Consciousness and Confidence

"It's the first day of school!" Matt sang, merrily into my ear on Monday morning. "The first year of your last year of school!"

I chucked what was left of my breakfast toast at his face. It hit him right in the eye. "Shut up, Matt." I grumbled. The only reason he was excited was because he wouldn't be joining me this year. And for that and his chipper attitude, I was mentally wishing him sunburn of a thousand suns.

"Not excited then, baby sister?" he teased, while rubbing his eye.

I sent him a sarcastic smile before getting up from the table and walking back upstairs to go get changed. First day of school always meant the end of any sort of freedom I felt. Sighing, I picked out my clothes for the day and got changed.

As I walked back down the stair I shouted for Matt to get ready to leave.

"Oh, hell no." he replied back.

"What?" I asked, walking back into the kitchen where he was eating a ridiculously large bowl of cereal.

He gulped down a spoonful of Fruit Loops before answering. "You're walking today."

"No!" I whined. "It's hot outside, Matt. And, there are bees out there!"

He just laughed at me. "Bees? You're like one hundred times bigger than them."

"Are you calling me fat?!" I accused, my voice rising in anger. He shook his head.

"No, I wasn't." he said, getting up from the table. "And I'm not bringing you."

"Why not?" I questioned. "You know my car's in the shop."

"You need the exercise." he shrugged.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Again with the fat insinuations!" I yelled, before stomping my way out of the house, grabbing my bag as I did.

I slammed the door closed, and walked out into the humid air. "Ugh." It was disgusting out here. What's worse is that I'm pretty sure my school still hasn't installed air conditioning. So, I'd be sitting through this heat all day.

"Ryyan! Hey, Ryyan!" I heard my best friend yell from down the street. I stopped walking and waited for her to catch up with me.

"Why aren't you driving?" I asked, begining my pace to school.

She shrugged. "I liked how it was outside."

"How on Earth could you like this weather?" I questioned, baffled. "It's like the inside of a tanning bed, times ten." It was only then that I looked over my friend, noticing her ridiculously tan skin. "Never mind, then."

JayJay just giggled. We continued walking together, chatting about nothing until we arrived at school. I sighed, stopping infront of the pathway up to the main entrance. JayJay stopped with me.

"Last year." she mumbled.

"Thank fuck."

School, if it wasn't obvious yet, was not my favorite place to be. I could find a million better things to do, then sit here and get lectured each day on some ridiculous theory or formula that I will never need to know unless I plan on becoming a rocket scientist. That was never going to happen. I was far to in love with literature.

"I'm going to get our schedules." JayJay said, nodding in the direction of the table with a bunch of seniors crowding around it.

"Alright." I replied, standing alone looking at the building with a glare.

"Pretty girls should always stay smiling." a voice whispered in my ear. Their breath tickled my ear, and I quickly turned around to see who it was.

Suprisingly enough, Cale stood infront of me with a wide grin on his face. He went to the same school as me? Since when?

"Hey Cale!" I greeted, a smiling forming on my face as well. "I didn't know you went here too."

He chuckled a bit, while shaking his cute blonde hair out of his face. "Yeah, I transferred here this year. What grade are you in?"

"Senior." I answered. "You?"

"I'm the same." he nodded. I just nodded along with him. What else was I suppose to do? I didn't really know how to make conversation with him. Truth be told, he made me kind of nervous. That doesn't usually happen with me and guys. I'm always so confident.

"So" we both started at the same time, then laughed awkwardly.

"Oh, go ahead." I insisted, trying to rid ourselves of the uncomfortable feeling.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, uhm-"

"Got 'em!" JayJay called, returning to my side and handing me a pink paper with a list of classes on it.

"Oh, thanks Jay." I said, looking down at it, and then back at Cale. He was staring at JayJay. Something in my stomach sunk a little bit.

"Who's this, Ry?" she asked, while giving him a flirty smile. Internally, I was glaring daggers at her. But, when Cale gave me a funny look from the corner of my eye I realized I really was glaring at her.

"Oh!" I sputtered. "JayJay this is Cale. I met him at that party a few days ago." I motioned towards him. "Cale, this is my best friend JayJay."

JayJay giggled a bit. "Nice to meet you, Cale." Her entire posture had changed. She was most definitely trying to flirt with him.

He noticed. "Same." He sent her a smirk that made me feel even more upset with the entire situation. The two of them just stood there for a moment, giving each other these looks. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to get going." I said, breaking their trance. "Later, Cale."

"Bye, Ryyan." he smiled, looking over at me with a warm smile. "Bye, JayJay."

I don't know if it was just me, but it sounded much different when he said goodbye to JayJay than when he did to me.