Solo introduction

“Sol, are you okay?” A muffled voice asked, “Solomon?”
“… uh what?” Sol asked as he snapped back into reality.
“You were looking down at your shoes, is everything alright?” Sol’s math teacher asked.
“Yea, I was just uh thinking, do you need something?” Sol said with a lost look in his eyes.
“No, I was just making sure you were alright.”
“Yea, I just caught a thought train,” Sol said with a light chuckle.
He knew that his teacher didn’t believe him, but Sol wasn’t too worried about it, most of his life Sol had been interrupted mid-thought to be asked if everything was “all good”. He had stopped trying to convince everyone that he was perfectly fine because they never believed him. Always the same look like they “understood” that there was an underlying problem that he was too proud to admit to.
“What were you thinking about?” Mr. Wallers asked.
“This douche thinks he is doing some good by acting interested in me,” Sol thought to himself.
“I was just thinking about how I was going to work up the nerve to ask Casey out.” Sol blurted out without thinking about how personal it was.
“Casey Lennox? The girl in your class?”
A little red in the face Sol replied “Yea, that one,” with the best smile he could muster.
“Well you could go old school with a box of chocolates, a rose and a genuine smile,” Mr. Wallers suggested.
“I don’t care how it happens, I just need to find the confidence to actually do it,” Sol replied.
“Well Solomon, the thing about girls is…”
“I wonder if I have any math homework due next period, not like I was gonna get it done last night anyway, I need to stop obsessing over her, I think I am losing myself, crap, I am doing it again, he is going to expect me to have some sort of reply and I have not been listening at all, I should probably stop all this crazy psycho inner dialogue and talk to this self-righteous jack-hole,” Sol thought to himself as he came back to Wallers’ spiel.
“… and if you don’t respect that, then you will never get anywhere,” Mr. Wallers finished.
“Thanks Mr. Wallers, I will take that in to consideration, but I need to go find Eddie, I’ll see you in math,” Sol spat out in an attempt to get away from this terrible conversation as he stood up and walked away from the classroom.
As he was walking away he started looking through his backpack to see if he had math homework, then something tripped him and the next thing he knew he was face first on the ground.
“Oh crap, I thought you had seen me!” Rang out, the most beautiful voice Sol had heard his entire life.
When he looked up her messy black hair was barely contained in a bun and she was bending over to give him a hand up. “I’m so sorry!” She said a couple more than a couple times.
As her hand touched his to help him up all rational thought left Sol’s mind, “Uh uhmm, ha, don’t worry about it,” Sol said with the biggest dumbest smile on his face. Feeling the smile pushing the boundaries of his face he quickly fixed it and instead turned a shade of red that had never been seen before.
Casey looked at him with a smile that was expecting something else from him.
“Was there math homework last night?” Sol asked in an attempt to avoid being vulnerable.
The smallest hint of disappointment shot across her face as she replied, “Yes, you lazy bum you never pay attention to anything,”
“Well so! I have important things on my mind-“
“Like what?” Casey interrupted
Completely caught off guard Sol had nothing to say and sort of got lost in her light brown eyes.
“Solly?”
“Sorry, uh I don’t know, just important things okay,” He said hoping she would be satisfied.
 “Mhmm,” she hummed at him.
“And I thought I asked you not to call me that.”
“Oh yea, I remember that,” She said with a smile and a sparkle in the eye.
“Hey Casey” Sol said finally defeating the monster in his stomach that has been holding on to his tongue this entire time.
“Yea Sol?” Casey replied with excitement bursting at her seams.
“I… I,” Sol stammered slowly, “I think-“BUUUUU the bell rang across the school signifying the next cell for the prisoners to shuffle towards. “I think we should go to math,” Sol said with a small sigh of disappointment.
“Yea… let’s go to math,” She said slightly downtrodden.
The rest of the day was sort of a blur, he was stuck in his head, and he didn’t see Casey at all after math.

“Ey Sol snap out of it,” Eddie said as he walked up to Sol after school.
“Eddie, what’s up man?” Sol replied looking up from his stupor.
“You know, you know, want to hang out son?” Eddie asked.
“Naw, I want to go home and figure some things out.”
“Still haven’t asked Casey?”
“I was so close today Eddie, the damn bell cut me off and killed my mojo.”
“All I hear are excuses Solo,” Eddie said with a wink.
“Stop trying to goad me into asking her out,” Sol said with a light grin, “let us commence our long journey home.”
“Psh long for me ya jerk,” Eddie shot back.
And so the laughter began, all the way home, nothing was better at putting the pip back into Solomon’s step than Eddie’s company.
“Well I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sol said to Eddie as he walked up his driveway.
“Yup,” Eddie replied with a wave and a grin.

