Sosi Audain

It’s been three years since I battled and stopped Chronos, the evil time god. Two years and eight months, to be exact. I started tenth grade at Oak Grove High School two weeks ago. “Hey, girl!” I hear a familiar voice chime. I shift my attention to Eveleen, my best friend circa kindergarten, approaching me. We’ve updated our handshake a bit due to the realities of COVID. In Cool Handshake 2.0, our hands don’t literally touch one another. We just wave our hands in the air and finish the handshake by adjusting our face masks.

The next afternoon goes by just as quickly as the morning did. It’s 2:30 pm when I walk out the front door of Oak Grove High School’s main building. I survey the parking lot until I see Momma standing next to her car, smiling and waving frantically. “Hi Momma!” I say as I approach the car. I give her a kiss on the cheek, and her face warms with delight. “Hi baby!” Momma says enthusiastically. “I’m so proud of you!” “Thank you, Momma,” I smile. The two of us buckle in our polyester seatbelts as Momma starts the car’s engine. Music automatically greets the awakened machine as if it’s aware that there are passengers inside.