by James Harden
Chapter 1
Steve, the journalist said to think about the turning point, the moment I realized something was wrong. I guess most people would’ve realized something was wrong when the Australian government ordered a nationwide quarantine. But for me it was on the first day of school. Two days before the quarantine was ordered.
I woke up early because I was too nervous to sleep. I wasn’t as scared as I’d been the previous year when I was the new girl in town but I was still a mess. I’d laid out my school uniform the night before so I wouldn’t be running around in the morning looking for my skirt or my shoes. I’d made sure we had plenty of cereal and fresh milk and fresh fruit stocked in the kitchen. I was determined to have the most amazingly healthy and balanced breakfast to get me through the day. But when I walked out to the kitchen on that scorching hot summer’s morning, I forgot all about school and first day nerves.
There was a note on the bench from my mother which read:
Left 4 work early.
This alone wasn’t a shock because she was always working. Apparently there was a shortage of nurses in Sydney hospitals or something. But right next to the note was an origami horse. It was tiny and intricate and beautiful. It looked like it was about to come to life and rear onto its hind legs. I was officially freaked out. Alarm bells were ringing inside my head.
This little paper horse scared me and it scared me because there was only one person in the entire world that could’ve made something so goddamn amazing.
Kenji Yoshida.
I wouldn’t call him my ex-boyfriend because we were never really going out. But we were close. It felt like we had something. Well, maybe more than just something. He was the boy next door when I lived in Brooklyn and he was my closest friend.
Unfortunately one day he decided to turn into a total jerk and leave home without even saying goodbye or saying anything. He ran off to join the US Marines to defend the country and see the world or whatever. No note, no email, no phone call from the train station, no text message. We hadn’t talked since he left and I had never forgiven him. Probably never will.
I’m not sure how long I had been standing in the kitchen in a daze but the next thing I knew my phone was beeping and vibrating across the kitchen bench. There was one new text from Maria. It read:
First day mofo! Get excited!
I was just about to reply when I heard the school bus pull up out the front. I guess I’d been staring at the horse for longer than I thought. I grabbed my bag and the paper horse and ran out the door. Suddenly there was no time for a healthy and complete breakfast. I hadn’t even brushed my hair. Not that I was thinking about any of that. I was so lost in my own thoughts that when I boarded the bus I didn’t even see Maria waving at me from way up the back.
“Rebecca!” she yelled. “Back here! Are you blind?”
She was waving at me with both hands like she was flagging down a plane on a deserted island. She didn’t care that she was making a scene. She never cared what the other kids thought about her.
“Sorry. Didn’t see you,” I said as I sat down next to her.
“You didn’t see me? I was waving at you the entire time.”
“Maybe you should consider wearing some sort of fluorescent vest to stand out more,” I said.
“Hey, I have a lot of fluoro in my wardrobe. Do not tempt me.”
The bus pulled away from the curb and I was thrown back in my seat.
“What the hell is that?” Maria asked referring to the origami horse.
“This?" I said. “It’s... it’s nothing”
“Oh really?”
She snatched it out of my hand before I could hide it.
“Hey, be careful!”
She held it up to her ocean blue eyes and studied it carefully. I don’t know why but I was jealous of Maria’s eyes. They were so blue they looked fake, like she was wearing contact lenses. Combine that with her sun kissed blonde hair and her tan that seemed to glow all year round and I could see why she didn’t care about making a scene on the bus or what the other kids thought about her.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Did you make it?”
“Not really.”
“Not really?” What do you mean ‘not really’?”
“I, um, I think someone made it for me.”
“I get it. Say no more. It’s a gift from a secret admirer, isn’t it?”
“Ah, yeah. That’s it.”
“Wow. And on the first day of school! You’re such a heart breaker.”
I don’t know why I lied to her. I guess I didn’t want to explain that I thought it was from my sort of ex boyfriend from back home. I’d never told her about Kenji. Actually, I’d never really told her anything about my past. Sure we were good friends but there are just some things in my life I do not want to talk about. Not with anyone.
“So where’s Jack?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject.
“I’m not sure. I think he said he was getting a lift into school.”
