~Prologue: A Promise~

Summer wasn’t long enough, and school didn’t start late enough. This was the longest time since the third grade I had gone through a day of school without getting in trouble. Being a well-behaved student wasn’t so bad if I slept through class and evaded the stupidity.

Blue skies, warm sunlight, birds chirping, the green leaves on the oak tree on the front lawn, the fresh city air--this lovely day seemed too beautiful to be the first day of school. I walked down the stone steps with a few dozen other students, onto the grass, and waited for my sister on the side of the front steps. There was a group of students gathered on the edge of the front lawn. They were laughing and chatting, enjoying the fact that they survived so long without a smoke. Some teachers passed by the smokers but did nothing about the smoking.

My sister came through the front entrance and saw me to the side. With her arms filled with books, she broke from her group of girl friends and joined me. She set her five textbooks on the green grass and sat on them. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got a little lost.”

I leaned against the brick wall. “That’s okay. Do you like high school?”

My sister shrugged. “I guess so. It’s not very different from middle school--just a bigger school and new teachers. What about you? Did you get into any trouble yet?”

I shrugged. “I might have pissed my math teacher off.”

“Mikey, you have to stop mouthing off to teachers!”

“They kind of make it hard not to.”

As I looked for Dad’s car, Kristin pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail and went on to talk about her day. She was so enthused that she made some new friends and liked most of her teachers, and it showed in her big brown eyes. I noticed a piece of paper on top on top of her books; it was a list of her homework. Kristin was in all honors and advanced placement classes, and it was only the first day, but she had so much homework to do. I wondered if she would be okay with all this work that would increase in amount and work as the year went on. I picked up her biology textbook and tried to make heads of tails of it. Kristin took it from me, laughing at my baffled expression.

I looked on the inside of the cover. Mr. Stoltz’s name was scribbled in the upper left corner in black permanent marker. “You have Stoltz for biology?”

Kristin nodded. “Yeah. He even asked if we were related. Apparently, we look alike.”

“I hope you said no.”

“Why would I?”

“You said we were?” Astonished, I gawked at her with my mouth wide open. “Kristin, you can’t be serious! Do you realize how detrimental to your transcript such a confession is?”

“Why would I lie? I’ll always love you, Mikey, even if the whole world turns against you! I’m proud to be your sister! I promise.” She was the sweetest thing in the world. “I promise that won’t ever change, Mikey.”

I smiled and patted her on the head. “Thank you.”

The group of smokers broke up as the last of the students left through the front entrance. I watched one of the smoking girls walk across the lawn and onto the sidewalk. She had a pretty face and some big breasts for a high school girl. That girl was a senior in my pre-calculus class, and we sat next to each other. Her big breasts were even more distracting outside of a learning environment. I tried to get a better look, but Kristin pinched my arm. Kristin’s pinches hurt more than getting punched in the face or kicked in the groin. Then Dad’s jalopy slowed to a halt in front of us. Kristin called shotgun.

When we were both buckled in, Dad asked, “How was your first day of high school, Kristin? Do you like it?”

She shrugged. “It’s not very different from middle school--just a bigger school and new teachers.”

He stared into the rearview mirror. “Did you get into any trouble, Michael?”

I shrugged. “Not really.”