Sol went through the steps at his house as usual and it finally became time for his bed, the place he had been looking forward to since school ended, his Zen garden, his personal space for thoughts where no one would ask him if he was alright. But instead of time to reflect he fell asleep immediately.
The next thing he knew he was in 1st period staring at Casey, as usual, but this time she wasn’t paying him any attention, he couldn’t see her face perfectly, but it was definitely Casey, maybe. Every time she looked around it was like her face was just barely at the wrong angle to see it clearly. He stood up to shout at her, but no noise came out, “Thank God,” he thought to himself, “that would have been embarrassing, I don’t know what I was thinking.” What struck him as odd was that no one reacted to his sudden jump out of his chair. He tried to take a step but that lurch you get from trying to step on the last stair that wasn’t there hit him and he was falling through all the memories he had with Casey, just as before her face was just barely out of reach. As he was floating down towards a light that was getting bigger Sol thought to himself, “Well that’s sad, so long and I haven’t made one move.” He looked down and he saw a classroom getting closer and closer so he braced for impact, he stopped at where the ceiling should be and was just looking down into the classroom. First thing he saw was Casey, wearing the same clothes as the classroom he was in before he started falling, then he looked over at his chair and he was sitting with his head down asleep.
“Sol?” A faint voice was calling out to him as whatever was holding him up released him. Just as he hit the floor a hand poked his arm. “Sol, are you serious? Wake up,” Mr. Wallers said from above him, “sleep is for your bed, not my lecture.” He then returned to the front of the room and continued.
Sol looked over at Casey, she was laughing at him, and she was wearing the same clothing as before, so he figured he was still dreaming. He stood up and yelled “Casey, I think I’ve fallen for you!” Her laughter turned to an embarrassed shocked face. Sol didn’t believe that the words came out, he figured the silence would win again.
“Sol, though I am happy that you finally built up the courage, I would like to ask you to leave the class or sit down and pay attention; that is enough disruptions for one day.” Mr. Wallers said after sitting in the awkward silence for long enough.
“Wait, this isn’t a dream?” Sol asked, officially considering jumping off of a bridge.
“Mr. Rew, are you trying to be funny?” Wallers asked
Sol had nothing left to say, he just looked into Wallers eyes, horrified shaking his head.
“Talk to me after class please, for now you need to get some fresh air, leave before you make a bigger fool of yourself.”
At that Sol turned and walked outside and sat down against the wall.
A couple minutes later he heard the scrapes of the chairs as the students got ready to leave, "Great," he thought to himself.
Before the bell rang the door opened, Sol expected a tall teacher to walk out, but to his surprise, Casey, all 5 feet 3 inches as red as Sol came out looking straight at him.
"Look, I'm so sor-" Sol began, but was interrupted with her kiss, so he returned fire and everything that could possibly weigh him down, the embarrassment of the whole class watching him, the fact that in 5 hours he was going to have to go back home to a family that only knew how to love each other when others were watching, the other silly baggage that came along with teenagerdom,  it all didn't matter, just another oxygen particle in the atmosphere he was breathing through his nose, because for those 3 minutes, or 3 seconds, or however long that kiss lasted, Sol had finally found his happy place, a saying he never quite comprehended until now.
They were still in the middle of their embrace, when the bell rang and the classrooms began emptying out into the hallway, "Wait, that bell doesn't sound right," Sol thought to himself, just then he opened his eyes and his alarm was in the middle of its early morning ritual of shrieking offensively. He sat up and hit snooze then fell back on his pillow with a sigh, "The wait was finally over."

Sol then got up to beat his mom into the only shower and his head was in a fog until he looked up and his high school was creeping towards him. “Have a nice day sweetie,” Sol’s mother said as he opened the door of the mini-van. “Bye mom,” he said, still half-stuck in his mind. He walked away without turning back, thinking of how he could possibly end this terrible wait.


