8:30AM
That's the time i left the house for the opening of my classes today. It was the idea of my parents to put me in a school that's a walking distance because I didn't have to commute everyday unlike Kennedy. Actually, I chose not to commute if it's not necessary. Besides, there's something about the every day walk to campus that gives me bliss before a chaotic day in high school. I sometimes see more when Im walking on the streets as opposed to riding the bus for five minutes and everything just blurs in front of me.
Also, it helps with the 'Welcome' video we show. Every beginning of the year, I'd put together a 10-minute video to present in the Homecoming Dance. Basically it's a reel of videos, showing clips of the first day of school. It's everything from candid footages to me 'interviewing' a few of new and old students about their first day experience in Silver Creek High School.
Hence, why every school opening I have a handy dandy camera in hand. People were confused at first, others freaked out, but pretty soon they got the gist of it all and played along. Others wanted to be on camera more than others.
I walked to school this morning, already starting my filming. I already managed to get a few clips of the old students walking as well without getting caught which is good. I got caught a few times but with no hard feelings as those people just tend to wave anyway, thrilled to they get to see their faces in front of the whole school.
I spun around to film other students behind me, my eyes glued to the screen on mine camera. I frowned, recognizing immediate the person who's in my shot among everyone else. It's her from last night. "Are you filming me?" She ask, walking forward towards me.
Kind of." I held the camera up to take a shot of her face, making her smile. I feel my cheeks warm, standing this close to her. I didn't even notice last night how tall she is.
She's a real presence.
"Are you starting first day in Silver Creek?" i ask her but I was looking more at her on my screen as i walked backwards.
"Thats what it looks like." She says, laughing as she crosses her arms.
Her laugh is infectious. It was too late to realize that i was grinning myself. I hit the red button on my camera to stop recording and just focus on her. Jacky through a screen does not do Jacky in real life any justice. "Sorry about last night, by the way. I just freaked out when you said my name like you're used to it."
"Yeah, well the'Kim' population where I lived was is thriving." She says in a sarcastic tone, making me smile even wider.
I noticed that we were nearing the campus. From where we are, I can already see the flagpole peeking over the trees and the swarm of students charging towards familiar territory has increased by a lot.
"I can tell you really don't remember me, Kim. To be fair, you were like... 3 at the time."
I chuckle nervously, looking down at my camera. "Must have been wild if you remember that."
I look up at Jacky, the wind blowing her hair out of her face. Her eyes pierce in the bright morning light. "Then how about we start over." She says with a shrug.
"I think that's the obvious path." I say, holding my free hand out. "Hi, I'm Kim."
I find it a bit silly, but if it helps, then fine.
Jacky laughs, grasping my hand. I felt the heat rise to my face as we both shake hands. A certain surge of warmth tingled on my palm. "Jacky."
Like that, it's as if we've just met again. And I don't think I've ever met anyone, or seen anyone, in this town who's like Jacky.
"Good morning, Jane!" I greet my humble leader as I enter the photography org room. Jane is sitting at the computer by the printer. Not entirely surprised since that's her favourite spot. Of the 4 desktops in the room, this was her favourite for reasons I do not understand.
We're a small organization working alongside the town council at times and our school publishing. It's somehow exclusive because the past three years we haven't had a lot of new members compared to the other clubs in our high school. In all honesty; we are a dying organization. The only reason the school kept funding is because the town relies so heavily on us. We do the promotional and tourism work in the town, take care of the documentation whenever there's a new boutique or restaurant launching.
When I joined the org, there were 20 of us. It was like having a real film crew around campus every time there was an event that needed documenting. But every year the seniors leave, students who were once part of the org transferred to more 'appealing' and 'credible' clubs and before we know it, there were only 5 of us left.
Sneaking up from behind her, that's when I noticed the earbuds plugged in her hears. I let out a sigh, taking my seat beside her. She doesn't say anything as she passes me a piece of paper with the school logo on top. So she did notice me.
"Homecoming errands." She comments without tearing her gaze away from the screen. "I think the school just assumes we have no homecoming plans."
"So what's the homecoming plan?" I ask her.
"Yeah. I wanted to stay home and watch the whole season of Doctor Who in one sitting. My boyfriend is in town Homecoming night but I guess I have to cancel again." Jane rolls her eyes and frustratedly pushes the keyboard away. "Also, im not looking forward to coming in homecoming because, god, I'm pretty sure I will be seeing my brother fondling Kennedy's breast the whole time."
I laugh when she visibly shudders. "We don't have to get that on video. Anyway, don't cancel on your boyfriend. Just take him to homecoming with you. We are short on people. And Kennedy will be busy at that time." I shrugged. Jane still shoots me a disgusted look. I probably deserved that after making that last comment.
"You need to stop reminding me that. Anyway, he won't mind to help out. I already asked him last night when I got the email. But what about you?" She asks. "You seriously don't have plans for homecoming? The last time I saw you at a homecoming in proper attire was freshman year, Kim. And i doubt its because no one asked you, I've had 2 junior boys approach me and ask if you already had a date. And it's the first day."
I laugh, shaking my head. "I'm fine, Jane. I tried freshman year and that was enough to make me realise homecomings suck for me." Jane shoots me a glare. "No. I'm only going for the job."
"Fine, Kim. If that's what you want." She says in a forced uninterested tone. "So you got any footage from this morning?"
I hand Jane the camera and she doesn't waste time connecting it to the computer. I watch her as she imports all the files on her desktop, and as she plays back all the footage I got. The blonde lady, who I hypothetically just met, flashes on the screen. Jane plays the footage, Jacky's laugh rings through the whole room.
