If My Heart Was a Compass Then You Would Be North

“Hey, we’ll be outside in a few minutes,” my friend Laura said over the phone.

“Okay,” I said, cursing softly. I had a minute to finish getting ready for my first day of high school, the day that would make or break my high school career. “I’ll see you in a bit then. Bye.” I hung up quickly, throwing my phone into my bag before looking at myself one last time in the mirror. I straightened my white skirt out quickly, and smoothed out the shrug over my tank top. I liked my outfit. Nate had picked it out for me last night. It wasn’t that I couldn’t dress myself, but Nate was a guy so he would be able to tell me what I would look good in. Besides, I was so nervous that the outfit I had picked out was – something my mom would have worn in the 70s. No, this was better. I grabbed my bag, and quickly ruffled my side bangs. I groaned. Colored hair? Colored hair? What was I thinking? The first impression I would be leaving for the next four years would be, hey look at me, I’m fake. Real smooth Britt. Just great.

My phone started ringing, distracting me from my semi-mental breakdown. “Hello?” I answered.

“Breathe,” Nate instructed.

I took a deep breath, feeling slightly better already. “Thanks, I needed that.” I always wondered how Nate knew me so well.

He laughed. “I know you, which means I know you’re probably freaking out right now,” he said.

“Wasn’t I supposed to be the calm one?” I questioned as I left my room, walking down the stairs to the kitchen. “Yesterday you were freaked, and today, I can’t even remember if I’m wearing underwear.”

“You might want to check that,” he laughed. “Just saying.”

I rolled my eyes. “That was sarcastic. But seriously Nate. I can’t do this. We’re a duo. I can’t go solo.”

He sighed. “It’ll be okay. I’ll text you so it’ll be like I’m right there.”

I laughed and walked to the window, moving the shade aside to look at his house. I smiled slightly when I saw his bedroom window. He was doing the same thing. “But you won’t really be there,” I reminded him.

“Sorry kid, you got to stand on your own,” he said.

“That’s harsh,” I winced.

“It’s a harsh world,” I saw him shrug as he said into the phone.

“You’re mean,” I said.

“I’m just saying,” he said. “Besides, think of it this way, you could be dead.”

“Yeah, that does comfort me in a sick sort of way,” I admitted.

He laughed. “Told you I knew you. Now hurry up. Laura’s dad just turned onto the street. God, why are you friends with her?”

“She’s one of like 10 people I know that’s coming to my school,” I reminded him. Laura was probably my best friend after Nate. She was my closest girlfriend. Though we had been on the soccer team together throughout middle school, we had only become tight when she became obsessed with Drew at the beginning of last year. But now, I couldn’t imagine a day where I wasn’t talking to her on the phone, telling me about some guy or another.

“The first thing you need to do this year is make new friends,” he grumbled. “Particularly ones that didn’t stalk me last year.”

I giggled. “She didn’t stalk you. She just had an – obsessive crush that made her go everywhere you went.” Her dad honked outside my house. I sighed, walking to the fridge, and grabbing a water before quickly going outside. “I’ll text you later.”

“Good luck,” he said. I hung up, and got into the backseat of the car. “Hey Laura, hi Mr. Turner,” I greeted them.

“Hello Britt,” her dad said cheerily as he pulled away from my house. “Excited for your first day?”

“She’s ecstatic,” Laura said. “Anyways hey Britt. How’s Nate?”

I laughed. “I thought that was over.”

“It is,” she smiled at me, turning to look at me from the front seat. “I was just kidding. But seriously, how exciting is this? We’re going to high school. This is like the first day of the rest of our lives.”

I sighed, smiling slightly. “Yeah, exciting.”

The rest of the ride was quiet as her dad drove us to school. We got out, and she linked her arm with mine. “This is going to be great,” she said.

I sighed as we took our first steps into the building. This was it. This was high school. “Britt,” someone said, coming towards us as we walked to the auditorium, the place all incoming students were supposed to go while the older ones got their new homeroom assignments.

We looked around to see Matt, another kid from our middle school. We had become really cool last year when we both played soccer. Our middle school had a co-ed soccer team. The thing I liked about Matt was that he was really cool about everything. He didn't even have to avoid drama because he just didn't care. And he was the kind of person you felt you could really tell anything and he'd never tell a soul. I had actually confided in him a lot last year. “Hey,” I hugged him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he said, hugging Laura as well. “Waiting for this year to be over.”

I laughed. “Already?”

He shrugged, smirking. “I’m also think of joining the soccer team.”

“Me too,” I said excitedly. Soccer was honestly the best sport ever. I heard the school's team was really good too. They had won the championship last year. I couldn't wait to try out.

“I kind of want to join field hockey,” Laura said.

“Field hockey?” I made a face.

“Yeah,” she grinned. “Come on Britt join with me. It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know,” I said, wondering how much free time I would have then. From orientation I already knew girls soccer didn’t start till the spring. Maybe I should do field hockey too to keep in shape. Laura kept begging. I sighed. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s a yes,“ she grinned, and led us into the auditorium, ranting on about how great the next four years would be. I sighed. They sounded busy according to her. I felt my phone vibrate. I smiled as I saw a text from Nate.

Sup homie.

I laughed as I quickly responded with an equally gangster phrase. Nothin dawg. You? I smiled as I put my phone away. Okay so maybe we were going to different schools for the first time, really stepping out on our own. But as I felt it vibrate again, I knew I wasn’t really on my own.