A Time and Place to Breathe

Lawrence was in the worst state of his entire life. It was currently Monday morning, May the eleventh. The following week after the trip to the beach. Just as he had thought, he wasn't able to get a lick of studying done during the occasion other than re-writing his notes for the second time this year. The other case for his down in the dumps mood was because the Thursday and Friday that followed the beach were also completely corrupted by Chio's unwavering determination to fix his asthma, although in his head she was just making it worse.

Ah! This sucks! I haven't been able to study in a whole week! At this rate I am going to be following in my fathers footsteps as a full time construction worker who barely has any time off! Lawrence thought, screaming into his pillow hoping time would come to an abrupt stop so he could catch up on all his lost education.

Lawrence pulled his face out from his pillow and glanced at his desk. On top of the many scattered notes that laid about, and countless eraser shavings, was the gift he had received from Chio: the red good luck charm with the word “Athletics” written on the side.

Really, as if I needed good luck in that of all things.

While staring down the gift, Lawrence recalled the trip that took place only a few days ago, the warm beach, the shopping districts with too many ice cream shops littered about, and the cramped cave. He remembered only part of the conversation, especially the part right after he smoothly threw his jacket around Chio.

Ah! Why did I do something like that! He buried his face in the abused pillow once more. What was I even trying to say in the first place! Was I trying to act like the cool, level headed protagonist or something?! That was so embarrassing!

A knock was heard from his door, interrupting his spontaneous spark of embarrassment.

“Lawrence, I think this is yours.” his dad said, opening his room door. He held a pure white letter in his hand as he walked in. “It’s probably from that college you’re trying to get into.”

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for that, thank you.” he said, taking the letter from his fathers hand.

“Also, uh, it may just be my imagination, but I feel like I was being disrespected just a moment ago.” his dad said, scratching his scalp.

“Your imagination really is weird.” Lawrence said, putting on a poker face.

“It is, isn't it! This is what happens when you get old so be ready for when it’s your turn!” he said, roughing up Lawrence’s hair. “Welp, I’m heading out, I’ll see yah later tonight!”

“Take care.” Lawrence said, annoyed that his hair was now messed up.

He remembered the letter in his hand and pulled a chair out from under his desk to sit on. Propping his elbows on top of the wooden counter, he started to stare at the envelope intensely before ripping it open. He pulled out a neat, formally written letter from inside and fully read its contents. He slowly laid the paper face down onto the desk and looked up at his ceiling.

Man, things really have gotten worse.

Lawrence packed his bags and made his way to school, knowing that even in a place dedicated to studying he wouldn't be able to further his education for even a second.

“Hey Lawrence! Good morning!” Chio yelled, waving him down at the bridge. Brett as always was waiting alongside her, and since the field trip, Livi has been joining them as well. Although instead of walking, she would always pedal her bike to school and back.

“Chio, it’s too early to be shouting that loud.” Livi said, trying to keep herself from falling asleep.

“What are you talking about! Energy is the best caffeine!” she said loudly.

“The thing is, I don’t want any caffeine.” Livi grumbled.

“Oh! You bought a new backpack, Lawrence?” Brett asked, walking towards him.

“My dad’s the one that got it for me. He picked it up on his way home from work while we were at the beach.” Lawrence informed.

Brett closed in and examined the bag, it was dark brown and had a large strap to hang around the shoulders and across the chest. It was relatively small and had very few pockets, but it was enough to carry his binder full of notes and flashcards which was all Lawrence needed.

“Nice, very nice! You better hope Chio doesn’t throw that one in the river either.” Brett joked

“H-hey wait!” Chio said surprised.

“You threw Lawrence's bag into the river?” Livi asked, puzzled.

“What, no! I mean well, yes I did, but I swear it wasn’t on purpose!”

The four of them began on the path that would take them to school while Brett and Livi continued to pick on the local bag thrower, Chio.

“I hope you all had a great time at the beach last week.” the homeroom teacher said once everyone had arrived at their desk.

“I wish we had the last two days off.” a voice said quietly from within the sea of desk. A few giggles followed.