    "Sol are you serious?" Mr. Wallers said in the same tone as the dream, "that is the 15th tardy this semester." Sol was standing at the door looking at him funny processing the deja vu.
"Just sit down and pay attention please," after a moment or two of the silent stare. You could see Sol's head move back a little as his face was hit with the second wave of the deja vu.
"Your silly faces don't fit in to my lecture Mr. Rew, just sit down before you make a bigger fool of yourself,"
Wallers said with some frustration at the seams. Sol quickly sat down slightly redder than ten seconds before. He looked over at Casey who was openly laughing at him, so he put his head down in his arms on the desk. "Sol, my classroom isn't your bedroom, wake up, any more distractions and you'll be getting some fresh air," Wallers spat. Sol jumped at the opportunity to exit the embarrassment, went outside and sat against the wall.
 A couple minutes passed by and he heard the door handle turn, he looked up expecting a tall teacher to walk out but to his surprise Casey, all 5 feet and 3 inches of her as red as Sol but from laughter, came out and sat down. "Best entrance of the year I say," she said with a mischievous grin.
"Maybe from your perspective jerkpants," Sol shot back with a small smile, "how did you escape?"
"Told him I was having lady problems," she said with a hint of deviance in her dusty green eyes.
"Not fair, you can use that excuse for anything,"
"Well I don't see you complaining that I'm out here,"
"Yea, yea," Sol replied sheepishly, "so, you come here often?"
"Sometimes I wonder why I still talk to you,"
"Because of my delightful eyebrows," Sol said as he made them do the worm across his forehead.
"Ewwww stop, you know that grosses me out,"
"What, this?" He said as he moved closer to her face slowing down the wave of his eyebrows. And before he knew it he was staring at her lips.
"I could plant my face right here for eternity," Sol thought to himself.
"What are you thinking about?" Casey asked as she put her hand over his eyebrows to stop them, being careful not to push him back.
"I wasn't thinking about anything," he said as he tried to hide his snap back into reality.
"Don't lie to me, your face gives you away, I know you were thinking about something," Casey attacked, but Sol didn't mind the opportunity.
"Fine.. I was thinking, about how nice it would be too-" in the middle of Sol's confession Mr. Wallers opened the door to come talk to him.
"Casey? What are you doing out here?" Wallers exclaimed, "After school detention for ditching," he said before she got a chance to defend herself.
"That's bullshit," Sol interjected without thinking.
"Well I guess you can escort her Mr. Rew," Wallers retorted, "now back inside, both of you."

