CHAPTER 7:
After about ten minutes Ally texted saying the van finally dropped them off. She asked me where I was and I responded. It was now 7:35 and as school didn’t start until 8:05, we had some time to kill.
Ally entered the cafeteria and I excused myself to join her at our own table.
“Who are they?” Ally asked with interest. “They look familiar…”
“They’re from Melbourne, June - the one in the glasses - is a sophomore. We all went to Liveman together. Melanie’s her sister, and the other one is Angela. Melanie and Angela are seniors.”
“Ah, okay. Yeah I sort of remember them…” Ally thought aloud.
“Yeah, well Angela was weirdly warning me about Maxine and Marsha.” I caught Ally up to date about the strange comment and added that I was going to make up my own mind about them. Ally agreed with my decision.
“You know how ridiculous some girls can be. All dramatic or whatever.” She concluded. Suddenly her face changed. “Hey I was hoping we could talk for a second. That okay?”
“Of course,” I affirmed.
Ally breathed in and looked at me, not a spec of the usual light that shone in her eyes. This must be bad.
“You know how my mom has, you know?” I knew. Her parents had been living unofficially separated for a while now, but more recently her mom bought a condo a few cities away, making everything a bit more official. Ally continued, “Well, my dad just told me this morning that she’s dating someone.” I felt almost as crushed as Ally. She had really held on to the hope that her parents would see reason and just live together again. We had wished for so long for that to come true, but here we were, facing something different. “I just, I really thought they were getting along better these last few months. My mom’s come over for dinner almost every day. It’s like we were going to be a family again.”
I didn’t know what to say right away. My parents had been separated for years and had been officially divorced since Christmas time last year. I felt for Ally, I really did, but part of me wished everyone’s parents were divorced so we all didn’t have to go through this long drawn out separation crap. I just held Ally’s hand on the table as she blinked away tears. Her eyes were shining now, but for a horribly different reason. Ally was too gentle to handle this endless disappointment her parents were giving her. I had a flicker of anger hit me at the thought of her mom not having the guts to tell Ally herself what was happening. Ally didn’t seem to notice, her eyes were staring off behind me in thought. I held back my sharp comments about her parents and just held her hand. After a few more moments Ally recentered herself.
“Anyways,” she sniffled, “I don’t mean to bring you down. I just wanted to tell someone… it doesn’t feel real.”
Before I could piece together something to say in response, she seemed to suck it all up and switched topics, “Oh hey, let me see your schedule. I should show you where your first class is so you’re not all wandering around and whatnot.” She smiled genuinely at me and I dropped the start of the thought I had been piecing together. I guess sometimes not saying anything at all can be what someone needs.
“Sure,” I said, “that sounds like a plan.”
We got up from the tables and walked outside, relishing the sudden chilly air outside.
Ally walked me to my 1st period class, Film Analysis, with Mr. Waller. After killing some time chatting outside, she takes off to PE, the class I oddly did not have this semester. I walked over to the bathroom to refresh my tired face, and by the time I came back there was a small crowd of students outside the door. Seniors. And one I recognized right away, Max. She caught my eye and waved me over.
“Hey! I should’ve asked you what classes you had but since telling us you were a freshman I didn’t even think it could be true! What are you doing here?”
“Apparently they don’t have room for PE at any point for me so here I am,” I responded, shrugging my shoulders.
Max grinned, “Lucky!”
A serious looking middle-aged man came out from a nearby door and walked over towards us, opening the classroom. Dark and toasty, he lazily told everyone, “One second…” while he felt for the lightswitch. Once found, he added, “Alright, let’s get going.”
As everyone filed inside, I saw one more person join our crowd. Lord, his beautiful eyes looked adorable with this sleepy look. Sean. He stretched his arms up, slightly lifting his shirt to reveal a sliver of skin above his jeans. I tried not to look as I followed someone in the classroom, but I felt him looking and my eyes darted up. I probably blushed as I rushed in the door, Max following behind me. She led me to a seat by the far end and as I sat down I noticed she was looking at me.
“Oooh. You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” Max asked with a knowing smile. “You know you’re lucky I like you or I wouldn’t be so forgiving.”
I sat down, ready to respond when Sean came up right behind me, looking Max in the eye.
