Dont Ever Change

By John H. Carroll

Don’t Ever Change is a stand alone short story.
High school was a time of fond memories for Lori. Twenty three years later, she’s back in town for her mother’s funeral. Not wanting to deal with family right away after a long drive, she roams around town, only to find herself in front of her old school.
On a whim, she decides to sneak through a hole in the fence and take a look around. The last thing she expected was to find a classmate from long ago. Even more shocking was the fact that he hadn’t changed even a little bit; right down to the OP shirt and parachute pants.
When Adam explains that he’s been going to school every year for the last twenty three years, it shocks Lori. He shows her the yearbook where she wrote “Don’t Ever Change”. Then he explains how it’s her fault that he’s still exactly the same as when they went to school together, right down to the acne and braces.
How would you feel about never being allowed to change? Perhaps you’ll think a little bit harder the next time someone asks you to sign their yearbook.

This is a short story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John H. Carroll
• Release date: Feb 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458018434

John H. Carroll

John H. Carroll was the youngest of seven children and was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1970 where he was kept in a dresser drawer with the clean socks. Luckily, he wasn’t kept with the dirty socks or else he might have grown up to become slightly warped.As a child, John spent most of his time wandering through the Mojave Desert in an attempt to avoid people. He would stare at the sky, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. One of his favorite memories is watching his dad build the fuselage of Evel Kneivel’s skycycle in their garage. One of his least favorite moments was watching that skycycle fall into the Snake River. (Not his dad’s fault and he has documentation to prove it, so nyah)As a teenager, John spent most of his time driving wherever he could in an attempt to avoid people. He would stare at the road, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. He was the captain of the chess team, lettered in golf and band while in high school, and wasn’t beaten up anywhere near as much as one might imagine.As an adult, John spends most of his time staring at a computer screen in an attempt to avoid people. He stares at the monitor for hours, imagining what it would be like to explore different worlds. Occasionally, he looks around to see what’s happening on planet Earth. Quite frankly, it frightens him. He’s just going to do his best to write as many books as he can before aliens disintegrate humanity for being so irritating.Emo bunny minions surround John at most times. He is their imaginary friend and they look to him for guidance. At one point, they took over the world. No one noticed because they left everything exactly as it was. They gave the world back after a week because it was depressing.The Ryallon Series is his most popular endeavor into the field of writing. His Stories for Demented Children have lightened the hearts of many strange children and adults. He writes in the evenings and weekends whenever possible.

Book preview

Don’t Ever Change

John H. Carroll

Published by John H. Carroll at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 John H. Carroll

Cover image Copyright 2011 John H. Carroll

This book is dedicated to everyone I went to high school with. While you did advise me not to change, I didn’t take that advice, so it’s all good.

Any resemblance to persons living, dead or undead is totally weird.

. . . In all seriousness, any resemblance to persons living or dead is unintentional.

Table of Contents

Beginning

About the Author

Beginning

Lori walked through one of the smaller commons during lunch. It was a warm spring day in their small New Mexico town and she was heading to fourth period Algebra early to finish the last few questions of her homework.

Adam, a tall outcast with braces, dull brown hair and chronic acne approached. Hey Lori. Will you, like, sign my yearbook? he asked quietly, not making eye contact.

Lori was cute and popular, being a cheerleader, volleyball player and prom queen runner up. She hadn’t paid much attention to Adam in the past four years of high school, but she made it a point to always smile and treat everyone with respect. She took the pen and book he offered. Yeah, sure. Looking around, she saw an empty table, green with grey benches, the school colors. Let’s sit down and I’ll sign it.

Bitchin. He flashed a quick smile then lowered his head, realizing he had shown his braces.

Lori hated that word, but it was nineteen eighty-eight and everyone used it. She took a closer look at him as they sat.

He wore grey parachute pants and a white Ocean Pacific shirt that had pastel waves and a sailboat across the middle. A green and grey letterman’s jacket completed the effect. In spite of the jacket, he wasn’t a jock. His letters were earned in band, chess and golf. Lori hadn’t even realized it was possible to letter in chess.

She really didn’t know much about Adam. The few times she had noticed him, he was sitting in the back