With the rising of the sun came another day, this day happened to be Monday. One of the worst days of the week to most teenagers, a school day, and what made it worse was that it was my first day. That’s right, I get to go through that whole awkward stage where you meet people and find yourself. Though that kind of mingling was meant to be done during your freshman year not second semester of your senior year. With a whole weekend of packing my room was now furnished with all of my things from the former apartment. A decent sized mirror hung next to my closet as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. A long sleeved grey and white shirt, black Capri’s, and tennis shoes. I let my hair stay wavy as it naturally was and only applied eyeliner and mascara, never being the full on make-up type. Still I felt overly plain and dull, everything about me was dull it always would be. “Rylie! Come on you don’t want to be late, Dad’s already in the car!”
“I’m coming mom!” I called out the door taking one last look at my reflection, sighing, and then grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Swinging my book bag over my shoulder I descended the stairs in even steps. Entering the main room I turned to head into the kitchen seeing my mom preparing lunch. Stopping at the long island in the middle I took an apple and bit into it. I could feel the juices explode into my mouth some splattering against my lips. Mom turned around to hand me my lunch, what was I twelve? Still I managed a smile through my apple, taking another bite before heading towards the door. Walking out onto the first step I shut the door behind me and wiped my mouth with my hand. Dad honked the car causing me to jump, almost dropping my half eaten apple.
“We don’t have all day.” He called giving me a playful wink, I swear I love my Dad, but his tactics were getting a little annoying. Sprinting to the passenger seat I opened the door and jumped in shutting it behind me. “So are you ready for your first day?” he asked, I slunk back into my chair folding my arms over my chest.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I breathed softly to myself catching a small smirk from my father. With a twist of his wrist the car hummed to life, his hand expertly shifted the car into reverse and rolled out of the drive way. “Why couldn’t Mom take me again?” I asked I knew there was a reason, but this early in the morning I could barely remember my own name.
“The elementary school is on the other side of town while the hospital is closer to the high school.” He answered using his pointer finger to push his glasses up to the rim of his nose. I nodded turning to stare out of the window, seeing the houses slowly rush past us. Lifting the apple to my mouth I took a large bite onto its fuller side. The juice started to drip from my lips as I tried to keep it all in my mouth. I could hear my Dad start to laugh before he handed me a wipe, you know one of those baby wipes. Again, how old was I now? Taking it from his fingers I rubbed it across my mouth rolling it up into a ball in my hand. Lifting my gaze I could just see the large bill board in front of the high school that read “Elmwood High, Home of the Wolves.” In large red bolded letters, I could feel my heart rate quicken. I was actually nervous, my palms were sweaty or maybe it was the baby wipe I wasn’t quite sure. When Dad pulled up to the curb I in took a breath I could feel his hand grasp mine for support. I turned to look at him, smiling lightly before I opened the car door.”Good luck.” He called as I hopped out of the car and onto the side walk, show no fear. I lifted my hand as a good bye gesture and soon enough he pulled away from the curb and drove off. I was truly alone now; my free hand clutched my bag as I started to walk up the school steps. I tossed my apple into the nearest trash can, wiping my hands against my Capri’s. When I looked up I swear I could see everyone’s eyes look down at me. I suddenly knew how ants felt like being so small in a big world, in this case a big school. Thankfully the bell rang and everyone started to scatter into different directions, I could now officially breathe. Before I could take a step something bumped into my shoulder, my hand reached out for the steps railing to steady myself.
“Sorry!” a warm voice called and I turned to see a boy, drenched in sweat. His skin was fair and his hair was a mixture of brown and blond with slight curls. His body was clearly built and his face chiseled to a perfect point, I caught his eyes that were a nice golden brown. I narrowed my eyes, hadn’t I seen that color some where before? Before I could really think about it a voice called to the boy.
“Nickolas, let’s move!”
“Sorry coach, and sorry again.” He said quickly before running off, I shook my head feeling slightly dizzy. Was that normal? Turning I started to sprint up the rest of the steps and into the main hall of the school. Luckily the principal’s door was to the right of the hall, moving into the office an older woman with slightly graying hair looked up at me through large round glasses.
“Yes?” she asked her voice was soft almost timid as she set down her pencil, moving it to sit next to the other pencil on her desk. I couldn’t help but try and hide a smirk, she was clearly overly organized. I pushed back the smirk and made my face calm, tucking a stand of hair behind my ear.
