Hi, my name is Tyson. I’m just your average 16 year old kid. Nothing too fancy about me. I was born in Seattle, and lived here my whole life. My parents were from India, but if you looked at me, or talked to me, you’d never believe I was Indian. I didn’t have that typical accent people thought ever Indian person had, I didn’t wear long robes either. Instead, I wore black jeans, Vans shoes, and a hoodie or jacket to school. I was a breakdancer, and happened to look the part. Breakdancing was what kept me alive at most times, mostly because dance kept me going, or because I was a way I could express myself freely. I had also never had a girlfriend before. I had liked a few girls before and asked one or two out, but never dated anyone. It wasn’t that they thought I was unattractive or anything, I was 5’9” tall (Pretty average). I wasn’t too skinny, but still considered skinny. What you would think of when you think of an Asian breakdancer, and just to clarify, YES, India resides in Asia. You’d think geography would be well taught. But unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Well, it’s January 7th, 2014, and I’m a junior in high school. I was excited to get to school finally after spring break, because my parents had bought me a brand new 2014 Mazda 6 GT. I couldn’t wait to show it off. Then again, the most I would get were the occasional glances. I wasn’t a loner that no one knew, but I wasn’t a popular jock either. Only reason people knew me was because I was on the school’s Hip Hop Club which performed at every school assembly, and because I was nice to everyone. Little did I know, my kindness would come back to bite me eventually.
I woke up early cause I couldn’t sleep, and went downstairs to the basement to play some Xbox. Some of my friends had already got the new Xbox One for Christmas, but I still played on an Xbox 360, which was fine by me. After a little bit of racing on MX vs ATV Reflex, I decided to take a shower, and get ready. I walked into the shower, took off my clothes, and turned on the water to HOT. I loved hot showers. A little weird fact about me was that since we had a dual shower head, I’d aim them at the floor of the tub so that I could lay down with my back rested to the wall, and have the water splash on my chest and my legs, so I could close my eyes and just relax in the shower. That’s exactly what I did, and after I almost fell asleep, I heard a voice from outside the door.
“Get out already tweeb,” said my annoying 13 year old sister. She really knew how to ruin a good morning. I quickly stood up, shampooed my hair, and turned off the shower. “In a minute sis,” I shouted out the bathroom, as I wrapped the towel around my waist, and looked at my face in the mirror. The ProActiv acne medicine was finally kicking in, and I couldn’t spot a single zit on my face. I grabbed the hair dryer and gel, and began to style my hair in an Asian spiky sort of way you’d see from some of the local breakdancers in Seattle downtown. I opened the door and as I was about to sprint to my room, I nearly collided into my sister, who looked shocked to see me. I had forgotten my clothes in my room, so I just spun past her as I barged through my door and locked it. Behind me I could hear her say,” What a freak.” I smiled, as I unhooked the towel and tossed it on my bed. I walked to my closet butt naked and picked out a pair boxers, khaki chino pants, and a super thin hoodie. I don’t know what you would call them, but they were like paper thin. On top of that I wore a windbreaker jacket to use for windmills after school at hip hop. I walked out the door and headed downstairs for some breakfast. I passed my dad in the kitchen who was sitting reading a book.
“Hey buddy, ready for school today?” He asked.
“Yea dad, I’m good. Oh and also, I’ll be a little late after school. Miriam wants us to start practicing for the Winter Sports Assembly in three weeks.”
“Alright that’s fine, and bring home some Subway when you do, your mom had to go to work early and won’t be back till late night.” Was the last thing I heard before I was out the backdoor and ready to go.
My dad stuck his head out the door and said,” Um, this is the backyard, isn’t the garage, that way?” I just smiled, and jumped the fence over. I walked around front, and just stood. My prized possession, and my beauty, stood gleaming in the morning sun. Bright red, with a turbo engine, and speakers that could be heard from anywhere, was my car that I couldn’t stand to be without. My friends had told me to slam it and add coils and change the suspension thingy majeeg but I had no idea what that all meant. I just knew how to drive; I couldn’t work the ins and outs of a car. I unlocked the car, and sat down in the cold leather seat. The great thing about these newer model cars was the button starter. No key ignition required.
Ten minutes later, I was blasting down Highway 9 with Pompeii by Bastille on the speakers. I liked to get to school early, to avoid the rush so I just sat in my car for the next fifteen minutes scrolling through Facebook on my phone. I checked my phone, and realized school was about to start. “Shit,” I mumbled, as I sprinted out the car, locking it on the way. I ran to the entrance of the 200 building, and ran into my 1st period photography class just as the bell rang. Most people were sitting down already chatting, so I figured I was safe. I just nodded up at one of my friends, and took a seat. Two minutes into class, and I was already beginning to drown out Mr. Davis as he lectured about Time Magazine photographers and the studios he’d been to over winter break.