Roe Lynn Hills 3rd and final addition

   Thanks to the wind-maker's burst of speed the apple rolled along just fine until he noticed the lights of another town underneath a wide eyed moon keeping watch over the apple protecting him from the night.
   As the sun's waves began to wash ashore the night sky, tucking the stars in for sleep, the light exposed a leafless tree with a bunch of yellow apples littered around the trunk.
"Hey you are just like me!" The apple said with gusto
"Whaah? Nuh-Uh! You a green fool!" Sounded out from the group huddled round the tree
"No, I am ripe! So are you, you wouldn't have fallen if you weren't!" Returned the apple
"Wut you call us?? Get out of here you not-yella!"
"Not that I have a choice, but if I did, I would still keep rolling!"
"Good riddance!"
The apple kept on a rollin' down the road, forwards towards the next town.
   As he rolled through the town, the apple noticed piles of dead leaves collected along the sidewalk curbs.
"Leaves! Finally, it's quiet, I can hear your answers!" Joyfully exclaimed the apple.
... only silence did the apple receive, "Come on! I know you are there, you can't hide from me!" The apple said with a little panic not-so-behind the scenes. He looked from pile to pile, pleading silently for an answer, a direction, a reason. But there was nothing the apple could do to evoke a response from the leaves.
"Didn't ever help me anyways," pouted the apple, due to his focus being stuck on the oddly quiet leaves the apple did not notice the tiny something-else's trunk in his path.
Boop.
    Little Ben turned and looked down to see what hit him on his leg, the green apple was laying next to Ben's flip-flop. He picked it up and looked up just in time to watch the little man in the box light up at the thought of pedestrians receiving safe transport across a street. He followed along with his family on their way to a day in the sand.
As the family reached the beach the apple finally got the courage to talk.
"Hey who are you? I'm Ripe Green," the apple said to his new best friend. Though Ben was blissfully unaware of the apple's attempt at an introduction and thus remained silent.
"Hey, buddy, you just gonna pick me up and ignore me?" Sassed the apple, Ben looked down at the apple, but not due to any sort of exposure to soundwaves.
"Oh so you can hear those words," the apple continued with his crusade for justice, but Ben had already stopped looking down.
  "Don't you look away from me! I demand answers, you owe me something, I was rolling along just fi..." in the middle of the apple's verbal smack-down Ben's mother noticed the apple in his hands.
"Oh, gross, honey, where did you get this?" She asked her 3 year old child, who just sort of shrugged and blankly stared back.
"Here, let's leave this here, and we will come back for it later, okay sweetie?" She said cunningly as she threw the apple into the sand.
"What is this? You stop me from rolling and you just dump me in this desert? The cruelty!" The apple yelled to the windy day.
   When off in the distance wisping through the sand were 5 something-elses that walked with the wind. The apple had yet to see a something-else that moved like the leaves. Their movement was erratic, they jumped around, ran away, but they never stayed apart for too long. Ever getting closer to the lonely apple, who was becoming more and more excited by the moment.
   "Hey! How do I get out of here?" The apple opened up the floor to communication when he felt they were close enough.
"Which of you could throw this apple farther?" One of the something-elses said to some of the others in the group.
"I am Ripe Green, it's nice to meet you," the apple continued.
"I bet Tyler can," a different something-else said.
"I don't know, maybe," the one that was called Tyler said
"You throw first, then I'll try" the something else said to Tyler as he picked up the apple and tossed it to him.
"Oh thank you so much, maybe you could take me back to the road?" the apple asked Tyler
But before the apple got a response he was behind Tyler's head in mid-throw.
Whooosh, the apple was flying through the air before he even knew what was going on.
"What kind of sick twisted existence do you lead??" The apple yelled back at Tyler
"Oh my wind I am going to die! I just asked for some help! You could have just put me..." as the apple was finishing his sentence he landed in the soft sand with a phump.
"Well that wasn't too bad I guess, better than sittin around in this sand all day," the apple thought to himself. He looked behind him and saw the Tyler-supporting something-else running up to him.
"My turn!" He yelled back to the group as he picked up the apple and got ready to throw
"Oh yay round two! I'm ready!" The apple said with excitement dripping from every word.
The something else raised his branch and threw the apple into the wind.
"Hello?" the apple asked after hearing something whistle a whisper
"Leaves? are you there?" The apple pleaded
"No, it is just the wind," faintly whimpered the air
"If you can talk, then why have you been leaving me to fend for myself?"
"I am always talking, you just don't always hear it, it's easier to use the leaves to communicate with you," the wind was becoming easier to hear as the apple got higher, farther from the noisy beach.
"Well you haven't helped me at all, why should I listen?"
"You got this far" the wind was growing weaker as the apple began to fall
"Yea but that was all a fluke"
"Call it what you want, our time here is almost at an end, I tried telling you earlier, but I get cut off often, remember that your attitude is the only thing you can control," the wind whispered just as the apple hit the sandy ground.
"Wait! Where am I supposed to go from here??!" The apple yelled into the wind
"Who are you talking to?" The apple heard from behind him, "And why did you have to get sand all over me?"
"Oh I am sorry, I didn't mean to, those something-elses over there threw me, it was a load of fun," the apple apologized sheepishly.
"Well it wasn't any fun for me, hello I am Valencia and who might you be?"
"I am Ripe Green, it is nice to meet someone in this desert that has the manners to talk back,"
"Well back in the store, manners was the only way to get to the top and break out, are you sure you aren't Granny Smith? You look just like this fella I met back in the store,"
"I don't think so what is this store you keep talking about?" asked the apple
"It's the place you go after becoming ripe, all of my friends, and all the oranges from my farm go to the store once we are ripe," explained Valencia.
"Well I'm ripe, and I never went to no store"
"You must have been defective, I had a couple friends that didn't make it either,"
"I'm not defective! I'm perfectly fine! You are the one that is stuck out here in the desert" The wounded apple attacked.
"You are stuck here too!" shot Valencia
"Yea, but my friends that threw me are gonna come get me, you'll see!" the apple said in defense
"Well... until they come, would you like to wait with me?" Valencia whimpered after a moment or three of silence.
"Maybe! If the wind doesn't blow me farther away from you," as the apple finished speaking a small gust of wind pushed the apple into touching the orange.
"Well, I guess that answers that," Valencia said sort of trying to hide the victory in her voice.
"Fine, I'll wait with you," the apple said with a little embarrassment
"I hope your friends never come, I like waiting with you," Valencia said without realizing that it was out loud
A little shocked the apple didn't know what to say at first, "I guess waiting here isn't all that bad," he finally let out, "at least until the wind picks up..."