“Who is lucky they like who?” He asked her with a big grin. He looked down at me, eyebrow raised, knowing smile and all.
I looked away quickly, wishing I had the power of invincibility.
“You know Sean, it is considered rude in many cultures to insert yourself into overheard conversations?” Max said, in a light mocking tone.
“I am so sorry,” Sean empathetically resounded, “Next time I’ll wait for my invitation. Rachel, would you be so kind as to send me one?” He sat down on my left.
“Uh sure,” I added.
“See? There you go, I am personally holding onto this special invitation until further notice,” Sean said to Max I think, but said so while looking at me. I smiled, trying to control the blush that had started to fade before he sat down.
Mr. Waller took attendance, and explained that we would be continuing to watch “Blazing Saddles”. He said if you weren’t here last class, to let him know and you could borrow the movie to take home and fill in any gaps. Then he turned on the movie, and off with the lights. I tried to focus on the odd film. Avoiding Max’s pointed looks was really challenging, especially when she continued to poke my arm and push little notes into my hand.
‘Looky here,’ said one note.
‘We are SO talking about this later,'' said another.
I had to sit there for over an hour with Sean’s arm inches from mine, resting on the desk in front of us. He seemed pretty into the movie, but once in a while he would sit back in his chair a bit and stretch his arms up, circling them down and around behind me. Arm getting ever so close, but not once touching me. At the end of class the lights came up, Mr. Waller passed out the assignment of questions to take with us as homework, and Sean took a second too long to pass me the sheets for me and Max. Forcing me to look up and into those eyes. So close I could smell the toothpaste on his breath. He looked so serious, different from the normal cavalier way he seemed to move around the school. Then he let go.
He breathed in, “Find me at lunch?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, still entranced, “Um where?”
He switched his body language back to his casual self and corrected, “You know what, actually, I’ll find you.”
Swoon.
CHAPTER EIGHT: After class I found Ally in the hall. Sean made a small wave as he walked off. “Oh that’s him isn’t it?” She asked excitedly. Max came up to join us. “Rach you are no fun! I was dying in there!” Max pulls on my arm, “We must chat - bring the smiley one!” Ally laughs and we both follow Max to her locker. Max and Ally formally meet and Max catches Ally up on what happened in her point of view, with me adding mine. “Whew, the vapors!” Ally says with a fake southern accent and fans her face with her hand. “You’ve barely been here one full day and have already made this way more interesting.” She laughs. I stand there smiling, feeling really good. I think this could be really good for me. After coming from Piso, where all I had was this greasy guy literally cornering me in the halls, this already feels so different. There was a brief time I thought Jake could make it different, but the stoic guy never said or did anything after I confessed my feelings for him. But tha
CHAPTER NINE: Break ends with me again in the bathroom splashing some water on my face. Ally had tracked me down after my full freak out. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asks me, one hand on my shoulder as I look at my face in the mirror. I glance around and notice there is another person in here with us. I don’t want to talk about all this with a random stranger as a witness, so I shrug her off. She looks concerned. I use a paper towel to dab my face fully dry and walk back out to the hall. We should be rushing to class. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I’ll explain later, okay? We’ve got to get going.” Ally didn’t look quite satisfied, “Okaaay.., but I’ll at least show you where you’re going. Ally led the way to my next class, Humanities. The class was two doors down from Mr. Chu’s Homeroom, where I had started part of my day yesterday. A student opened the door from inside and turned around to face those of us gathered by the door. Ally nudged my arm, “That’s Ms. Del Rios. Our Human
CHAPTER TEN: By the end of class, I don’t think I could’ve told anyone what we had done the whole time. I felt cold after so much discomfort and as soon as class wound down, I frantically started packing things away. I had some handouts in front of me, I noted to myself to look at them later. A few times during class Bella had tried to talk to me but I could barely speak, feeling like there was a huge weight on my chest, and like my throat was squeezed shut. I made small “mhmm” sounds but couldn’t do much beyond that. People started standing up and gathering by the door, waiting for the few seconds before the bell. I forced myself up by the door all the way to the left of the crowd. I still felt eyes on me and needed air.The bell rang, the door was opened, and I walked as fast as I could back towards the courtyard, taking in big breaths of the fresh air. Other students started filing out nearby doors, and several gathered at benches along the courtyard walls. I was so determined to
