Her

Chapter 14

I pulled up to the student parking lot in front of the high school. Tons of people were scattered around out front, groups of students were hanging out around their cars and talking. I parked and slowly got out of my car, grabbing my things.

I wish I at least had one person to walk with me, to make me feel less nervous and withdrawn from everyone else. I gripped the straps on my backpack and made my way through the large crowds of students. How ironic was it that I felt like a freshman all over again.

I entered the building through the front, then pulled a piece of paper out of my bag. I looked at my schedule to see where my first period class was.

F-207

I headed towards the F-wing hallway aftr slipping the paper back in my bag. As I reached the hallway, I noticed a familiar face amongst a group of other students.

There she was, Cindy. My ex-best friend. It's been such a long time since I've seen her. She was talking to a bunch of other people. I wasn't surprised. She was popular too. She was friends with Elena, and probably still is. She was always with the popular kids back in middle school.

I was too distracted by Cindy that I wasn't watching where I was going. I slammed into someone's back, hitting my face.

"Watch where you're going." A tall girl turned around and looked at me in disgust. I've never seen such a tall girl before.

"Sorry." I mumbled. I turned to my side to see Cindy's eyes glued to me, and she started laughing too.

I finally reached my homeroom. Finally. I can sit down and actually start my day. Next to the room number was a small sign that said "Forensic Science." It was a new course to the school. I was eager and excited to learn in that class.

But no, things can't go well for too long.

Scanning the students sitting in their seats, my eyes caught Elena sitting in the back row. She was on her phone, her notebooks placed neatly on her desk.

It's okay, calm down. Maybe it won't be so bad. I can just sit towards the front and ignore her. I thought to myself. I can't let her ruin everything in my life. I quickly picked a seat in the front row, placing my backpack down on the floor under my desk.

Once the bell rang and all the other students were in their seats, a blonde woman walked into the class, closing the door behind her.

"Welcome everyone. I will be your Forensic Science teacher for the year. But before we begin," she held up a piece of paper. "I made a seating arrangement for your assigned seats."

Of course. Why didn't she just mark our assigned seats before we sat down?

The teacher had all of us get up and stand in the front of the classroom. Row by row, she assigned everyone their seats. There were only a few students left, including me.

"Stella, your seat is right over there." The teacher finally called my name. I was sitting in the second to last row. My eyes widened at who I was sitting behind.

Elena.

I reminded myself once again to stop listening to my anxiety. I'll be fine.

To my left was a guy who talked to everyone. His name was Ryan. He managed to muster up a conversation with just about anyone. But it doesn't mean he's the nicest guy. I overheard him flat out insulting a couple girls before who he didn't even know. That's the thing, he isn't afraid to say the first thing that comes to mind.

I felt his head turn to me. "Did you dye your hair?" I heard him ask. And so it begins.

I turned to him. "Yeah, a while ago." I responded, keeping it short.

"Honestly you should've just kept your dark hair. It suited you better." He told me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Whatever, bitch." He said loud enough for even the teacher to hear.

The teacher, who introduced herself as Mrs. Silver, scolded Ryan and he just held his hands up innocently and chuckled. So this is great so far. I sit behind Elena and right next to an asshole.

Mrs. Silver was going over the things we would be studying this year. I slowly drifted off into my own thoughts, daydreaming. I wondered how different my life could've been. If I made the right friends, if I was liked. I'm sure I wouldn't be as shy as I am now. If I actually liked myself, and accepted who I was, I wouldn't be jealous over the same girl for over five years.

I stared at the back of her head in a trance the whole class period. Oh, how I wished I could just take scissors and cut the long locks covering my desk. In a parallel universe I did, and she turned around to face me, holding her hair looking horrified.