THE FIRST TASTE OF BOURBON: THE LAST TASTE OF HIGH SCHOOL

He stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows, gazing into the night; into oblivion. Everything around him, everything in the night, blurred to the conversation that plagued his mind. Blinking every few minutes as he took a sip from the glass he was holding; a glass of bourbon. He was free yet held down. His parents were out of town for the weekend and he was all alone, yet the only thing he wanted to do was gaze out into the night and replay one single event of the day, over and over again; the event that led to him committing a misdemeanor.

It was the last day of high school. He had plans. Some wouldn’t consider it as important but for him, it was major. It was two plans years in the making. He just needed the right moment to execute them. 

He woke up at five. A different level of energy flowing through him; a higher level than normal. He hopped out of the bed, dancing towards the bathroom to the music playing in his head. He was on cloud nine. He brushed and washed his face before he began cleaning his room, not that it needed any cleaning. He was very strict about the cleanliness of his surroundings since he was ten. 

He set the clothing that he was planning on wearing today on the bed after he smoothed the sheets and covering. His go-to clothing was a white t- shirt and jeans but today was an exception. He took out a red button down shirt and a black jeans. He laid them neatly on the bed with the jeans at the bottom followed by the shirt and a white t- shirt on top. It was his routine when he managed to reach cloud nine. He took out his black sneakers and a pair of black socks and placed them by the foot of the bed. 

He danced his way to the kitchen and made breakfast for everyone. He made pancakes, that was where his cooking skills began and ended. As he was taking the last pancake from the skillet, his mother came into the kitchen.

“Am I seeing right? What are you doing so early?”

“It’s not early. It’s six thirty.”

“Well, that’s early for you, isn’t it? Is this last day of school energy or something else? And what’s this?”

“It’s breakfast. Pancakes and syrup. ”

“Okay! What did you do with my son? Where’s Ryan?”

“Funny.”

He loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and took two pancakes with syrup and sat at the kitchen counter and ate it. By the time he was done, his dad and sister were awake and strolling towards the kitchen. He finished up his breakfast and headed back to his room to shower and get ready. 

He arrived at the school at eight twenty two. He nodded to the guard as he passed and headed to his go- to seat. He heard someone calling out his name. He turned to find that it wasn’t the friendliest of people calling out to him. It was the trio that made fun and embarrassed his best friend for his entire high school life. 

He looked at them for a second before continuing to walk away. There was a plan he came up with after one year of witnessing them bully his friend and from the looks of it, it was going to be implemented today. Whether it goes in his favor or not, was yet to be seen. Either way the trio was going to get payback today, the last day of school. It’s now or never! He kept on walking. Before he reached where he was going, the trio caught up to him. 

[Anthony] “Are you ignoring us?”

[Ryan] “Not in the mood today, Kevin!” He ignored Anthony’s question and spoke to Kevin. He was sort of their leader. He moved left to get past them but they moved and blocked his path again.

[Kevin] “Where do you think you’re going, Rye- an? Where’s your bitch ass best friend”

[Ryan] “I’m going over there to have a seat. Leave Amir alone today.”

[Kevin] “Or what?”

[Ryan] “I don’t know yet!”

[James] “Are you going to complain to the principal?”

All three began laughing.

[Ryan] “We’ll see”

The guy on the left moved closer and pushed Ryan backwards. Hard enough so that he went backwards but not hard enough so that he fell.  They began laughing. 

[Ryan] “Please don’t touch me again!”

He moved to the right and walked away. 

Ryan and Amir sat at the tables outside the 6th form classrooms and were finishing up an early lunch when the trio returned; James, Kevin and Anthony. 

[Kevin] “So you’re finally here.”

Neither of the two responded. Amir was visibly scared. He avoided eye contact with his three tormentors.

Kevin threw the contents in his cup on Amir’s T- shirt. 

[Kevin] “I’m talking to you!”

(James] “What took you so long?”

