Anna woke up to her blaring alarm and she rolled over to turn it off. She cursed under her breath at the ungodly hour she had to rise for school. She got up and began getting around, shuffling back and forth sleepily. She decided against wearing sweats to school since it was her first day, even though she wanted to, and instead chose some loose jeans and a tee she'd picked up the day before at the thrift with her favorite platform high tops. She checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth. She never thought too hard about the way she dressed, she was fortunate to be moderately comfortable in her own skin and in tune with her style. When she was ready she walked out of her room with her backpack on her shoulder and her phone and charger in her hand.
"Good morning!" Anna jumped as she was startled by Zeke, who was in the kitchen, which was only lit by the light of the refrigerator standing open.
"What're you doing up? It's 7am." Anna said exasperated.
"Oh, I never went to bed." Zeke smiled, waving the video game controller he was holding in his hand. Anna laughed and shook her head. There was a ding and Zeke grabbed something from the toaster. "Here I made you this!"
"Wow, this is... actually nice." Anna said as Zeke handed her a toaster waffle after quickly spreading peanut butter on it. "Thank you."
"It's cool, takes like a minute and a half to cook, wasn't that hard." Zeke shrugged and put another toaster waffle in for himself. Anna smiled. Her cousin was goofy in every way and even if he had an odd way of showing it, he had a big heart. Anna used to eat the same waffles with peanut butter as a kid when she visited grandma's. She remembered a few times in particular when she'd sleep over and she would sneak them, with Zeke's help, in the middle of the night. She relished in the sweet memory for just a moment.
"I'll see you after school." Anna said, heading towards the door.
"Hey, make sure Mo doesn't die at school today, he's gonna be in rough shape after last night."
"Sure. And if he does die?" Anna said, halfway out the front door.
"He was never here." Anna laughed and shook her head as she let the front door shut behind her.
Anna slipped earphones in and shuffled her music. She let her mind wander as she walked to school, subconsciously laying out a map of the neighborhood in her head along the way. As she got closer, the houses started getting nicer and she started seeing more kids making their way on bikes and skateboards. She made a mental note to try and find a board or a bike for her to ride to school. As she approached the school, she noticed how much nicer it was than her old school, and much bigger.
"What can I help you with, dear?" The secretary asked Anna as she walked into the office. She pulled her earphones out and shoved them in her pocket.
"I'm Anna Presanti." She said, placing her arms on the tall desk. The secretary nodded and turned around, grabbing a folder from the table behind her.
"This is for you, it has your schedule, a building map here, and the student handbook." The secretary opened the folder and pulled out her schedule before handing them to her. "I've already emailed all your teachers and let them know, welcome!"
Anna looked up from her building map and smiled, nodding a thank you before leaving and making her way to her first class.
The day moved slowly. Anna repeated the same cycle in every class, find a seat in the back of the room, introduce herself, sit bored until she could leave. Her teachers were nice enough, the other students hardly paid any mind to her, and the coursework didn't seem any different from her old school. She was in her 5th hour chemistry class, just before lunch, when a dark haired girl a table over smiled at her. She smiled back weakly, unsure if she was smiling at her or not. The girl got up and came to sit in the empty seat next to her.
"Hi, you're new." She said, sticking out her hand. Anna shook it and nodded. "I'm Lisa."
"Anna." Lisa smiled.
"How's your first day?" Lisa asked.
"Alright, actually, pretty painless so far. Kind of flying under the radar mostly." Anna shrugged and smiled at Lisa, fidgeting with her pencil.
"Glad to hear. Hey, if you're looking to try and meet people or whatever there's a party this weekend, I could get you the info if you were interested."
"Oh, like, a cool party or...?"Anna laughed awkwardly. She knew there were different kinds of parties for different crowds, and she didn't want to get caught at the wrong one.
"It's chill, it's pimps and hoes themed, it's in Paul's basement." Lisa laughed lightly and pointed at an older guy at the front of the room. "There'll be drinks."
Anna shrugged and grabbed her notebook, tearing a piece of paper off to write her number down. Lisa clapped and smiled.
"Thanks, you're the first person that's talked to me all day." Anna said, handing Lisa the paper. Lisa shrugged and stuffed the paper in her jeans pocket.
"Gotta make friends somehow!" Lisa stood up as the bell rang and they both waved bye.
Anna headed into the large, open cafeteria with her tray, searching for an open spot. There were lots of kids sitting in groups around the round lunch tables, and it felt like navigating a maze looking for a place to sit. She didn't mind sitting alone, but she kind of hoped she could pick Mo's head of brown hair out from the crowd.
"Hey!" Anna heard someone approach her from behind. She turned to see Mo walking towards her and she smiled. "Wanna sit with me?"
Anna followed Mo to an empty table by the big windows on the far end of the lunchroom. It was a good spot with lots of natural light. Anna sat down across from him and slipped her backpack off her shoulders. Mo followed suit, setting his tray down and staring at it with a slight grimace. Anna noticed and chuckled.
"Not feeling like eating, huh?" Anna smirked, taking a bite of her sandwich. Mo pushed his tray back and shook his head.
"No, I don't think I'm physically capable of swallowing today." Mo said with a sigh.
"Been there." Anna shuttered at the thought of a bad hangover. "I'm surprised you're even here."
"Hardly. I spent first and half of second period with my face in the toilet." It was Anna's turn to grimace.
"I do not envy you." Anna said. She could only imagine having to put her face near a boys public school bathroom toilet.
"So your first day is going alright?" Mo changed the subject, which Anna was thankful for as she was still trying to eat.
"Yeah, not too bad. I got invited to a party, so." Anna shrugged.
"Wait, Paul's party?" Anna nodded and Mo leaned forward.
"This weird kid, Stacy, invited me, too. He said if I got alcohol for him that I could come. He's giving me cash tomorrow." Mo told her. "I've never been to a party before. Should I be scared?"
"Nah. I mean you hang out with Zeke and his crew, you're probably more experienced than half these kids." Anna said, shrugging. "The party isn't in a field in the middle of the forest so I'd bet we're straight."
"I get the sense you've been to a party in a field in the middle of the forest...?" Mo said, laughing lightly. Anna smiled goofily and nodded.
"I got plastered and was lost in the woods for nearly 6 hours. Accidentally squatted to pee in poison sumac. It won't ever happen again." Mo laughed and shook his head. Anna smiled. She liked his laugh, it was infectious, like his smile. She looked down at the table as she began to blush slightly. She definitely thought Mo was cute.
"I guess as long as Paul doesn't have poison sumac in his basement we're golden." Mo smirked.
"Or everclear." Anna said dramatically, rolling her eyes and laughing exasperatedly. Mo laughed again, knowing what she meant. Everclear could knock anybody on their ass.
The two kept chatting throughout the lunch period. Mo brought up Anna's class schedule and they compared their two to see if they had any classes together. They had one class together during their last period of the day, history. History was Anna's favorite subject, and she looked forward to that class more now that she knew she had it with Mo.
Once the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, the two got up and walked toward the hallway to go their separate ways.
"Hey." Mo said before Anna could walk away. "Thanks for looking out for me lastnight. It was really nice of you."
"Well Zeke sort of left you there to die, but it's no biggie. See a need, fill a need." Anna smiled and shrugged. Mo noted Anna's kindness and smiled back at her. They parted ways to go to their next classes, both of them subconsciously looking forward to history class when they saw each other next.
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A/N
Okay so the original second half of this chapter somehow got deleted so I have had to come back and rewrite and I kind of hate it but at least now the story makes sense. Sorry friends, this is what I get for writing on like 3 different devices.