“I wished for that as well.” the homeroom teacher sorely responded. “Although you all have another thing to look forward to. Since the completion of the year theme is centered around the number three, the second event will be held Friday, May the fifteenth.

A roar of celebration erupted from the class, Brett being the main source of noise.

“Heck yeah!” one student screamed.

“It’s finally time for the class battles!” another yelled.

“We are definitely going to take home the gold this year!” Brett shouted.

“Calm down you guys, it's only Monday, you all still have plenty more days of school before then.” the teacher said.

The entire class sunk down into their desks in disappointment. Lawrence could have sworn he saw Brett starting to cry.

Homeroom went on as normal and gym class soon filled its place, rejuvenating the joy in the class. Livi had started abandoning her whole sleep in the nurse's office act, and has instead been joining Chio and Lawrence in the barren gym. Brett would even hang out with them when a big sports match wasn’t happening amongst the class. Today was one of those days.

“Um, what exactly are the class battles?” Chio asked, confused.

“What? You don’t know what the class battles are!” Brett screamed, echoing inside of the empty gym.

“She can’t help it Brett, she only got here at the beginning of this year.” Livi said.

“What is it? It sounds super important!” Chio said, intrigued.

“My dear Chio, It could only be described as one of the few miracles earth has to offer.” Brett said, standing on the bleachers for added dramatic effect. “Once every year a fierce battle takes place between the senior A and B class. During this battle both sides give it their all with each student pouring sweat and tears in hopes of winning the glorious war that is the class battles.”

“Woah! That sounds super amazing!” Chio said, brimming with excitement.

“I assure you it is.” Brett confidently said..

“What all happens during the class battles!” Chio asked, thrilled to learn more.

“The thing is, we actually don’t know until the day of.” Livi told her. “They like to keep it a mystery so neither class can prepare in advance.”

“Although they do always have one event that they keep year round, and that's the event I am going to win!” Brett yelled.

“What’s that?” Chio asked with sparkling eyes.

“The event I will take first in, is none other than the men's 5k!” Brett said, showing his pride in sports.

“Aren't you too big to win that?” Lawrence jabbed at him.

“It’s strength training! Strength training I tell you!”

“If you keep denying it you’ll be overweight before we graduate.” Lawrence said.

“What about you? Are you running in the race, mister. I-lost-in-a-basketball-game-against-a-girl?” Brett asked smugly.

“I couldn’t help it! Chio is super athletic!” Lawrence responded. “And of course I’m not running in the 5k. Even if I could I still wouldn’t, it's probably boring to just run for a long time.”

“Says the guy who buries himself in school notes all day.” Brett grumbled.

“Lawrence, you should definitely run!” Chio said, her shining eyes now peering into his soul. “You should definitely give it a shot!”

“There’s no way Chio, not even possible.” he said, getting rid of the insane idea.

“But it isn’t impossible is it!” she said..

“You aren't making any sense Chio.”

“Come on, at least give it a shot Lawrence, it is mandatory after all.” Brett informed.

“Completely out of the question. I’m just going to do what every other graduating student does when they wish to not participate, and drop out right when it starts.” He responded.

“Aw but that's totally lame!” Chio cried.

“It fits Lawrence though.” Livi said, jumping in the conversation.

“No way am I pushing my body to its breaking point only to slowly jog a few miles.”

“Fine then, we’ll stop asking you to run.” Chio pouted.

“Thank you for understanding. Now let me get back to studying.” Lawrence said, looking down at his binder.

“So as for today's gym activity, we will be practicing for long distance running!” Chio exclaimed.

“Heck yeah let’s give it all we got!” Brett yelled.

“You got to be kidding me…” Lawrence mumbled.

Gym class finally ended with Lawrence only being able to make it one lap around the basketball court before needing to rest for half an hour. Lunch came and went just as fast, once again Lawrence not getting any studying done because of Chio. The rest of the day went just like they had the first week she had started to pester Lawrence, in fact they only continued to grow more miserable. School used to be the time of the day Lawrence looked forward to the most, now finally going home was his saving grace, and at last that time was just upon them. The bell gave off its signature ring, and soon the classroom desks became empty, at least all but Lawrence’s.

