November 6

You know how the one day you don't have your phone you get a million texts? Yeah, that's what happened over the weekend. My mother didn't give me my phone back until we got into the car Monday and I spent half of the drive reading and responding to the barrage of texts I had received.

When my mother finally dropped me off, I said a quick goodbye and walked into school. I found Jack by his locker (ten feet from mine). "How is Riptide?" I asked quietly.

It was early so there still weren't many people here. "She's fine," Jack said. "Her father found out she skipped school and grounded her though."

He sighed. "We haven't been able to call or FaceTime, so we've been contacting each other through our school emails."

"What a rebel," I said.

Jack laughed. "Love makes you do that."

"Did your parents ground you?" I asked.

Jack shook his head. "They barely notice if I'm there. All they care about is that I give them what I make at work and don't bother them."

"I'm sorry dude," I said.

"It's okay," Jack said. "I'm used to it."

"But you shouldn't be," I argued.

He shrugged. "I cannot change their behavior — only my own. When I go to college, I'm moving out and never coming back. I've already been looking into apartment leases since I turned 18 three weeks ago. That way if Riptide got kicked out, she could move in with me."

     He blinked and looked at me. "Do you think that's crazy?" he asked.

     "I think," I said, "that you shouldn't have to grow up so fast, but you are handling it remarkably well."

   Jack smiled. "I cannot wait to see Riptide again."

   I met his gaze. "I know how you feel."

****

   I did indeed when Alex gave me the stink-eye in Ceramics and then gestured for me to sit by her. I obliged. She was wearing a pink and green plaid shirt with dark green jeans today and she smelled like limeade. "Why didn't you talk to me on Thursday?" she asked. "And you skipped school on Friday."

    I raised an eyebrow. "I know you are the ultimate rule follower," I began.

   My sarcasm made her laugh. "Alright, fair point. I just wondered why you were suddenly brushing me off."

     My heart felt like a piece of clay being fired in the kiln. "I didn't mean to hurt you," I said, "and I am sorry that I did. I was worried about a friend."

    Alex nodded. "I understand. You don't have to tell me. There are things we don't feel comfortable saying to each other."

   I nodded. We had not discussed the kiss since it happened and it seemed to loom between us like a wall stretching towards the sky. I didn't want to be the one who broached that topic, though. I searched my mind for something to say. "I've been working on my essay on bullying."

    Alex didn't look up from the clay slab she was cutting. "Oh and how is it going?" she asked.

    "I'm done with the rough draft, but I was wondering if someone would look it over before I turned it in," I replied.

   Alex looked up. The slab was free now. Her eyes sparkled. "Perhaps that someone would do that if you looked over their own rough draft."

    "Deal," I said.

***

    We were studying viruses now in Biology. Mimir wanted us to know about how they replicated and even posed us the question of if they were alive. "They cannot reproduce on their own, but they are made of RNA and they can kill creatures just as surely as we can kill them. So, do you guys think they are alive?"

     "Perhaps they are like partially alive," I said. "They're certainly not dead."

    "I mean they can die," Sam said, "so surely they are alive, but perhaps not in the same way as we are."

     After the discussion, Mimir assigned us a project. "It's due before Thanksgiving break," he said. "Each of you will be given a virus and have to make a PowerPoint on it. Your presentation must cover the virus's biology, treatments for it, if there are any vaccinations, a historical background, and any interesting information."

   Alex raised her hand. "Can I make a Prezi?"

    Mimir shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

     Mothi raised his hand. "Can I use Google Slides?"

     "It's basically the same thing," Mimir replied, "so yes."

    Then, he used a computer program that generated our names to assign each of us a virus. Sam got syphilis. Jack was assigned polio. I got HIV. Halfborn got smallpox. "The best killer," he commented.

    Mallory got rabies. TJ was assigned hantavirus. Magni was given influenza. "Why did I get such a boring one?" he groaned.

    "Cheer up," Halfborn says. "Influenza kills loads of people."

    "Really?" Magni said, straightening up. "Cool!"

    I just shook my head in exasperation. When Mimir finished assigning us viruses, we had ten minutes to do some initial research. I found some good sites and copied their links into a Google document to access later.

   I spent Learning Lab researching more about HIV. The more I learned, the more incredible it seemed. Though the AIDS epidemic had really taken off in the 80s, the virus had first been a disease called SIV. The more common strain affected chimpanzees, but bushmeat hunting allowed the virus to adapt to human hosts. The consumption of monkeys led to the spread of the second strain.

     The more I read, the sadder I felt. The spread of HIV was as much a story of the human condition as it was about biology. Those with AIDS were demonized and people used the disease as an excuse to spew bigotry that actually only made the disease more spreadable. I wondered how many more people would have lived if the American government had taken the disease more seriously at first. I couldn't answer that question and as I worked on my PowerPoint, I forgot this was a school assignment.