My hands would not stop straightening out my hair with the brush. In the mirror, I made sure to have any kind of blemish from my face. I didn’t want to look bad on my first day of school. The last thing I wanted was several girls trailing behind me, laughing at me from behind. I leaned forward against the mirror, not wanting to miss anything.
On the center of my nose I could see a small little wart growing. I bit my lips.
“Is everything ok?” my mother shouted from below. I picked up my book bag and took a deep breath. Today was going to be the day, I thought to myself. I marched out the door, ready for any kind of danger that might get in the way. First day of school; don’t want to mess this one up.
“Please don’t do anything stupid,” my mother said as I picked up the backpack.
“Don’t worry. I won’t,” I said.
“You’d better not,” Mother said. “I remember freshman year of high school everyone really wanted to—“ Before she could finish her sentence, I stuffed an English muffin inside my mouth and was already heading towards the door. “Lauren!” my mother shouted with a start. “Just please, don’t do anything that might cause potential—you know.”
“You’re overreacting Mom,” I said. Kissing her on the cheek, I walked out.
“Lauren! Don’t you want to eat some breakfast!”
“I’m fine!” I replied. I didn’t turn back to see the exasperated look on my mother’s face. Too much excitement bubbled inside me. I want to make a good show for myself, I thought as I made my way down the steps of my new home.
***
I waited in front of the bus station. The wind steamed through the air, reminding me of Mother’s hot-cooked porridge on the stove.
No, focus, Lauren, I don’t want to look back on those days; it’s time to finally move forward, I thought to myself. A raven cried overhead, dashing across the sky while I waited in silence among the other people around me.
“Mommy, I don’t want to go to school,” said a girl probably in 5th grade. She tugged against the restraints of her mother. These two wrestled in the midst of a tug-of-war. The mother refused to let go of her grip. As I was mesmerized by this, a boy approached me.
“Hey, I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he said. I turned to him and smiled. Finally someone willing to talk.
“I’m new around here. My name’s Lauren!” I said, pulling out my hand for him to shake it
“John-Edwards. But you can call me John if you want,” he said, shaking my hand. His spiky hair flowed as the wind brushed it back. “So where you from?”
“New Jersey. South Jersey to be specific.”
“Ahhh, I can tell by you have a little bit of a southern accent,” he replied. “I mostly grew up here.”
“Mostly?
“Yeah, I did move around for a bit when I was in Boston, Massachussetts, but now my family has decided to settle here.”
“Wow, you must miss Boston,” I replied.
“Well, the memories come and go,” he said, looking down at the ground as if he had just said something that was embarrassing. I could not take off the smile from my face. I had actually just met someone! There was something different about him compared to the other boys I had met. His eyes looked at me with those really kind features. His gaze kept looking down at the ground as if he was nervous about something. Come on, say something, I thought to myself. This is getting kind of awkward.
At the stroke of pure luck, the bus arrived.
“Well, I’ll be getting on, I guess,” John said as he boarded the bus.
“Are you ok if I sit with you?” I asked. “I really would hate to be alone.” John tilted his head, giving that “I-don’t-know-about-this” kind of look.
“Sure I guess…” he replied. I leaped onto the bus with excitement, proud of the fact that I could get myself out of awkward situations; the last thing that I wanted for myself was to be alone—sitting at a seat like an introverted girl that didn’t have any life.
“So, I am going to go ahead and guess that you are a freshman,” John said.
“Yes, I am! How did you know!” I said. John didn’t answer. I sat quietly next to him, not sure what else to say.
“Ummm, so does that mean you and I are going to be in the same class?” I asked.
“Yup, probably,” he said. I scooted myself in next to him, being a little bit more at ease after what he had said. It really felt like he genuinely wanted to be my friend.
The bus ride droned on. After two more stops, I found that we were already at the school. Casper High. Oh my god, I thought to myself as I started to approach. Ok, here it goes.
***
Walking into the hallways I could see several students talking among themselves. The boy seemed to be speaking among themselves, while I could see that several of the girls also found themselves talking among one another.
“Hey! All! Mind if I squeeze in?” I asked. The girls looked at me. An Asian girl with curly hair approached me. Whipping her hair out of her face, she smirked.
“Well, who are you supposed to be?” she asked.
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