Written: Saturday. October 12, 2019.
The next day, Toby, Tom, and Drew were having their morning classes. They just had Math; something about letters being combined in equations, and a lot of problems revolving around trying to find the letter X. Tom, in the middle of the lesson, looked at his two friends, whispering a joke about how easy life would be if the answer to these mathematical problems was just to point out the X that was clearly right in front of everybody’s faces. There wouldn’t be any need for these math problems in the first place. Toby and Drew of course didn’t laugh along with Tom’s foolery. Toby had already heard of that joke countless times before. Maybe it was on the internet or a conversation he had with his parents while they were eating dinner. He couldn’t really remember which. Maybe it was both. Drew only thought of the joke being illogical. But then again, most jokes are illogical. Drew thought.
When Mathematics was done, it was time for Recess. An early Recess, since the teacher for the second morning class failed to show up. Usually, when this happens, the class-president takes out a piece of paper and hands it out to the class for them to then write down their names and signatures. Once the class list is complete, the president then proceeds to the faculty room and places it on the teacher’s table. Whichever teacher who was absent in the first place, so that they could take note of the students who were present, when they themselves were absent. There’s sort of a redundancy to that system, but nobody ever bothers to say anything about it.
When it was Toby’s turn to write his name down on the piece of paper, he looked at Tom. “What did you say Hirundinidae’s real name was?”
“You’re asking the wrong guy, dude.” Tom replied to Toby. “I’m not good with remembering names.”
“God dammit.” Toby proceeded to look through some of the names. “Can you at least give a hint or something?”
“Can you remember the first letter of his or her name?” Drew asked Tom.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tom scratched his chin. “Let me think…I think it starts with A. Anna? Andrea? Ara? What else?”
“Dude,” Toby looked at Tom, unamused. “None of those names exist in the class list. I don’t even have to look at this piece of paper to know that, actually.”
“I’m thinking. I’m thinking.” Tom was now scratching his eyebrows.
“Why not just look through the names with the letter A in the beginning,” Drew suggested, “and start from there?”
“That’s just it, man.” Toby looked at Drew. “There aren’t any names here that begin with A.”
“That’s because you idiots are taking too long with that piece of paper.” a voice replied from the right side of Toby.
All three of them looked to where the voice came from. It was a tall girl that had her hair braided on the side. Kind of mimicking that one female character from that one movie, who also had her hair braided on the side. The girl was kind of bulky, too. It was either because of her genes, or because she worked out. Or both.
“Who the hell are you?” Tom asked the tall and buff girl.
“I’m Amanda, the one you were chatting with last night!” the girl replied. The way she speaks, it’s almost on par with Tom’s. “Don’t you know how to look back on your messages?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, dude,” Tom started. “But I chat with a lot of people.”
“What do you mean you chat with a lot of people?” Toby looked confused. “You didn’t talk to me and Drew after we logged out of Defenders Online last night!”
“Let me rephrase that. I chat with a lot of girls. So my memory is a bit, you know — “
“You gotta stop multi-tasking, man.” Drew patted Tom on his shoulder.
“I take that as a compliment.” Tom had a smile on his face. “And no. I wont.”
“Will all three of you just stop talking for a minute!” Amanda grabbed the class list from Toby and proceeded to write her name on it. “Jeez, you guys are a piece of work! If I had known that I’d be dealing with the three of you, I would have never told you guys about the metal disc I found the other night!”
“So it was you who PM’d me last night!” Tom’s eyes went wide as he looked at Amanda.
Amanda slapped her forehead. “Congratulations, Moron. You solved the case.”
“See,” Tom looked at Toby and Drew. “I knew it was her!” Toby ran his right index finger and thumb on both ends of his eyebrows, wondering how things ended up in this situation, in this moment. Drew was waving his head in disappointment and concern for his friend’s mental well-being. Amanda just looked utterly amazed. Confused. But more aptly amazed at the level in which Tom’s way of thinking was in.
It took about ten minutes more afterwards before the conversation started to make sense. Amanda explained that the metal disc came to her just about the same time as when Tom encountered the metal ball. The disc did nothing as well. Even though it sort of resembled a vinyl record, there were no traces of texture that would insinuate that the disc could hold some kind of audio recording, or that it could be played on a vinyl player. It was just a metal disc that just so happened to arrive on earth from maybe another planet, much like the metal ball. It’s purpose was yet to be figured out.
“So the reason why we wanted to meet up with you in the first place,” Drew was the one who acted as a singular voice for the trio this time around, “was because we had this idea, unsure if it would actually work or not, of finding the other extra-terrestrial pieces, much like the metal ball that Tom has, and hopefully it would lead to…I dunno, something.”
“And your plan was to go online, on an MMORPG game, and ask people around if they saw anything that’s similar to the metal ball that you guys have?”
“Yeah, it isn’t the best idea out there.” Drew admitted. “But it got us to finding you, didn’t it?”
Amanda’s face suddenly turned red. “Uh…yeah. Yeah! Of course, of course!” her eyes now suddenly finding it hard to meet Drew’s when she spoke. She coughed a few times, trying to fix her composure. “Anyway, stupid plan. But whatever, right? Yet still, even though two of the alien-like pieces are close to one another, it doesn’t seem like anything’s changed.”
“That’s because we haven’t tried touching both pieces with each other yet.” Drew replied. “We could try doing it after dismissal.”
“Sure.”
“Do you think they could hear what they’re saying?” Tom whispered to Toby. Both of them have just been silently watching the whole conversation unfold this whole time.
Toby whispered back at Tom, “Yeah, it’s getting weird.”
“What are you guys talking about?” June, another classmate of theirs, whispered beside them.
Because of June’s random and very untimely appearance to the scene, Tom jumped.
“Metal Balls!”
