Falling

Chapter 1

Elena hurriedly walked into school, her hair falling out of the bun she had quickly made in the car. She didn't notice the whispers circulating around her, whispers of a new girl in her senior class.

She had spent almost all summer locked in her room skyping Carmen or watching movies over at Josh's house with his family. So the idea of there being a new girl had never even crossed her mind.

"Elena!"

Elena froze in the middle of the hallway and someone collided with her from behind. She felt her skin burn with embarrassment but nonetheless mumbled an apology to the person behind her and started picking herself up.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Josh shyly grinned at the person behind Elena. "I don't think I've ever seen you around, are you the new girl?"

Elena frowned and quickly turned to look at who she had bumped into. Instantly, she felt her cheeks turn red and her heart started pounding faster than ever before. The girl she was staring at had the brightest brown eyes she had ever seen, and her messy curly hair was a spectacle in itself.

"Yeah, I'm Marisol." Marisol glanced at the floor, fumbling around with her feet.

Josh grinned at her, stealing a quick glance at Elena. "I'm Josh and this is my friend Elena." Josh pulled Elena into his side and gave her a hug. "Sorry about yelling your name, I was looking for you."

"It's, um, it's fine." Elena awkwardly smiled at him. She looked over at Marisol and bit her lip at how cute she looked. "Do you need help finding your classes?"

Marisol quickly looked up at her and nodded her head eagerly. "Yes, please. I've been trying to get someone to help me but they just turn the other way."

"Who better than Elena?" Josh smirked at Elena. He nudged her side and Elena smacked him across the head. "Anyways, I've got to be going. See you guys later."

Elena sighed as Josh ran down the hallway to his first period. She nervously turned back to Marisol and watched her looking around at everyone.

"You'll be fine." Elena smiled softly at her. Marisol smiled back and Elena felt her insides melt. "Ok well, what's your first class?"

"I don't know but the main office lady printed out-"

"Was it Mrs. Sandoval? I've already told her 1,000 times to just email every student their schedules. It would save the school so much paper." Elena groaned, rolling her eyes at no one in particular.

Marisol bit her lip down to contain her laughter. "Well, my schedule says I have AP Literature with Mr. Donovan right now."

"That's my first period too!" Elena smiled, grabbing Marisol's hand and pulling her towards their class. "However, I did hear from my old English teacher that we'll only read about classic heterosexual dramas and other nonsense."

"Oh?" Marisol said as Elena started rambling about how there wasn't any sexual diversity in classic English literature.

"I mean, do we really need more than 100 versions of Becky falling in love with Johnny but Johnny doesn't like her and Becky trying her hardest to please him but Johnny is just being an ass and-"

"Miss Alvarez, I see you're late again."

"I have a valid reason." Elena began. "Mrs. Sandoval chose to ignore my concerns over saving paper and printed out a paper copy of Marisol's schedule. Her schedule fell into a puddle of orange juice Josh Flores had accidentally spilled and we couldn't read it anymore. This wouldn't have happened if Marisol had been emailed her schedule instead. Thankfully, she remembered her first period."

"Only this once have you escaped tardiness Miss Alvarez." Mr. Donovan glared at her. "May both of you ladies please take a seat."

Marisol anxiously looked around the classroom, trying to find a seat to where she could escape to. Elena saw her worried expression and guided her towards two empty seats in the back of the class. She wasn't used to sitting in the back but she wasn't going to leave Marisol to fend for herself either.

During the entirety of class, Mr. Donovan went over their syllabus and Elena desperately wanted him to finish. She wanted to talk to Marisol and get to know her better even though Marisol seemed like the type to just sit and listen.

Elena had also tried her hardest to not stare at Marisol but it was no use. Every time Mr. Donovan walked across the front of the classroom, Marisol's curls followed and Elena seemed lost in them. She loved to see Marisol look down at her paper, her lashes short and straight. It was something she had definitely seen before but on Marisol it looked like magic.

"Hey." Marisol waved her hand in front of Elena's face. "The bell rang."

Elena gasped. "Oh no, I'm going to be late to AP Chemistry!"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Marisol tried to pull her arm out of Elena's grasp. "I need a new schedule, remember that my old one fell into a puddle of, what was it again? Orange juice?"

"Shush! Don't laugh." Elena giggled. Marisol's laugh made her stress go away. "Look for me near the trash bins in the cafeteria during lunch."

Marisol didn't get a chance to ask why. She watched Elena run out the door and towards her next class.