Fan Fiction ❯ Looking in a Mirror ❯ Chapter two ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter two-

 

A few months went by and Eric began to dread his last hour class. He really didn't like Forensics, with having to write a speech, which was the least painful of the things that class required, performing it in front of a bunch of people you barely knew but had to see on a nearly daily basis, and having to listen to Mrs. Ronsmer go on about something almost every day. But he put up with it all, sighing just about every day before he entered the room.

 

Then came the day for the first tournament, where he put on a suit, with a nice gold tie that matched the yellow shirt quite nicely, and stood out against the black jacket and pants just as well. He took more time on his hair than usual, seven minutes instead of three, putting hairspray in it and having Molly yell at him for it. "Eric, don't use MY hairspray!'

 

"It's not yours, Molly, it's mom's, so anyone one of us can use it!" he yelled back as he put on the shinny black shoes that squeaked a little when he walked on hard floors, since they were so new.

 

This wasn't actually the first competition of the year, just his first. He had spent the last two days memorizing his nearly ten minute oratory speech on lack of enforcing dress code rules in public schools. He had been inspired after seeing his sister go to school in a really short skirt and a not completely appropriate shirt and stay at school all day in those cloths even though they broke at least three dress code rules.

 

As he finished putting his shoes on, Zack and Molly came out of their room both dressed in suits as well. Zack had a gray suit with a light blue shirt and a silver tie. Molly was in a black skirt and jacket with a pink shirt.

 

Molly smiled at her brothers. "You are both going to need good luck today," and she headed out to the car.

 

Zack and Eric looked at each other, "Are you competing against her?" Eric asked.

 

"No. I'm in HI and poetry not DI or informative, you?"

 

"No, I'm in oratory. So why is she telling us we'll need luck?"

 

Zack shrugged, "You know how Molly is, the way she thinks she can beat you even when you're not playing with her."

 

"Yeah," Eric agreed.

 

Molly stuck her head in the door, "Are you two coming?"

 

"Yes mother..." Zack said sarcastically.

 

Molly made an indignant snort before disappearing behind the front door again.

 

"Calling your twin your mother...how's that work?" Eric asked as he stood up to go out to the car.

 

"It doesn't work," Zack replied as he too stood up to go out to the car.

 

They headed to the car and climbed in. Eric pulled out the keys and turned the car on. Backing out of the driveway carefully, still not completely confidant in his driving ability since he'd only had his license for a few months.

 

*~*~*

 

He pulled into a parking spot at Andinton High School and Eric climbed out followed by Zack who grabbed his poetry book before closing the door. Molly on the other hand struggled to drag her visuals and the easel to put them on.

 

She huffed as she closed the door with her hip and heaved her stuff higher in her arms. "You two could help!" she exclaimed.

 

Eric and Zack looked at each other. "You're the one in Informative," Zack said, "So why would we help?"

 

"Oh, fine, be a couple of jerks!" and she stalked off into the school.

 

Zack glanced at Eric, then shrugged and walked into the school behind his twin. Eric stood there for a minute before locking the car and also entering into the school.

 

There were quite a few kids, all dressed in really nice cloths. He looked around the cafeteria and found someone he knew by face only, and headed in that direction. When he reached the area that his school was congregating in, he set his stuff down on one of the tables, before heading over to his couch.

 

"Wahet, your code is AB135," she said as he meandered over. A young man that Eric hadn't seen before nodded and wrote the code down on a piece of paper. "Palep, AB128," Eric thought for a moment trying to figure out what it was suppose to mean. Then remembering, he hastily wrote it down.

 

"Alright, HI," several students ran up and grabbed a sheet of paper. "Informative," several more came up. "DI," More students, including the young man, approached her to get a sheet of paper. "Oratory," Eric did as the other students had done and got a sheet of paper.

 

On the paper were the rounds, the people in each room and who was judging. Eric found his code and circled the room number he was in. Then he sat down at a table to wait for the general meeting to start.

 

He looked around and spotted his brother talking to some girl from his school, and his sister talking to a group of guys from various schools including his own.

 

These were the times he wondered why he couldn't make friends like his siblings. Not that he cared too much, but he wouldn't mind having a friend other than Peter.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a guy going up to the microphone. "Ok, so we're going to go ahead and get started with drops and adds." The man went threw each event telling which codes had been dropped and moved.

 

When he was finished all the students stood up and started to head to their rooms. Eric stood up, grabbed his speech and headed to his room.

 

When he got to his room there was only one other person in there. "Hi!" the girl said happily with a huge grin on her face.

 

"Uh...hi," he said glancing around.

 

"I'm April, who are you?" she asked, still grinning.

 

"Eh...Eric," he responded quietly, hoping she would just leave him alone now.

 

"So, Eric, what's your speech on? Mine's on eating right, since this country has some 'eating' issues."

 

"That's nice, yeah, mine's on dress codes, well, schools reinforcing the dress code rules."

 

"Well..." but she was interrupted by the other students and the judge entering the room.

 

"Alright, shall we get started?" The judge asked as he sat down. Most students in the room nodded and the judge started calling out codes. "Ok, so it seems we're all here, so if BB108 would like to start."

 

The girl Eric had been talking to nodded and headed up to the front of the room.

 

*~*~*

 

After the round was over Eric stood up and exited the room quickly. He didn't do bad, but compared to the others, his wasn't very good.

 

As he made his way back to his table the girl from the round, April, came up to him. "How was the round, since I didn't get to see anyone."

 

Eric shrugged, "It was a pretty tough round."

