The World We Knew

Chapter IV

Week flew by and today is Friday. The day me and my project partner finalize our plan. Upcoming Monday we present it to the school board and the mayor. Nathaniel’s dad agreed to listen to our preposition and if he will really like it, we will put plans in motion. If he doesn’t then our week-long work and spending most of our afternoon’s together, will be in vain. I don’t want to start from scratch. 

As I enter the school library for the last time this week, I shake these negative thoughts away. We both put so much effort in this, I am sure all will be well.

Nathaniel as usual is already waiting for me at our usual spot. I offer him a small smile as I approach him. Which he returns. “Let’s do this.” my partner says. And for the next few hours we go over everything.

Main goal: see how people lived in old times. 

Rule #1 Electricity will be cut off for a week. Only buildings with electricity will be a hospital and others who are crucial. And workers will not be included in the experiment.  Thank god we live in a warm state, so there is no problem with getting cold and since it’s October it’s also not too hot. We will all be able to survive without air conditioning.

Rule #2 School and work is canceled and the whole town has joined activities. Sometimes fun ones, sometimes working ones. Those will be discussed later on as we will need to know what our community needs. But a bonfire on the beach will definitely be one of the activities.

Rule #3 All devices (computers, cell phones, tablets, televisions, power banks,...) are put away for the purpose of not being a temptation. 

Rule #5 Nathaniel and I will interview people to see how they feel and everything will be documented, also available for the public after the experiment is finished. If chosen people will stay anonymous. 

Rule #6 People who do not wish to participate in the experiment will be accommodated in a hotel in a town over, so the experiment can run smoothly. Expenses will be paid by the city.

Rule #7 At any point anyone can stop participating. 

Rule #8 Every citizen will need to sign a form, on which they will give their consent or not. They will also have to state if they are okay with interviews and recordings.

Rule #9 Meals will be prepared with a gas stove and will be available for everyone. They will be prepared by people who volunteer to cook.

Rule #10 At the end of day water will be heated up on the stove to provide for a warm showerinse.

That summons the main parts. We made special plans for court and jail. They are obviously also left out of this experiment. As well as police and fire stations, life guards, etc. So basically just people with uninteresting lives will be a part of it. 

Half way through we also decided this project would be too complex to actually get the whole city participating. So we adjusted a few things. Instead of the whole city we will only experiment in a 5 mile radius from our high school. So only a few blocks. It will be a whole less statistics to work on.

If there will be any new problem pointed out we will sort it as we go. Nathaniel and I lost track of time and so it was rather late when we finished our powerpoint presentation. I am glad he is as precise as I am, so we did a great powerpoint together. Not too overbearing with information but still informative. 

“Do you need a ride home?” Nathaniel asks me. At that I look out the window and see it’s already night. That means it’s at least a little after 7pm. St. Augustine is not the safest place at night and I don’t want to risk it, so I take his offer and thank him. We pack our stuff, clean after ourselves and in silence leave the library. Both of us walked at a slow pace, obviously not in a rush. 

I follow his lead as I don’t know which car is his. I briefly explain to him where my home is. A minute or two later we arrive in front of hi.s black chevrolet. Don’t ask me which since I don’t know. All I know is that it’s a nice car. And it’s not a low car, It’s closer to a jeep than a regular or sports car. Which I like - I like high cars. 

“So me and boys are going to the beach this weekend. Wanna join? You can bring a friend or two.” He breaks the silence as he swiftly  navigates our way through streets.

“Umm sure. Let me just check with Isa. Just tell me where and when.” I reply, trying hard to not sound too excited. This past week I started to enjoy Nathaniel’s company. He isn’t much of a talker, but neither am I. Maybe that’s why we work well together.

“Or you can give me your phone number and I text you the details.” Nathaniel calmly suggests just as he parks in my driveway and hands me his phone. It’s really silly that we haven’t done this before, but because we always met after school in the library it just wasn’t necessary. After I save my number I hand him back his phone and unbuckle my seat belt. Opening my door I step out and turn around to say bye.

“Thank you for this ride. You saved me a lot of potential trouble.” I say in a soft voice. I don’t know why I suddenly grew nervous. Maybe it is because I don’t like goodbyes.