"Huh. Is she new?" Jane asks me. "Why Do I feel like I've seen her before?"
"Yeah, yeah. She's a transferee."
"You know, you need to stop walking backwards or you'll crash into something." I can't help but smile. Her voice is so calming, and there's this confidence in her tone that's completely taking me in. Plus, there's something really breathtaking thing about her. For now, I can't pinpoint what but she is definitely a show stopper.
"She's pretty... this could go a few ways ways: she can end up in the hate-list of every threatened jealous cheerleaders, she could be one of them or the top of ridiculous egotistical jocks' hunt list— oh wait until Charlotte meets her!" I frowned, looking down at Jane. She seems a little too happy about seeing Charlotte crumble with envy.
"I think she can hand herself, Jane." I say. Jane scoffs but I look at the footage again. It was like she's staring directly at me. "She's from New York. She's tougher than anyone."
"A New Yorker in Old Town?" She repeats like that's so difficult to believe. "That's not something you see every day." Jane looks back at the screen and scrolls back to Jacky's footage. She tilts her head like she's analysing her, nodding. "She does have a city girl look about her." Jane laughs and turns to me, "You didn't just shove a camera in her face, did you?"
I grimaced and shook my head. "No." I say firmly, making Jane laugh again. "We met before; last night at the town centre."
"Oh, cool." Was all Jane says. She unplugs the camera from the computer, ravels the wiring before chucking it in a drawer. She slaps the camera in my hand, looking at me firmly. "She's interesting. I want you to film her candidly for the rest of the week—"
"Jane that's creepy." I cut her off with a surprised look on my face.
"Not in a stalker-like way, Kim!" I don't know what she's thinking but, as far as I know, when you film someone a lot without their knowledge, that's equivalent to stalking. But as she rolls her eyes, she's convinced my thoughts on her Intentions are wrong. "What's the matter with you? We did this since sophomore year to some freshmen we found interesting. We never had a new student in our year before, so just think of her as a freshman. When you see her, tell her to come here after school. This is going to be great."
I tried to say something to stop Jane from executing her plan, but nothing's going to change her mind. She is already distracted and turned her back on me, typing away on her computer. I really don't want to 'interview' Jacky. That might come out as a bit invasive. She hasn't even been here for a week and we're already trying to squeeze some juicy information out of her. And also some of the freshmen, but mostly Jacky.
When I get to one of my class that morning, Jacky already found herself a seat. While the whole room is bursting in chaos around her, she seemed to find a simple solace in her own little space. It looked cinematic, honestly. There are papers and textbooks flying around a girl who is completely unbothered by her surroundings. Most people would already be telling off everyone, but she's probably that one person who can't be bothered to waste their energy on something so pointless. Jane might be on to something. Jacky just seems different from the rest of us. That, or because she doesn't know anyone else.
As I walk past the craziness, I put my bag and books down in my assigned seat before walking up to her spot. She stops jotting down on her notebook and looks up, almost like she knew I was coming over. She grins widely, leaning on her palm.
"You're not stalking me, are you?"
The way she said it was very enticing. My tongue suddenly tied itself into a know. The only response I can make out was an uncomfortable laugh. "Lucky you, we have the same class. Is this free?" I gesture at the empty seat beside her. She shrugs and gestures me to take it. Why am I talking like a creepy rich man from a 60s movie?!
"So." She drops her pen and turns her whole body my way. She leans back with harm on top of the chair's backrest. "I haven't seen you around like you promised this morning. Where were you lurking about?"
"A concept of shuffled classes." I tell her, making her smile. "But I think you'll be seeing me a lot in this one."
"Nothing wrong with having a friendly face around." Jacky shrugs, looking around the chaos that is this class. Her eyes widen, almost in disgust as one boy stood on the teacher's table, waving his bag over his head. "This is meant to be a senior class?" She asks me, sounding slightly worried.
"You won't be able to tell the difference between a senior, and freshman class." I find myself saying. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jacky turning her gaze to me. The way her eyes burned a whole through my face made me snap my gaze completely to her. "Anyway. Are you free this afternoon after class? I just need to film a few bits of you— wait! No! Not like that!" I panicked to clarify myself. My face turns bright red. Shit. Where's a hole in the ground when I need one?!
"Jacky looked pretty taken back, but not completely bothered by my— what am I right now? An idiot— Oh, yes; my idiocy. This is humiliating. I'm never usually like this to anyone else but Jacky— my god. She's definitely something else for making me behave like this, and I'm not even sure what it is about her too.
What's worse is that she laughs. She laughs! "Wow, you are something else, Kim." She chuckles, shaking her head in disbelief. I gulped. I didn't know there was a more vibrant shade of red, but apparently there is, and it's on my face. "And no. I'm not doing anything apart from helping my aunt in the shop. Why are you asking?"
"Oh yeah!" Wow, I need to snap out of it. "I do this featurette every year with a few new people in the school. The past it's always been freshmen cause there's never usually new students in higher years. But since you're new, I was wondering if you could stop by our office this afternoon? My president thinks it would be interesting to have a different story on the featurette."
Jacky blinks at me, tilting her head slightly. "Your president wants to make me the story?" She asks, looking away for a moment. She chuckles before turning back to me with her smile nearly knocking all the breath out of me.
"Something like that." I managed to squeak out. She nods, leaning back in her seat.
"All right." She shrugs, saying that in a very casual way. "But don't expect a tear-jerking story." She says.