Double Take

T w o

Today, excitement took over my schedule. I got up twenty minutes earlier, ate breakfast sitting rather than on the go, and left the house with fifteen minutes to spare. The bus stop was not heavily occupied because it was still kind of early. I set my backpack on the ground leaning against my legs and pulled out my phone. With headphones in, I lightly hummed to Birdy and let the music cradle my thoughts.

I was looking at my phone scrolling through the conversation my friends were having last night when I'm introduced to the powerful scent of the ocean. I look up and see Mack pass and stop about three feet from me. Damn, did he smell good. He is turned from me slightly and has his own pair of headphones in. I pause my song and take one of my buds out. His volume is up and I can hear the faint lyrics of Iris. I smile and wonder what other music he listens to.

I see yellow lights flickering, signaling out bus. People line up and pile in. The front and middle seat are crowded since I was near the end of the line so I make my way the back. I see an empty booth and sit in it before someone else does. The driver wait until we're all seated before she hits the gas pedal. I turn to make room for Ameene and noticed Mack is in the booth directly across from me. He looks at me and smiles lazily and I return the gesture.

We stop again and I see my crazy best friend get on. It takes her a while to find me because I'm usually near the middle.

"DAMN GIRL," she says while sitting next to me. "Why are you back here?"

I explain that the front was crowded as well as the middle. She complains about how people are so rude and I shake my head at her. Before I forget, I take out the shirt from my backpack.

"Just washed it too," I say before she smells it.

"Thanks boo," she winks at me and I laugh.

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"What day is it class?" my spanish teacher Mr. Palooze asks.

"Miercoles," we reply, somewhat in unison.

"What is the date?"

"Catorce." We pronounce it several different ways. He says it correctly and has us repeat it.

"What is the month?" he continues.

"Septiembre."

He asks us basic questions pertaining to weather, time, and numbers for what seem like hours. Then we gets to the conversations. And this is where I get lost.

"Hola, como estas?" my partner asks me. We are doing a communication activity.

"Bien. Y tù?" I reply. He tells me the 'y' is pronounced as an 'e' and I sigh before saying it correctly.

"Mas menos." I pretend to understand him as we continue. As much as I try in Spanish, I only get a C or D. It's the most stressful class I have and no matter how much I ask the teacher for extra help, he says he doesn't have the time to "cater to every individual student." Yes people, these are the words that came out of his mouth. I've been able to skip by with a C since last year so I was content, but if I get any lower, I'm going to need tutoring.

The bell ring for second block and I make my way out of the devil's lair. My feet carry me to algebra. I see a few people in the hallway just standing there. The door must be locked. Someone goes up and tries the handle. It doesn't budge confirming my suspicions. I look at the people here. Several guys heavily built, half of them wearing football jersies. Four brunnettes with blond highlights all giggling and looking at the guys. Two girls and one boy who are extremely silent and actually look frightened. One girl with shoulder length dark curls and Mack. Wait, what. I turn fully towards the direction Mack is in. He is sitting, back against the wall, drawing in a sketchbook. No wonder I didn't see him first.

Couple minutes later, our teacher arrives and unlocks the door. I squeeze in through the crowd and take in the homeliness of Mrs. Foster's dimly lit class room.

Now I know what you may be thinking. "Dacie, spanish and algebra back to back? You have it the worst." The thing is, brace yourself people, you're about to be blown away, I like math. Yeah, yeah I know what you're gonna say. "Math sucks ass, my math teacher is horrible, it's so confusing." I was there at one point, but I had really awesome teachers to help me. I actually love math, it's my favorite subject and the one I can confidently say I do well in.

I find a seat in the back corner and get out some paper and a pencil. Mrs. Foster promptly illuminates the Smart board with some equations for us to solve. I copy the down on my sheet and start to figure them out. After about ten minutes, I put my pencil down and look over my answers. When I'm satisfied, I look up and take in my surroundings. The side of the room away from the door is lined with three warm-colored lamps. That side is also occupied by the jocks and girls giving them a show. In the front corner, the girls are still giggling, flipping their hair, and occasionally biting their lips to attract attention. Half the guys are completely focused on them trying to flirt and whistling. The other half are laughing and talking. They take up most of the right side of the class.

In the front corner on my side, the three quiet people I saw outside sit together and work on the problem on the board. Right next to them are a couple of freshman who are waiting for the teacher to start explaining. On my immediate right is the girl with curly hair. She is slowly the problem. One row in front of me and two seats to the right is Mack. He looks between the board and his paper repeatedly. I glance at his paper, there isn't much written down. He sighed and starts to sketch in the margins, looking frustrated. He's struggling with the problems, I realize.

"Are you done?" someone asks, taking my focus from him. I turn and realize the voice is from the girl next to me.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I'm so confused." I ask her on what part and explain how to do the problem. She still doesn't get it so I do an example.

"Oh shit, that worked," she says surprised. "I never really liked math. By the way, I'm May. Yes, I know it rhymes. Please don't say anything about it, I've heard it all before."

"Dacie," I laugh before shaking her extended hand.

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Sooooo, I have no school for the rest of the week because we are supposed to get a hurricane. I plan on writing like five chapters to get a good start on the book. Also, I know the beginning is kind of slow but bare with me please, it'll get better. I have an awesome story planned for you guys. And hopefully the storm isn't all that bad so I can update the parts.

ANYWAY e n  j o y   t h e   s t o r y