Welcome to Gaia! ::

♠ I guess since this is my own forum, I'll reserve this post for links just in case others post as I go along. ♠

♠ In this section, we find out some more about Colby and his family and this is the last week that he lives in his house. Okay- I won't keep the suspense running any longer. Here is part two. ♠

After school of that day, I was bombarded with questions. Everybody was either asking me where I was moving to or they were begging me for a postcard. Half of them are people that I don't know; I guess that I'm famous around school for being extremely tall for a freshman, maybe even a human for that matter. Once again, I plopped my duffel bag- loaded with homework, on the floor. An inch would have made a hole in the floor. Mom was dressed in the 1940's housewife style of clothing, which consisted of denim capris, a red and white checkered du-rag and a white blouse.
"Hey grandma." I told my mom as I dropped my CD player on the table again.
"Har har har, Colby." She told me as she sealed a box right next to the angel cupboard.
"I'm just trying to make light of the fact that you're going to have to transfer to a Target down in Alabama."
"...Just help pack."
I grabbed the box and placed it in the living room just as the doorbell rang. I could slack off for a little bit, while a realitor came in. She was the most gorgeous woman I have ever layed eyes on, between her tiger marble eyes, her stringy deep brown hair and her hollywood tan- I was tempted to get to know her and to ask her out. Alas, I didn't since she was here on business. I walked over to my bedroom and I booted up my laptop and logged back on to gaia. A half hour passed before my mom called me down- time to pack again. I ran around the house, like a little rat, moving boxes here and sealing them there. By the time the news broadcasted at 10, the entire basement's height was lowered by an average of two feet. This is going to take a s**t load of time to bring these boxes up, I thought as I sat down on the cushy leather sofa. My dad was sitting next to me and that's when I turned to him.
"Where are we moving to?" I asked him as he surfed the channels.
"It's a city called Blue Springs, Alabama. It's a suburb of Birmingham."
Oh s**t.
"You'll like it there- it has great schools and a great community." he continued on.
"And you're forgetting about one thing." I said with an unpleasant face on. I was pointed in the direction as him, but my eyes were shut.
"Oh?"
"It's fricking MTV... Wait, which high school am I going to?" I asked him, almost raising my voice.
"Don't yell at me, and it's Blue Springs high school." he responded
I sighed. "It's MTV land," I just walked upstairs. "G'night, turn up the lights on your way up."
"Okay."
I had a terrible night sleep that night- it went over and over in my hand. ******** MTV land, Blue Springs high and s**t like that. I used to have a dog; a golden retriever named JD. My dork of a sister named it that. The family was incredibly devistated when he was hit by the neighbor's car; a bit ironic since we used him for comfort when something dreadful occured in the family. I felt like I needed him right now.
The next morning wasn't too bad... okay, I lied. Today was miserable and I woke up around nine in the morning, feeling incredibly groggy and exhausted. I had to spend the entire day packing and moving boxes. Fun. Beginning with my bedroom and my infinate collection of compact discs, I packed those into a small box, followed by the clothes I don't want to wear within the next 10, or so days. I just about packed all of my room at this point- the only thing that needed to be packed would be my toys. Nevermind, that was hitting ebay. I slacked off and watched whatever was left of the morning lineup of Saturday morning cartoons- another rerun of Johnny Test. Like she had a sixth sense, my mom called me down just as I turned the television off for lunch. At this point, I still have a grudge against my parents for moving, but it's merely hormonal; I'm not mad at my dad himself for making the move to Alabama, but I am, however tempted to burn North Pine Bank headquarters to the ground.
Today's menu featured grilled cheese, extremely crunchy kettle chips, and some chicken noodle soup. I sat down on the chair and pretended to pray before the ritual of eating, and once the blessing had ended, I took a bite of my grilled cheese. It tasted different.
"Mom, is this a new recipe?" I asked her. She always tried out new recipies.
"Yeah, I used cheddar cheese in the bread, instead of american." She responded to me in a smile.
"Oh..." I said as I took another bite.
"You know... if you don't like it..."
"No- it's just different, in fact, I actually like it." I interrupted, as I took another bite.
That was when we just talked about different things instead of moving. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much the same as this morning, except that I had to finish picking up my room and then I moved on to Evan's. He was relatively perfect in every way to my parents, except in one area, and that would be music. If it wasn't that he could catch any girl, that he plays one of the quarterbacks on some football team in NYC, and that he had relitively perfect grades, then I'd be the better one. Plus, being a possibly bisexual kid, if he wasn't my brother and he was gay, I'd date him in a heartbeat. Too bad it wouldn't make me look very good amongst the girls team. Anyways, my job for his room was to dust his s**t and pack it away. Yeah, he was Mister Superstar with the 20-something trophies in his room. Next thing to pack away was his bedsheets. Now- I caught him masturbating three years ago, so call me hypocritical, but I was afraid to even touch the bedsheets. I slowly reached for the corner of the bed and then, grabbing all of the blankets and the fitted sheet, I lifted everything off of the bed- even his pillows were on the other side.
I'll skip out on the boring details, but all of his stuff was packed away in boxes, and being the good brother I am, even his playboys were packed away. Seriously, who could resist Dita von Teese in a corset and bondage? Anyways, so days were pretty much like this after school and homework every day, except for Fridays and Saturdays.
Today was Friday, about eight days after the news; the day that the movers came. While I was at school, the furniture was being moved out of the house- one by one. The house was already sold on Tuesday, which I'm assuming is quite fast, but that's not the main point. I come home as usual- no CD player in hand since it's somewhere in the middle of the US and I have a duffel bag that's lacking homework, due to the move. I turn my key in the door and then all of a sudden, there's about seven of my friends in the door yelling out "Suprise!" simultaniously.
"Oh my god!" I yelled as everybody came to rush over to me. "What are you doing in my house?"
Jessica stepped forward, "Well... this is probably one of your last days here and so we wanted to make one more memory for you.
That was awfully sweet of them. I normally would have made a punny comeback, but I was dumbfounded and my mouth was obviously hanging from my jaw.
"It doesn't matter now, we're all going to see "Jackass Two"." she continued. I was pinching my a**, since my parents wouldn't have usually let me go. I guess that because there was a big party of ten celebrating their loss, it was a good thing that my dad bought that crappy van. Anyways, we did go and I just had a great time, especially when the fat girl jumped on... one of the guys. The next day was the flight to Birmingham. Yay! I'm so ******** excited. Not.

