Kendall & Me [discontinued]

07 | First Day as a Wildcat

“Holy shit,” Diana breathed.  “It’s huge.”

Elijah, Kendall, Diana, and I had matching sets of awed gazes as we stared up at the vast building before us.  I’d seen pictures of the school before, had seen that it was a relatively large school, but I hadn’t truly accepted the vastness of it until I got here.  Gardner High School made our school seem miniscule.  A couple days ago I thought our school was average size.  Now?  Not so much.

From my right side, Elijah blinked and shook his head.  “Come on,” he muttered, blinking again.  Obviously he was having just as hard a time regaining his composure as we were.  “We have to hurry.  We’re already missing first period.”

Diana rolled her eyes at him before strutting forward, her high heels clacking on the cement.  “Okay, tough guy.  Let’s go!”

Elijah muttered angrily about Diana under his breath before following her lead.  Kendall and I shared a glance before doing the same.  It was time.  We were finally heading into the school that held the girl that caused the death of my sister almost ten years ago.  Elijah had acquired the paperwork pretty easily, and Diana’s signatures had worked perfectly.  And how we were here.

It was time to truly set this plan in motion.

The early morning sun was cut off as we stepped under a port-like structure that stood above us.  It was like an outdoor hallway to the building, shielding us from the light as we made our way toward the doors.  My backpack felt heavy on my shoulders as we moved closer to the doorway.  The weight of this situation was beginning to settle, and I felt like I was going to be sick.  We were here to get a confession from my ex-best-friend, who had acted like a jerk and, in the process, got my sister thrown off a swing.  Whether it was an accident or not didn’t matter.  Kendall was still dead.

“We have to find the main office,” Elijah mumbled, digging through his bag as we entered the school.  The inside was as vast as the outside, and I had to pause in order to take it all in.  From Kendall’s expression, I could see that she was doing the same.

“So I take it that in all these years you didn’t go sight-seeing?” I breathed, tilting my head to the side.  What we walked into could only be describe as a humungous entryway.  It was circular and completely devoid of really anything except for an island in the middle.  Ahead of us was a large hallway (I’m guessing the main one), and on either side of us were two smaller hallways.

I had no idea where to go.

“Of course I’ve been sight-seeing,” Kendall drawled, so smoothly that I almost didn’t catch the sarcasm in her tone.  “I mean, what else do I have to do?”

I moved to shove her playfully, but stopped abruptly as a bell rang.  We all shared a nervous glance before turning back to look ahead.  All at once students were pouring from all directions, all in a hurry to get to their next classes.  Usually this wouldn’t bug me.  I mean, I went to high school, too.  A crowded hallway wasn’t anything new.  But this was a crowded hallway in a building that I wasn’t at all familiar with. 

After standing there for a moment in shock, we struggled to move to the side so that we’d be out of the way.  From the corner of my eye I could see person after person moving straight through Kendall as though she wasn’t there.  I could also see how much that bothered her.

“Hey, move it!”

I grimaced as a girl shoved by me, her brunette locks of hair whacking me in the face as she did.  I spun around, catching the glare on her face as she followed her friends down the hall.  An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t have the chance to let it fall out.  She was already gone.