Portals - The History Of Western High

If you had the chance to view parts of your life, would you? If you had the chance to see every mistake you would make in your life and had the chance to alter it so you would avoid ever making those mistakes, would you? I had the chance to change my life after I was shown every single Mistake, I would make but I still made them anyways even after I learned the consequences. The reason I did it was selfish, but the saying is you will learn from your mistakes, although I am yet to learn from mine. May 1963 -: Brent :- I stand in a room that has stone walls I'm alone looking at a large brown mirror Infront of me checking everything is perfect my Brown hair combed to exactly how she likes it, my dicky bow straight, and not a crease in sight on my suit, but something still doesn’t feel right, and it's not got anything to do with the way I look. Sunlight beams from the windows beside me, I move so I can see outside, children play in the park over the road I watch them for a few minutes, Ive always wanted children, one boy and one girl. My father told me about four years ago when I first proposed to my bride, Children change the way we see the world I would argue because the dreams I had nine years ago changed the way I see the world. I walk over to the table to pick up my cuff links and pop them into my sleeves. I hear footsteps behind me gradually getting slower as they get louder, I turn to face whoever is behind me and I am absolutely stunned it's the woman I dreamt about all those years ago or I assumed they were dreams, because right now she looks real to me, A sad smile appears on her pretty pale face, she looks me up and down taking me in. I run my hand through my combed hair as confusion wipes through me she looks the same as she did in my dreams. Her big Brown eyes are focused on me, looking dead into my eyes. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” Although I'm scared to hear the truth, I need answers. She shakes her head. “No... It wasn’t.” Tears start to fall one by one down her cheeks. On instinct I comfort her holding her close to me I pull away to wipe the tears from her face, she shakes her head again then reaches up using her fingers to comb through my hair until it's just how I like it...Not stuck to my scalp, she cups my cheek her eyes are still focused on me. “Everything is going to be okay!” The words are from my mouth although I do not really believe they are true, because now I know that the only woman, I have ever loved was real, I cannot live my life without her. “You know I will always love you, Brent!” She moves away from me walking until Shes out of the room leaving once again alone wondering if she really was here or if I had imagined it the only evidence is the patches on my suit from her tears, I realize now why today doesn’t feel right, it's because I'm marrying the wrong woman. 17th June 1954 -: Brent :- The bell rings signaling the end of school day, it's like a stampede when everyone is rushing out the building trying to get home, everyone except me, I sit at my desk waiting for an empty classroom, desks are moved out of the way as the crowd of people barge down the aisles, I move my bag from the floor beside me to my desk in case anyone kicks it. The Teacher Mr. Lee folds his arms across his chest his glasses halfway down his face Hes more than likely going over his speech about how I can improve my grade for this class, Science is not my favorite subject it never will be, I do not understand anything about the subject from the periodic table to the elements in it, the only fun in science is testing out the experiments the paperwork on the other hand is a big no for me. A slap noise brings me back to reality the room is empty, Mr. Lee has slammed a cane down on to the corner of my desk to get me to listen to him, the door is closed which I am thankful for because I don’t want half the school hearing I'm behind in science. “Are you listening to me boy!” He leans in, so he is right in front of me while shouting... I try to keep a straight face repeating “Don't laugh” over and over in my head because I know it will make the situation worse, Mr. Lee is the sort of teacher to call parents in to school when he doesn’t think Hes getting through to one of his students. “Yes Sir, Sorry Sir!” I lie, His eyes are red which he only does when he is extremely angry; his hair is pushed to one side a failed attempt at covering his receding hair line. “The only way you are going to pass this class Brent is for you to come here every day during lunch hour and catch up!” He yells his hands are on either side of my desk. I place my arm on top of my bag and pinch my chin with my thumb and forefinger. “I promise Sir I'll be here tomorrow to catch up on whatever I need to, I don't want to fail this class!” He accepts this as a good enough response because he walks back behind his desk, he pulls out a couple sheets of paper and slaps them on my bag Infront of me. “I want these completed tonight and brought back into me to mark tomorrow morning!” I check over the papers to see what exactly he has handed me and s**t I have to fill out every bit of the periodic table, If the other students in this class have done this, they are geniuses because I don't even know where to start! I toss the papers in my bag then leave my seat, slinging the bag over my shoulder, Im about to leave the room when Mr. Lee stops me... “Brent?” I turn to face him whilst hovering in the doorway I place my hand on the door frame and start to pick at the wood that is splintered. “12.05 I want to see you through that door tomorrow, don’t forget!” He snaps, I would love to see the day Mr. Lee smiles, but it's not possible happiness doesn’t exist to Mr. Lee he likes to make everyone as miserable as he is. “Yes Sir!” I open the door and leave glad to get out of that musky smelling