Finding Claire

Chapter 1

I quickly changed from my dress to some navy skinny jeans and a long sleeve white shirt and pulled up my hair into a messy bun. I scrubbed off the small amounts of makeup I always put on and dragged the sweater that was two times too big over my head.
After putting my glasses back on again and making sure I had no traces of the makeup, I placed the car into drive again and took the short ten minute drive to school in peace.

As soon as I parked in my usual spot -away from everyone and in the lot no one used because it was too far away from the main doors- I pulled up my hoodie and grabbed my bag. I looked down at my feet as I splashed and dodged puddles of water from last nights rain, making my Converse dirty.

But I didn't really care.

I felt the football before I even saw it coming. It hit me on my right bicep, making me flinch and stumble, causing someone to bump into me, which in return caused a small traffic jam.

"Sorry," I murmured to the boy -a band nerd as he was checking his polished violin from the three inch thick case. He glared at me and stalked off as I blushed beet red and rubbed my arm. That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

The laughter and snickers didn't end until I was safely inside the building, but the staring didn't end there. Every day was the same; people laughing at me outside and inside the building. People talking about me, even though there was nothing new to talk about.

I ignored the whispers and laughter ringing around me and I had to bite my lip from crying. Somehow, I managed to walk down the hallway, take a right and push open the door without uncrossing my arms. I walked a few more steps and fumbled down the ten or so steps right before making a left turn to a short hallway with three rooms right before flopping down in my corner and popping in my earbuds for the remainder of the ten minutes before the first bell rang. No one knew about this place and rarely anyone came into this hallway. From what I had seen, there were other entrances to the rooms in here but occasionally the teachers would come through, ignoring me and continuing on in their business.

So I knew which teachers were who:
Mr. Zee, the choir teacher who also taught the piano class which explained why I only saw two teachers instead of three. He was the tall, young skinny guy out of the two of them. His black hair hung just above his shoulders while he hid his eyes behind thick lenses like me.

And Mr. Bass who unfortunately didn't teach the orchestra but the guitar class. He was rounder and older than Mr. Zee but his face didn't show it. Only his peppered hair showed the sign of his age.

This little corner was know as "the weirdos" since no one really played those instruments or sang. There was one main choir class, but the few songs they did sing were sometimes off key and it seemed as if Mr Zee did notice but tried not to. He would just congratulate each girl on their performance and they would just grin like idiots, thinking they were the next American Idol winner or something like that. I would literally just roll my eyes and walked away from wherever they were performing.

As the bell rang, I just made myself comfortable and tugged down the hoodie even more. Having first and second period off rocked, but having to get here early because my parents thought I was having fun with my friends sucked ass.

One time though, I almost did get in trouble, but Mr. Zee had saved my life. It wasn't that long ago that I was sitting down waiting for the bell to ring when a hall monitor came through the doors and saw me. Her pepper colored hair was pulled back tight into a bun and she had glasses at the top of her head that bounced ever so slightly with each step.

"Why aren't you in class? Do you have a hall pass?" She screeched and I all but practically froze. She was about to grab me when Mr. Zee rounded the corner and saw me wide eyed, almost about to cry.