Green Display

June 24, 2044- Friday

Rise walks next to Jackson across the short manicured grass. The dew drops on the top of the grass brushing across the shiny dress shoes. The school uniform that was provided to Rise sticks to his every inch, the long-sleeved white shirt is starting to feel tight under the gray suit blazer that matches the pants. He has yet to wear dress clothes before. Rise moves his hand along the collar of his buttoned shit to let the breeze inside. On his other hand, he holds a notebook, folder, and pencil. The school building is a close walk from the dormitory, across the grass from the dormitory building. Jackson points out the other buildings beyond.

“The other two buildings are for indoor training and the administrative building,” says Jackson.

“We train indoors too?” asks Rise.

“Yes, sometimes,” says Jackson.

They reach the school building which looks like a smaller version of the dormitories with columns in the front. The white stone on the building has vines growing on the side of it like a curtain of green that shines bright green under the morning sun.

Rise follows Jackson into the building. Inside is a main area with a bulletin board with everyone’s name. Rise notices his name at the bottom of the list. It shows his class schedule with room number to go to. Jackson traces his finger over Rise's name.

“Hey, looks like we are in the same room!” exclaims Jackson.

“Oh yeah, cool,” says Rise with a smile.

Together they walk down the hallway until they reach room 2. Rise enters to find other students sitting at the desks talking to one another. Rise sits in the back next to Jackson. The desks are amble and high level with a slot in the front to set your school items inside. It is 8:00 am when the teacher enters the classroom wearing a gray skirt and floral blouse. She introduces herself as Miss Pine.

“We have a new addition to the classroom. Rise Prongs please stand so you can introduce yourself: name, state, and something unique,” says Mrs. Pine.

Rise feels the heat enter his cheeks as he stands up. He smoothies his wavy brown hair with one hand when standing.

“My name is Rise Prongs. I am from Ohio. I competed in my state's track meet,” says Rise sitting down after everyone’s eyes landed on him.

“Very good. Let's grab our textbooks from the shelf and open to page 106,” says Miss Pine.

Rise follows the other students to the shelf on one wall from which they each grab a copy of a thick textbook. At his desk, Rise flips through the pages. They are full of various topics for mathematics, English, history, and science divided into sections. Page 106 is a mathematics lesson; once everyone turns to page 106 they begin the lesson. Miss Pine stands in front of the classroom writing on the electrical board with her stylus. She writes neat blue-colored lines for the math problems related to those in the textbook. On board, she taps changing the stylus ink to a green color to explain the process of working through the concept on the board.

After the lesson, they take pencil to paper to work out the practice problems. Rise works out the practice mathematical problems in his notebook, glad to have a focus on school work. His thoughts of home are forgotten while he is studying in class. The whole class is silent as everyone does the practice problems. Miss Pine walks around the class to check on their work among the dozen students. Soon after they turn the large textbook to a new section to begin work on English work. The English lesson lasts the rest of the class time. They are allowed to work in pairs for the last hour. Jackson and Rise write poems down on the page.

“For Monday, have a poem memorized as we will be speaking them out loud at the beginning of class,” says Mrs. Pine.

Rise’s brown eyes wander at the ticking clock on the front wall of the classroom; it is three-quarters past twelve. There is no bell in the building, but once the round clock strikes one o’clock Mrs. Pine allows them to leave the classroom. The students rush to the door, out into the hallway, and the bright outdoors.

“Practice starts at three after we eat,” says Jackson.

“Should we change before or after lunch?” asks Rise.

They walk onto the path leading to the dormitory building.

“I changed before, just to not get the school clothes too dirty,” says Jackson.

At the dining table, Jackson and Rise sit next to one another dressed in workout clothes of breathable material. The shirts and shorts are lightweight for the summer weather. The lunch in front of them is served for them as sandwiches they can each prepare to their liking. There is a buzz of excitement in the lunch area from the other runners for the practice ahead.

“Your running shoes are very cool looking,” says Jackson.

“Thanks, they were a gift,” says Rise looking down at his aqua blue shoes.

The teenagers walk out together toward the treeline where the track is visible behind. The trees sway in the breeze of the afternoon. At the moment Rise steps on the physical track his tracking bracelet turns from a blue to a green light. Soon they start to do active warmups such as high knees and lunges on the track.

In one corner of the track, they all gather by Coach Palmer while stretching.

“We will be in three different groups to run a mile together. When I call your name go with your group,” says Coach Palmer.

Rise follows the last group when his name is called. Getting his feet back on the track is like walking in a dream. Usually, Rise has to wait a whole year to use the track back at his school. His footfalls land on the new track with joy in his heart. Rise focuses on keeping pace with his other teammates from his group, without a doubt they are good runners too. The first mile is only the warm-up lap. In the next two hours, they run with breaks in between more miles around the track. Rise enjoys the practice and welcomes the exhaustion it brings him. Once the practice has completed the runners are allowed to go back to the dormitories for dinner. Coach Palmer walks up to Rise before he leaves.

“That was a good practice, Rise. There is morning practice on Saturdays at 9 am and none on Sunday,” says coach Palmer.

“Thank you, sir,” says Rise, nodding his head.

He steps off the track and his wristband turns back into a blue light. In the display, there are distance statistics for the past two hours of the practice’s mileage, pace, and heartbeat. Rise takes a minute to look at the statistics. Jackson walks behind him.

“It shows how we did in the workout,” explains Jackson pointing to his wrist.

“That’s neat,” says Rise as they both walk past the treeline.

Jackson and Rise converse on their poems which they agree to work on later after dinner. It is a start to a friendship that sees Rise crossing the door of the dormitory building.