Chapter II

Eli opens up about his inner feelings and introduces Chaim Weiss.

The bus finally arrived at the school and I quickly made my way off the bus. Finally I made it in through the doors and was met with several teens bustling about in the halls of the school. Some were opening their lockers, some closing them, and others were making their way to the classrooms, where the teachers were ready to start a new year of schooling and teaching the kids.

I made my way to my locker, opened the door and put my backpack on the shelf. I closed the door, only to see someone staring back at me that made me squeal, very unbecomingly and made everyone around me giggle in hushed tones. The person in question was my best friend, Chaim Weiss. Chaim was a good person, very athletic and very coordinated. However, he was popular and I wasn't. He had short brown hair, five-o-clock shadow, and had a football player's physique. He looked at me and laughed gently from the squeal, he spoke candidly, "Hey Eli, how are you doing today?"

"Well, up till now, I was having a crappy day," I said, solemnly sharpening my pencils and getting my books in order. Chaim patted my back and said, "Jacob and Barker again?"

"Said my sweater made me look like an old man."

"Well," Chaim looked at my sweater, "It is pretty contemporary. Maybe he's just jealous. Remember what the Torah says, 'Jealousy is a man's undoing.'"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well hey, I have to go to class, I will see you later," he patted my back again and started down the hall. I watched him walk down the hallway, my heart was pounding faster than normal as I watched him wave to his friends and look attractive, which he did very well. I must admit, I was taken away by his smile, it was almost carved from a brick of marble. 

"See you later, sweetheart," I whispered under my breath. The bell rang and I quickly realized I must have been staring at him for at least five minutes or more. I quickly got my books and ran to my first hour class. It was Mr. Hartman's English. I loved English, it was always giving me time to write stories and find a new form of style to my writing technique. I took a seat at the front of the class, which had its pro's and con's. One pro would be that I could understand the lesson better, the con...target practice. 

I just knew that I would be everyone's target for a wad of paper, plastic, gum, coke can, or even a pencil with a sharpened tip with some perverse hope it would stab in the back of my neck. Gotta' love immaturity.

I looked around the classroom as people began to fill in the seats, I looked around the room and tried to see any faces I knew. Not that it really mattered, considering that I am not popular nor do I have many friends besides Chaim or some of the teachers. Mr. Hartman was a good friend of mine, he called me the next "Sholom Aleichem"...but I think he might have been exaggerating. The girl from the bus, with short hair, was sitting in the seat next to mine. I looked at her. And she caught my sight and smiled, mouthing the word, "Shalom."

I quickly turned to look at the chalkboard and noticed Mr. Hartman coming in after everyone else. He was a tall man, with a gray blazer, vest, and slacks. He had large glasses, parted dark hair, and smile lines on his face. He looked at the class, "Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a very enlightening summer. Now, when I call your name, please raise your hand. Let's start with...," he looked at the list, "Arthur Black."

Someone raised there hand, Mr. Hartman continued down the line, he then read, "Eliyahu Leibowitz."

I raised my hand. Some people chuckled at my name, I could have just joined the school as "Elijah Leibowitz" but I preferred my Hebrew name because it was the name that my father had chosen, after the name of the great prophet in the Tanakh. Ever since then, I went by Eliyahu or just, Eli. 

Hartman continued down the line until he reached a name I stayed on. Rena Rabinowicz. The name of the girl who sat next to me as she lifted her hand in the air. I looked at her and she smiled back at me. After Hartman finished the list, he wrote down a few words on the chalkboard. The words spelled out: Romeo and Juliet. 

A Shakespearean epic, of course. I liked Shakespeare. He was quite the playwright. Romance, tragedy, and old world epics of truth and thought. 

I quickly took my copy of the book, while passing the other copies to the back and looked at the artwork on my copy of the book. It was something of beauty. I always liked art. It was like writing. To write is like painting. It might look like words but it will quickly become a story whenever the words are pieced together, much like lines and colors of a masterpiece portrait or landscape. I looked up to see Mr. Hartman looking back at me, as was a few of the others in class, I gulped, "What?"

Hartman smiled, "I just asked you if you had any idea what Romeo and Juliet was about."

I nodded, "It's a romantic tragedy. Set in Verona, the daughter and son of two warring clans meet at a party, fall in love, and end up dying because they are unable to be together while their families feud."

Mr. Hartman clapped his hands, while some whispers in the back of the class caught my ear, words like "Nerd. Freak. Kiss-a*s."

As Hartman turned back to the board to write up ideas to study. I looked over at Rena who was studying the copyright page of her copy. I scribbled absentmindedly on my pad while I watched Mr. Hartman write more on the board. Before long the bell rang and we all shuffled outside to the halls. Rena ran up to me, "Hey, Eliyahu wait up."

I looked at her and nodded, "You can call me Eli."

"Okay, Eli, you can call me Rena."

"Hi Rena."

She giggled, "So you know Shakespeare?"

"I've studied some of his work. It's quite interesting. I love stage plays."

"I like them too," she smiled widely, "So, do you write?"

"I dabble a bit, but I don't write too much."

I was lying through my teeth. I had eight short-stories in my desk drawer, forty-five pages of a novel on my computer, and a load of poems spread across my room. I looked at my watch, noticing I had six minutes to make it to my next class without being tardy. She looked at me, "Maybe we could study the play together?"

"I guess. I gotta' go to Science," I replied. I just wanted this day to be over. It was only going to get worse and I knew there was going to be a big annoyance before the end. Rena nodded, "I'm going to Algebra, see you later Eli."

"Bye, Rena."

She left and I started on my way to Science. I felt a tight arm on my shoulder as I looked over and saw Chaim next to me. He was smiling and said, "So time for Science class, you ready for this?"

"Well," I tried to think for a word, "I guess."

"It'll be fun, you can be my project partner and we'll have the whole thing done before the world knows we did anything," he was all bright attitude and happiness. It made me smile, a small one, maybe just a grin. I nodded and said, "You sure are happy, Chaim. Any particular reason?"

"Just a chance to hang with my buddy. You know."

"Well, I try."

Author's Note

Hope you like the second chapter.

Reviews

[Chris]

I laughed at the squeal, and aww'd at Eli calling Chaim a sweetheart. It's pretty easy to see that the two are interested in each other.

One small note:

"I watched him walk down the hallway, my heart was pounding faster than normal as I watched him wave to his friends and look attractive, which he did very well."

Chaim's physical description, as well as maybe the rest of his little blurb, might fit more naturally here, since Eli is more actively looking at him. It can also leave a more natural flow between Eli's squeal and Chaim's reaction to it since there wouldn't be as much exposition between them.