“It was no problem at all. We both know it’s not safe to walk alone at night. Especially for a girl. See you tomorrow Alexis.” With his goodbye I close car doors and start walking towards my house. Not daring to turn around, I feel him staring at my back for a while, until he backs his car and drives away. 

I heave a sigh, and unlock my house, which is empty as usual. Nathaniel was true to his word and he texted me all the details 2 hours later. In the meantime I took a shower, did my homework, convinced Isa’s mom to let her come along and did laundry. This week has been tiring as hell so before I can even properly lie on bed, I am already falling asleep.

Next morning I wake up excited, trying to persuade my mind that it’s not because of a certain someone. Putting on my blue bikini and preparing my bag, I fastly get ready not wanting to be late even for a second. Isa is picking me up at 9.30 which is in twenty minutes. While I am preparing my breakfast I send a quick text to my dad, notifying him he needs to do grocery shopping. I don’t expect a reply, I do expect a full fridge though. Washing the dishes I hear a car horn. Grabbing my bag, I lock the house and enter Isa’s car.

On our way to the beach we are blaring music and having fun. We are wearing a matching bikini set since Isa insisted we do, last night when we were FaceTiming and discussing plans for today. Ten minutes or three songs later we finally arrived. Even before my best friend parks her car, we can see the famous five playing beach volleyball along with one girl, which I recognize as Liam’s girlfriend Gabriella. Apparently she is a real sweetheart, but I have never talked to her. 

First of all, how on earth do they have so much energy in the morning? Second of all, why, why does Nathaniel look so good shirtless? Isa snaps my out of my trail of thoughts when she violently slams her car door. “Enough with the drooling Alex.” She playfully wiggles her eyebrows and drags me to where boys are. 

We all greet each other and briefly talk through our plans, Nathaniel being the one to explain it all. I think he alone should make a presentation on Monday. The way he naturally attracts attention is beyond me. We all agree on playing some volleyball first. We voted Nathaniel and Isa for captains. Then they called their team players. So on Nathaniel’s team there are Matt, Liam and Gabriella. And Isa has Jacob, Kaden and me. Thankfully all the boys are very athletic. I know teams should be smaller, but this way it will be more fun.

We also made a small bet. The losing team pays for lunch and since Jacob was complaining how he wants to be the one getting free lunch, our team was dead set on winning. Apparently so was theirs, since an hour later we are still at it. Both of the teams won one set. And we are now at the third and final one. Score being 12-10 for Nathaniel’s team. 

I am at the blockers position now and I see Nathaniel move to this same spot too. How oh earth can I block him? He is so much taller than me. Thankfully Matt misses his serving and we get a point, besides me not needing to block Nathaniel - or let’s say try to block him. We get a bit of a lucky strike in the next few minutes and the score is now 14-13 for our team. The bad part is I am again on block position with a brown-haired boy. 

Isa is serving and she does it very gracefully. Liam receives it, passing it to Nathaniel, who passes it to Matt. Matt sends it over the net and thankfully Jacob is more than ready. He passes the ball to me and Kaden sends the ball flying back to their team. What we did not expect is for it to be that low. From the corner of my eye I see Nathaniel jump trying to block the ball and I follow him. We simultaneously make contact with the ball, trying to push it to each other's sides. Then something unbelievable happens.

I manage to get an upper hand on the situation and Nathaniel and his team or too slow as the ball hits the ground. Earning us the last point, which results in our team winning and getting a free lunch. 

Isa, Jacob and Kaden come running to me, exclaiming in victory and laughing. 

We congratulate the other team for good play and everyone starts running towards water, in anticipation of cooling down from this tiring and sweaty activity. I take my time, this being the highest amount of workout I have done in some time. I notice Nathaniel waiting for me.

“Nice play.” He smirks at me.

“Thanks, you did great too. I didn’t think I would get that last point.” I laugh nervously letting my curls out of the disheveled looking bun.

“I knew you could do it. Even though you are smaller than me you have great jumping ability and sense for positioning.” He praises me. How does he know that? “I saw how you play at school.” He replies and skips a few steps ahead of me since Jacob called for him to hurry. I guess I voiced my question out loud. I follow his pace and join my friends in the cooling blue water. At least I assume we are friends.