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Ninety Degrees: A Precursor to Small Circles (5.20.14)
If there were two things Silas McFuller knew about
the world, it was that life is not always fair, but everything happens for a
reason. From a very young age, he’d come to know that despite all of the trials
and tribulations one must go through in order to survive, good things normally
came out of the bad. Even the worst of things proved to have some sort of
purpose behind them. For seventeen years, he trusted that nature’s forces had
the best intentions, and so far, he hadn’t been proven wrong.
When
Silas was fifteen, he broke his arm jumping on a trampoline, thus preventing
him from being able to pitch the rest of baseball season. He eventually came to
understand that the time he’d spent away from his favorite sport had allowed
him to pursue another passion. He picked up photography and spent time noticing
the little things. It was this that led to Silas meeting his best friend
Charleigh McAfee.
Charleigh
was a free spirit, as most would describe her. A true rebel without a cause.
Her bleach-blonde hair was accented with a different pop of color each week,
and she covered the soles of her shoes in writing with lyrics from her favorite
songs or quotes from her favorite books. She wasn’t the skinniest of girls, but
not in an unhealthy way. She had curves for days and her broad shoulders made
her appear wider than she actually was. Secretly, Charleigh wasn’t comfortable
in her skin, but she never showed it. Her positive attitude reached as high as
the sky, and it rubbed off on those around her, especially Silas.
Silas
McFuller was not a free spirit. He tried to be at the best of times, but his
true nature was very much stuck. He longed for the freedom Charleigh carried in
her charisma, but honestly, Silas cared too much. He had a secret, too – one
not even his best friend knew just yet – and it was this secret that made his
high school experience much different than the rest.
Silas and
Charleigh attended Chattanooga Preparatory School. It is, along with it’s
sister school Foster and Allan Academy, a very prestigious establishment. It is
also considered the lesser of the two, due to rumor that only the students
whose families can’t afford boarding are sent there. The school houses grades
9-12, and Silas and Charleigh had first met their freshman year. Silas had
recently moved from North Carolina, and Charleigh, she’d been a part of the
area since she first learned how to breathe. She had taken it upon herself to
show him the ropes and familiarize him with the area she’s called home for so
long. It didn’t take much for the two to find a common ground. They both
enjoyed the arts – to be fair, Silas had only just picked up on this hobby –
and Charleigh bragged about her marvelous works of art scattered about the
town. Her most potent form of expression was through her murals. Graffiti would
be the proper term, of course, but she spoke of them like they were to be
compared to Michelangelo’s renderings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Each masterpiece told a story, either of her or someone she’d known in her
fifteen years of life. After that day, Silas secretly hoped that he could make
an impact like that on someone in his life. Enough so that he could inspire a
masterpiece. He’d always been a hopeless romantic, and leaving an impression
that huge meant what he did mattered. It happened for a reason.
Now, the
friends were starting their final year at CPS. They were seniors, at last. It
had seemed like a long awaited journey for the both of them. They’d gone
through a lot, but they still had one more year, and there were plenty of
things they hadn’t faced yet.
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