Adrian could feel the deep thud of the bass long before he could actually hear the melody through the trees. Athens Park was a place for family picnics and flying kites, cute dates and scenic walks to just get away from the hustle and bustle of the city during the day. At night however, it was the perfect place for teenagers to hang out and get into trouble. The police heavily patrolled the borders of the park after dark. Adrian supposed they did a well enough job despite the fact that half of his high school found a way to sneak by them whenever there was a party. Because of the heavy patrols, littering was more often than not the worst offense that happened at Athens. The park and the outskirts of the city were so safe that the only news to report this week was about a drug user who got arrested on the outskirts of the park everyone loved so much. The news always hyped up their stories. It was more often than not someone smoking and not anything that considered to be 'hard stuff', but people love to gossip. Adrian would hear reports over the loud speakers of his school. Things like "The park is overrun with crime and corruption." and "The streets aren't safe anymore." but none of it was true. Occasionally there would be talk about evoking a curfew but that idea would quickly get hushed by people without kids, business owners who worked nights and by parents who wanted to catch a movie or go out for a walk after sending their kids to sleep. No, the worst thing that was going to happen this week was already happening undetected. Adrian, having already snuck out past the patrol line, hoped that it would continue to go unnoticed.
Athens wasn't a utopia. There was actual crime. Adrian's mother continuously warned him to stay out of the city. She often said "The deeper you go into the city, the worse and more dangerous the crimes become." He had occasionally heard the media reporting strange crimes that were conducted by unexplainable means. Those reports would rarely be discussed for more than a day before the mayor would make an announcement with some vague explanation for the damages or for the stolen property. Most of the people would scratch their heads and move on after a day or two. Some of the gossipers would make up their own reasons for what happened but Adrian felt that those stories were even more ridiculous than the 'explanations' the mayor gave. Most of the time, he barely payed attention to what the news reported. However, when strange events happened, he did pay close attention to the news. Admittedly, he rarely had an explanation for what the news was reporting as "strange" but he would make a note of the event to himself whenever the mayor had to come and give a 'reason' for the event. Whenever the mayor gave one of his 'suspicious' explanations, Adrian would always see someone from the Unit 32 standing in the background; just at the edge of the camera frame, making the mayor extra nervous.
The men and women from the Unit 32 were not bound to duty by a city or even a state. Adrian only knew about them because he researched their insignia after he began to recognized it every time the mayor appeared jittery on T.V. The information on them was always buried deep in the search results and the rest was usually heavily classified. Adrian wasn't even sure if they answered to the president, although he suspected that they did. All he knew is that they were always heavily armed, they were never spoken about and whatever they were; their presence made important people sweat.
Tonight was different. It was the first night of spring break. No homework, no school and a senior party to celebrate the last spring break of their lives. Adrian usually avoided social groups but this was his last spring break ever, so he decided to participate despite his introvert nature.
Adrian was tall, 6'3", turning 18 at the end of the month and graduating two months after, despite his report card. It wasn't that Adrian was a bad student... well, it was. But it wasn't because of his intelligence that resulted in his bad grades. He was smart. VERY smart.
At a young age Adrian learned that people often would make friends with other people so they could use them. People would ask for favors, copy his homework and then forget about him until they needed another favor. The same people who used him make fun of him for being mixed. These were the same people who made him feel different and isolated. He hated those kinds of people and so, if he made himself 'unuseful'. Then, eventually, they would go to someone else to use and forget all about him. Fading from the spotlight became a survival technique and as he got older, it became a part of him. He never turned in any homework unless he could copy someone's work. He barely participated in class activities but... he'd ace every test. Tests were something he could groan and gripe about as he shoved the score into his bag and then relish in the grade in the privacy of home and show his mom.
Adrian's lowest score? It was a 99. The teacher marked him for grammar. It was on a math test. Another teacher accused him of cheating on her tests. When the end of the year came, she took him down to the principals office expecting to lecture him about integrity and present papers to sign about repeating a grade. When the principal confronted Adrian about not doing his work, he opened his back pack and showed them every homework from the entire year filed and completed. When the principal asked him why he didn't turn in the assignments, he simply shrugged and said "I passed every test which proves that I learned the material. Why does the rest matter?" The principal was a nice man but more importantly, he was a wise man. He made Adrian a deal that if he talked to and continued to see the school psychologist, he would not make him repeat a grade. Adrian agreed with a shrug.
The psychologist was Kasey Brown, a nice lady but Adrian could tell that she was working here for some experience to get a better job. High school wasn't her passion. She may not have been the greatest psychologist but she talked with Adrian. She understood his motives and cared enough to learn his strengths and his gifts. One session she had him take an aptitude test. Just like all test, he scored exceptionally high in all of the subjects. One thing stood out to Kasey more than any other part of the test. Adrian had an affinity for angles. A gift for trajectory and motion. She urged him to take AP physics in his senior year and he actually loved it. Getting him into physics was good but the best thing that Kasey ever did for him was convince him to do was join the basketball team.
On the court, Adrian was king. Talent, real talent was something that no one could take from him or copy off him. Despite his previous unpopularity, Adrian quickly became a rising star. His competitive nature and his unique outlook of the world made him an excellent shooting guard and his height makes him an even better center. Having the most points, blocks and rebounds on his team nearly every game, Adrian often got lost in competition. He was a sore loser but his team rarely lost.
Forcing other teams to double defend Adrian in games allowed his teammates the opportunity for plays that they normally wouldn't be able to pull off. For the first time in a long time he felt good about who he was. If he made shot after shot outside the three point line, it was "because of his white father" they'd say. Layups and dunks, his darker side got credit for the jumps and the speed. Basketball was release. Basketball was taking off a heavy weight he had held over himself for years.

Tonight, because his team begged him to come out. Tonight, he was going to celebrate and finally be himself.

Adrian knew that tonight was going to be different and that things were going to change. What he didn't know was that everything about tonight was going to change his life forever.