My first day of the senior year goes as expected as can be. Underclassmen were confused, everyone dressed to impress, and only half of the seniors actually showed up. All the teachers I have this year I know what to expect from them so this year should be easy. I have lunch 5th period then study halls 6th and 7th, so my friends and I have taken the liberty to use our free time to have an extra-long lunch date on the first day. We talk almost the entire time, and never about anything serious. We joke around until we go speeding back to school trying not to be late.
As soon as I walk in the doors the bell rings for the end of 7th period. I know that I have A.P. English, so I head towards the teacher I know and love. She's been teaching at the school for a long time and all the seniors always love her. None of my friends had English with me so I felt kind of alone in the crowded hallways. I walk into her classroom and the bell rings for the period to begin.
I look around confused, literally no one else besides the teacher is in there.
"Where's the class?" I ask.
"What do you mean, Veronica? I don't have a class," She says. I hurry to check my schedule.
"See, it says I have A.P. English," I show her.
"I don't teach that class anymore. I moved down to English 10 to have more free time," she explains.
"Who teaches it then?" I feel sweat starting slowly bead on my forehead from worrying.
"Ms. Wright, she's new. I'll walk you to her classroom and explain that you got confused," She says. Her words relax my shoulders as I walk beside her. She is a short stout woman and she makes me feel tall. We pace the empty halls until she walks into a class and I follow. It wasn't a very big class, probably about 15 people. The teacher, Ms. Wright, looks at me. She is a beautiful woman. Ms. Wright walks over to us, she's the exact opposite of the old teacher. She's tall and makes me feel short.
"Excuse me?" she asks politely.
"This is Veronica, she thought I was the A.P. teacher still and got confused so please excuse her for being late," the teacher explains. Ms. Wright looks over at me and smiles.
"Take a seat," she says. I look around the room, I knew the name of most of the people there but nothing more. There is one boy I see though. His name is Nathan. I go and sit next to him. We are actually pretty good friends. We are related in some way but I'm not sure how we are like 2nd or 3rd cousins or something. He passes me a piece of gum and I smile and scribble down some notes from the board.
The class goes by pretty quickly, but Ms. Wright naturally asks me to stay back. Everyone else left for the day as she walks towards my desk. She sits on top of my desk and looks down at me.
"Why were you late?" she asks.
"I went out to lunch with some of my friends and I did come back on time, but I didn't check my schedule very thoroughly because I didn't know you taught this class," I explain.
"Is Nathan your boyfriend?" She smirks. I know she saw us giggling all class.
"Absolutely not, we're actually related," I tell her. She stays silent for a moment then gets off my desk.
"Stay right here, I'm going to get something," she instructs and walks towards her desk. I try to calm my breathing down. While she's still at her desk, the most ratchet piece of trash ever to walk the Earth walks into the classroom, Liam. Liam is one of the most athletic boys in the school and he is super into me. He constantly tries talking to me for no reason and sometimes even tried to make a move. The worst he's done was unexpectedly pecking me on the lips. Everyone tries to make it seem like we are the 'it' couple but I would never date him, he is the biggest asshole I've ever known.
He sees me and smirks. He starts walking towards me and throws his bookbag down by my desk and pulls a chair up to mine. I audibly sigh, smelling the toxic masculinity wretch off of him. He tries to put his arm around my shoulders, but I scoot my chair away.
"Liam, I see you showed up for detention," Ms. Wright says standing behind us.
"Can't stay for too long though, I got football practice," He says leaning back in his chair. Liam turns his head to me and smiles.
"Can I leave?" I stand up asking Ms. Wright.
"Uhm, yeah," She says almost hesitantly. I grab my bag but before I start walking out the door, Liam grabs my arm.
"Stay, please. It'd be boring without you," he tells me.
"Have fun at football," I say monotonously and leave. I walk through the empty hallways and walk out the door, heading to the parking lot. I see all of Liam's friends hanging out by their trucks. Thankfully, his friends aren't as bad as him.
"Veronica!" I hear one of them yell. I turn my body towards them and start walking.
"You should come to the party tonight! It's the first-day back-to-school party," Kyle, Liam's best friend says.
"First day back? You didn't show up for half of your classes. The teacher kept saying your name during attendance," I joke with him.
"Okay, okay, I may not be the most punctual student, but come. It'll be awesome, better than any party before," he tries to convince me.
"Even the last day of school party?" I question. All of the boys look around at each other.
"Okay, second-best party ever," A different boy says and we all lightly laugh.
"You boys have fun at football practice, I gotta go home," I say.
"Is there no volleyball practice?" one of them asked.
"No, the coach is home today with two sick kids," I say and start heading towards my car.
I sit at home bored, there was no homework to do for today since every teacher just went over the syllabus. I wisely text Kyle instead of Liam.
Veronica: Where's the party?
Kyle: My aunt's house, do you remember where it is?
Veronica: Of course.
I waited until almost 10 pm to sneak out. It's not that hard to sneak out of this household so I just walk out the front door. I get in my car and see another car coming down our street. It was weird because we live in a cul de sac so no one comes down this road unless they live here. The car slowly circled around and left. I left all my paranoid thoughts behind and started my car.
I pull up to Kyle's aunt's and see Liam doing shots with another girl. Hopefully, he lost feelings for me this quickly. I get out of the car and see all my friends running up to me.
"Did you bring a swimsuit?" my best friend, Mia asked.
"No, I'll just take off my shirt," I said.
"Skinny dipping?" she asked a little surprised.
"No, I'm wearing a sports bra right now, I'll just wear that," I explain. We walk into the house, there is more freshman than I expected.
"Veronica!" someone calls me down. I look over and it's Liam, "Everyone is going skinny dipping in the lake, you want to go?" he asks.
"Not really, isn't the water really cold?" I ask
"That's the fun part," he says. I walk over to the kitchen island and pour myself a shot of vodka. I talk to some people and drink a little more.
"There's a basketball hoop, wanna play with me?" Liam asks, he'd been bugging me all night. I hesitantly agree, thinking he couldn't do anything. I've never played basketball before but I have enough hand-eye coordination to be somewhat decent. Liam does play basketball so he is beating me. He takes the ball and runs to the 3 point line.
"If I make this in you have to go out on a date with me," he says before I could object, he shoots and the ball hits the rim, bouncing off.
"You were hoping I wouldn't make it," he says walking towards where the ball bounced away.
"I don't hate you, Liam. I'm just not interested in dating right now," I tell him and he throws the ball to me.
"I get it, I just don't want to miss out on a high school romance, you know? This is our last year actually do it," he says making a point. I splash a 3 and think. They said this party was going to be fun, but honestly, it's really boring. I check my phone and pretend my mom busted me for sneaking out. I go inside the house and say goodbye to my friends and make my way home.
While driving back, I see a car coming my way. The same car that circled around my street. Maybe it's the drinks that made me think that.