“And as the magazines are produced and the pictures printed, the photographers are given credit on the little corner, so as to give them proper credit to their artwork. You wouldn’t believe the Photography studios that Time has down in Seattle Downtown. It reminds me of my youth when I …” And on he’d go about his life. By the end of class, I had my head on the desk drooling as I was out dreaming about well…cars and girls, of course. By third period, I was already thinking about Spring Break. As I walked to lunch, I noticed a couple of girls staring at me, so I started freaking out. I ran to the bathroom to check on myself as quickly as I could. Fly is up, shoes are tied, no zits, nothing my hair…hmm.
“Strange…?” I thought, as I slowly made my way out the bathroom and towards the cafeteria. By the time I was pulling open the door inside, the place was packed with people that had 1st lunch. Sadly, this was the lunch that most seniors or sophomores had, so I knew I was fucked. I decided to go see if the Cove was open. Just to make things clear, our school was very spirited, and the mascot was the Vikings. So a lot of our stuff was very Nordic. Like the school newspaper was called the Valhalla, and the yearbook The Rune. The Cove was basically a “student store” but not really. It was more of the lunch hangout where the advanced business and marketing class ran. They had a top notch espresso, their own lunch items such as Cup of Noodles, Hot Pockets, actual Pizza Hut pizza they ordered in, and freshly made sandwiches. Way better than cafeteria food. Surprisingly the Cove was open, so I walked right in and up to one of the counters. I was shocked as I saw a cute brunette girl I’d never seen before. She had sparkly green eyes, long brown hair that went past her shoulder, and she looked to be about 5’4’ maybe? She was just a little shorter than I was for that matter. I instantly got butterflies in my stomach, and my knees buckled as I made my way to the counter.
“Hello, welcome to the Cove, what can I do for you?” she asked. As she smoke, she was smiling, and I was instantly in love. She seemed very nice and kind, which of course made me more nervous.
“Um…well, uh. I’ll have a Red Bull Italian Soda please” I stammered.
“Sure. Will that be all?”
Now you guys are probably all thinking I made a move and said some pretty cheesy line like,” And can I get you to go?”, or,” How much does your love cost,” but to be honest, none of that came to me. I managed to say,” Uh, yea. Have a nice day,” before I walked over to a second counter waiting for my drink. The whole time I was waiting for my drink, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She looked gorgeous, and the best part was, she caught my glance a couple times and smiled back. I was in heaven. As my buddy Jon handed me my drink, I thanked him and walked out, as he gave me a mischievous smile and then glanced towards the mystery girl. He must have caught me staring at her. If he said a word to her I’d strangle him I thought, as I walked out the door. For some reason, I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I just shrugged it off and headed back to the cafeteria. I sat alone at one of the tables, and put my music in and just looked around at everyone. Now most people would think I’d be creepy just sitting there and staring around at everyone like this, but I liked to just look around and see what everybody else was up to; The cheerleaders all gossiping near the middle, while some of the geek squad sat near one of the bench tables playing Yu-Gi-Oh. Just another typical day I thought. Then there was a sudden tap on my left shoulder, and I turned around to see Natalie smiling down at me, mouthing the words,” Headphones.” I pulled out my earphones and said hey.
“What’s up Nat? How was your winter break?” I asked.
Natalie was a friend of mine that I had English with. She was one of the few people who could understand me and someone I could talk to. “Hi Tyson, and yea it was good; Kyle and I broke up last Saturday though. He was being a real dick.” She said, as she pushed her lunch slightly towards me, indicating I could have a bite.
I grabbed a quarter of her sandwich and took a bite. It was peanut butter and banana; my favorite. Natalie always knew how to make my day as she just smiled at me knowing it was my favorite snack.
“I made it this morning since I knew you’d be too lazy to make any lunch yourself and probably left your wallet in your car like always.” I just nodded at that, except for the fact that my wallet was in my back pocket. “So, what happened between you and Kyle? We can talk about it if you want.” It was just an open gesture, and didn’t really expect her to tell me, but of course being a girl, she laid out her life story for me.
“He took me out to go see a movie, but half way through he tried to grab my boobs. I shoved his hand away, but he kept coming on me, so I just stood up, told him to leave me alone, and walked out the theater with about a dozen eyes on me. I haven’t talked to him since, and don’t really plan on it, cause he’s always like that, trying to get on me.” I smiled, because try as she might to ignore it, she and I both knew she was stunningly beautiful. A lot of guys at school had a crush on her, and would do anything to get with her. The fact was, she was a virgin, and a big tease. She’d play guys on, and then drop them. Natalie and I had sort of made a silent agreement that we were just friends, and nothing more, so I was never one of the stupid guys who made the mistake of falling for her. I liked her a lot, but only saw her as a close friend.
