School

I have to leave work early today so I head out of the apartment by 7:30, which even after a laundry drop will get me to the office sooner that any day in the past two weeks.

Adam E. is about a block ahead of me on 0verlook Terrace. Every once in a while, I export my address book to Facebook and "friend" the whole lot. Inevitably, some people don't accept, but Adam actually wrote back to apologize for rejecting me. He uses Facebook exclusively for communicating with elementary school classmates and others from his past, never anyone from the present. His excuse, if real, is a terrible waste of social networking, and I hope he was making it up just to avoid being FB friends.

On the platform, I can see Adam still ahead of me. I'm walking along and thinking of the Facebook incident when someone calls my name. It's loud, as if maybe it had been called out once or twice already and I just hadn't hear it. I turn around and it's Jay B. I just met him yesterday, at the Heightsbridge After Party. He asks what I do, which seems abrupt without some lighter pleasantries and especially this early in the morning. Desperate to get to my usual spot, if only because I'm in such a hurry, I am short with him and don't engage, offering quick answers to his questions. He finally bids me a good day and I continue on.

On the train, there is a girl sitting next to me who I'm pretty sure I recognize from the neighborhood. She is blonde, wearing a white t-shirt with a black hoodie, and blue jeans. She has a backpack labeled "Hot Shot" and is reading a textbook on chemistry. She is up to Chapter 13: Chemical Kinetics and the Rates of Reaction, not bad for the start of a new semester.