Checkmate

My nerves are already making themselves known when I enter English class. It only gets worse when I see the guitar case that is next to Mr. Gaskarth’s desk. I quickly sit down in my seat and pull out my notebook that has the song in it. He never said that it had to be typed, so I didn’t bother. I plan on just taking it out of the notebook and then putting it back in once I’m done.
Raven comes into the classroom and sits down in the seat next to mine, which she has been doing every day. She gives me a smile, and I give her one back. Although, mine isn’t as true as her’s is. She used to love to tell stories, and when she came back, she told me that she still writes. Actually, she’s been writing a book that she plans on finishing soon. I don’t really know how much is written, but I can tell that she wants it done as soon as she can. I’m not sure why, but that doesn’t really matter.
I look over at Mr. Gaskarth and find that he is looking in my direction and smirking. He notices that I’m now looking at him, and his eyes make a motion over towards the guitar case. Of course he had to be smirking because of me. Of course he really wants me to play. Of course it just has to happen.
The whole thing makes me feel even worse.
“Well, are there going to be any volunteers?” Mr. Gaskarth asks the class. Normally, I would just mentally drool from his sexy voice, but the nerves are making me feel kind of ill, and I can’t really focus on anything.
Of course the slutty girls volunteer. Mr. Gaskarth lets them go first. Then Devon decides to go. He’s was pretty good, but he also works on the school paper, so I knew that it would be good. Once he’s done, I glance over to my side and see that my best friend has her hand raised. I smirk at the sight of her because she looks really eager.
“Raven.”
She smiles and makes her way up to the front of the class. “Hi everyone. Um, I put this together just the other day, so I hope that you all like it. It doesn’t have a name because I didn’t really know one that would work well with it. I don’t know. Um, here it goes.
“Some places don’t allow freedom. We are lucky enough to live in America. It’s known as the land of the free. However, I do not believe that everyone is free. Not every has free-will. There are bound and chained by Fate. It snares them and pulls them away from their own choices. It forces them to do what it wants them to do. They have no choice. No, it is not a person like your parents. It is something higher, supernatural. Some people don’t know that they’ve been trapped. They go through life happy and unaware of their lack of free-will, but others know. They see it unravel before their eyes. They watch as life goes by while they cannot change anything about it without the permission of Fate. They become dogs, servants, slaves, of Fate. Their actions become not their own, and they suffer from the knowledge of their lack of not being able to change anything at all because Fate has them on a leash. These people don’t really even exist anymore. They are simply vessels that were designed and are powered by Fate. If you are one of these people, my heart goes out to you. If you aren’t, I hope that you cherish your life because not everyone is as lucky as you. Not everyone has free-will.”
By the end of it, Raven looks really sad and upset. I don’t know why, but it’s obvious that her writing struck some kind of chord in her. I haven’t been in her life for years, so I don’t know if she’s been hiding something from me or not, but I hope that she’ll eventually tell me. Seeing her like this makes me worried. She is so different right now. She’s normally so full of life, but right now, she looks like Death. Raven goes over to her seat and sits down.
“That was really good,” Mr. Gaskarth says. “It makes you think. Um, are there anymore volunteers?”
No one raises their hands, so he starts to randomly pick people. I wait for my name to be called. When it finally is called, the nervousness that disappeared when I was worried for Raven makes it’s way back into my gut. I stand up and make my way to the front of the class with the paper in hand. Mr. Gaskarth takes the guitar out of it’s case and hands it to me while I hand him the paper. I have the song memorized. I pull a seat up and sit down in it.
Now, I make the mistake and look out into the class. Some of the girls are giggling, and some of the guys are smirking. I know what they are thinking. I know what they are expecting. I want to prove them wrong, but I start to think. Thinking makes it all worse. What if they are right? What if I am bad? My breathing starts to quicken, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. It must be obvious too because some of them start laughing at me. One of them starts to say things, hurtful things. I don’t really pay attention because I feel like I’m going to pass out, but I can tell that that is what he is doing. I shut my eyes and try to block it all out, so I can play my song, but I can’t. It won’t go away. The butterflies are no longer just grazing the walls of my stomach. They are ramming my insides in an attempt to escape. The laughter engulfs me. I don’t know how much more I can take.
“Enough!” I hear an angel say.
I open my eyes and look over at Raven. She is standing up and looks like she was about to yell, but the voice was not her’s. My eyes make their way towards the source. It’s Mr. Gaskarth. No, it’s Alex. I can see it in his kind eyes. I stare at him as he tells the student to leave the class and go to the office. I watch as the student tells him that the coach would bail him out. I gaze at Alex as he tells the student should not be so certain. I peer into his eyes and see something sinister, but I know that he is Alex, and Alex could never be like that. Alex is far too kind for that. I gape as the student storms out of the room and Raven and Alex come over to me.
“Jack, are you OK?” my friend asks me. I don’t answer because I’m still not all there.
“Raven, why don’t you walk Jack to the bathroom so he can calm down,” Alex tells her. She nods. He takes the guitar out of my hands and helps me stand up.
Raven walks me to the bathroom, and I go in without her. Luckily, I’m the only one in there. I have no idea how I lucked out. I go over to the sink and turn the cold water on. I cup my hands and get a good amount of water before I splash it on my face. I look up from the sink and at my reflection in the mirror. I don’t know why, but I don’t see myself. I don’t see the real me. I only see the puppy that has been kicked around. I see the puppy that is on a leash. I may not be on Fate’s leash like Raven had said, but I am on some kind of leash. I feel myself wanting to change, but I stop myself. It’s fine, Jack. It’s OK. Besides, it’s not like I have a choice. I’m just a puppy on a leash.
“Jack, are you OK now?” Raven asks me from outside.
“Just give me a bit longer,” is all that I tell her.
When I finally go back out to Raven, class had already ended. I was in there just looking at myself for that lone. A smile appears on my face to show her that I’m feeling better, and she nods in understanding and walks with me back to Mr. Gaskarth’s room. We enter and grab our stuff. Since Raven knows me so much, she goes out without me. I walk up to Mr. Gaskarth’s desk.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t get to play my song,” I apologize.
He quickly stands up and makes his way over to me. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. The class should apologize for the way they treated you, and I should apologize for telling you that I wanted you to perform. I’m sorry if I made you want to perform. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s not your fault. I wanted to perform it for you. I just didn’t have the courage to do it.”
“Well, you can still perform it for me if you want. You can do it tomorrow when you come over. I mean, you don’t have to-”
“I’d love to.” I mentally slap myself for saying it like that. “I mean, it would be a lot easier if I did perform it just for you. I hope that you won’t laugh at me.”
“I could never laugh at you. Now, I’m sure that you’ve kept Raven waiting long enough. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you.” I start to walk out, but Mr. Gaskarth, no, Alex says one last thing to me.
“I look forward to it.”

Notes

I'm sorry this is late!
My sleeping schedule was ruined last week. (I won't get into the details because it makes me sound like an idiot, but I was very and still am nocturnal.) I thought that I'd take a week off to fix it. (I write at night, so it messed up when I get the urge to write.) I'm still nocturnal, but I didn't want to take anymore time off.
Anyway.... Poor Jack. Why do they have to be like that?
Des, you're the writer. They are mean because you made them mean.
Shut up, Des!
........
OK then...
Well, I hope that you liked it!