Well Day one is about to end...I finished with 3,374 words. I'm not crazy about the beginning. I still very much feel like I'm searching for my narrator....but it's a good start!
Beauty and the Beast
If someone told you that Epcot High was like any other high school, they wouldn't really be wrong. And yet they would be missing so much. It's not like Epcot and its ever evolving cast of characters are straight out of a fairy tale, but there is something magical that occurs on that high school campus.
Take Belissa Morris, walking through the huge front doors. She has her nose in a book like she does everyday. Her long curly brown hair is swept into a loose bun held together by a set of pencils. Nothing outwardly amazing about her when you first look at her. The foyer area to the school, while large and inviting, is also more likely than not ery similar to other entrance ways to new high schools.
When you walk through the front doors of Epcot high, you are greeted with a voluminous, grandiose room that has got to be over three stories high. There are sky lights that pour natural light into this unnatural space. The floor tiles are made to look deceptively real, like marble you'd see in a Roman palace. The office is a point in the middle of this grand room a panel of windows that make the flattened bottom of an unsharpened "V". The school sprawls out on either side of the office then branches out into wings that are the top of the pentagon. The center of the pentagon is a courtyard used by students during lunch and for various "outside" activities.
If you were to attend Epcot, you would see Mr. Morris, Belissa's father, bumbling down the hall carrying various jars and apparatus. He teaches physical science in an explosive way. He was a rather minuscule man, though not by definition a dwarf. He carries himself in his disheveled clothes and impeccable lab coat like a man twice his size. He has gained the respect of his students, for the most part.
Nothing magical yet. But look now, here comes Leo Savage, the other main player in this story. He didn't always look like he does now. This is the new and improved Leo. If we back up a few months and take another look, you'll see why this place has a different feel than most high schools.
And yet, Epcot high is just like any other high school. I suppose you'll wonder how I know so much about so many people here at Epcot. And I think you have a right to know. The problem is you wouldn't really take my word on any of this, so let's not focus on who I am or how I came about knowing what I'm going to share with you. Let's just slow down and enjoy the journey without being to overly focused on the destination.
Belissa Morris was a very pretty girl, bookish and sometimes too sweet, but nevertheless, she was pretty. You might miss it if you saw her on most days. She had an unfortunate habit of wearing clothes that hid her, which is better than hanging out like some of the other girls at Epcot. She almost never did her hair beyond sweeping the bevy of curls out of her face and twisting it into a lump on her head or pulling it into a loose ponytail.
Even with her nose in a book and with her disheveled look, she still attracted a lot of attention. People were drawn to her genuineness. Girls wanted to be her because boys wanted to date her. And while she took little interest in the boys at Epcot, somewhere deep inside she did enjoy the attention.
The day the whole story was set into motion, Belissa, more often just Lissa, had just made the right past the office and was heading off to her locker before homeroom. She had hugged her father and kissed him on the cheek before parting ways with him at the office where he went to sign in.
Lissa was deep into a biography written about Walt Disney. She had on a pair of jeans and an almost to big tshirt with Disney princesses on it. She was carrying under her arm a load of papers and books that overflowed out of her backpack.
Staying to the right and using her peripheral vision, she walked down the hall much like she did every day. What she missed that day was, Garret Everette and his cronies coming into school just behind her. Garret was in love with Lissa.
Unfortunately for Garret and Lissa, Garret subscribed to the type of courting most often done by elementary school boys, not high school students.
"I'll get her attention today," Garret crooned.
"Forget it, G-man. Lissa is probably a lezzie," Mark said.
Garret pushed his buddy into the wall, "You saying this," he pointed to his six foot two hundred pound frame, "is not enough to make any carpet muncher go straight?"
Mark shuttered from his misstep and Garret's coffee breath, "No, I just don't see how you plan to get her attention when she doesn't notice anyone."
"Watch and learn my little friend. Watch and learn," Garret said lumbering off after Lissa.
When he got right behind her, he turned walking backwards and mouthed to his buddies, "Pay attention."
Garret turned around and hit the books and papers from under Lissa's right arm sending a snowstorm of pages. As he hit the books, Garret rushed past Lissa, intentionally bumping into her. His buddies ran past laughing and kicking through the books and papers.
Lissa whispered under her breath as she stopped to gather her things, "What a jerk."
"I'd say asshole, but that's just me."
Lissa looked up to see who had said it and saw the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The blue crystals were piercing. She felt like they were seeing her, the real her, the her she kept hidden. They were the kind of eyes you didn't look into for long without becoming self conscious. "Where did you come from?" Lissa asked.
"Don't worry, not too many people ever really notice me," Leo said handing Lissa the rest of her books. He gracefully got up and seemed to disappear down the corridor without making so much as a noise.
Leo Savage was a student in Lissa's class. He was by all accounts the school pariah. His hair hung well past his shoulders and spent most of its time hiding his beautiful eyes that had mesmerized Lissa. He wore a black tshirt nearly every day and dark jeans, not that you saw much of what he wore since everyday regardless of temperature he had on a black duster that would have looked like something straight out of Tombstone if it hadn't been for what happened at Columbine.
