Chapter 2
Sketching Tomorrow
I waltzed into my world religions class before the bell quickly sitting in my usual seat and waited for my best friends to arrive, ignoring everyone else who walked past me and said "hi". One kid I could actually stand walked in class and sat directly behind me greeting me on his way and smiling kindly. Behind several other classmates I could see Sonya walking in from the corner of my eye. In her pleated school skirt and polo her naturally brown hair , dyed this red-ish gold color, that trailed behind her, and sat in the open desk to my right. Throwing her sketch book on my desk I asked
"Some new pictures for me to look at?"
"Of course! When do I NOT have something?" She quickly replied back.
I opened her book just as Crystal came skipping thru the door in her matching school uniform and long brown hair.
"COLINNNN!!!!" She squealed in my ear as she sat in the empty desk to my left and stared at me with her big chocolate brown eyes and the biggest fan-girl smile I've ever seen. I stared back at her knowing she was anticipating me asking her how things went with Josh. Sonya and I silently flipped thru her sketch nook as Crystals patience finally gave out.
"Colinnnnnnnnn" she blurted out in a deep whine as Sonya and I giggled.
"Alright Crystal what happen with you guys?" I asked
"We are NOT a 'you guys'!" Crystal quickly corrected
"Fine! What happened with you and JOSH" I asked yet again
"Great Thanks! He wanted to see if I could hang next weekend" she sighed
"That's...good"
"I KNOW! I think he's gonna ask me out soon!" Crystal squealed just as the bell rang and our attention was called to our teacher.
"Quiet Down Class! We have to talk about our ACTS hours today!" she smiled. She knew that we all dreaded having to do community service but because we attend a catholic school it's a requirement for graduation.
We all moaned at her announcement causing her to stare us down sternly as she passed out papers to the whole class telling us about this years' hours.
"This year you all have to do hardcore community service. Which means you cannot do anything at school for your volunteer work."
I HATED ACTS hours! They were the worst part of private school. Ten plus hours of 'hardcore community volunteer work' and a four page paper on what I learned doing the service. Complete hell in a little package! The worst was that service around here consisted of working at a soup kitchen or the salvation army. That meant that no matter where I worked I'd end up being with some classmate I don't like. But there was one given. There's no way in hell I'm changing an old persons dipper.

"Where are we gonna work you guys?" Sonya asked Crystal and I as we were walking back to my house from school.
"IDK!" Crystal moaned "Why don't we just go to the soup kitchen?"
"Hell NO! I Am NOT putting up with Colins' fan club for TEN HOURS!"
"It can't be that bad Sonya."
"YES IT WILL! I HATE them they are damn annoying"
"Fine! How about the old folks home?"
"Nu-uh!" Sonya shook her head "Old people give me the chills! Whatcha you think Colin? Where should we go?"
"I don't know" I paused "I think I might just skip it. I think I can sacrifice a letter grade."
"No you can't Abri! You have a 'D' in W.R. and this year it's mandatory!" Crystal reminded me. I sighed and began to look around at the same old scenery we saw everyday on our walk home. Everything was exactly the same just like every day and it was always gonna stay that way. Until I spotted something that stood out today for some reason. I hadn't realized it but I had stopped dead in my tracks.