~End of pt. 2~

♠ Anyways- I'll post part three tomorrow. It's not all that big, so there shouldn't be any suspense in this one. ♠

♠ Okay, there are two parts to chapter four on here, so Ladies and Gentlemen: Chaper four, part eins. ♠

After grabbing a cab at the airport, we ventured through countless tree-lined avenues and boulevards. My only verb in the cab was that I looked out the window and looked at the architecture and nature that passed by the cab window. My parents were talking to the German cab driver; how they could understand him through his accent, I have no idea. After awhile, the cab driver offered a strange puppet. I grabbed the thing and I looked at it. The nylon fabric was baby chicken yellow and so were the feathers; as a matter of fact, it was a chick. I put my hand in the sock and I squeezed the rubber ball in the sock, which caused the mouth to open and a long tongue to shoot out and then recoil. I felt like a little kid again and I smiled because of it. I played with this puppet until my inner adult kicked my child off and took control. (AN: If this is a sexual induendo in any way, there was no intent of it.)

The house was a larger one-story on a hill- there was a triple garage underneith the only floor of the estate. There was also a patio, a swimming pool, five bedrooms with their own bathrooms and other fancy things.

"Uh... this is out of our price range, are we renting?" I asked the parents, as I exited the cab.

"No, grandma Wedekamper is moving in." my mother replied, exiting the other side. Today, she was wearing some kakhi shorts and a turquoise blouse.

"Okay..." I responded, approaching the house. The weather was hot and I missed the near-cold October weather of Minnesota. Once inside, all I saw was a large open sea of white inside and a clear view of the backyard, along with swimming pool, beyond the clear glass windows and doors. Apparently the living room hasn't come yet.

"Colby!" Mom called. "There's a new neighbor who wants to meet you!"

Hey it's not like there was anything better to do. Taking giant steps, I nearly rushed for the door- not in panic, but because I was tall- and I saw this red-haired girl with freckles standing outside our door with a basket filled with fruit. A welcome gift, I guess.