“You sure it was him that was at fault Nat?” I asked, because I was guessing she probably led him on, even though Kyle was a Varsity Linebacker and probably a huge douche anyways.
“Ugh, you’re any impossible. Forget it. Got any homework yet? I can come over later if you want.” She replied. That was Natalie for you.
“Yea sure, did you ride the bus?”
“Yep, car broken down, remember?” she sighed.
“Well you’re in luck. You’re best friend here drove his brand new Mazda to school, and you get to be the first to take a ride in it.”
“Oh my gosh! Are you serious Ty? You drove it to school! I have to show Katie and Brittany! They’ll be so jealous when they see me in it with you.” She squealed, causing a couple stares over by our table.
“Yep lol, meet me after school by where I usually park, behind the tennis courts. Oh, and bell’s about to ring any moment now. Better get going to Bill’s class.” I spoke, as she agreed. We both hurriedly packed our stuff and walked out together. Being the gentleman, I held the door for her, and we parted ways. My A.P U.S History class was by the portables, while Natalie went to the library as a Teacher Assistant. As i walked to the portables, i realized i had forgotten my headphones back at the lunch table, and since i couldn’t live without music(Or dance) I decided to run back into the cafeteria to grab them. I sprinted down the grass towards the double doors and bolted inside. I jogged over to our table and saw them hanging off the side of the table. Scooping my headphones up, i slowly made my way back outside again as i put my headphones through my shirt from underneath and over my chest and out, so that they hung there on my chest like usual. I put one plug in my ear, while i walked out into the surprisingly sunny day. A lot of kids were already out getting ready to go to second lunch while other kids went to their 4th period. I trailed up the ramp to portables 8-9 and opened the door on the left, which was 9.
A cool breeze immediately hit me on the face as the door opened and i walked in. I glanced around the classroom, and dropped my bag in the corner of the classroom wall and slumped down onto the carpet flooring. The cool thing about Mr. Billingsley was that he didn’t care what we did in his class as long as we passed his tests. He had a fridge in his classroom and a microwave, so whenever i wanted to bring lunch from home, i could drop it in. And since his planning period was during lunch, i could eat in here with a couple of seniors who came in also. Class was just getting started and like usual, Mr. Billingsley had a powerpoint he’d be giving us on post Civil War, and he’d let us take notes. Some kids did, most kids tuned him out. I myself would listen to music, play games on my Iphone, or sleep. Today being a Monday, and a Monday right after winter break, i decided to take a nap. I took off my jacket, and tossed it over my head, and just shut down.
Next thing i knew, somebody was tapping me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes, took off my jacket, and growled at Kendal, who had ruined my nap. I took out my headphones and yelled at her.
“What do you want!?”
“Tyson, shh, quiet. We’re in a lockdown, there’s someone outside that’s armed.” She whispered nervously. I looked around and saw that everybody was somewhat nervous or freaked out. I immediately put my jacket on, pulled out my secret pocket knife from my backpack, and crawled to the window.
“Ty, why do you have a knife on you! Come here.” Mr. Bill barked at me, but i motioned for him to stay quiet as i surveyed the visible area. I had always been taught that you don’t cower in front of fear, you challenge it head on. And one thing I could never do was sit still during a lockdown drill. Across the far end of the school, i saw a man in a black biker jacket walking around, peeking into windows, and realized that was him. I jumped over two of the desks, ignored the kids behind me telling me to stop, and bolted out the door. I had three years of parkour training kicking in now, and my adrenaline rushing. I sprinted down the ramp, turned around the corner, and what i saw jolted the life out of me. The man was about twenty feet away on the sidewalk dragging a girl by the arm, with his other arm trying to put a handkerchief to her mouth. I immediately charged with the pocket knife in my hand, and as i got about five feet away from him, i jumped in the air, and lifted my left foot sideways and twisted. My foot caught the side of his head and threw him flying into the wall, and i landed on all fours. I looked up at the girl, and surprisingly, it was the cashier girl who was working at the Cove during lunch.
“Run!” I yelled at her, while i advanced on the guy, who was just getting back up. He threw a punch, but I side stepped him and jabbed him in the right shoulder, causing sharp pains in my knuckles. What happened next was in a blur, and so fast i barely remember it. I looked back to see the girl sprinting towards the office, with her long brown hair flying behind her. When i turned back, the guy was pulling a shiny black object out of his waist which looked suspiciously like a handgun. My instincts immediately told me to run; not away from him to be safe, but to get in front of his line of fire so that he wouldn’t hurt my newly met crush. The last thing i remember as i looked straight at her was the blast of a barrel, the girl stopping and turning around in horror, and for some reason the ground rising up. No, I was falling, and i was out cold before i hit the ground.

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