01 THE FIRST DAY
I groan as I open my eyes, the light streaming in through the bare windows attacking my eyeballs the second I crack open my eyes. After laying still for a good few moments, one terrifying thought manages to creep it's way into my head.
It's the first day of school.
Well, for me. Why my dad couldn't have been offered the job-of-a-lifetime last summer is beyond me. Instead, Christmas is when my parents received the joyful news that led to many sleepless nights on my behalf and left me to become the new girl who joins school a third of the way through the year.
When I finally manage to drag my body from the warmth of my bed, I cross my unfamiliar bedroom to my equally unfamiliar bathroom, slamming the door violently behind myself in hope that my mom will get the message that I'm not in the mood to be tested today.
Sighing, I quickly jump in the shower after locating my shower gel and hair wash from one of the many brown boxes littering my room, rinsing off the grime of the 24 hours of travelling I've just endured.
The dark roots showing through the top of my blonde hair do nothing to disguise the fact that I definitely am not a natural blonde. So I leave my hair down and straighten it, before spending twice my usual amount of time picking out an outfit.
For school back home I'd throw on my black jeans and a warm hoodie and call it a day and although I'm mildly tempted to do just that, the California heat and the fact that this will be my first impression on everyone makes me think my outfit through more carefully.
After eventually changing into my black jeans and a white crop top I make my way downstairs to where my mom is pouring out a smoothie, her dark hair piled into a bun on top of her head.
"Morning, honey." she holds the smoothie out to me, a small and hopeful smile on her face.
A peace offering.
"Morning, mom." I kiss her cheek, taking the smoothie from her and giving her a hug. "Have you slept yet?"
"I only got off shift a few hours ago, so I'll wait up until your dad gets home." I nod, taking a sip of my smoothie and smiling, wrapping my hands around the flask. "Are you excited for your first day?"
"More nervous," I mumble.
"You'll make friends in no time."
I roll my eyes, checking the time on my phone.
It's like she never even went to high school.
"I gotta go, love you mom." I call, heading for the door.
"Your dad and I won't be home tonight!" she calls out after me as I reach the door and I turn, opening the front door and waiting for her to finish. "Your dad's got a big surgery to do and I'm working the night shift."
"See you tomorrow, then?"
She nods and sends me one last smile before I leave, closing the door behind me and leaning against it.
The concrete building suddenly comes into view after not too long walking. I turn a corner and the nerves immediately coil up inside of me, my steps faltering.
Huffing out a breath, I force my legs to move towards my new high school and the blue lettering of Bayview High that hangs above the front entrance makes me frown.
I don't know why, but the school colour being blue upsets me more than anything, and I suddenly long for the purple school colour of my old high school - a colour that only a week ago I hated with a passion.
In this moment, I think I'd do anything to be wearing my ill-fitting purple gym top and grey shorts that were constantly too baggy on me, hiding any slight curve my body ever had.
As I push open the main doors I'm instantly hit in the face with a blast of cold air, immediately calming the burning red of my cheeks.
Black jeans was not my best idea.
I thank god that the school office is immediately signed as I walk into the hallway and I head that way, pushing open the door to the office, my eyes landing on the elderly lady behind the desk.
"Hi, is this where I can get my schedule?"
"Oh, you must be Aurora Daniels!" she smiles at me and I cringe, pushing my hair behind my ear.
"Rory," I correct her with what I hope is a polite smile.
"Well, here's your timetable Rory," she hands me two small sheets of paper. "and that's your locker number and combination."
"Thanks," I smile at her before leaving, finding my locker and heading to my first class.
No amount of movies or TV shows can prepare you for how it feels to walk into the first class of second semester, Senior year, as the new girl. The gaze of my new classmates seems to burn into my skin as I slowly push open the door to the classroom that I really hope belongs to my AP English class.
I glance down at my schedule once more to check that I am in fact in the correct classroom before stepping forwards, trying to ignore the many pairs of eyes trained on me.
"Aurora?" The teacher asks and I cringe slightly again, nodding my head.
"Uh, yeah."
"Great! Okay so, here's your books and..." His eyes scan the classroom. "There's a free seat next to Jason. Jason, raise your hand."