classroom. I walk into the empty hallway; the school looks creepy when half the lights have been turned off and not a single soul is in sight, I hear a machine going off near the stairs that lead to the top floor, I check out the source of the noise to find the school janitor buffering the floor, he looks up at me quickly salutes then gets back to work. I shake my head pushing open the big double doors whilst covering my face with my arm, its bright taken me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust after being in the dark, I walk down the steps and notice my friends Ken and Sam standing by one of the trees that lean over the path in front of the school. Sam looks up when I am a few feet away from them. “There he is, what took you so long? Everyone left ten minutes ago.” He checks his watch. “Mr. Lee held me back to talk, you didn’t have to wait up we only live up the road.” I point in the direction of our houses. Ken Chuckles while shaking his head. "We are your friends Brent, we wouldn’t leave you to walk home by yourself, but I'm curious what did you do this time?” “I'm behind in his class so Hes pissed, Hes told me I need to spend my lunch hour catching up.” I didn't think science would be a priority subject for what I planned to do with my life, Science does not come in to being an insurance manager at my father's company, but he has said I have to have good grades before he hires me that means I need to pass every class including Science... Ken leans next to the tree. “Ouch! Rather you than me!” He whistles. “Yup...I'd rather someone else than me but there you go.” We start walking towards our houses Ken and Sam start a conversation about something that happened in school today, I only catch parts of what they were saying something about a fight. “Who got into a fight?” I suddenly feel interested enough to ask them who they are talking about. Sam stops outside my house. “Kevin and Michael!” “What were they fighting over?” I ask. “One thing that’s not worth fighting over, A girl from our Maths class...” Ken scrunches his eyes.” Emily, I think her name is.” He finally tells me. I'm glad we made a promise we would never fight over a girl, Kevin and Michael were best friends and now they let a girl get between them it's insane I can't imagine letting a girl get between us no one on this planet is worth losing our friendship over. We have been friends for ages since we were little there use to be four of us that hung out the fourth was Malcom, soon as we got into high school, he had decided he was above us and started hanging out with the boys who dated the popular girls. We all have a different personality I am the joker of the group, Kens the shy one and Sam is the smart one, when Malcom was friends with us, he was the d**k. “I thought she was dating Michael?” I ask. Ken sounds like Hes sucking up air with his mouth before he says. “Turns out Shes dating them both!” Usually when someone dates two people at once and gets caught, they are not usually seen with anyone else because then they have a reputation for two timing, Ive heard rumors about men who were dating two girls at the same time being accused of having s*x with them. Having s*x before Marriage is rare, My parents have told me that usually its best for your first time to be with someone special and that special someone was usually your wife, at this point in my life I agree, I recently started dating a girl Miranda we met at school, she is gorgeous and smart but after our first date I cannot see it going any further than that she still sends me little notes in class I have not told her that I do not want this isnt working out yet! She does not talk much I only get a few sentences out of her then she starts making things awkward. “Thats terrible I wouldn’t have been shocked if a guy did it to two girls but a girl doing it to two guys has surprised me!” The boys nod “Anyways I'll see you tomorrow.” I walk towards my house and open my front door. My mother is a housewife she loves to clean, our house is immaculate not a single thing out of place as I am eighteen, I do not really make much mess not as much as I did when I was younger, I know that's why I don’t have any siblings she is an obsessive cleaner, I heard when I made even the littlest of mess, she would get frustrated I guess she knew then she couldn’t go through having any more children. My father on the other hand wanted a big family he did not shy away from the idea of having a full table of children to come home to every afternoon, but he let that dream go because he loved my mother and he seen the way it affected her with just having me. Shes sat on the sofa reading a book when I walk in, her dark Brown curled hair frames her face emphasizing her dark blue eyes, my father likes to tell me stories about how he met her she was dating someone else, but he did not hold back his feelings for her. he told her for years that one day she was going to be his wife he was right because four years later they were walking down the aisle a year after that they had welcomed me into the world. “Darling make sure you take off your shoes before you come into the living room!” “Okay Mom!” I quickly take off my shoes and neatly put them next to the front door, I lean over the sofa wondering what she is reading I see the words the catcher in the Rye printed across the cover, she is a big reader to prove it you can find a room upstairs full of shelfs that house all her books, it is like a mini library but a lot cleaner not a single speck of dust lingers on those books. “How was school?” She lifts her head to look at me. “It was ok, but I have to go to Science on my lunch breaks to catch up!” I huff, it sounded good at the time in front of Mr. Lee, now I am just getting fed up with the idea it will be even worse when I walk through his door tomorrow. “So, you will need pack lunches for the