Blind Spot

01 | New Locker

I DRAG THE CUP OF COFFEE to my lips and take a light sip, the burning hot flavour pours into my mouth and fills me with life. Enough life to take me through the whole day without breaking down at least once.

I push my hair behind my ear and gather enough courage to walk out of my car and into the school. I wasn't trying to be dramatic, but I dreaded everyday I had to go to school. If not that I had ambitions, I would have dropped out a long time ago and become something that doesn't need much education. Maybe a singer or something. But, I had a goal and I wanted to reach it. And that goal needs education.

I inhale and exhale deeply before I walk into the main school building, trying not too look as awkward as I felt.

The hall was buzzing with wasted life, people going on and on about how they enjoyed their time, some went on trips to Europe, some went around Asia. All competing for who had the best summer or who's family had to me most money.

I couldn't talk about my summer vacation because I spent it with my whole extended family at an old family house beside a deserted beach. It was boring and I had to spend most of my time locked up away, hiding from my judging uncles and aunts. I wasn't in any mood to answer their illimitable questions. Do you have a boyfriend? How are your grades? Why is your dress so short?

I walk over to my locker and unlock it, It pops out and dust blows into the air, waving my hand in front of my face in an attempt to blow away the dust. The locker wasn't anything to talk about, inexpressible. I stood there in confusion as to how the locker had gotten like this. I wasn't a neat-freak, but I was a very tidy person. I cleaned my locker out before abandoning it for summer vacation, and unless I had sustained brain injuries when I tripped over my cousins toys down the stairs on vacation, I knew pretty well that this wasn't the state I had left it in.

I scrunch my face as I sniff the foul stench, feeling a churn in my stomach. There were cobwebs everywhere and in the corner was a bag of rotten chicken nuggets and french fries. At least I now the original source of the smell that has enveloped my locker.

There was some kind of green mold at the edge of the locker, the vomit I was holding down vigorously making it's way up to my mouth. I forcefully swallow it back down and turn away from the locker. "Fuck," I mutter.

"Your locker looks like a health hazard," Kris says from behind me. "What happened to it?" She must've got a whiff of the smell and starts waving her hand in front of her face. "What is that smell?"

"I have no idea. I came back and just saw it like this," I say, poking a bra that was certainly not mine. "Who's is this? How did it even get in my locker? I did not leave it this way. I clearly remember cleaning out my locker after the last exam,"

"There were summer classes for some students who want to come here but didn't have enough grades to," Kris says, eyeing the locker. "A girl named Sabantha used your locker,"

"Samantha?" I ask, scrunching up my face. "I think you mean Samantha, Kris,"

Kris wasn't always the sharpest tool in the box. She has always been very dim, obviously I overlooked this because a selfish side of me liked being the smarter one amongst us. She was the stereotypical dumb pretty girl and I was the smart one.

"No," she says, pointing at a new girl at the end of the hallway. "Sabantha." The girl waves and Kris waves back. "I think she is Russian or Ukrainian or something. I can't really remember. I've never been good at remembering countries,"

"How do you know her? And the summer thing?" I ask, bring her back to the important conversation.

"While you were away in wherever it is you went to I was tutoring students," she says, looking proud, like it was an achievement to spend summer break tutoring students who didn't make enough grades to be accepted into the school.

"As in you were teaching things to students?" I ask. I couldn't deduce why Kris of all people would be chose to teach anyone anything.

"Yeah," she says, nodding. "I was their psychology tutor,"

"I think you were their psychology teacher," I say, furrowing an eyebrow.

"Teacher, tutor, they're all the same thing," she shrugs apathetically. "They both run in the same circle of education, anyways."

I roll my eyes. "There are tons of lockers, why did she use mine?"

"Well, that is... I have no idea," she says, tapping her chin.

"How did she even know my combination in the first place?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"I might have told her," Kris says. "My bad. She said she really liked it and it kind of escaped my mind that it was your locker even though I knew it was your locker. But if it makes you feel any better she said she likes the design on top of it. What was the word she used again?" She trails off for a little, thinking of the word the girl used. "She said it was aesthetic,"

I shake my head and turn around, I wasn't going to bother trying to understand whatever it was Kris was trying to say. There was no need, it was usual Kris banter.

"Where are you going?" Kris asks after me.

"To demand for a new locker," I call out to her, not bothering to look back or stop walking. "I'll see you later,"

"Ok. I have so many things to attend to, as well. See you later," she yells.

I roll my eyes and continue walking towards the administration office to demand for a new locker. Even if I cleaned out my old one, that stench and the unusual stains were certainly there to stay and I was not going to put up with it. It was nauseating.

I finally reach the administration office and knock on the door, waiting for a response before I enter.

"Come in," someone finally yells.

I walk in and instantly head straight for the woman at the desk.

"Can I help you?" She asks, faking a pleasant smile. I could see the eyebags sitting heavily below her tired eyes, she was barely hanging on to consciousness.

"Yes," I say. "I need a new locker because some girl named Sabantha messed mine up during that summer stuff and it really stinks, so I won't be able to put up with,"

"Okay," she says, still smiling at me.

After some few awkward seconds pass by, with her still smiling at me, I decided to talk. "So?" I ask.

"So what?" She asks, still smiling.

"So, the locker," I say. "I need a new one. Can I get a new locker, please?"

"The school is filled to the brim," she says, the smile wearing off her face, a fatigued look replacing it. "There are no more lockers..."

How could there be no more lockers in a school? I groan, rubbing my forehead in frustration. "No lockers? At all?"

"Except one,"

My head snaps towards her and a feeling of hope arises in me. "Yes?"

"Locker three forty one," she says.

"The one after locker three forty?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"That is how numbers go," she says, deadpan. "One, two, three-"

"Yeah, I get it," I say, cutting her off. "I know how numbers work,"

Three forty one was right next to Levi Karldon's locker. And I didn't want to be locker-neighbor's with him, but I also didn't want to be stuck with that smelly locker. This was a real lose-lose situation.

I knew for a fact that this wasn't going to be very enjoyable for me.