It's You

Chapter Three

The ride to school was quick, but uneventful to say the least. Being from the cornfields of Illinois, there isn't much to look at when travelling. You may encounter a deer during the fall months, but other than that the most exciting things to look at during the summer months are the spotted cows in the various pastures. As I began to venture into the next town over and near the school, a turbulence of emotions swarmed my mind. I was ready to move on. Well, I've been ready since the summer after sophomore year. Yet for some reason a pang of sadness shot through my heart as I thought of the people I would leave behind, the coaches I knew I would miss dearly, and most of all, my family. That was still a year away though, so I pulled myself together just in time for us to arrive at school.

I pulled into my parking spot, which I was fortunate enough to get one in the closest corner to the school. An easy in, easy out. I grabbed my backpack from the backseat, and once Lauren grabbed hers as well, I locked the car as we started our descent to the building's front doors. Screams erupted from behind us, piercing our ear drums as the sounds grew louder with every step. Whoever it was, they were running straight for us. Instinctively, Lauren and I turned on our heels in anticipation of what was about to hit us. It was our group of best friends, all of which are our running and basketball teammates.

The first girl I saw was Tiffany, my best friend since the 2nd grade. Tiffany is 5'8" and a stick of a human. She is the top runner at our school, and my top competitor, but we never let it get the best of us, it's friendly competition. Tiffany has a bronde (almost blonde but almost brunette) hair that was once curly as can be, very fine ringlets, but a perm she got in the seventh grade had tamed it into long loose waves. Crazy ringlets always pop up here and there in her under layers, a look she hates but all of us are jealous of. The next girl to her right is Alli. She is what I call the closest thing to a basic white girl in our group. She is 5'5" with long brown hair, either curly or straight, depending on her mood. She loves to wear skinny jeans and scarves and like, "totally can't wait for Justin Bieber's new album, cause he is like, so hot and will totes make a comeback." But I think that's why we love her. She brings amusement to our group and it's so fun to see her reaction when she catches one of us listening to "Where are U." The third member is named Trista. Trista is 5'8" as well, with hair very similar to that of Tiffany in style and color, but has a more muscular build to her body. She plays volleyball and basketball, so her along with Lauren are the only two of us who do not run. The last member of the group is Taylor. Taylor has light blonde hair that has been dyed and highlighted multiple times over the years, and she is probably the most studious of all the girls in our group. A sprinter that we turned into a distance runner, she has really come to bond with us all since she joined the cross country program last year.

They all greet us with open arms, and the sharing of stories begins. I stare into space as we open the doors to the building, a rush of cool air blowing my hair behind my ears and down my back. My schedule was a challenging one, but it was nothing I couldn't handle with ease. Education has never really been a challenge to me. As long as I can pay attention in class and write down the notes at least once, the information just kind of sticks in my brain like gorilla glue. Sure, classes like Human Anatomy and AP Calculus were going to be difficult and I will probably hate life during the entirety of the school year. I walked down the white walled hallways of the school, passing countless faces I have seen one hundred times before, as well as the fresh new faces of the underclassmen. Some greeted me with high pitched and cheerful "hellos" while others, like myself, were more occupied with trying to avoid everyone and everything.

The first day went by like a breeze. In almost all of my classes, the format was go over the syllabus, do an activity, and then just talk for the rest of the class period. I did the exact same routine every hour as well. I walked in, set my books at the very top of my desk, and folded my legs under myself in a criss-cross position and put in my headphones. I scrolled through my playlist obsession of the month, well so far of the year, IM5. Last year, I found their channel on YouTube. A smaller band consitsing of five members, then four, and now five again. The members were Will, Cole, Dana, Gabe, and now David. These boys have seemingly taken over every aspect of my music playlist, and I spent the entirety of the day scrolling through every video on the channel. A waste of time in my teacher's eyes? Maybe. But to me? Another way to get through the antagonizing pain of the day. 

As the end of my day neared, I started to mentally prepare myself for cross country practice, and more specifically, what the season holds in store for me as a whole. Something inside of me wanted to believe that this season would be something magic, and yet I did not want to get my hopes up, because for the past 3 years it's been a struggle, so why would that change now?