I made my way up the front steps of the building. Students passed me from both directions and no one seemed to pay much attention to me, which I was thankful for. I pulled my phone from my pocket and found that it was 8:03. I didn't have much time since school officially started at 8:15.
I wandered around a little bit before I found the main office and got my schedule. The woman behind the desk, Mrs. Walsh gave me a bright smile as she handed me a piece of paper with a sticky note on it.
"This is your schedule, sweetie, and I wrote your locker number and combination right here." She tapped on the sticky note.
I returned her smile. "Thank you."
On my way out, I grabbed a map of the school to help find my classes.
My first few classes weren't very hard to find since they were all pretty close together. I was afraid that I would get lost on my first day which would give me the clueless new-girl label right away and I didn't want that. I made sure to look over my map before venturing out into the hallways to hopefully keep some attention away from the fact that I didn't know this school.
It had been six years since I had lived in this town. Back then my only friend had been Andrew, and I had hoped to see him but so far I had no such luck. Maybe he didn't go here.
Even if I looked exactly the same as I used to, I still doubted anyone would recognize me. Since I didn't leave as the most popular of people, no one even glanced in my direction.
I would have been disappointed if I wasn't so relieved at the lack of drama. The school I had transferred to right before junior high had been nothing but, and I was dying for a peaceful year.
Each of my classes passed uneventfully since I sat at the front and didn't introduce myself to anyone.
I walked into my third period class and set my things down in the nearest seat to me then I walked over to the teacher to let him know that I was new.
"Natalia Johnson?" He asked.
"That's me." I nodded at him in confirmation.
"Well, welcome Natalia, I'm Mr. Blanchard." He said with a smile. "Go ahead and take a seat anywhere you want."
"Okay, thank you." I replied with a smile then turned and went back to my seat.
Mr. Blanchard lectured the class about something they had already been learning. It was calculus which I had been taking at my old school before I came here, so I knew the basis of what they were talking about.
I was taking notes when my though process was interrupted by whispers and giggles from behind me. I subtly turned around to see two girls in a hushed conversation that was apparently extremely interesting because they didn't even notice Mr. Blanchard walk over to their desks.
"Am I interrupting your conversation, ladies?" He asked them.
They surprised me when they didn't cower away in embarrassment like I know I would have. They only smirked.
"Of course not Mr. B, please continue." A pretty blonde girl said. She smiled sweetly at him.
He only rolled his eyes before turning back and beginning the lesson again.
I made my way through the halls to where I was hoping the cafeteria would be. I squeezed my way through the excess of students, avoiding elbows and swinging locker doors that were coming at me.
I walked into the cafeteria and purchased my food, a ham sandwich and a bottle of water. I made my way over to a nice empty table that was slightly littered with trash and cleared myself a spot. The tables were filling up fast, so I was glad that I found this spot before it was taken and I would have to make awkward conversation with someone.
I took this time to glance around the large room, surveying the rest of the students. Each table had it's own different group of students who all dressed and acted the same, like cliche high school cliques in movies. One table had nerds, though the only reason that I knew they were nerds was because of the lap tops and text books spread out in front of them. The table next to it had skaters, the next table had some religious looking people making wild hand movements while one of them read from a bible, and the table at the front of the cafeteria had what looked to be the "popular people". That last group had beautiful people wearing beautiful, expensive-looking clothes. Just looking at them gave me a sense of anxiety that I thought would be gone when I moved here.
While I was looking around the room, some others had occupied the seats around me. They gave off a strange odor and they looked extremely unclean. I tried to make myself smaller so that they would hopefully leave me alone.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when the cafeteria doors were slammed open. I jumped slightly in surprise and whipped my head over to see who was making so much noise. Four guys all walked in together and it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing just to watch them.
They were a good-looking bunch, so I didn't blame anyone for staring, and I assumed that these guys belonged to the popular table that I had identified earlier. One of the guys stood
out to me for some weird reason. He had black hair that fell messily on top of his head and his piercing gray eyes held confidence. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a dark gray V-neck shirt. He walked through like he owned the place and, based on the looks he was getting, he probably did.
He got to what I had assumed was the popular table and stood in front of the group with his arms crossed. His back was to me as be spoke to them. He leaned across the table and brushed the hair back from one of the girls' face.
That's when the bell rang. I looked down and realized that I hadn't eaten any of my food yet. I sighed and stuffed the sandwich into my backpack with every intention of eating it when I got home.
I got up to leave but someone grabbed my arm. I turned and gasped at the person who was staring back at me. He had blood shot eyes, his long brown hair was a wild mess, and he had a 5 o'clock shadow.
"Hey, who are you? What's your name?" he asked.
He yanked my arm so that I was directly in front of him and I resisted the urge to gag as his rancid breath clouded my airways.
"Natalia." I twisted my wrist around to try and break free of his grip but he held on firmly.
"Hold on," his voice was groggy, "Me and my friends have to go to a 'thing' tonight and I still don't have a date." He smiled creepily, showing off his yellowing teeth. I really didn't like how he put emphasis on 'thing'.
The more he spoke, the more I was convinced that he was on some kind of drug. That thought alone was enough to make me wish to be anywhere but there.
"I don't think I'd be any fun." I laughed awkwardly. "I need to go." I pulled my arm free and gathered my stuff up.
"Wait," he said in a laugh, "You seem stressed, I got somethin' to help you out with that." He started reaching into his pocket.
"Uh, that isn't necessary." I said quickly. "Goodbye." I turned before he could reply and swiftly walked towards the exit. The cafeteria was close to empty by now and I hoped that I wouldn't be late.
I made it to fourth period a second or two before the late bell rang. The teacher gestured for me to sit down as she stood at the front of the class. I sat towards the middle of the room in an empty seat and took out a notebook and pencil.
In this class they were just finishing one of Shakespeare. The teacher was walking around asking random students questions about Macbeth.
"Does anyone know the answer?" She asked. No one raised their hand. "Okay then," she surveyed the class, "Andrew, what is the answer?"
My attention snapped up. Andrew? I slowly turned my head around. My eyes grew wide when I saw him. He was reading off the answer from his book but I wasn't really listening.
Could it be the same Andrew? The one I'd spent my childhood with? My closest friend?
I quickly turned back around before he finished and caught me staring at him.
It was possible. I knew there was something I recognized about him in the cafeteria.
He had the same dark hair, same flawless smile, same deep grey eyes.
There was one big difference, though. He was one of the four guys that ran this school.
~ ~ ~
Hey! So this chapter has been officially re-written. I didn't change any of the plot I just hope it's a little better written than it was before. Sorry if it still sucks!
Let me know what you think! Please COMMENT and VOTE! :)
Thanks for reading!
~Lori~