Four Roads

Chapter 2- Work Hard Play Hard

Chapter 2

I have heard that 11th grade is like the most important year of high school, probably all of grade school. This is the year we take the SATs and whatever other stupid tests the school board requires for us to graduate. This is the year that colleges really look at because by senior year we are already applying to be accepted. I'm looking to go to an art college so I don't know how much those tests would actually affect me getting in. I mean I have a bomb ass portfolio with variety: portraits, landscapes, abstract, drawn and painted. I even wanted to take on photography this year. Besides junior year is supposed to have some fun parts too, like prom. I know Miller is excited for it, convinced we are finally going to do it by then. I am excited about my dress which I have an idea of how I want designed, though I can't sew to save my life. That is mom's talent. I need to look sexy as hell that night though. I'm glad Miller doesn't really pressure me but the idea of having a deadline is still eating at my brain. We naturally have fun together so I can only hope that sex would happen naturally too. This year already feels so different. Since mom and I moved into the apartment I have to take a city bus to get to school instead of the school buses or riding with Auds. That is a big change too Audrey and Bridget aren't even at school. Audrey especially used to help me a lot with my classes. Now she is so focused on her work, and we live so far from each other. I barely see my friends. My classes are drowning me. To say the least I miss my life before 11th grade.

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It was mid-August but the group was not comfortable in their routines. Audrey and Bridget would leave their homes at 7 for the 45 minute drive to Ivy Groves. Class started promptly at 8:00 a.m. and tardiness was an instant strike against you. They found that out the first day as they hadn't anticipated traffic. They were matched with blank stares and a few snickers as they stumbled into the opening assembly. Audrey went pale from the embarrassment but not as pale as the majority of the faces staring back at them. Despite what had been presented on the brochure Ivy Groves was not as diverse as what Bridget and Audrey had expected. They were two of the twenty Black students in the school. There were eight Hispanic students, approximately seventy Asian students, and one student who identified herself as having Native American heritage. The other 200 students at Ivy Groves were white.

"As if we don't stand out enough," Audrey groaned as they tried to find available seating in the auditorium.

Bridget assured her they would get over the initial embarrassment throughout the day. Audrey was a slight skeptic though. She believed if your day started off badly it would continue down a negative spiral. Little did she know across town Lindsey would be having a worse first day.

The drama of being kicked out of her home had seemingly evaporated by the time school started. The family had moved into an apartment and though the space was smaller she still had her own room and her own space. That is all she really needed to satisfy her. Besides the move had served as inspiration for some of her latest pieces. Lindsey couldn't wait for 5th and 6th period where she had scheduled back to back art classes. Instability, in her family's case financial, had served as the muse and theme of her summer pieces. She wanted to continue it using the school's resources as well as her own. She was dressed and ready for the first day of classes, her box braids nicely resting in a bun on top of her head. She wore a form fitted yellow tank top and long overalls that she had rolled up to sit just above her ankles so her red and yellow sandals popped, while matching her Africa shaped earrings. Most days Lindsey would have more accessories or clothing but she actually intended to work, well work on her art, and the clanging and shifting of bangles would annoy her as well as getting paint or clay on excess clothing or a necklace. Simple and cute was her motive today.

Miller had decided to pick her up for the first day, so when he drove to the corner store, which was about a block from her apartment, Lindsey slid into his car comfortably greeting him with a good morning kiss.