The Journey of Awkward

Sometimes It Happens

             The first day of school is always the hardest. You never know what to expect. Especially the first day of a new school. Which means new everything. New trends, styles, ideas of whats cool, new faces everywhere either silently judging you, or just as confused as you are. Most people tend to just stay on the safe side and keep their outfits neutral, testing the water, not speaking up in class, coming late to lunch all that good stuff. Of course, I am no exception, so I slide on a pain tee and jeans. I straightened my hair the night before, but now its a mess. I try smoothing it down with my hands and give my shirt one last downward tug in the mirror swinging my bag around my shoulders and head downstairs for my eager and waiting mother.

"Amelia! Ready for your first day of 9th grade?"

Then theres that dreaded question someone has to say every single first day of school.

"If I said no would you let me sleep in?" I reply, giving a tough tug on our browning fridge scourging for something edible.

"Absolutely not."

I scoff and grab two cream filled oatmeal cookies and stuff it in my bag, then cram one in my mouth. Out the corner of my eye, I can see my mom frown.

"What?" I say, oatmeal pieces flying out of my mouth.

"Thats not real breakfast!"

"And what is? The beer bottles you hide under your bed?" The air between us immediately shifts and I mentally slap myself. Why reopen these wounds at 7:30 am?

Her eyes go wide, then to the ground. She begins to fumble with her fingers and now empty ring finger.

Hi, nice to meet you, my name is the worlds worst daughter in history, present, and future.

"Sorry." I whisper, as if that would make it all better.

"I just.." She falls silent. I want to cry for her. Why did I even do that?

"Mom.. You don't need to explain to me... I need to get to school."

"Have a good day, hon. I would have drove you today but with w-"

"Mom its fine. I wanted to ride the bus remember?" Only so you wouldn't put anymore guilt on yourself for not having the time to take your daughter.

"Yeah. Your brother already left. Could you walk over   to his school after school and take the metro?"

I clench my fists."Ok."

She hands me 3 crumpled dollars and I walk out the door without another word. The school bus gets to the stop at 7:40, and its almost a 4 minutes walk from here. Running its 3 minutes. Running like its the zombie apocalypse, 1 and a half.

Right now, Im just speed walking, which is still 4 minutes. I somehow always get there out of breath and sweaty.

I check the time on my watch. 7:38.

I slouch into a metal bench awkwardly and just sit there. There are 15 or so people here around me, all their faces stuck in their phones.

I had one until about two weeks, before my mom went into a crazy frenzy and took it up because I had yelled at her for vomiting on the kitchen floor.

Instead of pretending to be looking for something in my bag, I grab a pen a begin to doodle on the inner crease of my hand.

By the time the bus rolls in, half my hand is covered in ink.

The doors creak open and everyone pushes to get in first. I immediately noticed the popular crowd, two blondes and a brunette, cutting in front of these two tall guys. My jaw drops realizing the shortness of her skirt. Is that even allowed at school? I guess we will find out.

I finally get into the back of the line and stuff my pen into my back pocket.

"You're handy with that pen." Someone says behind me.

How did he get there?!

I groan at his horrible pun.

"No seriously! Pardoning the pun, you really did good!"

I blush. and play with my fingers.

"Thanks I guess."

Its finally my turn to hop on the bus and theres hardly any spaces. Well, of course, except the front row ones. I slide in there.

So does the guy.

Rolling my eyes, I turn to the window.

"Russell! What are you doing? I saved you a spot back here!" A girl shouts to the guy next to me. AKA Russell.

"Thanks Liv!" He calls back, not making any move signaling he's moving from this chair. I frown. Why is this guy still sitting here? He obviously has a chance at instant social heaven. If he isn't already.

Im guessing the girl AKA Liv is wondering the same thing cause she yells again for him to come back.

"The bus is already moving Liv, Give it a rest."

A couple other guys yell Russells name but he just waves them off and stares forward. Not even bothering telling me why he's over here.

We sit in silence for about 3 minutes until he shifts in his seat a bit. Then we sit in silence until we reach school.

What a weirdo.

The bus stops and everyone begins to grab their bags. Russell just sits there staring hardly at his hands.

"The bus stopped." I point out, waiting for him to make some sort of movement. He just looks up blankly.

Im taken aback. Whats up with this guy?

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Ok." I say, pulling my bag onto my shoulders.

"Wanna go out?"

I blink.

The word prank repeats over and over into my mind as I hear a giggle and a loud roar of laughter from the back of the bus.

"Yeah, I want to go out. Away from your creep ass and out of this bus."

With that, I boldly look him in the eye, daring him to look away.

His face as turned red and he looks shocked. Serves him right.

"Move." I say. He grabs his bag and stands up, before exiting the bus though, he turns back to look at me one more time. I stick my tongue out. Jerk.

I then slide out, turning to the back of the bus and identifying faces. Liv, Blonde, tall, and beautiful. Not a surprise. They always are. I step off the bus and into hells waiting room.

WestWood High School.