CHAPTER ELEVEN: “Oh my god!” Marsha’s hands flailed about as she and Maxine approached my spot on the bench. “Tell me, tell me, tell me!” Marsha chanted excitedly like a little kid being told we were going to Disneyland. I chuckled, looking at her, and back at Sean’s retreating frame. Even his walking swagger attracted me, this all felt unreal. I still had my phone in my hand when I turned to them and said, “Well, he gave me his number.” I grinned, feeling warm and blushed in my face, “and I think we may be going on a date?” “You think?” Maxine asked me teasingly. I laughed. “Well he sort of arranged the whole thing while pretending to be me, and he made plans for us to go to the beach tomorrow after school - and I don’t think I can go” I added sadly, realizing that while realizing I still needed to tell him that wouldn’t work for me. “Well why the hell not?” Marsha asked. “There is only one bus that takes us home after school and I didn’t live in this town. My mom works
CHAPTER TWELVE: Ally and I walked to our next class, which we actually had together, Spanish. We waited by the door with the little crowd of other students while she caught me up on how ridiculous our Spanish teacher apparently was. Mr. Hall was supposedly a horrible teacher in that he waved his master’s degree around and demanded that the class respect him for it. He also supposedly had terrible class management skills but most of the class’ nonsense faded away on its own already because the class was just totally over him. Fun. “Oh crap! I almost forgot!” Ally exclaimed, a huge grin on her face. She whispered, “Sean is in this class.” She wiggled her eyebrows and I laughed so hard I nearly snorted when none other than Sean himself showed up. “Ladies,” he greeted. He just stood there next to us, like he has been our friend for years. He leaned over to me, “You didn’t say you were in this class. Might make it actually worth going to.” “I, uh, didn’t realize. Still getting my fi
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: We caught up on our way out to the exit. Me, sharing Sean’s message and how we still decided to go forward with hanging out tomorrow, and Ally/ Maxine/ Marsha sharing their points of view on the whole class period. They had me laughing so hard with Ally’s reenactments of Marsha trying to rein herself in. At the front Simon waved us over by this tree near our bus pickup, and we waved goodbye to Marsha and Maxine who made their way down the hill. They took the regular public bus down at the very bottom. After chatting with Simon a bit about weekend plans he wished us a good evening and walked to his older brother’s car who came around to pick him up. It was cute watching Simon really come into the personality Ally talked about. He seemed to be becoming more at ease around me. “Oh hey,” Ally turned to me as we sat down on the grass, “I forgot to ask you. Did you ever figure out what the deal with the redhead goth dude was? I don’t think I’ve seen him around?” I th
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: I watched from a safe distance as she crossed the next street. Something had made her smile. I wanted it to be me, who made her smile. I felt anger rising. It better not have been that giant clumsy fool she was just speaking to. She couldn’t be interested in him. Could she? Why couldn’t she just know it was me. I’m the one she has to be with. I need her. I continue to follow from across the street, using the cars along the way to block her view of me. I wouldn’t want to startle her. I need to know her. I need to study her without her knowing before I reveal myself. The real me. She looks up again from her phone to cross the next street. Smart girl. For a normal human she seems to be pretty aware of her surroundings. Almost at the elementary school now. I should be able to blend in with the crowd. I did that on our last walk. I have to stay calm though, if I get too comfortable she might sense me like yesterday. She nearly looked right at me from the bottom of the st
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Today marked my last ‘first’ day. I began today with Humanities, Ally’s Humanities class, which I hadn’t been in before. This morning after exiting the bus, successfully avoiding any eye contact situations, I sat in the cafeteria with Angela, Melanie and June again until Ally came by. We had decided to walk and talk a bit and came across the school librarian, Mr. Waller, who taught my film class too. He was surprised to see students on campus so early, at 7:35am and was surprised when we told him I got there at 7:20. Empathizing with us a bit, he invited us into the library to wait until school started. The library had been delightfully warm compared to the dense cold fog surrounding the school. A few minutes before the first bell Simon joined us, having texted Ally prior asking where we were. We all chatted a bit and then walked together to Ms. Del Rios’ class. Class went by fairly well. This group of people felt like such a break compared to my other Humanities