The Last Thunder

It is a new day and the beginning of the new term for our senior year. After a long break, none of us felt like going to school and start with the monotonous routine. I watch my two best friends and flatmates walk from one room to other, half asleep.

“What exactly are you two doing?”, I finally ask.

“Looking for school goodies!”, Anna replies.

“Why are you packing so many band-aids and ointments?”, I ask watching her keep a whole packet of band-aids in her bag.

“It is the beginning of the school year! Corridors will be empty. And you my friend are going to hurt yourself banging into lockers and falling off the stairs.”, Anna mocks.

“Hey! I won’t.”, I defend my past record of being clumsy.

“Well! You didn’t win the tag of ‘The School’s Queen of Clumsiness’ for nothing.”, Arya intervenes pointing at the sash hanging proudly on my almirah.

I roll my eyes at their childish act but keep a few band-aids in my bag as well. Well, it is true that I am known for being clumsy. Like my year starts with banging my head in a locker and ends with going down the stairs on my bum! But the first day of a new year is different. My school is always crowded and when you fall with people around, they manage to try and save you, making the fall hurt a little less. (Hello Newton!)

But on the first day, the population is less than half making the falls hurt a lot more. There are two reasons for this weird trend of low attendance-

First, there is no compulsory attendance for the first day, so students take this day as the last day to enjoy their freedom.

And second and the more important reason is, this day our school’s student body president- Caleb Adolf was born. So, he holds a grand celebration every year with free food and alcohol.

What else do the teenagers want? An excuse to leave home and no record of attendance combined with the most awaited birthday bash of the year.

“Haley are you sure you don’t want to attend Caleb’s party?”, Arya asks me again.

“No! I would rather attend Professor Johansson’s palaeontology class.”, I reply and leave the room.

“This year it will be huge! You know that right?”, She asks following me.

“Yes! It is the school’s prince’s 20^th birthday! So what?”, I snap.

“Okay! Okay! Calm down, girl. I will bring back loads and loads of gossips.”, Arya says giving me a hug.

The last time I attended his party I ended up going viral on social media. Well, anyone will go viral if you fall off a roof and dive straight into a three-tier birthday cake! In my defence, I was pushed off the roof by a crowd of too enthusiastic dancers. But it didn’t matter as the video was made from an angle that showed me as tripping on nothing. Since then, I avoid his parties.

“Anna is also not coming!”, Arya complains.

“You know she won’t be going. Her ex is organising the party!”, I defend our heartbroken princess.

Caleb’s best friends, Arnold and Anna dated for three years. But due to some family issues (as told by him), Arnold had to take this step. Such a douche bag I tell you!

“Shall we leave?”, a smiling Anna comes and asks. Arya and I nod and pick our bags.

“Are you sure about going to school?”, Arya asks one last time while we lock the door. We both give her a glare and she smiles meekly at us before leaving for helping with setting up for the party.

“She sometimes does get on my nerves,” Anna says with a laugh to cover up her annoyance. I give her a side hug and walk towards the car with my hands around her shoulders.

“You don’t have to coax me like this. I will drive! I also don’t wish to die on the first day!”, she mocks. I push her away lightly slapping her shoulder. We both laughed giving our day a beautiful start.

Soon we took a turn towards the lane of our school and the scene in front of us took us both by surprise. We left our home expecting loads and loads of empty parking spots, but there was no space to even drive our car towards the school.

“What is happening here?”, Anna asked. I shrugged my shoulder. We were both equally clueless. Anna parked the car two lanes away from our school.

“What is Arya doing here?”, I asked pointing towards a black BMW which belongs to our friend.

“Let us go and check!”, Anna said and stepped out of the car.

I opened the door as Anna yelled- “Watch out!”.

Well, it was too late. There was a guy lying on the floor groaning in pain. I banged my door into someone. This is new! I rushed towards the person apologising.

“I am so sorry!”, I said and bend down to help him. Anna also ran towards us.

“It’s fine!”, the stranger said and finally looked up at me.

“Are you sure?”, I asked as he stood up and nodded.

“Are you new here?”, Anna asked.

“Yes! I just moved here from California last month.”, he replied, and we both hummed awkwardly waiting for him to introduce himself. He finally caught on.

“Uhm! By the way, I am Ethan!”, he said.

“Hey! I am Haley and she is Anna.”, I introduced myself with a smile.

“It is nice to meet you! Are you guys not late for class?”, he asked.

“Yes, we are but we have an urgent matter to deal with. We will see you in class Ethan.”, Anna replied and pulled me along towards Arya’s car. Ethan smiled at us and left rubbing his back again. I feel guilty for banging my door into him!

“Why are you here?”, Anna asked as we reached Arya.

“Well! Hello to you too my girls.”, Arya replied.

“What is happening here? Why are so many students at school today?”, I asked.

“Caleb decided to celebrate his birthday at school and hold an after-party in the evening.”, she told us.

“Still, you guys don’t have to do the preparations?”, Anna asked.

“20^th birthday is some secret event in Adolf family. So, the after-party is only for close friends and relatives.”, she sighed.

Adolf family is one of the most powerful families in our town. But they have their own little community, and their houses are built inside the woods making them the mysterious ones in our town. I was thinking about the family secret that Arya mentioned when my eyes met those familiar brown eyes of- Caleb Adolf!