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The Rubber Ball Theory.

The RBT explains most of people’s problem from the top of the political ladder to the bottom rungs of public schools. I might need to explain what it is first.

Well, let’s say you have two kids who are playing in the sand-box, a little rubber ball sitting forgotten in the corner. Then, one of the kids picks up the ball and starts playing with it. The second kid sees them and decides ‘I wanna play with the ball’. They fight over it and all they end up with are time-outs for beating on each other.

The RBT always gets you.

“Ari!”

Clarabella Fields turns, her black hair shining underneath the dull fluorescent lights and her green eyes sparkling innocently.

Tray jogged up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He flashed his teeth at her in a dazzling smile, his brown eyes mischievous, accented by his brown hair, mussed up with gel.

“Hey sweetie,” Clarabella said, walking down the hallway of the school. “What do you have now?” She asked, clutching the purple folder to her chest almost protectively.

“History. Mr Jacobs is pairing us up with different people for an assignment. I’m with Hanna.” He said, giving Ana an affectionate kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye and going to his class. Clarabella stood stock still.

Hanna Roberts was a very pretty girl with long blonde hair and baby blue eyes. They were very good friends but Hanna was renowned for ‘falling in love‘, very often. They used to make jokes about how those boys just ‘happened’ to already have girlfriends.

Clarabella walked down the hallway to her geography class, twisting her sapphire and cubic zirconium ring on the chain she had around her neck. It was a common thing for her whenever she was daydreaming. Her mind ran with images of her and Tray sitting down together at lunch and Hanna would walk by and his eyes would glance and get caught up.

Clarabella paused her musings then shook her head and continued walking to class.

‘He wouldn’t do that.’ She thought to herself, and then she saw Cale leaning against a wall, his blonde hair cut in a very Cillian Murphy way and his hazel eyes scanning the halls, looking for something.

When his eyes caught hers, he jogged over and smiled wide. He didn’t even need to ask, because this was also a common occurrence.

“You forgot what you have again.” She said more statement than question. Cale smiled innocently.

“I didn’t mean to. I lost my timetable. Again.” She said, putting on the ‘please help me’ puppy look. Ari shook her head and gave him a light pat on the head.

“We have geography. Now hurry up. We’re going to be late.” She said, taking off at a fast walk, with the forgetful blonde following behind.

They got to class just to figure out that their teacher was away and a substitute couldn’t be found, so they spent the period in the room, talking or listening to music.

“What’s wrong?” Cale asked, putting in one of the headphones of his iPod and offering the other to Clarabella. Ari took the headphone and put it in her ear, tapping her fingers sub-consciously to the tempo of the (what she thought was) Nickelback song.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a little paranoid.” She said, drawing little tattoo designs on her folder. Cale got a pen from her pencil case and grabbed a loose piece of paper, drawing some little sketches of his own.

“Tray?” He asked, chuckling when she got a little pout on her face that told him he was right. Clarabella scribbled out a small tattoo and restarted a new one, with little angel wings.

“Again. I’m just a little paranoid.” She said, and then showed him a few, letting him select one to be drawn on his arm. He chose a Japanese symbol with the English translation beneath, meaning ‘strength’.

“You think someone’s going to steal him away from you. I’m gonna take a stab and say Hanna.” He hid a wince when she slipped and jabbed the pen into his arm.

“How do you know so much?” She asked warily. He smiled at her and changed the song to something by three days grace.

“You read like an open book Ari. Alright, I’m going to give you some information that will get me killed but if it makes you less twitchy, I’m good.” He said, running a hand through his hair. Clarabella pretended she was just barely interested but inwardly she was paying very close attention.

“Me and Hanna are going out right now. She was going to tell you but she wanted to keep it a secret a little bit longer.” He said, admiring the now finished, temporary tattoo. Clarabella breathed out in relief.

“Thanks for making me feel better Cale,” She said giving his a light pat on the back. “You’re awesome.”

“I know I am. But, if I were you, I’d keep an eye on Karol Meadows. She’s just as bad a Hanna.” He said, turning up the volume of his iPod. Clarabella bit her lip. Karol was just as pretty as Hanna and had the same reputation with boyfriends. Other people’s of course.

Stupid Rubber Ball Theory.

Copyright Shawnee Benton 2010