Never Knowing

‘Hi! This is Jack Kenney from Channel 17 neighborhood news. It’s Wednesday October 20th 2004 and it’s 6:40 a.m. and 60 degrees. Winds are 3 miles per hour. See ya on the news!’
Rebecca Olive hung up her phone.
“Rebecca, you ready?” Seth called to his daughter.
“Coming dad!” Rebecca answered. She grabbed her bag, walked past her parent’s room. “Bye mom!”
“I’ll come pick you up later!” Senia confirmed with her daughter.
Seth closed and locked the front door after Rebecca and him.
Rebecca and her dad got into his truck and he drove her to school, like all the other mornings.
“So, Rebecca, I was thinking that maybe today after school, if you don’t have anything already planned…”
“Today’s good, but tomorrow I have something planned, the soccer match.”
“Well, that’s good. And after I get home from work, I was thinking that-”

“Rebecca? Rebecca!” Stacy snapped her fingers in her friend’s face.
Rebecca shook her head. “What? Can’t you see I was talking to…” Rebecca looked around. She wasn’t in her dad’s truck anymore.
“Me. You were talking to me about Ian.” Stacy finished for Rebecca.
“I was talking to my dad. He was saying something about after school and after work.” Rebecca explained.
Stacy looked at Rebecca. “Are you okay? Did Ian take you to hang out with his wacko friends yesterday? Did he pressure you to smoke something?”
Rebecca was quiet. “No…I see this isn’t going to go my way and you’ll call me crazy-”
“Which we know you are.” Stacy’s friend Austen kicked in.
Rebecca slapped Austen’s arm. “Shut up.”
The threesome laughed.
“Oh, Stace, I have your horoscope for today.” Rebecca pulled her pink notebook out of her bag. “ ‘Prospects say you’ll ace that test today, but watch out for negative comments coming after the math. If you’re in love, fruitful gifts are in store. If you’re crushing on someone, good events are sure to come out of it. If you’re not in love at all, chances are, today you’ll find someone who will be true to you.’ Wow. Kind of cheesy don’t you think?” Rebecca closed her book.
“No, I do have a test today, and I’m one of the only few in the class who take notes and study, so if I ace it, a few snide comments about me ‘cheating’ might arise. And you know about me and Brett right? Well, maybe he’ll finally ask me out!”
“We’ll see. Oh, there’s a soccer game tomorrow night. Us vs. Letcher. Blake’s playing goalie.”
“Are we talking about the same Blake who went here last year?” A new voice came from behind Rebecca.
“Hey Jessie.” Rebecca said as she turned to greet her BFF.
Jessie was a junior, like Rebecca, and had a major crush on Blake last year.
“So, we were talking about the same Blake. His game’s tomorrow.” Jessie said.
“We know.” Rebecca and Stacy said together.
Austen looked to Jessie, then to Stacy. “I’m going to go now, you three will probably start chattering up a storm and I’ll have no clue. Later.” Austen picked up his tote, and made his way to his class, 4 minutes before it started.
“Anyhow…” Jessie said, changing the subject. “I was talking to Aubrey and she said she could make it to the game.”
“Is Katy going too?” Rebecca asked.
“Yea, then she and I are going to a movie after.” Jessie smiled.
“Your mom agreed to that?” Stacy asked.
“Yep.” Jessie was still smiling, then her smile faded. “Oh, crap. We have that math test today don’t we?” She asked Rebecca.
“Unfortunately yes. Mr. Cadger said it was 25% of our grade.” Rebecca explained.
Jessie looked worried. “Oh crud.”
Stacy laughed, then the bell rang.
“See you later.” The three friends said in unison as they parted to go to their classes.
Rebecca walked down the hall past her Spanish class.
“Hola Rebecca. ¿Còmo estàs?” Mr. Elbert asked Rebecca.
“Muy nerviosa” Rebecca answered. “I have a test next period that I didn’t study much for.”
“Oh well, you’ll be pleased to know that on your test you took yesterday you got a-”