A blonde in a letterman jacket raises his hand slightly from the back row and I immediately sit down, thankful that people can't stare at me freely without turning around.
"Alright, so we're going to be picking up right where we left off before winter break, so if everyone can open their books to.."
Perfect.
"Hey," a voice whispers to my right and I turn to face Jason, raising my eyebrows at him in question. "You need my notes to copy up, or something?"
A small smile grows on my face and I nod at the boy beside me, watching as his mouth mirrors mine as he reaches down into his bag, surfacing with a blue folder.
"Romeo and Juliet," Jason rolls his eyes. "So you can find summaries of the characters and acts and everything online pretty easy, but that should help," he gestures to his notes and I nod, flipping open the folder and thanking god that his handwriting is relatively neat.
"Thank you, you're a lifesaver."
"It was Aurora, right?"
"Rory," I correct him with a tight smile.
"Like from Gilmore Girls," he smiles back and I raise my eyebrows at him.
"You watch Gilmore Girls?"
"My sister's 14 and she made me watch the entire thing when she was ill over Christmas. Believe me it was not by choice."
"Sure,"
"It wasn't!"
"Quiet in the back row, please!" I flush as a few of my classmates turn around in their seats to look at me. Ducking my head, I let my hair fall forwards to cover my face and focus my attention on the folder Jason gave me.
The rest of the class passes so quickly that the ringing of the bell startles me, causing me to jump slightly in my seat.
I turn my head at the sound of a chuckle to see Jason smiling to himself as he stands up, shoving his belongings into his maroon backpack. I busy myself with my own bag, praying the redness of my cheeks will die down before I'm forced to walk the hallways of my new school.
"Hey, Rory," A voice brings me back to the present. "What are you doing for lunch today?"
"Uh..." I fiddle with the crumpled schedule in my hands and look up at Jason. "I haven't really figured that out yet.
Sending me a charming smile that I have no doubt would send the female population of this school crazy, Jason hikes his bag up onto his shoulder. "You can sit with us, if you'd like."
Oh thank god.
If this was every movie about a new high school student ever made, I was most probably going to end up eating my lunch in a bathroom stall.
"I'd like," I reply, then immediately cringe. "Um, do you have AP Bio next?"
"Well, it looks like it's your lucky day. Yeah, I do."
I nod my head, a headache forming from how hard I'm trying not to be awkward. "Okay"
With blazing cheeks, I set off down the hallway with Jason, quickly locating my next class in which I know another awkward "This is Aurora, she's new." conversation is bound to occur.
It's only when I'm sat in my AP Bio class and the bell for lunch rings out that I manage to finally remember that I now have to walk into a room full of students eating lunch with their friends and sit with Jason and whoever the 'us' is that he mentioned.
The thought of Jason, who seems friendly enough, causes me to look up to see him walking towards the door the classroom with some guy I don't know (but then again I don't know anybody) so I too leave the lab, deciding to wait outside.
I lean against the lockers outside of the lab, trying to seem as cool as I possibly can when Jason and the guy walk out, the tall brunette raising his eyebrows at me.
"Can I help you?" I ask, perturbed by the look on his face.
"You could help by getting off of my locker,"
His voice is deep, a lot deeper than Jason's, and as I quickly scan his outfit I register that unlike Jason's letterman jacket and blue jeans this guy is dressed in a dark grey v-neck and black jeans, his hands shoved into his pockets.
"Oh!" I spring away from the lockers, tripping over my own feet. "Sorry, I didn't know."
"Obviously," he mutters.
"Lay off," Jason's voice sounds and the brunette rolls his eyes at the jokey tone of Jason's comment.
The brunette turns his head towards me quickly before opening up his locker. "So you're Rory, I'm guessing?"
"That's me." I answer and immediately cringe at myself.
This is not going well.
The guy only nods, turning to switch his books out in his locker.
"You staying on campus for lunch today?" Jason asks the guy, looking up from where his attention has been on his phone.
"It's pizza, of course I am."
"Uh...I never got your name."
He turns back to look at me as he closes his locker, leaning against it. "It's Alex." He turns to Jason. "Have you seen Beth?"
"She just texted and said she's waiting in the cafeteria."
