The Day Before Yesterday

Chapter 1: The New Girl

Everyone says that starting a new high school is like being welcomed into a whole new chapter of your life.

Like a fresh start.

No reputation, no nicknames, nobody who knows you even in the slightest.

It's like cracking open that new book you snagged on sale at Barnes & Noble.

A new mean girls clique to get used to, a new teacher that everyone thinks is a pedophile, a new jock that every teenage girl absolutely adores.

It sounded like an intriguing novel, but please, someone explain to me why this new chapter smelled like BO and felt like sweaty palms. If this was how the book was starting, I was not being reeled in right off the bat.

And why was everyone so loud here? What was honestly so important they had to yell about it? And why were those guys all slamming their lockers so harshly, what did they have to prove?

As I stood in the center of the hallway, I furrowed my brows in disgust.

This was the school mom and dad were so excited to send me to?

This dusty, smelly, head pounding place?

I cringed in disgust as a brute jock shoved past me, not bothering to say excuse me. Well, he wasn't raised with much manners obviously.

Now this, this was a very different scene. Moms pep talk this morning surely didn't prepare me for this.

After attending a prestigious boarding school for a good portion of my life, I had never before seen a place of education look like the riots after election day, but lo' and behold there's a first for everything.

I reached into the open pocket of my purse, pulling out the crumpled sticky note from the office lady.

308

Locker 308.

Okay, so we just needed to find locker 308, then head to our first period which appeared to be English.

I began my trek down the halls, peering at all the various locker numbers. Craning my neck to look around the two people grossly making out before class.

I cringed again.

Okay...306, 307, ahh! 308.

I twisted the stubborn dial, attempting to unlock the damned thing on the first try, but of course, with my luck, it didn't open.

After trying three more times, the anxiety began to swell in my chest as I realized that the awkward new girl in town was going to have to go to all her classes today carrying every single thing she brought with her.

Just great.

I tried one more time and it still didn't open so as a result of anger, I slammed my forehead into the metal and cried out, "Dammit!"

"Um, need help?"

I rested my head on the cool metal for just a moment, before turning my head over so slightly to find a light haired boy staring at me in amusement.

"If you'd be so willing," I sigh, handing him the now sweaty blue paper from the palm of my hand.

He chuckled before nodding, his green eyes crinkling up with his laughter, "Of course, I'd do anything to help a pretty new face on the first day."

I ran fingers through my dark locks as I stepped back to let him try, "That obvious I'm new, huh?"

"Well," he spun the dial, "Being that this town is so small that everybody already knows your name because your family moving in was the most exciting occurrence to happen to this town in years," he turns to me as he flawlessly yanks the locker open, "I'd say it's obvious, nice to formally meet you Eleanor Jones, I'm Sterling Wells."