The Substitute

Seventeen

"Hey Sam," Amber spoke as she caught up to me in the hall.

"Hey loves," I had decided not to be mad at her anymore, she had always been a good friend.

My only friend.

She wasn't my only friend because nobody else liked me, but because I only wanted one friend. People would ask me to come hang out, or go shopping, or sit with them at lunch, but all I ever did was simply say no. Having to many friends was too much work. And too much drama. So when I met Amber, I knew immediately that she was the one.

Amber hands me a bottle of orange juice and I smile,

"Thanks Ambs." she nods and we walk to lunch, we sat in the corner of the lunchroom near a window, the sunlight warmed my neck.

"So what happened over the weekend? Ya do anything fun?" Amber asked, pulling out her packed lunch,

I contemplated, should I tell her?

Yeah well, Mr. Smith came over and we kissed then he left me saying that we were doing wrong. But on Friday he snuck in my house when my mom was home and we had sex. The usual ya know?

I shook of the thought of telling her and said, "Art. Slept, watched a couple of boring movies and sat at home alone. Oh yeah, I kissed Stephen the other day." I spoke a 80% lie. Amber stared at me, wide- eyed.

"You kissed him? Oh my gosh! Yay!" She did a cheerful dance in her seat and I laughed,

"Shut up," I joked, taking her bag of Cheetos.

~

"Good afternoon, Samantha." I overheard Mr. Smith say to me in a cheery voice,

I blushed when I saw other girls in my class, watching me with envy.

"Well good afternoon, Mr. Smith." I spoke in a sly- ish girly voice. He smiled at me then turned to his radio to turn up the volume of his indie music,

When the bell rang he spoke to the whole class,

"Okay guys, today were going to make wax art, I'm pretty sure you've hear of it because it's pretty popular..." He went on with the directions, but I zoned out. I've done a wax art before, for my younger cousin.

I pick out different colored crayons for my blank canvas; different shades of grey, a black, a white. I wanted my art to be neutral.

"What an outstanding color choice, Samantha." Mr. Smith said sarcastically, standing behind me, holding himself up with his hands on the table. I plugged the heat gun in,

"Thanks Mr. Smith." I mumbled at him, shrugging as I began to melt the crayons. He rubbed my shoulder softly and unnoticeably then walked away slowly.

Goosebumps covered my body.