Leo Savage looked every bit the part of a could be school shooter. A social outcast with an unfortunate style, right down to the steel toed boots. And yet, Lissa saw something in his eyes that she knew others must miss. She was staring down the corridor in the direction that he had vanished when she received her second startling of the day.
"What was that?" Mr. Morris asked. "I never did like that Savage boy. There's just something about him that reeks of meanness."
"Daddy, Leo didn't knock my stuff out of my hands, Garett did. Leo was helping me pick everything up," Lissa said.
"Still, I don't trust that kid. He gives me the chilly willies."
"Seriously dad, the chilly willies?" Lissa cocked her head to the side, disbelieving that her father still talked that way.
"You know what I mean, Lissa. He's creepy. Stay away from him. You hear me?" Mr. Morris said.
"Yes, Daddy. But I don't know why. He seems friendly enough."
"I don't know exactly, but he's always slinking around, never talks to anyone, and seems very...well predatory. He just doesn't exude the kind of energy that makes me comfortable and there's no way I want my daughter hanging out with a kid like that," Mr. Morris said.
"Dad!"
"What? I'm just worried about you. You're my daughter and I love you and need to know you're safe."
"I know, Dad, if you could you would keep me in your pocket to protect me from the world," Lissa said rolling her eyes.
"Just because it's cheesy doesn't make it any less true," Mr. Morris said reaching out and patting her on the shoulder.
"I know, Dad," Lissa said tucking herself into her father for a hug. "I'm lucky to have a dad who cares so much. And I appreciate you, but, " she said looking up, "if I don't learn to fall, how will I ever learn to pick myself up without you? Besides, it's not like I'd be interested in Leo. I was just saying that he was helping me and that we shouldn't be so quick to judge."
Mr. Morris looked down at his daughter and twisted his face into a weird smile that said that moment was proof that he had raised her well. He reached out and tapped her gently on the nose, "Okay, now get to class before you're late!"
"Yes, sir," Lissa said backing up and saluting, then performing an about face with military precision, landing square into the back of Ralph.
Ralph was the kid at Epcot that no one could hate. No one was sure weather he was gay or straight and no one, not even Garrett, seemed to care. Ralph was sweet and gentle even though his frame was already filled out and man-sized.
"Sorry, Ralph," Lissa said color flooding into her neck.
Ralph simply turned and surrounded her with his over-sized arm, "No worries, little bit. I'm just glad it was you and not a smelly freshman. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get freshmen out of flannel?" he asked laughing.
"You're too much Ralph. So what's on the agenda today anyways?" Lissa asked.
"Well, as for right now, we need be moseying on over to English before Mrs. G. gets her panties in a bunch," Ralph said manipulating his voice into a twang.
Lissa and Ralph walked off toward the English hall exchanging ideal chitchat about the weekend to come. It would have been easy to miss that when they turned the corner of E hall, Leo was lurking behind a row of lockers, almost leering at Lissa.
Of course, Leo Savage had put a lot of work into being invisible. He'd spent the last three years perfecting the art. Ever since he walked into the broad expanses of Epcot high, he tried to go unnoticed. Not an easy feat for a kid with excessively long hair, wearing a duster and work boots.
Leo could hardly walk through a store in the mall without being followed, clerks asking, "Can I help you sir?" but meaning, "Don't steal anything. I'm watching you."
The fact that Leo could slip in and out of nearly any social setting without being spotted or people knowing for sure if he was or wasn't there was a testament to his dedication. He rarely spoke and that was something Lissa knew, which was why his words that morning kept echoing through her head.
In English when Mrs. G. was going on about the weird undertones in Hamlet's speech, Lissa was focused on the fact that Leo had talked to her. It wasn't what he said, at least not the first part. Garrett being a particularly unliked body part was no shock to her. It was the last part. Why was it that no one noticed him?
Lissa forced her mind back wondering why she couldn't recall any other real memories with him. They'd been in a lot of the same classes. And yet, Lissa knew pretty much nothing about him. She knew she wasn't attracted to him. Even though she had scolded her father for judging him, he did creep her out for the most part.
He didn't talk. He dressed like a school shooter. He didn't seem to have any friends. There were a ton of rumors about him and his origins. One story said he was home schooled until their freshmen year. Another said he had moved from Europe.
Lissa shook it off. Best not to think too much about it. But she did promise herself that she would try to notice him more. She was startled back to reality by a jab from behind her.
"Hamlet, mad or not mad?" Ralph whispered trying to save her.
"Was Hamlet mad or did he go mad by acting mad, Miss Morris?" Mrs. G. had that tone that said, "I know you weren't paying any attention."
"I think he had syphilis."
"Who said that?" Mrs. G asked shocked.
"I did." The whole room turned to see who had spoken. The entire room took in a sharp breath of air simultaneously. Mrs. G. was too shocked to say anything.
Leo, who had said it, saw it as an open invitation to continue. "Think about it, due to Hamlet's general lack of respect for women and high social standing, one could easily infer that he was a bit of a womanizer. Considering the time period and lack of basic understanding of venereal diseases, it's reasonable to conclude that the syphilis had reached the stage that affects brain function. He literally went mad but not from acting crazy. He got his madness from a woman. I think Shakespeare was trying to say that women will make a man crazy one way or another."