“You said you had something you wanted to talk about, sir?” Lawrence asked his homeroom teacher.

“Ah sorry for making you wait so long Lawrence.” the teacher said stacking papers on his desk. “I would have mentioned it this morning but I figured you wouldn’t want your friends to hear it.”

Lawrence was getting a bad feeling about where this conversation was heading. It felt familiar to the previous one they had about his grades, no, it felt even worse.

“With everything that has been going on, and the fact that you all are so close to graduating-” the teacher spoke.

Here it comes! Lawrence braced himself.

“We have decided to make the class battles non-mandatory for you. All of the staff members at the school understand how hard you are working towards getting into a good school, and we are all proud of you. Taking that in mind as well as what happened on the first night at the beach, we have decided that you shouldn’t push yourself too much. Especially near the end of the school year.” his homeroom teacher said. “Uh, Lawrence… aren't you smiling a tad too much?”

“Huh? Oh! Sorry sir!” Lawrence said not being able to wipe the bold smirk off of his face.

His teacher let out a comforting laugh. “You’re a weird one Lawrence, but even though we are excusing you from coming, doesn’t mean you have to stay at home all day. If the activities are too much for you to handle you can always just cheer on your classmates from the side lines.”

“Yes sir!” Lawrence said.

The homeroom teacher walked past him and tapped on the back of his

seat. “Well anyways, good job so far kid, keep up the good work.”

After the teacher left, Lawrence quickly grabbed his new bag and made way out of the classroom, thinking the world was finally on his side for once. He met up with Chio, Brett, and Livi who were all waiting for him to head home.

“Oh? Lawrence you look like you’re in a good mood, did something happen?” Chio asked curiously a few minutes into the walk as they approached the large red bridge.

“Huh? No way Lawrence is in a good mood without a textbook in his hand.” Livi said.

“This is a scientific breakthrough Livi! We must document this!” Brett chimed in.

“Go ahead and poke fun all you want, you’re not gonna break my spirit, not today.” Lawrence said proudly.

“What exactly happened!?” Chio excitedly asked..

“It’s honestly nothing special, but I was given permission to not attend the class battles. The homeroom teacher said something about it being close to graduation and with what happened at the beach, they were going to give me this day off.” Lawrence stretched out his arms in the air. “Man does a three day weekend sure sound nice right now.”

“Eh, lucky.” Livi said. “I wish I could sleep on that day.”

“You sleep every day Livi.” Brett sighed.

“Hold on.” Chio said, stopping the conversation and coming to a stop herself. “Lawrence, you don’t plan to come to the class battles at all?” she asked.

“Uh, not really.” he said.

“What! Why not? It only happens once and it seems like the whole class is really looking forward to it!”

“I just don’t really have a passion for that sort of thing Chio, plus I’ve been lacking in my studies recently because of a certain someone.” he let out an obvious cough. “So having that day off is something I really needed right now.”

Chio pouted at Lawrence's response. “Come on Brett, tell Lawrence he has to come! He definitely has to come!”

“I’m not really sure Chio.” Brett started to scratch his head. “We have been pushing Lawrence a little bit too much at gym class, and he managed to come to the beach with us at least. I think it's fine if he takes a break. He doesn’t have his inhaler anyways so if something happened with his asthma it wouldn’t be good.”

Chio pouted even more, but didn’t further the conversation. Instead she kept quiet the entire walk back to the bridge.

It was now Tuesday, only four more days until the class battles, or in Lawrence's case, his three day study camp. When arriving at the meet up spot something was clearly out of place. Standing at the red bridge was Brett, and Livi. Yet Chio was nowhere in sight.

Brett had told Lawrence that Chio said she was going to run up to the school without them today, although she didn't say exactly why. It was weird not having Chio walk alongside them to school after it has been that way for so long.

Once they arrived at their classroom Chio could be found sitting at her usual desk. Livi greeted her from the door and sat down at her own desk near the back of the class. Brett and Lawrence did the same as they walked past her. She politely greeted them back and that was all. Lawrence took his seat and began getting ready for homeroom.