[Ryan] “C’mon Kevin. It’s the last day of school. Can’t we just have a calm and fun day!”

Kevin looked at the others and laughed, “This is fun!”

[Ryan] “Let’s get another seat, Amir.”

Ryan threw his remaining food into the nearest bin and moved out from behind the table. Anthony snatched Amir’s remaining lunch from him and received no resistance from Ryan and Amir. Ryan stopped and looked at him and said nothing. Kevin saw him looking at Anthony and asked, “What are you going to do?”

 Ryan walked around to Amir’s side, to where Anthony was blocking his path. 

He thought to himself, “This is the window of opportunity to execute one of the plans he had for the last day of school.”

Ryan threw a left fist that connected to the right jaw of Anthony and he went down on the table with force as it connected. He pushed Kevin into James and they both stumbled sideways and tripped over each other’s feet and fell.

“I told you to leave Amir alone.” 

They walked away but didn’t get far. A kick connected to the lower back of Ryan, sending him stumbling forward and onto the ground. Amir was no longer their center of attention. They were focused on Ryan. He was quick to his feet and wasn’t hurt. 

“Are we really going to do this on the last day of school? Don’t you three have anything better to do?”

They said nothing and lined up to fight. Kevin in the middle, James on the left of him and Anthony holding his jaw on the right. Neither of them were expecting this response from Ryan. They thought he was all talk and no action. Three on one were pretty good odds, in their favor and they were very happy about it 

[Kevin] “You’re going to pay for this.”

[Ryan] “Let’s get this over with.”

They moved in unison, all three. Ryan took a step to the left and backwards. He spun around with force blazing through the barrier that Anthony had put up with his arms and connected with a back fist to his already softened jaw, sending him into the path of Kevin as he went down. A swift kick connected to the gut of Kevin and he stumbled backwards, onto his butt. James threw a straight right that connected to the right shoulder of Ryan and he went sideways. He answered with another spinning back fist that connected to the lower left ribs of James as he moved in to follow up, sending him folding forward and onto his knees. Only person not hurting was Kevin. He had the option to run away but came charging, head low aiming at the gut of Ryan. Ryan was too slow to react and was taken down to the ground. Kevin quickly threw two punches that caught Ryan on the lip and jaw, busting his lip in the process. He threw a left fist of his own that connected to Kevin’s ear and he went sideways allowing Ryan to roll the opposite direction and get back to his feet. He quickly kicked Kevin’s hand out from under him, sending him face first into the grass. He followed up with a knee to the ribs before dusting his clothing off. They were all down and he was satisfied with their punishment. He wasn’t aiming for severe injuries. He wanted to show them someone wasn’t afraid of them.

Plan One Executed! 

Plan One Successful! 

“You should go to the sick bay,” Ryan said to no one in particular as he walked away. 

His shirt was soiled from the few seconds on the ground. He took it off as they both headed to the bathroom to clean the blood from Ryan's lips. He loved that shirt and didn’t want to get blood on it. 

“That’s the end of their reign,” he said to Amir.

“You couldn’t have done that, say maybe, three years ago?”

“Sorry I didn’t work on your schedule.” Ryan responded sarcastically. 

They both smiled. 

“You know you’re going to be punished if they go snitching to a teacher.”

“What are they going to do? Suspend me? Expel me? It’s my last day of high school. I’m done with this school anyways.”

He washed his face and the blood from his busted lip and he was good to go again. Not much pain for him except the busted lip. When they passed by the lawn on their way back, neither of the boys were still there. They were probably hiding somewhere or crying to a teacher. Ryan’s pick was hiding since he just ended their reign of terror over Amir. A little late but still, he ended it. Very shameful from the trio’s perspective. 

They changed their seats and sat by Biology Lab on one of the lunch tables that were there. They chatted, occasionally taking bathroom breaks and engaging in conversation with the other students until he saw his window of opportunity to execute his second plan.

