Unexpected Friends

I held my pencil in my hand, pondering what I should draw. I looked over at Johnny and saw that he was beginning to draw what looked like a head stock of a bass guitar.

Maybe I should draw something to do with music? I thought, as I looked around the room for inspiration. I did just come from band class.

I started to draw a Clarinet, but quickly gave up due to the complexity of the keys.

Maybe a guitar? I thought, thinking about my black and white guitar at home. But Johnny will think that I copied him.

I twirled my pencil in my hand, still trying to decide. I heard footsteps stop behind me. I looked up and saw that the teacher, Mrs. Dean, was looking down at my empty paper.

"Having trouble there?" She asked, motioning to my blank paper.

I nodded, setting my pencil down. "I don't know what to draw."

"Well," she said, squatting down next to me. "What's your favorite thing to do?"

"Well, I like to listen or play music." I answered, after giving it some thought.

"Oh okay," She said, nodding with a thoughtful look on her face. "Maybe you could draw something to do with listening to music. Like, maybe a pair of headphones with music notes around it or something like that."

I thought about it. It didn't seem like a bad idea and I could already see the finished picture in my mind.

"Okay,that sounds like a good idea!" I smiled gratefully. "Thanks Mrs. Dean!"

She stood up and continued to walk around the room, smiling when she saw me pick my pencil back up. I began to sketch a pair of headphones. When I was finished, I drew some music notes near the ear pieces. I put my pencil down, satisfied with my drawing. I looked over to Johnny's drawing. I was actually impressed. He had drawn a bass guitar with great detail and even added some shading to it.

"Dude, that's really good!" I said, pointing at his drawing.

He looked up from his paper, smiling.

"Thanks J." He then looked over at mine.

"Whoah," He said, mouth open. "Dude, yours is amazing!"

I smiled in thanks, looking back down at my own drawing. It was a pretty cool picture. I made a mental note to show my parents it when I went home.

"Hey Johnny, are you finished?" I asked, looking back up at him. "'Cause Mrs. Dean said that we could talk once we are finished drawing."

He looked back at his drawing and nodded. "Yeah, I don't think there's anything else I wanna add."

We put our pictures carefully in our binders.

"Hey, we have gym with Matty next period right?" I asked, remembering my schedule.

"Yup!" Johnny said, glancing at his schedule on the front of his binder. "Only two more periods after this and we're free!"

"Oh yeah!" I said, realizing that the first day of school was surprisingly almost over.

Johnny and I talked until the bell rang. We walked out, heading to the gym. On the way there, I spotted Matty in front of us. I ran behind him and tugged his hair. He turned around, then grinned when he saw that it was me.

"Hey JJ, hey Johnny!" He said, as the three of us walked into the gym. "So how was your art class?"

"Pretty good," I answered. "Did you know that Johnny is really good at drawing?"

"Yes I did," Matty responded. "I've known him for like forever."

"Dude," Johnny said, as a coach told us to sit in the bleachers. "You have to see JJ's drawing. It's really good."

"It's alright," I said, as we sat down.

"Can I see it?" Matty asked, looking at my backpack.

I nodded, unzipping my backpack as a coach began to speak on a microphone.

"Alrighty class," His deep voice boomed over the speakers. "Settle down, settle down."

The gym grew silent, all eyes on the coach.

"Thank you," He said, nodding.

He introduced himself as Coach Jackson. He then told us that we would be starting off with a basketball unit. He reminded us to bring our gym uniforms everyday starting tomorrow. Coach Jackson continued to speak for about 5 more minutes, then said that we were free to talk.
The gym grew noisy again as everybody started talking. I pulled out my binder and took out my drawing, handing it to Matty. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.

"Dang JJ," He said, looking up from the drawing. "Johnny wasn't lying when he said that it was really good."

I smiled in thanks, taking back my drawing. I put it back in my binder, then put my binder back in my backpack. I turned back to Matty and Johnny.

"So what are we gonna do after school?" I asked. "It's the first day of school, so we don't have any homework."

"Hm, that's a good question." Johnny said, thinking about it. "Matty and I usually either play a couple games of catch or hang out in his room."

"We also go annoy the guys when we're bored," Matty added, grinning. "Most days, they have band practice after school at Matt's house."

"Sounds fun," I said, grinning. "Hey Matty, I have you in my next class right?"

"Yup." He said, nodding.

"Oh, my 8th period class is in the same hallway!" Johnny said, looking at his schedule.

"Aw sweet!" I said, smiling. "We could walk together and then meet up after school!"

The boys nodded, then the bell rang. We slung our backpacks onto our shoulders then headed to our eight period. The building was fairly close to the gym, so we arrived in no time.

"Ok, so you see that staircase right outside the doors?" Matty said, pointing. "We'll meet up there after class."

Johnny nodded, then walked to his class, waving at us. Matty and I walked into our classroom.

A man approached us. "Hello, I'm your teacher, Mr. Schecter." He said, sticking out his hand. "Welcome to 9th grade English. Can I have your names please?"

Matty and I smiled, shook his hand, and told him our names.

"Alrighty, JJ and Matthew, there's a seating chart on the front board." Mr. Schecter said, pointing at the board. "It will last for this semester."

We nodded then walked up to the board, looking at the seating chart. I was happy to see that Matty sat right next to me. We walked to our seats, setting our backpacks near our feet. Matty and I conversed, talking about how awesome the room looked. There were posters of planes all over the room and toy airplanes dangled from the ceiling. I wondered what planes had to do with English, but was grateful to not be surrounded by those motivational posters teachers always seemed to have. The bell rang and Mr. Schecter walked to the front of the room, the class growing silent. He introduced himself again, saying that we could call him Mr. S if we had trouble pronouncing his name. He gave the usual first day of school speech, telling us the rules and expectations and what we would be learning this semester.

"Now, you're probably all wondering why I have airplanes all over my room," He said, looking in my direction. I pulled my eyes from the planes above and refocused my attention back on him. "I was in the air force for 20 years before I taught here. I guess it's pretty obvious that I still love planes."

Mr. S spoke for a little bit longer, then said we were free to talk, as long as we stayed civil. The class chuckled, then turned to talk to their friends. Matty and I turned to each other, discussing what we could do after school.

"Johnny and I always grab a snack as soon as we arrive at my house." Matty explained. "After that, we could do whatever we come up with."

"Can we go see the guys practice tonight?" I asked. "I wanna see them play."

"Sure!" Matty said. "We can head over there maybe half an hour after we arrive home. They're usually about halfway through their practice by then. After that, we can annoy them."

"Sweet!"I exclaimed, excited.

The dismissal bell rang, ending our first day of school. Matty and I walked out of the classroom, stopping at our designated meet up point, the staircase. We spotted Johnny, then the three of us walked together to Zacky's car.

Notes

Hey guys! Thanks for being such amazing people and leaving the nice comments! :D

~JJ