus and Clark took a quick look at it.
The paper stated that Mr. Kelsey only gave one assignment per month. Once you were done with the assignment, you were free to do whatever you desired. After handing out the papers, Mr. Kelsey sat back at his desk and sipped from a conspicuous bottle.

“Hell yeah! Mr. Kelsey is so awesome,” said the sophomore kid on the other side of Clark.

That kid was Donny Karaway, generally known only as ‘Donny the Geek’─ a moniker he earned after dubbing himself ‘Donny the Great’ for bringing his math team to a state-wide victory in middle school. He was given a nickname for his nickname and was never able to shake it off. Donny had a head full of ginger hair, a face covered in freckles, and a mouth full of bright red braces. Like Andrew, Donny the Geek tucked his polo shirts into his khaki pants. Unlike Andrew, he wasn’t exactly respected. The same dress sense usually got Donny’s tiny frame shoved into a locker.

“Hey, what’s up, Donny?” Clark said, finally paying attention to him.

“Clark!” Donny the Geek said excitedly. “I heard about your party. Am I invited?”

“Sure, dude, why not?”

“Awesome,” Donny said with relief, “Attending a cool party is just what I need to heighten my social status. You think I could score a girl at this party, Clark?”

“Well,” Clark thought for a few seconds, “I guess anything’s possible.”

“You think I could get a hot cheerleader girlfriend like you?” Donny asked.

“
Maybe you should think smaller,” Clark suggested.

“Perhaps I can get to make out with a mediocre looking girl after sh
e’s drunk?” Donny said giddily.

“Stranger things have happened.”

“Y’know,” Donny told him, “One day I’m gonna own this city. I’ve got it all planned out.”

“Wow, really?” Clark asked
, unsure if he wanted Donny to elaborate.

“Oh yeah. I’ll major in bio-molecular engineering and start my own company at the age of 25. Initiate a couple of scientific breakthroughs and buy out BioTech Industries at the age of 35. I’m going to be richer than Charles’s dad and revenge will be mine. Revenge against everyone who refers to me as Donny the Geek.”