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Description

Two weeks in and I was still getting used to the new school. I’d only lived in the town for three.

New layout, bigger than I was expecting for a semi-private school, whatever that meant. New schedule, I had been planning to take a period off my senior year, but no luck with the system they had here. New cliques, and I hadn’t broken in to any.

They weren’t bad, but they were still there, pockets of friends formed this way and that, groups that had grown up together, had similar interests, played sports together, nerds, band kids, the rich, the poor.

I tried to stay inconspicuous for the most part.

I arrived early to school today, I wasn’t sleeping well still. New bed, maybe, or pillow. It was Friday, just eight more hours to make it to a stress-free weekend.

Just two other girls in my locker hallway talking loudly, and increasingly annoyingly if I’m being honest, about boys as I rummaged through my things to find the notebook I needed for first period social studies.

A few boys and girls passed through our section on their way to this and that. There were a lot of before and after school activities to choose from, according to the pamphlets that were sent to me, Karli, by the school’s guidance counselor.

I heard a crash behind me, and whipped around to see a girl face down on the hard linoleum floor, notebooks and phone sliding several paces down the hall.
Oh no, I thought, and started forward to help her up when I realized one of the girls had tripped her.

Description

Two weeks in and I was still getting used to the new school. I’d only lived in the town for three.

New layout, bigger than I was expecting for a semi-private school, whatever that meant. New schedule, I had been planning to take a period off my senior year, but no luck with the system they had here. New cliques, and I hadn’t broken in to any.

They weren’t bad, but they were still there, pockets of friends formed this way and that, groups that had grown up together, had similar interests, played sports together, nerds, band kids, the rich, the poor.

I tried to stay inconspicuous for the most part.

I arrived early to school today, I wasn’t sleeping well still. New bed, maybe, or pillow. It was Friday, just eight more hours to make it to a stress-free weekend.

Just two other girls in my locker hallway talking loudly, and increasingly annoyingly if I’m being honest, about boys as I rummaged through my things to find the notebook I needed for first period social studies.

A few boys and girls passed through our section on their way to this and that. There were a lot of before and after school activities to choose from, according to the pamphlets that were sent to me, Karli, by the school’s guidance counselor.

I heard a crash behind me, and whipped around to see a girl face down on the hard linoleum floor, notebooks and phone sliding several paces down the hall.
Oh no, I thought, and started forward to help her up when I realized one of the girls had tripped her.