Who?
"Better not keep her highness waiting," Alex smiles and they both take off down the hallway.
Jason turns to look at me and gestures me to come with them.
"You coming?"
I nod, taking a couple big steps to catch up.
"Ladies first," he gestures for me to walk in down the hallway and I smile slightly, following the crowd down the hall.
I stay quiet as we walk, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel awkward. Jason and Alex are talking about god knows what but it doesn't take long for us to walk into a typical high school cafeteria, the entire place white and royal blue.
I try to ignore the people turning to look at me as we walk and instead just follow the two boys in front of me to a table near the centre where a girl is already sat, her lunch tray pushed to the middle of the table, piled with food.
Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she has black Beats headphones pulled over her head, her attention focused solely on the laptop in front of her.
Alex goes up behind her, smirking as he pokes his fingers into the sides of her waist. She squeals and jumps up, ripping her headphones off and turning around to see who the hell is behind her.
She scowls at Alex, picking up her cap from the table and proceeding the hit him with it but he only laughs and it's not long before she also cracks a smile.
In this time I've awkwardly sat down beside Jason and opposite the girl - Beth, I'm guessing - and I glance over at Jason who is also sporting a smile as he pulls the tray in the middle towards himself, taking one of the three slices of pizza.
"Oh." Beth finally notices me once Alex has sat down beside her and she's turned back to the table. "Who's this?" she asks in an overly polite voice, her smile small and strained.
"Beth, Rory. Rory, Beth." Jason introduces us and I can see her eyes studying my hair and outfit before they go back to my face.
"I'm new."
"I can tell."
There's a beat of silence and Alex takes this time to also take some food off of the tray and on second inspection I really there's three of everything on the tray and then I realise that I don't have any food.
"Okay, well I'm gonna go get some food." I mumble before standing up and walking off before either three of them can reply.
Unfortunately, the lunch line isn't long, having died down since the rush of people at the beginning of lunch, meaning it doesn't take me long to pass all the options and pay so I soon find myself walking slowly back to the table.
They're all talking when I get back and as I drop into the seat beside Jason the conversation drops, making it glaringly obvious they were talking about me.
"So how come you're starting now?" Beth shocks me by speaking first. "Why not in September?"
"My dad got this new job here and we had to move. Believe me, it wasn't my decision." I take a bite of my cookie, bypassing the pizza.
"Where'd you move from?"
"Chicago."
Jason suddenly starts laughing and when I turn to Alex I see he too is smiling. Beth even has a small smile on her face as she looks between the two boys
"What's so funny?" I ask with a small laugh.
"We go every summer," Alex said. "kind of like a road trip thing. Drive over there, stay for a few weeks and drive back."
"What's so special about Chicago?" Even though I missed walking the streets a night, and all the small cafés that I could sit in for hours on end, I didn't see what somebody would drive from LA to Chicago to see.
"Lizzie's family lives there."
"Lizzie?"
"Me," Beth speaks up and it takes me a moment but I figure her name must be Elizabeth for her to have the nicknames Beth and Lizzie.
"Yeah, so we spend a few days with them and then a few days alone. It's more of a tradition now than anything." Jason smiles, popping a chip into his mouth.
"Are you planning on telling her your entire life story?" Beth or Lizzie or whatever her name is snaps and I raise my eyebrows, taking a sip of my strawberry milkshake in silence.
"I don't think the lunch period is long enough for that," I smile at her sweetly and Jason gives a snort of laughter.
She glares at me and my sudden burst of confidence is squashed almost instantly, replaced instead by embarrassment.
I don't really speak for the rest of lunch, even when Jason continuously asks me questions to involve me into the conversation. I think he finally gets the message and the second the bell rings I mumble a quick goodbye, grabbing my bag and my schedule and attempting to find my next class on my own.
First chapter is up! I'm in the Caribbean right now, so I'm writing only at night because I'm going technology free during the day. This does mean that chapters aren't going to be coming as quickly as I'd liked (I planned for 1 a week on each book) but that's really not realistic.
Let me know what you thought, are you excited for the next chapter?
Make sure to give me some support and vote on this chapter - just for my own piece of mind :)
fallon park.