I should start telling you a little bit about me before I tell you the story I am about to tell you all.
My name is Anna Filkins and I was 17 years old when this story happened. I used to live in Boulder, Colorado; since I was born. I used to study in a public high school there too. I would describe myself physically, but I do not really like doing that. Describing myself is not something I would really like doing.
What I am about to tell you happened in 2015.
It was Monday, and the first day of high school. The first day of the last year before I went to the university; that was kind of scary for me. I still did not know what I was going to study at the university; the opposite of all my classmates, as usual.
My mom had to wake me up of my bed; I was so sleepy. I love sleeping. If it was considered a free time activity, it would be my favorite one. For me, the first day of classes is one of the worst days of all the year, without a doubt. It might sound estrange, because it is usually the unique day you do not have any homework or anything to study. But, for me, it was more like the day when hell started. Yes, I call high school hell.
I had my usual breakfast: some toasts and a cup of coffee. I did not usually sleep much, therefore I needed something to wake me up in the morning. Coffee did a great job with that. I was not a bad student, although now it might seem like I was. I was the usual nerd. I just loved sleeping but found it hard to sleep a lot of times. It is okay if it does not make sense to you, it did not make sense to me either.
I caught my bag and went off my house. I usually went to high school walking, so I had to leave like thirteen minutes before classes started. It was kind of exhaustive, but I went listening to music all the way there, so it was not a bad moment at all. My home was far from high school, and I should add that that was not really cool.
I had luck and got there in twenty five minutes. Well, if that's considered luck, of course. My best friend was already there, and I was pleased with that so much, actually. I did not have much friends at high school, so the fact that my best friend was there, it was great. Do not you think so?
"Hey!" Said my best friend, Kathy. "You seem really excited to start classes."
"Of course," I replied laughing. "I'm not. I think that this place is a kind of torture for all of us. But I guess that's what we got."
My friend started laughing, and so did I.
Kathy was blonde, with dark eyes that seemed like the top of a cave, and she was thin. We had been friends since we were like six years old I think.
We kept talking until 8.00AM, time to enter the class. I did not take all the classes with my best friend, but I took most of them though. My first class was with her. It was Math's class. I sat with Kathy in the bottom of the class; I liked to do that. I was wondering if there were new classmates just when I saw a guy and a girl I had never seen before. I guess that was the answer for my doubts. That happened all the years: some people left , and other people came.
Math's teacher was nice. I had had worse teachers. Although she seemed to be a hard teacher; I am refering to the exams and that stuff. She spent the whole class talking about high school rules and introducing our new classmates. Their names were David and Jessica. They looked like nice people; I could not trust by a look, but, who knew?
Thankfully, the teacher decided not to make us do homework, which made us very happy. Being honest, I would not have liked to do homework if I had had to. But, that did not happen, so I had nothing to worry about. I did not like Math very much, either way I was good at it.
After Math's class I had to go to Biology. That subject was one of the subjects I enjoyed the most. I loved Biology so much. I did not know why, I just loved it.
I had had that teacher last year, and he was really friendly. His exams were quite easy, and he was my favorite teacher.
He asked the new classmates their names and that stuff. The rest of the class, we spent it talking about animals and how humans treat them. I shared my opinion that a lof of humans are really mean with animals. Most of the class agreed with me, except a few guys that said we treated them as they deserved. That made me angry, and a lot. I absolutely disagreed with that. Anyway, the teacher started defending animals, and that gave me more reasons why he was one of the best teachers in my high school. He loved animals, so did I.
The worst part about all that is that I did not have a very good relationship with the people that told that. I had never been friends with them. I would consider them as my enemies. It sounds drastic, but that was the truth.
After that class, and another one, it was the time of the break.
I spent the whole break with my best friend, like I used to. While I was eating a sandwich I bought in the cafeteria, the principal of the high school came to us.
"Hello girls," Greeted the principal. "How are you?"
We both stared at each other. That was weird, pretty weird. It is not normal at all that a principal asks some students about how they are. Obviously, it depends of who you are. But I was no one. I was not someone important there or anything. Just another teenager in a place full of teenagers.
"Fine, sir," Answered Kathy before I could say a word. "Thank you for asking. And you, sir?"
"I'm fine too, thank you," He smiled. We smiled back, then he left.
That was a very weird moment. It was awkward too. At least I feel like it was.
"¡Oh! ¡Come on!" I had almost shouted without noticing it. "He asked us because of what I'm thinking, right?"
"I don't know..." Answered Kathy, who noticed I was bothered by that. "Maybe... it hasn't been a long time since..." She decided not to carry on saying what she was about to say, but sometimes words do not need to be told to know what someone wants to say. "You know."
"I know," I said, upset. "But I'd like to fall away from that, thanks. I'm trying to, is it hard for people to notice that I'm okay?"
Kathy looked at me with a sad expression in her face. I looked back at her with a sad expression too. I knew what she was thinking, but I did not want that conversation to go further.
Now I guess is the moment where I should tell you why I said that talking to my friend. The reason behind that conversation:
Before summer started, this year, like three months ago, something terrible happened. One of my best friends, James, passed away. I had been friend of him since I was two years old. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I was really close to him. I failed all the final exams, naturally. I was so upset I could not study, I could do anything but cry. I spent weeks without going out of my room, just to eat and go to the bathroom.
The principal understood that, and I had been having great qualifications the whole year. He gave me a hand, and I passed. Actually, I pleased him so much for that, he is a great person. I was so grateful for that. I will always be. However, since then, people always stared at me when they saw me. I heard them say things about me. They always looked at me with a guilty face. And everyone asked me if I was okay or not. It is good when people ask you if you are okay, because that means they care about you. Nevertheless, during months, that becomes annoying and does not feel good. It makes you remember what you want to forget.
My best friend Kathy understood that when I explained her, thankfully. And, she did not use to ask a lot. She did not because I told her not to. However, with just a look, she knew if I was not okay. The same happened inverse. That was one of the biggest reasons we were best friends. We knew eache other too well.
She answered to the teacher before I could say a word because she knew I did not like that much.
When the break finished, w had to go to another class. It was going to be a long day. I honestly hated being at that high school so much. That is what almost every student says, but I actually did. Everything there reminded me of James. I had to spend one more year there... just one more year.
After the classes were done, I went home on foot. While I was walking, I was wondering what I would have for lunch that day. I hoped that something according to my taste, which did not usually include fast food. Yes, I was a very weird teenager.
I went home, and my parents and my "annoying" little brother were there. My parents are called Kevin and Chyler, and my brother is called Joel. My house was not small, neither big; a medium size. It was quite far from the center of the town, in a big neighborhood. I loved my town; it was a good city to live in, in my opinion.
My mom had cooked some vegetables for lunch, and I loved vegetables. My little brother did not like htme, so, when I arrived home, he was complaining about it. Joel was fourteen years old that year, and we fought evert day. I am not exaggerating.
"Hello Anna" Said my mom, "How was your first day?"
"It wasn't bad," I answered, smiling. "But I'm really tired. Thanks for cooking something I like."
My mom smiled, and then we started having lunch together. Thankfully, my brother decided to stop complaining about the food.
Then, I went to my room to make my homework. Yes, I had homework the first day. It was not something hard, but I would have liked it better if I had not had any homework.