“Rebecca, I said ‘clear your desk’. Rebecca!” Mr. Cadger slapped his hand on Rebecca’s desk.
Rebecca’s head shot up. “Whoa, Mr. Elbert I didn’t hear you…” Rebecca caught herself. She was no longer talking to Mr. Elbert, but Mr. Cadger. “Oh, sorry sir. I was just talking to Mr. Elbert a few moments ago.” Rebecca looked at the class looking at her.
And now they think I’m crazy. She thought to herself as she cleared her desk. Mr. Cadger handed Rebecca her test. “Maybe you should see your counselor after class.”
When the teacher turned his back, Rebecca pulled her calculator out of her backpack and began on her test.
***
“Time’s up, hand in your test.” Mr. Cadger announced 20 minutes later. Rebecca passed in her test. Her friend, Aubrey sat next to her, and also handed in her test.
“Easy eh?” Aubrey asked.
“Not really. I didn’t study all of that much.” Rebecca told her friend.
“Well, Blake’s soccer game is tomorrow. Are you and Jessie going to go?” Aubrey asked. “I am.”
“Great! We’ll see you there then.” Rebecca said as the bell rang.
The day went on like so…Rebecca going from class to class, learning, and taking quizzes. Finally, sixth period rolled around and Rebecca entered the class, chatting with Jessie.
“And Ian told me last night that he wanted to take me to homecoming!” Rebecca said excitedly.
“I’m so happy for you!” Jessie said.
“Alright class, settle down.” Mrs. Abbott announced as she walked to the front of the class. “Now, I know y’all have been waiting for your test scores back. The grade paper is coming down the rows. We’ll start with Rebecca. The grades are by your student number.”
Mrs. Abbott handed the paper to Rebecca. Rebecca’s eyes scanned the list. “246890, 246890, 246890,” Rebecca whispered. “Ah! 246890!” Rebecca followed the line to look at her grade-

“Rebecca, come on, you’re going to be late! The game starts in 2 minutes.”
Rebecca felt herself being pulled. “Jessie?” Rebecca asked as she planted her feet.
“What?”
“What day is it?” Rebecca asked.
“Thursday. Why?” Jessie answered.
“Where did the rest of today go?”
“I know, everything and every class blew by today. And I was amazed when you and Ian kissed!”
Rebecca froze up. “W-we kissed?” She asked, shocked she didn’t remember.
“Ye-ah. Stace and I were telling you and Ian to go get a room!” Jessie teased.
Rebecca was stunned. She and Jessie walked to the bleachers, and sat down next to Aubrey.
“Coach just put Blake in.” She announced.
“Awesome.” Jessie said, her eyes intent and focused on Blake.
Rebecca couldn’t help but let a slight chuckle out. “You and your crushes Jessie.”
“I don’t like him anymore. You both know that right?” She asked, but soon lost thought as the game heated up.
***
“COME ON! JUST SHOOT IT!” Rebecca cried to the player with the ball. “YOU’RE CLOSE ENOUGH!”
Jessie looked up at Rebecca. “Geez girl. Calm down, it’s only a game.”
“Yes, but in case you didn’t notice, we’re in overtime, the game is tied, everyone’s neck and neck…shh! He’s shooting now!” Rebecca said. “COME ON! COME ON! COME-”

“Rebecca? Rebecca? It’s time to go.” Senia said to her daughter.
“What? Who won?”
“Who won what? Dinner’s over.”
“What?” Rebecca asked confused.
“You were telling us about how excited you were for your test results today.” Rosie, Rebecca’s sister filled her in.
“Oh, right. Well, I think I did pretty good on it. Mr. Cadger seemed pleased as he told us the majority of us aced it. Then he handed back the papers, and I got a-”

“Rebecca! Quit spacing out on me, finish your sentence!” Jessie demanded.
“What was I talking about?”
“Why you’ve been out of it for the last couple of days.” Jessie answered.
“Oh, right.” Rebecca scanned her own mind and finally found an answer.
“The reason I think I’ve been so spacey is this dystopia we’ve, or rather I’ve been living in. Whenever something great is about to happen-”