“I’m Rylie Chase, the umm new girl.” I could practically see the light bulb go on in her head and she pressed a button on her desk announcing my arrival. She motioned with her bony fingers to the door and I nodded my head politely before slipping into the back room. A middle aged woman stood up as I entered the room, her blonde hair pinned up in a messy bun. She was thin, but her face was pleasant enough. She outstretched her hand and I took it shaking her hand slowly.
“Hello, Rylie was it?” I nodded slowly, and she smiled. “I’m Ms. Anelle, please take a seat. It will just take a moment for me to pull up your records.” I slid into one of the open seats, placing my bag on my lap as I listened to the light tapping of her fingers against the key board. With a click of the mouse I knew she was looking over my transcripts, she nodded once or twice before clicking again. “From your papers I see you had decent grades, mostly B’s which is good. Though I can’t help but notice you have no extra curricular activities?” her voice was questioning as she glanced over at me. I fumbled with my fingers and bit my lip lightly averting my eyes from hers. “Well, that’s alright. Maybe here you can become involved?” I just nodded hoping she would stop pestering me about it, obviously I wasn’t that spirited before or that social really. With one more click the printer jolted to life and two pages came out from the top. She picked them up quickly and handed them to me. “This is your class schedule, and a map. Good luck and welcome to Elmwood High Miss Chase.”
“Thank you.” I said quickly and stood up taking the papers from her hand and headed out back into the office. I older woman smiled as I walked by and I stopped smiling gently before pushing my way back out into the hall. The students were all rushing through the halls, and I took this time to look at my schedule. First period was Ancient Literature and Folklore with Mrs. Fallow in room thirty two. Switching the pages I looked from the paper and to the halls. It looked like it was on the second floor, rushing down the hall I took a left up the stairs my feet pounding against the stair steps. I easily slide between and around people as I made my way to the top. This lead to another long hall and towards the middle was room thirty two in black letters. Picking up my pace I pushed open the door, letting the door fall back behind me. I could feel everyone’s eyes lift up at me; I could feel the heat rising to my abnormally pale cheeks. My eyes fell to the floor and I only concentrated on heading over to the teacher’s desk. This teacher was stout with cheerful face, blonde bob cut hair. I handed my schedule to her, and she took it quite eagerly.
“Oh, I see.” She whispered I couldn’t tell if she meant for me to hear it or if it was directed only to her. I bit my lip lightly, rocking slightly on my heels wishing she would just hurry up and assign me somewhere. When she handed it back to me she smiled, showing rows of perfect white teeth, I don’t know why but it made me a little self conscious. “Everyone this is Rylie Chase, she’s new here.” Way to state the obvious I thought to myself before slowly turning around to meet the eyes of everyone in the class. I managed a quick smile and a small wave before Mrs.Fallow continued, “Since Miss Chase doesn’t have a book yet, would someone share with her for the next few days?” It went quiet and I felt myself wanting to cower beneath them, but I held my place.
“I will.” A voice stood out and I lifted my gaze to see the boy from this morning. A small smile was planted on his face.
“Ah Mr.Weste, how kind of you to offer, Rylie you can take the seat next to Nickolas.” I nodded slowly, taking my schedule back from her hand, and making my way quickly to my desk. Setting it on the floor I slid into the seat, leaning back just a bit to focus on Mrs.Fallow as she started to write something on the white board. It seemed as if things went back to normal. Since most of the others started to take out notebooks, eyes glued to the white board. Shifting my eyes a bit I did the same, pulling out a spiral notebook and a pen. I was one of those people that refused to use pencils, too much lead and sharpening it wasted far too much time. Using my free hand I ran it through my wavy black hair, pushing it all away from my face. I could feel a pair of eyes burning on my cheek; I briefly shifted my eyes in its direction. Catching Nickolas’s quickly averted eyes as he turned away. I tapped my pen on my paper, I felt like I should say something, I mean he did offer his book. I felt frozen, I wasn’t very good with talking to people, but maybe now would be a good time to learn.
“Thanks, for umm letting me use your book Nickolas.” I said quietly, his face turned towards me, my cheek to him, I couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes again. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do the most simplest of tasks. Still it wouldn’t hurt to look, wasn’t it rude to not at least look at the person your speaking to? Turning my head I caught full eye contact with him, his eyes looked intense staring into mine. His cracked a crooked smile and lowered his lids in a friendly manner, yet I felt extremely uncomfortable. I guess he could notice my reaction, and his brows pulled together as if he was surprised.
“You can call me Nick. And really it’s not a problem.” He said shifting in his seat a bit before leaning back in his chair. “So what classes do you have?” I pulled out my schedule from under my notebook, quickly scanning them myself first.