It was twelve forty- five. About one hour and fifteen minutes left before it’s time to leave. He left Amir, who was playing cards with two other kids and walked over to her. She was sitting with her friends a few feet from where he was. He took a deep breath, wiped his palms on his jeans before he got up and began his approach. 

He was nervous, excited and a whole range of other emotions. He walked up the table and began speaking.

“Hello Ladies, sorry to interrupt. Can I borrow your friend there,” he looked at Hazel, “for a few minutes? I promise to return her before long.”

He thought, “That sounded way better in my head. Terrible Start!”

They all looked at Hazel. 

“I promise I won’t be long.”

Hazel looked at him as if to say, ‘Why not here?’

[Ryan] “In private, please.”

[Bethany] “And why would you like to speak to our friend, Mr. Singh?”

[Hazel] “Really, Beth?”

[Bethany] “What? I’m curious.”

They all laughed.

Hazel got up.

[Hazel] “Don’t mind her. Which way?” She gestured left and right.

“Your pick!”

“This way!” She gestured to the left.

“Okay”

He placed his hands in the pockets of his jeans as they walked side by side.

“What happened to your shirt?”

“Huh?…. Oh. I had to deal with some trash and I soiled my shirt in the process.”

“Trash?”

“Yep.” Seeing the puzzled look on her face, he added, “James, Kevin and Anthony!”

“Oh! You do know there’s a video of what you did.”

“Guess I’m popular now. I should start giving out autographs. Would you like my autograph?” 

They both smiled.

“So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Umm…..”

“I’m listening.”

“Umm….. okay. So this is purely hypothetical. Alright?”

“Hypothetical?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. So what would your response be if, hypothetically, I said I liked you?”

She looked at him slightly puzzled and smiled.

“You’re smiling? I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.”

“It’s just funny how you emphasized ‘hypothetical.’”

“I’m glad my vocabulary is funny to someone.” He smiled.

“My hypothetical answer to that would be ‘In what way?’”

“Not sure what you mean?”

“Platonically or Romantically!”

“HYPOTHETICALLY, the latter.”

“Okay. Why?”

“Why do I like you that way? HYPOTHETICALLY!”

“Yes.”

“You’re kind, smart, shy, funny, caring and beautiful.”

“Is this your first time ‘hypothetically’ telling a girl how you feel about her?”

He looked at her.

“What? No! Maybe!”

“Ryan, how long have you been wanting to ask me that ‘hypothetical’ question?”

“I don’t know. About eight years?!”

“I don’t see you that way, Ryan. You’re a great person but you’re not the right person for me and I’m not the right girl for you. I’m sorry.”

Puzzled, he responded, “Umm… okay. Okay! Umm… Thank you for being honest.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“No need for apologies. It was just a hypothetical question.”

She walked a few steps and turned around.

“Why did you wait 8 years to ask that ‘hypothetical’ question?”

“Just in case your response was in the negative. To prevent any awkwardness in our future contact, since after today we’re rarely going to have much contact between us. We’re all going different ways after today. Miles away from here; from each other. Hence, a very low chance of awkward interactions.”

“You know, sometimes your overthinking can be a good thing but sometimes it screws you over.”

“Which one is it in this instance?”

“The latter.”

She walked away. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He stood there, wanting to say so much but unable to use his voice. Her polite rejection left him at a loss for words. He stood there for a few minutes before he returned to where he and Amir were sitting to grab his shirt. Hazel and her friends were at Amir’s table. They were playing cards. 

Plan Two Executed! 

Plan Two Failed! 

He forced a smile.

“Ladies! Amir, I’m heading out.” 

“It’s not even time yet! Are you good?”

“Yeah! Yeah! I’m done with high school. See you if I see you, ladies! See you round, Amir.”

That was his last taste of high school. Eleven hours later, he was trying to wash his heartache away with Bourbon from his father’s liquor cabinet, while staring into oblivion, replaying that fifteen minutes of conversation over and over again.