rest of the month, right?” Usually, she gets mad at me when she hears I am not doing particularly good at certain subjects but today she is calm which is surprising Shes the stricter parent while my father is more laid back. “Yes please!” I give her a kiss on the cheek, and she pats my arm. I make my way to my room, its mostly Plain, the walls are painted a light blue, the curtains that surround my window are Cream, so are my quilt and pillows on my bed which is Infront of the window two units one on each side of my bed, one holds my alarm clock, the other a cream-colored light by my door is my wardrobe and then on the opposite wall from the window is my desk and chair. I sit on my chair and pull out the work Mr. Lee had given me out of my bag I start with what I know which is very little eventually I make it to the last sheet of paper the periodic table, it takes me a long time to complete it an hour or so and I'm not even sure if it is right. By the time I am finished I notice its seven-o clock Dinner time, I make my way down the stairs and sit at the ready set table, the tablecloth is grey with a white table runner in the center, A bunch of pink flowers rest on top of it, the table is only usually decorated like this when we have guests, I study the table realizing that it has been set for four people rather than the normal three. My parents enter the dining area placing four glasses near the cutlery that has already been set out. “Is someone joining us for dinner?” I ask as my father pours wine into my glass; I quickly take a sip. “Your mother spoke to Miranda while she was shopping yesterday Shes invited her for dinner. "He replies... I spit the wine back into my cup and start to choke, he pats my back lightly. “Why would you do that?” I snap. My father looks at me taken back by anger. “We thought you two were dating That’s what she's told your mother?” I don't want to tell my father that I plan to tell Miranda I do not want to date her anymore, because he is friends with her father in fact her father works at my father's company So, I just decide to go along with it. “I am... We are, I'm just surprised that’s all!" He smiles at me. “Good... because Shes sitting next to you!” I run my hands down my face, she only be here an hour... Two Max surly I can deal with that a knock on the door makes me jump a little, I don't bother to move out of my seat I enjoy my last five seconds of peace taking another sip of my wine I let my parents deal with it, I will be surprised if more than ten sentences come out of her tonight. “Hey Mr. and Mrs. Kain!” I shiver as her voice goes through me. “Hello Miranda, it's so good to see you! Brent is already sat in the dining room, come on in I just got to help his father dish out the food.” She does not say anything, but I hear the clacking of her shoes on the wood flooring coming closer to me, she clears her throat. Shes standing in the dining room arch twisting one of her ginger curls with her fingers while gesturing for me to pull out her chair with her other hand, I huff and stand up to pull it out then push it back in when she finally sits down her green eyes meet mine. “Thank you!” She looks at me irritated. “You're welcome!” Its awkward I don’t know what to say to her, so we don't say anything else until my parents place our food in front of us. “The food looks delicious Mr. Kain!” Miranda says as she raises the fork to her mouth. My father raises his glass. “Thank you, Miranda! I hope it tastes as good as it looks.” She starts tucking in but does not eat much of the food, I smile at my parents, my mother gives me a look to say something, I know what they are thinking, it was a mistake inviting her its awkward she does not say anything like at all... My father attempts to make conversation... “So, what are your plans after you finish school Miranda?” Miranda puts her fork down and takes a sip from her glass. “Honestly, I don’t know.” She says rather bluntly. I Snicker to myself, my father notices me doing it but doesn’t say anything because she is being rude, he attempts one again to make conversation. “Well, Brent has a job ready for him once he finishes in a few weeks... don’t you Brent?” Even though I know it won't help with Miranda as she doesn’t like to talk much, I still help my father out by keeping the conversation flowing. “Yes, I can't wait to start, I'm looking forward to learning more about it dad!” Miranda takes another sip of her drink... “It's sounds like your joking?” We all scowl at her. “What?” I ask, confused on how she thinks I'm being sarcastic. She raises her eyebrows. “You sound like your being sarcastic!” She chuckles. “Well, I'm not I really am looking forward to learning more about my father's company!” I shake my head in disgust I can't believe she's trying to pick a fight in front of my parents. “Ok... Can I please have more wine Mrs. Kain?” She backs down and changes the subject which only angers me more. My mother smiles and stands up. “Of course, you can!” She walks around the table to pour more wine in to Mirandas glass, She gives me a wary look then walks back to her seat. “Thank you!” Miranda says as she forces a fake smile. After dinner I help clean up the table while Miranda sits in her seat and watches, the only help she offers is lifting the wine glass when I go to remove the tablecloth. Before Miranda is about to leave, she stops at the front door “Thank you for dinner, Mr. And Mrs. Kain, Brent, I'll see you at school tomorrow, ok?” I nod closing the door behind her, I feel relieved that she was only here two hours I don’t think I could have stuck with her any longer. “Well, that was...delightful don’t you agree honey?” My father snorts. “Yeah, it sure was!” They both head into the living room. I have school tomorrow, so I decide on an early night I get ready for bed and then drift off to sleep just as my head hits the pillow.