"Hi!" she cheerfully greeted me with a gesture to shake hands.

"Hey." I told her, shaking her hand.

"I'm Kristy," she told me "and I hear that you're new."

"Yeah, I've come from Minnesota."

"I knew you weren't from the south- you have an accent."

I had an accent?

"That's no problem though- here, my mom and I made this house-warming gift for you." she told me as she shoved the basket into my chest.

"Thanks." I replied, as I smiled. At this point, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this cheap sportscar drive into the driveway across the street, followed by a beat up mid-nineties Chevy. "Who is that?" I asked her, looking at some teen get out of the car with a bunch of big cameras trailing his every move, as if he was a terrorist being spied on by satellite.

"Oh. That's Blake Grazer, the quarterback." she told me, her emerald green eyes targeting him angrily as he walked into his front door. She said that rather harshly and it made it incredibly obvious that she had a grudge against him.
You don't say, I thought. Sports car, tall, blonde, wearing a Pirates jersey with matching athletic shorts and even more obvious- he had cameras following him.

"I hate that a** so much." she told me. For a southerner, I was a bit suprised that she would use that language.

"I just moved here, so could you give me a bit of a history lesson?" I asked, while turning to stare at her pretty face. If you couldn't tell, I wasn't being sarcastic.

"Sure. It all started in eighth grade..." she began.

Oh- an eighth grade romance, who'd thing that it would end tragicly?

"...and I was in English class with him. Back then, I had a crush on him and I sent out notes to him, until one day he stopped me in the hallway and asked me out. Basicly, I found out that he had three other girlfriends- one a devil-worshipper, another a cheerleader and a third one being a whore."

"Is devil-worshipper a synonym for one of the goth clique?" I asked her.

"She wears all black, corsets and pentagrams, if that's what you're wondering."

I love the bible belt. "We call those people goths up north." I told her.

"Yeah- that's another name for them, but our minister says that they're evil."

If she was less ignorant, then I'd ask her out. "Okay."

That was pretty much the highlight of my day, except for opening boxes that contained items that belonged to my room. It's like Christmas in November! Except that I knew what I was going to recieve; not so fun.

♠ Yeah, Colby is quite stereotypical. dramallama Anyways, I'll try on part zwei tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this one. ♠

♠ Chapter 5- nothing really special, just fitting into a new school. ♠

Monday rolled around, just as I rolled around in my bed all night- desperate for a good night sleep. Nothing. A royal blue sky covered the earth, and I questioned the time. I was so used to summer that a part of me was telling me that it was only five in the morning. On a november? Yeah right.

I climbed out of bed and looked in the living room- yeah, mom was in the kitchen. Swiftly, I grabbed my clothes and headed towards the bathroom. This was different, since there were two sinks and a glass door for a shower. How humiliating would it be if someone was to walk in? I asked myself as I set the clothes on the counter and entered the shower, feeling the cold tiles on the floor. s**t that's cold. That was when I turned on the head and about twenty jets leaked cold water onto me. I cringed at this suprise and slowly sighed from relief when the water gained heat.

I dressed in my finest- a pair of camoflauge cargo pants, some old military boots, and a red Schweiz T-shirt that I bought off of ebay (this shirt had a white cross in the center of my chest), covering a teal henley shirt.

"You're up early, Colby." Mom told me as I walked into the main area.

"I know- I couldn't sleep last night." I replied as I scratched my wet black hair. "What time is it?"

"It's quarter after six. I'm aware that you're nervous- just about everybody becomes nervous as they start a new school."

Replace that with petrified and you're right on the money.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she asked me as she checked the cupboard.

"What's there?"

"Honey nut Cheerios or cinnamon toast crunch?"

"Cheerios."

She grabbed a bar and tossed it over towards me.

"You need to get groceries again?"

"Yeah."

I sat on the floor of the living room and devoured the bar, watching the sports reel. Nothing but high school football; I'd have to watch ESPN just to see how any national team was doing! Speaking of, we didn't have ESPN at the time since the cable wasn't going to be installed until Thursday night.

The sun rose over the sky and the cool weather was warming up. The microwave told whoever was there that seven o'clock was coming and that it was almost time for school. I had to ride the bus that day- just to get to know my route. This was all Greek to me and I knew nothing about the kids that lived around here, except for Kristy and Blake. That's it.

