I make it to school and go straight to my locker. No one is in the hallway, which means everyone is probably in the gym or something. I get out the books I need and make it to the gym. I look in the bleachers and find Claire.
"Hey Claire." I say, walking towards her.
"Melina, hey." She says.
"My, uh, mom wasn't at home. Neither my dad."
"What, business trip again?"
"Yeah, Luke told me this morning."
"Well did you see Skyler? Did he already come to school?" Claire questions.
"Well...no. And I don't know. I didn't see him anywhere in the house." I reply.
"Oh okay. Well,when you see him tell him I need peer tutoring today." She says.
"Okay."
***
The bell rings and we disperse into the hallway to get to our classes. I notice James in the hallway.
"Hey James."
"Oh hey, Mel."
Mel. It sounds cuter when he says it.
"Do we,um,have any homework in Ms. Forestall's class?" I ask.
"No. She decided to not give out homework today and tomorrow since she's getting our field trip together." He says.
"I almost forgot about the field trip. But I did forget one thing." I declare.
"What's that?"
"I forgot where we're going..."
"We're going to the movies. I'm just glad 'cause it's dark place."
"Yeah totally." He smiles.
That smile could warm over a million hearts.
"Well I, uh, have to get to Mr. Ross. It was nice talking to you while it lasted."
You don't even know.
"Yeah, you too." He smiles once again and makes his way to class.
Shoot...I guess your spirits aren't gonna be up for long--you have class.
Crap. I forget these things. Especially when you talk to someone that makes you forget about other trash humans. I walk to class, no one else in the hallway now.
Man,your always alone in the hallway Mel,my mind says.
I know right, I say to myself.
Once I make it inside the classroom, I go to my seat casually.
"Alright class, let's get settled." Ms. Sullivan says.
"We all know that there is a field trip coming up, right?" She continues.
Everyone in the class nods in confirmation or agrees.
"Okay. Do we know who's coming? This means students, I know it sounds childish--chaperones, older siblings,people like that."
Everyone says yes.
"Okay,now here comes the important part: Who paid?"
Everyone puts their hand in the air.
"Okay. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, time for real class."
Most people groan--I don't. We pull out our books and start our work.
+++
An hour into our class the teacher says something that suprises me.
"Class,it may be a little late for it, but we have a new student."
"What's their name?" Blake,one of my classmates, questions.
"Caylen Thomas."the teacher replies.
"Dude or chick?" Lee, my best friend asks.
"A 'dude' yes." the teacher says.
On cue, the new student comes in. He's wearing a long sleeved blue/red flannel,skinny jeans,and red Vans. He looks quite tan, has spiked hair (in a way),and looks...cute...hot. Whatever you wanna call it.
He holds his fist balled up in his sleeve, close to his mouth.
Do you think he's shy? My mind questions. Yeah,I do,I tell myself.
He walks up to the teacher's desk and says, "Hi, um, Caylen Thomas."
He points to himself.
Ms. Sullivan smiles, "I know."
"Everybody welcome him."
"Hi Caylen." The class basically sings it.
"Now, Caylen this is the advanced and weird class. I think you'll get along with everyone just fine."
He nods his head as if saying, 'Okay.'
"Take a seat, take a seat." Ms. Sullivan guides.
He sits right in front of me.
"Welcome to Brookhaven." I say.
He turns around.
"Thanks."
"You can sit by my friends and me at lunch, okay?"
"Cool," he says,nodding.