 

"Mmm, oh well, that means I probably won't break, since my DI round had some really good people in it too. I think one of them might have been from your school, even."

 

Eric shrugged wishing she would just leave him alone. He continued to his table but she just kept on following him.

 

"The next round starts soon, doesn't it?" she asked. He nodded, hoping she wouldn't be in his next room. "Ah, look, we aren't in the same room..."

 

"Oh," Eric said, "Well, I should get to my room, see you." And he headed to his next room.

 

He got there and was the only one in the room. He waited, enjoying the silence, for the rest of the competitors and the judge.

 

When they got there the round went much the same as before. Including that Eric wasn't very proud of the way he did.

 

Oh well, he thought, at least rounds are over now. Just have to wait for award postings. He sat down and shortly after his brother came over.

 

"So, how'd your rounds go?"' Zack asked.

 

"Eh, I don't think I did very well, how about you?" Eric replied.

 

"I didn't do to bad, but I'm pretty sure I didn't break in HI, but I have high hopes for poetry," Zack said with a slight smile.

 

Eric smirked back at him, "Well then, hope you make it to finals."

 

At this point Molly came running up, "Oh my god, my visuals fell, from the easel, and landed on my judge's head!"

 

Eric and Zack looked up at her, then Zack started laughing and soon Eric did too. Molly stared at her two brothers before storming off.

 

Zack stopped laughing by taking deep breaths, and soon after, Eric stopped as well. "See ya, Eric," Zack said as he went off to hang out with some of his other friends.

 

Eric nodded and turned to a College Calculus book he had bought since he was bored with the math classes his school offered. He submerged himself in the unnecessary math until he heard commotion that revealed it's self to be the finals being posted.

 

He walked over to the giant mass of students that was crowded around a bunch of papers that had codes on them for who broke into finals.

 

As he looked over the Oratory posting, and didn't find his code, April appeared at his elbow. "Didn't break? Me neither, you should come watch DI finals with me."

 

Eric looked over at her, after briefly being startled by her sudden appearance, and nodded. He figured he might as well, since he really didn't want to watch Oratory finals.

 

"Alright, then we're headed to room 149," she said as she grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him to room 149.

 

They entered and took a seat as others filed in. "Alright, shall we get started?" asked the judge. The judge called off the codes, and then had the first person go up and perform.

 

Near the end of round the kid that Eric had seen earlier, who was from his school, came into the room. "I'm AB135," he said as he took a seat.

 

"Alright," the same judge who had called out the codes said, "Well, you're up."

 

He nodded and headed up to the front of the room. As he preformed the room was silent, captivated by how he preformed.

 

When he was done the room was silent for a moment before it erupted in applause. He went to take his seat when the judge said, "Ok, well, I think that's every one, so you're free to go."

 

The audience stood up and started to exit the room. April grabbed Eric's arm again and pulled him over to the guy who had just gone. "You're really good! We both think so!" she told him motioning to Eric, who was now blushing slightly.

 

"Um, thanks..." he paused as if waiting for a name.

 

"April," she supplied.

 

"April, and," he looked over at Eric, who didn't say anything, but just looked at him.

 

"His name is Eric," April told him, seeing that Eric wasn't going to answer.

 

He Nodded, "Eric. Well, thank you both."

 

"So, what's your name?" April asked him.

 

"Devan," he told her with a small smile.

 

She smiled back, "Well, you're very good at DI Devan. What else do you do, seeing as you were doubled in finals?"

 

"My other event today was OID, but I also do poetry and HI," he answered her though his gaze was on Eric. "So, what do you two do?"

 

"I'm in DI and Oratory," she told him smiling sweetly.

 

"And you?" Devan asked Eric, now ignoring April.

 

"Eh, me...I'm in Oratory," he said glancing down at the floor.

 

"Oratory is tough, I did it my freshman year, and didn't really like it, way to boring. So, what's you're topic?"

 

"Uh...lack of dress code enforcement in public schools."

"You go to a public school?" he asked Eric.

 

"No, I go to Edwins, but my younger brother and sister do, and I got the idea from them," he explained a little hesitantly.

 

"Oh," he said with a small shrug, "Well, see you both later," and he walked off over to an already assembled group of students.

 

Eric watched him for a short time before changing his focus back to April who was standing there with some sort of weird expression on her face. Eric took this moment to slip away from her and back to his own school, where he sat at a table by himself until awards started.

 

He paid little attention to awards until they called DI, and he saw Devan stand up from a near by table and head up front. A girl at the microphone said, "sixth place, VV126...fifth place, BD131...fourth place, CC106...third place, FG111...second place."

 

Eric found himself holding his breath for the next code, and he didn't know why. "VV109..." The breath Eric had been holding, escaped in a rush of air.

 

"And the first place winner in DI is AB135," and every one stood and applauded. Eric watched Devan as he sat down and wiped his blond hair out of his eyes. When Devan's eyes met Eric's, Eric quickly looked down.

 

 

When awards were over Zack and Molly appeared as he was packing up his stuff and they all headed out to the car, to go home.

 

On the ride back to their house, Molly and Zack kept going on about their trophies. Zack had got third place in poetry and Molly had gotten second in informative.

 

Eric was about to his limit with this when they pulled into the driveway and the two quickly exited the car to tell their parent. Eric exited the car a bit slower and locked it.

 

He came inside and said hi to his parents before going to his bedroom and lying down on his bed. What came to mind as he lay there surprised him. It wasn't some obscure theory or a calculus formula, but that guy from the tournament, Devan. This confused him, but he didn't think to much on the problem, he just went on to think about a theory relating to Chemistry.