Once the time had come, I felt every possible pain and ache going on in my stomach- ulcers, butterflies, knots, et cetera- you name it, I have it. Maybe it was the idea of being on a television show that triggered all of this, but nobody can be certain. I walked onto the cement with a packed duffel bag in one hand and my CD player in the other. Yay! I have my prescious once again! Upon listening to the first powerful guitar riff, I walked down to the bus stop that lied just a few houses down. I could see Kristy hanging out with her friends- one was a short black girl who wore capris and had a chubby duck-like face. She wore capris that only traveled down mid-calf, pink sandals that have a magenta pom-pom in the toe strap, and a tight black baby phat t-shirt with a pink cat on it. There was another girl- a thin caucasian girl with red hair, dense freckles and blue eyes that were so sharp, I could see them from where I was standing. She was wearing sweatpants and a blue and gold abercrombie polo with a moose emblem on the chest. Kristy waved over towards me and I paused my player to see what she was saying.

"Colby! Over here!" she shouted towards me.

I quickened my pace and looked before running across the street. "Hey." I told her, my breathing slightly harder.

"Colby, this is Dianna" she said, gesturing the black girl, "and Morgen"

"Wow- how old are yew?" Dianna asked me in a higher-pitched voice.

"Fourteen..." I replied to the girls.

There was a ton of ooh-ing and ah-ing amongst the three of them.

"How tall are you?" Morgen asked me with a peppy look on her kid-like face.

"Uh... six-foot-five." I replied.

Dianna giggled and the girls still ooh-ed.

"Why? Is this some kind of a joke or something?"

"No- we were just curious." Kristy told me as she motioned another kid over towards me. He appeared to be half my height and he had dark brown curly hair, rich cocoa brown eyes, and if the stubble on his face didn't count as facial hair, then the soulpatch that extended from his lip to his chin sure as hell did. He wore a Pittsburgh pirates hoodie and ripped jeans.

"Yo!" the kid told the group as he approached us. "Whose the new kid?" he asked them

"That's colby" Kirsty told him "he come from Minnesota" she told him as she made fun of my supposed accent. I smiled and let out a gust of air as a sign of simple laughter.

"Hey kid, what's up?" he asked me as a yellow bus came from around the corner.

"I arrived two days ago. You?"

"Not much- just stick with me and you won't be lost." he told me as he turned around to board that thing.

Once my turn was up, I climbed up the steps and there was absolute silence as I walked down the aisle to a seat. All eyes were on me as if I had a high power in society. I took my seat and turned up the volume of my Rammstein CD. This was blowing at my ear drums harder than the Germans did to the Berlin Wall.

Once at school, I jumped off the bus and headed inside. The morning was different from yesterday. The corridors were filled up with teenagers that were everywhere. I entered the office and as I was about to approach the counter, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I could feel all color drain from my face.

"How old are you son?" the voice asked me.

"Fourteen?" I just about asked him, as if if this was the wrong answer, then my head will be blown off execution style.

"Ever thought about playing football?"

"No..." That was the incorrect response for the both of us. For him the right answer would be yes and for me, I needed a vulgar word that preceeded the no.

"You'd be crazy to not say yes." he told me. From the way he sounded, I'd thought he call me Clairisse.

"I just don't like it."

"How can you not like it?"

I've always wanted to use this excuse since I saw that one Marilyn Manson VH1 special. "Because I'm too much like Brian Warner as it is and if I was any more like him, I'd become a Manson wannabe." He took his hand off of my shoulder and there was silence. I took a step foreward and grabbed my schedule.

Who was that freak?

I recieved my schedule and headed towards the first hour classroom to talk about lockers.

It wasn't until my third peiod class that I finally encountered the cameras. So I did have classes with these famed Blue Springs high school super jock gods. I was the first to enter the decorated classroom- this was one hell of a change from the rest of the boring white brick walls and the navy berber carpet- along with the occasional hated teacher, who just happens to be a priest of the first Church of Football.

