mood: disconcerted music: 'porcelina of the vast oceans' by the smashing pumpkins

the music blared from the stage. it seems that there was some sort of festival in the mall that day. and a brightly colored one at that; the stage was decorated with jester-like colors. i made it a point to mention this to my friend jude, who was standing in line with me. coffee was our aim.

it was a weird day. jude was abnormally quiet, and i was abnormally chipper. i couldn't settle my thoughts; it was one idea after the other for me. 'is this line even moving,' i thought. i didn't have all the time in the world. we were on the third floor and i still had to go to the fifth floor before the bell rang to get to mr. eleuteri's class. jude's next class was no sweat; it was right next to the coffee place.

the line inched forward until, finally, we were next. at that moment the bell rang. 'crap, crap, crap...' i repeated softly, 'well, at least it's our turn now.' yes, that was true, but here's where jude and i totally differ: i like my coffee strong, like a mule kick in the dopamine receptors, which makes for easy preparation. one or two sugars, stir, drink, open eyes. but jude likes his coffee to be more like sweet brown milk. 'camel-colored' as someone described it once. in my rush to get to class, i had forgotten this, and made the mistake of letting him go first. oh and what a mistake it was. it seemed like he was ignorant of the bell and perfecting his formula. 'dammit, hurry up,' i said from behind him. he ignored me so well these days. it was like an art form.

finally, he finished and i went up to the counter, got my coffee, added my sugar, and left in a flash. i darted by jude, who was strolling to his next class. as soon as i saw the nearest escalator i jumped on board to go up and hit it running. but i realized how hard it was to make any progress. that's when i realized i was on the escalator going down instead of up. boy did i feel stupid. it seemed to be getting faster to the point where i couldn't fight it anymore, so i gave up and just let it send me careening down to the first floor. as soon as i hit the bottom, i flew off the steps and hit the ground sliding ten feet away from the escalator. my coffee landed a few feet away from me, sending scalding hot liquid all over the mall floor. now i had to go up four floors instead of two. but i guess it was fate that right then i realized i left my bookbag on this floor anyway.

i ran into a classroom, grabbed my bag and ran out before the teacher could notice anything. weaving in and out of the crowd, i made my way to the nearest 'up' escalator. when the crowd cleared, i saw the escalator and mr. eleuteri climbing aboard it.

---Goei---