During gym period Chio said she was feeling really energetic today and joined the rest of the class outside, including Brett. Besides Livi sleeping on one of the bleachers, Lawrence finally had the gym back to himself after so long. He was overjoyed with excitement and quickly began studying without interruption.

Lunch soon came and went, so did the next class and the one after that. All of them being Chio free. Lawrence magically had the whole day to himself just like the good old times. The bell rang to dismiss the students and everyone rushed outside.

“Sorry I have to get home really quick so I'm going to go ahead.” Chio said with a smile.

She took off in a jog and just like this morning it was only the three of them heading home.

“It really is weird not having Chio here.” Brett said.

“I wonder why she’s acting like that, she doesn't seem sad or anything.” Livi responded.

“It truly is a mystery, she was perfectly normal during the soccer game this morning. Lawrence, would you happen to know the reason?” Brett asked.

“Huh, I’m not exactly positive, why are you asking me?”

“Well you are the closest one to her.” Brett said with a straight face.

“Is that how it looks to you guys?!” Lawrence asked. “I’m not exactly sure what goes on in her head anyways.”

“But weren't you the one that figured out she was near the beach during the storm.” Livi said, swaying back and forth on her bike.

“Well yeah but that was more of a lucky guess than anything. It just happened to work out.” Lawrence exhaled.

“Well let's just hope she joins us tomorrow.” Brett exclaimed.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Once again Chio was absent at the meet up spot. As for gym class and everything that followed, It was an exact repeat of the day before. Chio was never near Lawrence, or the group for that matter.

Wednesday and Tuesday were Identical. Chio didn’t pester Lawrence at all. He had the whole week completely to himself and was able to study just like the peaceful days before she had arrived. The week quickly flew by.

Lawrence woke up from his nap. He got out of his bed and grabbed his school uniform from his closet but put it back remembering today was friday, the day he did not have to attend school. He put on his baggy, dark gray pajamas and started to study at his desk. After a few minutes of intense studying, Lawrence heard a knock at his door.

“Lawrence, are you in there?” his dad asked.

“Yeah I am” he responded.

Lawrence's dad opened the door with a loud creaking sound. “To think the day would come where my boy would skip class, although I don’t know what the purpose is if you're just going to study.” he said.

“Don’t worry I’m not skipping, the school excused me for today.”

“Huh? Did something happen?” his father inquired.

“No, the class battles are today and the staff didn’t want me to be forced to participate.” Lawrence said, continuing to write in his notes.

“Ah, the class battles. Those were the days. Believe it or not your old man was the MVP for his class.” his dad said proudly.

Lawrence ignored him and continued to study.

His dad let out a soft smile. He knew his boy wasn’t perfect, but he was working hard towards something, and that was all that mattered to him. “Lawrence, your mother enjoyed the class battles as well. She made a lot of fun memories there. If you have time you should stop by to watch your classmates.”

Lawrence stopped his writing and paused for a second before responding “Sure dad.”

“Welp this old geezer is heading out, I'm locking the door so don’t throw a party while I am gone.” he said as he slowly shut Lawrence’s room door.

Lawrence scribbled just a bit before setting down his pencil. “Ah, that kind of ruined my mood.” he mumbled. “I guess they're about to start right about now.” he said, noticing the clock. Lawrence’s eyes looked in the direction of the charm Chio had bought him. It was sitting under the lamp he used to study during the night. He gave it a good look and then got up from his chair. “I guess I’ll get something to drink.”

Once he walked out of his room and into the kitchen Lawrence heard a knock at the front door. “Did you really forget something?” he mumbled as he went to unlock the door for his dad.

He pulled the door open and standing in front of him was someone completely different than what he thought. The person outside of his door was drenched with sweat and sitting on a bicycle, Livi’s bike to be precise. Although the figure outlined by the rising sun was definitely taller than the owner of the bike. Every time she took a deep breath of oxygen sweat would drip from her hair and plop onto the morning grass. It was definitely Chio, and the next words that would come out of her mouth would echo in Lawrence's head for as long as he lived.