The man who was sitting at the desk for this period was a fair-skinned man with dust-colored hair and a black pinstripe suit. I knew him all too well, for he was a substitute teacher. Usually, I never remember any of the subs that I have had back in Minnesota, but Mister Barker was unique. He could actually draw, as shown on the cartoon-filled white board. This board was filled with popular cartoon characters- Sponge Bob, Gary the snail, Bart Simpson, Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Stewie Griffin, Lisa Simpson, and many others that are saying whatever is academicly related. I can imagine that this was his way of giving the class our daily agenda.

"Mr. Barker?" I asked the teacher as he turned around from checking his e-mail.

"Yes?" He replied as he swiftly swiveled around in his seat, with a pointer gun aiming towards the celing.

The camera's light was on, and after noticing though the very corner of my eyes, my thought went from trying to find my seat to seeing if I at least looked alright for national television. "I had an assigned seat, right?"

"In the back corner, Colby."

I walked back towards where the cameras stood and I sat in my desk. I never thought that something like this would happen, but I was actually talking to the cameraman. "How's it going?" I began, just as some of the kids entered- one of them being this black kid with black Adidas pants and wearing a red under armour muscle tee. I'm pretty damned sure that wearing tight clothing that lacks sleeves goes against school policy, but he's on the football team, so who honestly cares? I could notice how the camera was on him and that the cameraman was busy- something like one of the Buckingham Palace guardsman. Those adults seriously need those funny black fur hats.

The bell rang again and Barker walked to the front of the room. Integrated one matematics- one of my personal specialties. I set my books on the floor, right next to my desk.

"We have a new student today, class." He announced as he gestured me to stand up. "This is Colby Wedekamper- he was one of my favorite students from when I used to sub up in Minnesota. What school district did you come from, again?"

I stood up as he was creating his speech. "I come from Minneapolis, since nobody here knows where Osseo is." I told him.

"Alright, take your seat."

I obeyed and the math lesson went on smoothly.

♠ Chapter seven and eight for your viewing pleasure. ♠

Chapter Seven

Not all children are this lucky. I had no homework on my first day of school.

I exited the school doors and Kristy caught up with me.

"Hai!"

"Hey" I replied to her, with half of a smile. "How was your day?"

"Not too bad- I saw you sitting with those sata-"

"Don't say it."

"Well- what's with that?"

"Don't ask." I told her as I walked through the mosaic front yard of the school to the bus.

"Alright, but you want to hang out with us at Tammy's?"

"What the heck is that?"

"It's the greatest bar alive! There are live shows and sports and excellent food and stuff like that." she explained to me.

"Alright- it's only my first day and... what the hell? Who else is going to be there?"

"Tony Smith and April Wheeler." At the time, Tony was in my third period class and April was a junior in my French class. "C'mon kid, it'll be fun." she told me as she wandered off to the parking lot. She drives a car, apparently.

The car ride was boring and I somewhat wanted to die. Preppy kids singing out of key to country music. Hell, I had no idea that you could sing out of key in that so called music. Not to mention that the car smelt of burned tobacco.

Upon arrival, our group entered a blandly decorated hallway, with a band playing onstage. They were quite talented with their industrial-style rock music and highly charged political lyrics. There were booths against the outside wall, tables in the middle and a large bar against the bathroom wall. Kristy's group sat down and started talking; I sat next to the group. Girls, boys, school, television and music was on the menu- along with today's helping of gossip for the soup du jour. Upon ordering onion rings, the band began to hit the showers. I stood up and excused myself from the group, talking to these amazing teenagers.

"Yo- great work up there." I told them with a serious tone.

"You really think so, kid? We're just dicking around- ya know?" the lead singer told me with a dark smirk amongst his black-stained ******** yeah!" I replied; seeing Beatrice through the corner of my eye. "I had no idea you had a band." I told her, looking in her rich brown eyes.

"Yeah- who isn't a musician? Except for those dumbshit jocks and their anorexic who... excuse me- I mean cheerleaders."

I grinned and laughed at what she said. "Too true!"

The rest of the day, I helped pack up for the posse and helped devour the fries with the other group. I guess it can be fun being the newbie.

Chapter Eight

The cool breezes of winter came to pass us; the cameras packed up for the last time until the next autumn. I dropped out of French and I took German at the community college after school. Through that missing period, I took up choir. Not a smart idea since I had another asshat of a teacher, but hell- I had the leader of that band, Leo, in my period. Everything was great, I sat with the gothic seniors in my class and nobody cared. Unfortunately, this sea wasn't always going to have calm weather. This was the beginning of a new world for me; I finally opened my eyes to the world for the first time, and it could not have been as beautiful as what I've seen in the looking glass.