“Umm, this class…”
“Well of course.” He smirked playfully; I averted my gaze and kept it on the paper.
“I have Art with Mr. Howe, Economics with Ms. Camile, Chemistry with Mr.Tanner, and yearbook Miss Linda.” I finished sliding my schedule back under my notebook, before opening to the first page. I like the way a fresh new page looked like, it seemed so clean and perfect that I didn’t want to ruin it.
“Are you going to take a sport?”
“What?”
“A sport, you have sixth period free, most of us take a sport. I have cross country.” I took the pen back into my hand and began tapping it on my palm; it was what I did when I was thinking.
“I… don’t think so, as everyone will come to realize I am not fully coordinated.” I could hear him quietly laughing beside me, a small smile placed on my lips. At least he found me funny even though I really wasn’t trying to make him laugh. Tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear I lifted my eyes to the board as a whole sentence was now written in black ink.
“Ok class at the end of this week we are taking a test on ancient literature the medieval era. Miss Chase you are excused from this for your late arrival, but our next unit you will be taking part in. Today I will briefly introduce this subject to let you get a feel for what we are going to do. Our next unit is on folklore, this is the unit where we will be focusing on fables some that are even still told in town. Some even originated from some of our ancestors, it’s all quite fascinating.” I quickly started to write the title in my notebook. My hair falling over my shoulders and onto my paper, sometimes it was just a hassle. “The first chapter is going to be on the history of our town, then into more detail about the legends surrounding it.” Lifting my head I sat back into my chair, suddenly the room seemed to be in a mixture of emotion. It seemed excited, yet hidden beneath that facade was a soft tension; it even made me feel a bit uneasy. Just then the bell rang, I watched as everyone eagerly jumped from their seats and flooded out of the door. Taking in a breath I stood up, shoving my notebook back into my book bag before swing it over my shoulder. Pulling my hair from out of the strap I walked towards the door.
“Need an escort?” I flinched slightly, taking in a breath as Nick stood outside the door. He chuckled, “I guess I need to work on that part.”
“Just a little.” I sad rubbing my arm before walking down the hall. I could hear his footsteps behind me; I guess he took it as a yes. Lifting my schedule up I looked for the room number, luckily it was to far off. Folding the papers I stuck it in my back pocket, looking back to see Nick just behind me. He quickened his pace to follow in step beside me.
“Looks like your class isn’t to far from mine, your in room twenty-five I’m in room twenty-two.” I nodded lightly and turned to look up at his face, he was probably about two inches higher then me. Walking through people we eventually came up to my room, “Well here’s your stop. I’ll see you later Rylie.” I couldn’t help but smile just a little bit.
“Ok.” I did a quick wave before turning to head into my next class. My green eyes searched the room, and there to the back of the room I caught sight of a familiar face. His navy blue eyes locked with mine for a moment, before he looked away. My eyebrows pulled together in confusion, he seemed so nice the other day in the drive way. Pressing my lips together I turned to grab my papers from my back pocket and handed them to the teacher. He nodded and pointed to a long table in the back.
“This is Rylie Chase, a new artist in our class. Make her feel welcome.” I heard him say as I walked towards the back, my eyes landed on a thin, fair girl with dark red hair. A nice change from the many shades of brown I saw earlier. Next to her was a boy, who looked surprisingly a lot like her. He to was thin with dark red hair, the only difference was in their eyes, hers was a light blue and his were a pale green.
“Hi there! I’m Natalie Forbs, this is my twin brother Nathan.” The girl said shaking my hand as I came up, I smiled lightly and stood next to her.
“I’m Rylie, obviously.” I said giving a smile to both of them, they both laughed lightly. They already had white sheets of paper out and ready. I set my book bag down on the floor beside me, leaning forward to rest my elbows on the table.
“Your brand new right?” she asked.
“Yea… that’s right.” I said, I don’t know why but it made me feel so alone, casted out. Just admitting it made me feel bitter for some reason.
“Well that’s all right, you can hang with us.” Nathan had spoken up, his voice was surprisingly soothing and I turned my head in their direction. Natalie cupped her hands together and nodded, I smiled lightly but nodded.
“Yea, ok.” Turning my eyes back on my paper I took the pencil that was supplied to us, and began to follow Mr.Howe’s lesson on shading. I could see the two twins doing the same beside me; letting out a breath I began sketching. Again I felt watched, I really beginning to be annoyed. Looking up I caught Jackson’s eyes, they seemed moody and distant. His face seemed tense before he turned his attention back on his own paper; I turned back to my paper as well. Taking a deep breath I continued sketching trying to forget the look in his eyes.