"Interesting theory, Mr. Savage," Mrs. G. said still clutching her chest as if she were having a heart attack. "And what might one preclude about you based on this, I believe your first ever contribution to class?"
Leo shrugged his shoulders and slunk back down in his chair.
Ralph leaned forward and whispered to Lissa, "How long has Slingblade been in here?"
"Stop it," Lissa said, shocked to find herself defending a boy she didn't know or like for a second time that day.
"Now class we go to test your hypothesis," Mr. Morris said from the front of his classroom. He picked up a skateboard from under his desk and opened the plastic cover to the fire extinguisher. With a skateboard under one arm and a fire extinguisher under the other, he led his class out of his room and out of the building.
"Someone prop that door so we don't have to go all the way around to get back in," Mr. Morris said over his shoulder.
He led his class down the hill to the tennis courts, riding the skateboard as if it were the most natural thing he had ever done. He ollied up to the rail and used it to slide down the steep stairs.
"Can you believe that?" one of his students asked no one in particular.
"That man is full of surprises, but one day, he's bound to kill himself. There's a reason old boarders don't compete. The sport is harsh on your body man," said another kid with equal parts awe, reverence, and indifference in his voice.
"Okay class," Mr. Morris said sitting himself on the skateboard in the middle of the court. "Why am I not moving?"
"You are moving Mr. M. We all move all the time," shouted a random student from the back of the group.
"Hahaha, someone who has a smarter head than dairyaire?"
"Newton's law of motion. An object at rest stays at rest until a force is acted upon it," said a nondescript girl.
"Excellent, Cindy. Now the question is, does this fire extinguisher have enough force to set me in motion. I am not a large man and only weigh about a hundred and forty pounds--"
"Soaking wet with bricks in your pockets," shouted the skater.
"Hardy har har! So with the full weight of the fire extinguisher I weigh about one hundred and fifty pounds. Now if we measure from where I start to where I finish, we can determine the distance traveled, there is also what that we can't account for?"
"Friction," Cindy said.
"Correct, so we'll need to leave a plus or minus in there. But this should show the way force works on an object."
Mr. Morris pulled down his goggles and told the class to back up behind the fence while he proceeded with the experiment. The students clung to the fence, some with cell phones out to capture this monumental event. Before long, Mr. Morris pulled the pin and pressed the trigger on the fire extinguisher, disappearing behind a cloud of chemical foam.
When the dust settled, Mr. Morris sat exactly where he was before, only covered in foam. From a distance it looked like he was sitting on a cloud.
He slowly stood and brushed the foam from his jacket and head. "Well, I assure you that in other classes, that has worked. So we shall have to hypothesize about why it did not work this time. Back to the room."
His words were mostly lost in the sea of laughter but the students got the idea when he shewed them up the hill.
The skater kid said, "Dude is that the beast in the door?" A black blur passed the door they had propped open and was gone in a blink. When they reached the door it was locked and no one was around to let them in.
They had to walk around to the front of the school, right past the office. Mr. Burleson stopped Mr. Morris as he entered. "Mark, I don't really want to know what this is all about and your test scores are usually the best in the county, so I tend to leave you alone. But I got the board crawling all over me about seat time. Let's try to keep it in the classroom."
"Yes, sir," Mr. Morris said. As the class headed left, the blur could be seen off to the right.
In the car on the way home that afternoon, Lissa question her dad about the little accident that had occurred. "I don't really want to talk about it," he said.
"Okay," Lissa said letting it drop. "So have you thought about prom yet?"
"What about it?" Mr. Morris asked his daughter.
"About letting me go, about with who--"
"With whom."
"With whom I can go, if I can go to after prom at Sandy's house. Any of it," Lissa said frustrated to be having the same conversation yet another time.
"I say yes you can go, it depends on who with, and I'm not sure about the after party. I'll need to speak with Sandy's parents."
Lissa knew that a day with a failed experiment that already had hundreds of hits on youtube was not the day to push her luck, "Thank you, Daddy."
Lissa looked out the window and thought she saw Leo ducking down an alley way. She needed to get that weird boy out of her head. Maybe it was like a song she thought. When a song gets stuck you have to play it. She turned to her dad, "So what do you know about Leo?"
"What do you mean? The Savage boy?" Mr. Morris asked.
"Yeah, you know some of the underclassmen call him the beast?"
"I've heard that," Mr. Morris said concentrating. "I'm not sure what I can tell you, what with confidentiality and all. I had him in class when you were sophomores. I guess one thing, maybe the only thing, I know for sure is that his parents never showed up at parent teacher conferences and that he aced every test but never spoke in class."
"He talked in English today," Lissa said.
"I heard about that," Mr. Morris said getting stern. "Not the kind of thing one should get in the habit of talking about. i mean if you were going to wait four years to add to the academic conversation, I would hope that it was better than syphilis."
Lissa tried to contain a laugh that couldn't be stopped. Had she been taking a drink, it would have shot out of her nose.
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