Today was the day before Winter Break- everybody was eating with their friends, except for me. I sat at the usual table, but nobody was there- the goths have dissappeared. Seventh period came around and I was sitting in my desk, when Ivory, one of the girls, walked in with tears down her cheek. What was going on?

"You alright?" I asked her in the halls.

She only nodded.

"Is there something wrong?"

She nodded again, this time much more slowly and painfully. That was when she handed me a note. Beatrice. ******** no.

I pocketed the note quickly and made my way to the bus, hearts heavy. Was she for real, or was this my suggestion faux note? That was when I painfully unfolded the scratch piece of paper and read her neat cursive handwriting.

World,

Whoever is able to read this through the possible bloodshed that my body has caused me, please note that I'm not the selfish one for this intollerable act. It was a miracle that I was kept alive for this long and I just wanted to say to ******** you all for keeping me in this goddamned world and for letting me rot in the ignorance and stupidity of the common man in the bible belt. I thought that only my parents loved me, but I was wrong; from what everybody has treated me, this is a great big white world without colors or tollerance. Why waste the world's resources when there's no point for me? Why change myself for the "better", when you have it worse? Good-bye, c**k-suckers- I'll see you all in hell.

Beatrice Marie Herbst

My breathing grew heavier upon reading that note. and a small tear dropped onto my backpack. I guess that was it- look at how horrible our human race has become. I'm now ashamed of what species I was born as. I reread the whole note over and over again. This was a terrible thing. It was a holiday after all! Upon arriving at the stop, Kristy approached me.

"Whatcha got there?" she asked me cheerfully.

I just looked at her.

"Nevermind- I see that you have a bit of scruff there." her happiness was an unwanted virus that I was immune to for the time being. She pinched my cheek, feeling my brand new stubble that gave me this rugged look in the face.

What she did set me over the edge. "Kristy, one of my first friends in this goddamned town just killed herself." I exploded, then calming down. "Sorry."

She took a deep breath and just walked on. Was it that I scolded her, or that she didn't know how to comfort me? I didn't know. All I felt was the unwanted puppy- Numbness- that Bea left behind for me to take care of. I marched home like a mindless soldier and entered through the door to a happy family.

"Hello Colby- how was school?" My grandma asked me. She was a little woman with many wrinkles in her skin to demonstrate how much history she's monitored throughout the ages.

"Hi grandma." I replied in a depressing matter as I grabbed a glass of milk from the fridgerator.

"What's the matter? You appear to be depressed." she noted upon looking at my unpleasant face.

"A girl." I choked. I didn't know how to phrase it right. "One of my friends..." I studdered.

"What about your girlfriend?" she asked me.

"Grandma!"

"Well- what's with this girl? Spill it, Colby."

"I found out that she killed herself today."

My grandma just stood there- suprised and speechless, but nothing under the lines of sympathetic.

"If she couldn't take the heat, she should have stayed out of the kitchen. That was selfish of her."

"What the hell, Grandma? She was my friend?"

"Colby!" My mother reprimanded from the other room. "You have no right to talk to your grandmother that way- say your sorry right now."

"Sorry Grandma, but seriously- it's hard for me and you're not helping any by saying that she was a selfish twit."

She just walked away, dry of all appropriate things to say. I sat on the counter and leaned over. I sobbed. I wanted to wake up.

Her funeral was the day before Christmas Eve. All of her true friends were standing around her favorite evergreen on school property. Leo was cradling her compact dusty body against his, like an infant.

"I loved her more than anybody else in the world, and this is how she repaid me." he told the funeral attendants. "Damn her, and damn those ******** who stood in the way of her life, liberty and her persuit of happiness. Damn them all to their own hell."

I smiled and I began feeling that as well.

"Good-bye, love, you will live in the rest of us. Lest we forget; gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Tomorrow is still a flyin'. The same rose that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying. Rest in peace, darling." He said as he dropped the ashed around the dirt that ringed the pine.

A tear shed down another girl's eye as we all parted our separate ways.