The next day, Toby, Tom, and Drew were having their morning classes. They just had Math; something about letters being combined in equations, and a lot of problems revolving around trying to find the letter X. Tom, in the middle of the lesson, looked at his two friends, whispering a joke about how easy life would be if the answer to these mathematical problems was just to point out the X that was clearly right in front of everybody’s faces. There wouldn’t be any need for these math problems in the first place. Toby and Drew of course didn’t laugh along with Tom’s foolery. Toby had already heard of that joke countless times before. Maybe it was on the internet or a conversation he had with his parents while they were eating dinner. He couldn’t really remember which. Maybe it was both. Drew only thought of the joke being illogical. But then again, most jokes are illogical. Drew thought.
When Mathematics was done, it was time for Recess. An early Recess, since the teacher for the second morning class failed to show up. Usually, when this happens, the class-president takes out a piece of paper and hands it out to the class for them to then write down their names and signatures. Once the class list is complete, the president then proceeds to the faculty room and places it on the teacher’s table. Whichever teacher who was absent in the first place, so that they could take note of the students who were present, when they themselves were absent. There’s sort of a redundancy to that system, but nobody ever bothers to say anything about it.
When it was Toby’s turn to write his name down on the piece of paper, he looked at Tom. “What did you say Hirundinidae’s real name was?”
“You’re asking the wrong guy, dude.” Tom replied to Toby. “I’m not good with remembering names.”
“God dammit.” Toby proceeded to look through some of the names. “Can you at least give a hint or something?”
“Can you remember the first letter of his or her name?” Drew asked Tom.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tom scratched his chin. “Let me think…I think it starts with A. Anna? Andrea? Ara? What else?”
“Dude,” Toby looked at Tom, unamused. “None of those names exist in the class list. I don’t even have to look at this piece of paper to know that, actually.”
“I’m thinking. I’m thinking.” Tom was now scratching his eyebrows.
“Why not just look through the names with the letter A in the beginning,” Drew suggested, “and start from there?”
“That’s just it, man.” Toby looked at Drew. “There aren’t any names here that begin with A.”
“That’s because you idiots are taking too long with that piece of paper.” a voice replied from the right side of Toby.
All three of them looked to where the voice came from. It was a tall girl that had her hair braided on the side. Kind of mimicking that one female character from that one movie, who also had her hair braided on the side. The girl was kind of bulky, too. It was either because of her genes, or because she worked out. Or both.
“Who the hell are you?” Tom asked the tall and buff girl.
“I’m Amanda, the one you were chatting with last night!” the girl replied. The way she speaks, it’s almost on par with Tom’s. “Don’t you know how to look back on your messages?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, dude,” Tom started. “But I chat with a lot of people.”
“What do you mean you chat with a lot of people?” Toby looked confused. “You didn’t talk to me and Drew after we logged out of Defenders Online last night!”
“Let me rephrase that. I chat with a lot of girls. So my memory is a bit, you know — “
“You gotta stop multi-tasking, man.” Drew patted Tom on his shoulder.
“I take that as a compliment.” Tom had a smile on his face. “And no. I wont.”
“Will all three of you just stop talking for a minute!” Amanda grabbed the class list from Toby and proceeded to write her name on it. “Jeez, you guys are a piece of work! If I had known that I’d be dealing with the three of you, I would have never told you guys about the metal disc I found the other night!”
“So it was you who PM’d me last night!” Tom’s eyes went wide as he looked at Amanda.
Amanda slapped her forehead. “Congratulations, Moron. You solved the case.”
“See,” Tom looked at Toby and Drew. “I knew it was her!” Toby ran his right index finger and thumb on both ends of his eyebrows, wondering how things ended up in this situation, in this moment. Drew was waving his head in disappointment and concern for his friend’s mental well-being. Amanda just looked utterly amazed. Confused. But more aptly amazed at the level in which Tom’s way of thinking was in.
It took about ten minutes more afterwards before the conversation started to make sense. Amanda explained that the metal disc came to her just about the same time as when Tom encountered the metal ball. The disc did nothing as well. Even though it sort of resembled a vinyl record, there were no traces of texture that would insinuate that the disc could hold some kind of audio recording, or that it could be played on a vinyl player. It was just a metal disc that just so happened to arrive on earth from maybe another planet, much like the metal ball. It’s purpose was yet to be figured out.
“So the reason why we wanted to meet up with you in the first place,” Drew was the one who acted as a singular voice for the trio this time around, “was because we had this idea, unsure if it would actually work or not, of finding the other extra-terrestrial pieces, much like the metal ball that Tom has, and hopefully it would lead to…I dunno, something.”
“And your plan was to go online, on an MMORPG game, and ask people around if they saw anything that’s similar to the metal ball that you guys have?”
“Yeah, it isn’t the best idea out there.” Drew admitted. “But it got us to finding you, didn’t it?”
Amanda’s face suddenly turned red. “Uh…yeah. Yeah! Of course, of course!” her eyes now suddenly finding it hard to meet Drew’s when she spoke. She coughed a few times, trying to fix her composure. “Anyway, stupid plan. But whatever, right? Yet still, even though two of the alien-like pieces are close to one another, it doesn’t seem like anything’s changed.”
“That’s because we haven’t tried touching both pieces with each other yet.” Drew replied. “We could try doing it after dismissal.”
“Sure.”
“Do you think they could hear what they’re saying?” Tom whispered to Toby. Both of them have just been silently watching the whole conversation unfold this whole time.
Toby whispered back at Tom, “Yeah, it’s getting weird.”
“What are you guys talking about?” June, another classmate of theirs, whispered beside them.
Because of June’s random and very untimely appearance to the scene, Tom jumped.
“Metal Balls!”
End of Chapter.
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