It was strange that Maria didn’t know where Jack was. Those two were practically inseparable. If they weren’t together, they were talking on the phone or texting or IMing each other on Facebook. I know this because last year I somehow managed to become a permanent third wheel to their relationship. And for some reason they liked it. No, not like that. I don’t swing that way and they don’t either. At least, I don’t think they do.
Anyway, I met Maria on my first day of school last year and we were instant friends. She introduced me to Jack and we became instant friends as well. This alone was reason enough to hang out with them. I’d never made friends easily and yet there I was making two friends on my first day at a new school, in a new country. I could barely string two words together I was such a nervous wreck. I remember Jack trying to shake my hand to greet me but my hands were so sweaty I refused to shake his hand back. I just sort of bowed my head. I personally thought it was a divine miracle that we became friends at all. There was just no other explanation.
So I started hanging out with them. They took me under their wings and showed me around Sydney. Jack is a really good surfer so he started teaching me how to surf. Maria is really into fashion so she would take me shopping all the time. She would go on and on about how she wanted me to take her to the New York fashion show.
On the one hand it was kind of weird. I mean, no one wants to be the third wheel right? It’s awkward. The couple is usually making out or calling each other pet names like sweetie pie or honey bun, while the third wheel has to sit there and pretend not to be disgusted. But with Jack and Maria I never felt awkward. I never even felt like I was a third wheel.
When Jack gave me surfing lessons Maria would chill out on the beach listening to music. Sometimes she would stand at the water’s edge with a white board. She would write a score out of ten and hold the board up, rating how good I was. And when we went shopping, Jack would pretend to be a world famous fashion photographer. He would borrow his father’s old camera and take a whole bunch of photos of Maria and me.
He would say silly things like, “Pop darlings. Pop your hip. Make love to the camera.”
I know it sounds stupid but it was fun. And I hadn’t had fun in such a long time.
Maria’s phone rang. “It’s Jack,” she said to me. “Hey, where the hell are you?”
She tried to sound angry even though her blue eyes lit up and a smile crept across her lips.
Maria once told me that they liked hanging out with me because it took the pressure of their relationship. “Sometimes I feel like it’s too intense,” she said. “That I’ve fallen too hard for him. If he ever left me or whatever, I don’t think I’d be able to cope. I’d shut down. I don’t think I could live without him.”
So having me around kept them from getting too intense I suppose. I was like a buffer of sorts, someone to keep their feet on the ground.
It was hard to imagine either one of t
hese guys being lost on their own. They were both extremely popular, fun loving, people persons. You might think it was like they were using me but it wasn’t like that at all. The truth was I liked hanging around them. I really didn’t care that I was a third wheel. The best thing about these guys was they made me feel better about myself.
Maria hung up her phone and immediately started sending a text message, probably to Jack.
“So where is he? I asked. “Don’t tell me he slept in on the first day?”
“No, his sister was asked at the last minute to give a speech at assembly this morning. So they’re carpooling.”
“Oh. What do you think her speech will be about?”
“It’ll probably be about joining the cops. It could involve handcuffs. It might get kinky.”
Jack’s sister Kim was a real life action hero. She’d finished high school last year and had since joined the police force. She was the kind of person who rode a bike everywhere instead of driving a car because it was great for your core strength. She was constantly training for a half marathon or full marathon or triathlon. Sometimes she could make you feel like a slacker.
Despite this, I was actually looking forward to her speech. She had the same great sense of humor as Jack and it sure beat listening to the principal talk about the school motto and how we had a responsibility and a duty to study hard and try our very best and all that stuff.
As the bus pulled up to the front gates of the school my heart began to beat a little faster and I started to think about what would lay ahead in the coming year. New teachers, maybe new friends, definitely late night study sessions and hopefully good grades. I was excited and nervous and scared all at the same time.
But then we stepped off the bus and saw that the school gates were chained shut. Hundreds of kids and their parents were standing out the front of the entrance.
The principal was speaking through a loudspeaker. He kept saying sorry. Sorry for the confusion and the disorganization.
He said, “School has been cancelled across the state by order of the Government and the World Health Organization.”