Mixing with the Wallflower

05:

I'm not going to lie to you or be a little humble about my social status in the world of teenagers, I'm pretty well known in my senior year.

I raced away from my brother's car and headed towards the pathway that lead up to the school. I slowed my jog to a paced walk, as I neared the building I could already feel the flurry of people flow towards me.

The front of the school was littered with teenagers, younger, older, those of the same age, they were everywhere. Some were laughing and talking, others were sitting around cramming for tests, near the statue were the cheerleaders and jocks, practising and talking.

Yeah, our school had a statue.

It was built in the centre of the gravelled path that lead to the stairs of the school, personally, I never understood the representation behind the statue. It was of a butterfly that neatly sat on a flower, it's wings wide open, most school's had statues that were of their mascots or built in their founders' glory. I never really saw any relation of the statue to our school.

Our school's mascot was a badger, not a butterfly.

I guess, if I had to give the statue a meaning, it would symbolise a change in people. Butterflies are known to change because of the process of metamorphosis, and high school is where change happens in teenagers so the butterfly must represent that.

God knows about the flower.

"Riley" called a familiar voice, I lightly rolled my eyes before spinning around and grinning at Katie Jones, she had the lightest brown hair that fell to her hips and she always wore long floral skirts with a plain top, she always wore her black, thick rimmed glasses and in terms of social groups, she fell into the hipster/hippies group.

Yeah, there were more of her.

"Hey, Katie" I greeted wildly, as she grabbed my hands in her own. That was something she commonly did.

"Riley, I absolutely love your skirt, you should wear it more often" she grinned. I smiled back as I quickly glanced down at my attire.

It was a simple navy blue skirt matched with a white blouse and a pair of brown combat boots, honestly, this was a casual look for me.

"Thanks Katie, I just threw this on" (It's true?)

"Anyways, you know how I've been hankering for that new floral blouse from The Store  well, they're completely sold out and so I was wondering if you by any chance happen to know where I can get one?" she asked

I grinned, I pulled my hands from her and rummaged into my bag, moments later I pulled out the folded blouse, her eye lit up, "no way, how did you-?"

"I saw you folding the page in a catalogue last week, and I knew they would all be gone by the time you finished at the gardening club, I was at the mall anyways and I grabbed it for you" I explained as I handed her the blouse.

"You, Riley Stone, are a legend" she grinned, thrusting a twenty-dollar bill in my hand as she reach out and gave me a quick hug before racing over to her friends who sat under the blossom tree that loomed out over a picnic bench.

What, you didn't know, the hippies care about how they look too?

As Katie pointed me out to her friends, I gave them a quick wave and received several back before my attention was directed to a football.

"HEADS UP RILES" shouted a husky voice as my reflexes kicked in, I managed to catch the flying football before I nearly got a concussion.

"Whoa, solid catch Riles" laughed Brent White as he came running over, panting slightly. He wore a pair of faded blue jeans and his signature football jersey over a plain white t-shirt.

"You nearly knocked me out" I laughed, "oh, Brent, I spoke to Amanda yesterday-" I began

Brent's face lit up slightly, "and, will she take me back?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly. As well as being the best bearer of clothing items, I happened to be my year's agony aunt. The power couple, known as Brent White and Amanda Clarke, broke up after two solid years and well, I was on the other end of Amanda's apology messages as well as composing 'wing man' duties for Brent.

Funny thing, they both wanted to get back together, they just thought the other person hated them.

I blame poor communication.

"You just killed what would have been the best suspense ever" I rolled my eyes, "yeah, she's waiting for you at the bleachers"

"Seriously?" he grinned, "Damn Riles, you're legit, I owe you" he gave me a quick side hug before he started to walk away.

"Oi, Brent" I called, he briefly turned around, as I held the football in one hand and raised an eyebrow, "missing something?" I called, tossing the ball over, he gave me a sheepish smile before catching the ball.

"Thanks Riles" he yelled before jogging to the bleachers.

What, you didn't know, jocks have feelings too?

I turned away and started heading for the school building, I was half way up the steps where, I was once again stopped by someone who needed me.

"R-Riley?" a meek boy, wearing a green shirt and brown slacks stammered, I looked over and smiled softly.

"Hi Darren, how are you?" (what? people still ask that question)

"I'm f-fine, I-I have m-my history final t-today" he stammered, "y-you s-said t-that-"

"It's alright, I've got them" I assured, fumbling into my back I pulled out a sheet of paper. I handed it over to the shaking mess who hastily glimpsed at the print before shovelling it into his back pack.

"T-thanks Riley, I owe you"

"It's okay Darren, just keep those test answers on the low down" I reminded, he nodded vigorously before scurrying off to the other awkwardly dressed students by the school gate.

What, nerds can't always get the answers right, but they're still always protective of their grades.

...

Hey, don't give me that look, no one ever said I was a saint either.

I headed into the school building before the bell could sound for classes to begin.

So, yeah, unlike Marco, I was kind of an important deal to the people of my school, no matter what social setting they secluded themselves to, I was kind of needed and appreciated everywhere.

I guess that's why the god's did what they did that day.