Don't Say Goodbye

Marisa drug her feet to room 14. Her arms tightly wrapped her purple binder to her chest while she walked into the chilled room. Before she could even glance at all the tables, she could hear her name being called.

“Marisa!”

Marisa found the owner of the high pitched voice; it was Jess’. Excited to finally know someone in the unfamiliar school, Marisa walked over to the green table and plopped down in an empty seat next to Jessica.

“Good! At least we have one class together,” Jessica laughed. Marisa chuckled along, but stifled her laughs with a shy smile when she noticed one other boy at the table.

“Hey!” he greeted.

“Hi,” Marisa smiled back.

“I’m Stephen,” he began as he stuck his hand out for her. Marisa shook it lightly and nodded back at him.

“Marisa.”

Stephen was about to respond, but a slam from a pile of textbooks disrupted every conversation in the class. All the students looked up at the young blonde lady that had dropped the pile of textbooks onto a desk.

“Mornin’” she grinned. Her pearly whites were in fact, pearly whites. With her long blonde hair pouring over her shoulders and long, lean legs that were clad in black skinny jeans, there was no doubt that all the boys were dreamily staring at her.

“I’m Charlotte, and no, I’m not your teacher,” she chuckled. “In fact, I’m not even a student teacher. I’m just a volunteer, but I’ll be your substitute for the rest of the week.”

“So, you’re one of those teachers that go around subbing for teachers?” one kid asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “Not even close. I’m starting my first year of high school this week,” she laughed.

Jaws hung open and eyes were pried open. Charlotte took this silence and continued on with Social.

--

Marisa spun the combination into the lock and pulled open the locker. Tucking her new Social textbook and binder into a shelf, she sighed.

Jess was great and all, but Marisa missed all her friends – badly. Change was never something she liked, whether it was her schedule or how furniture was placed; she liked everything to be exactly the same. But now, she was at a different school, with different kids, and a different environment.

Sick of negative thoughts, she slammed her locker shut before stalking towards the cafeteria. She remembered where everything was earlier that day when her homeroom teacher took them on a school tour. She walked through the dull, beige doors. Half of the tables were occupied while the other tables were waiting for students from the line to sit.

Marisa noticed a familiar green top and waterfall of brown hair.

“Hey Jess,” Marisa grinned as she approached the shorter girl.

“Marisa!” Jessica squealed while hooking arms with her. They both laughed as they tipped over a bit before regaining their balance. “Damn it Jess! We’re gonna hurt a kid one day,” Marisa joked. “I could care less about that kid!” Jess huffed. It wasn’t long before they burst into giggles.

“Well, what’re you getting for lunch?” Jessica asked. Marisa shrugged in response. “I don’t know. I was thinking…” Marisa began. She reached into her hoodie’s pocket to her lunch money. Unhooking arms with Jess and patting herself down, she realized something: she had either forgotten or lost her money.

“Crap…” Jessica stared at her worriedly. “What’s wrong?” Marisa dug her hands into every pocket before sighing in defeat. “I don’t have my lunch money,” she pouted. “Oh my gosh! Do you want me to share my lunch with you? Do you want to hunt someone down and ask for some money? How about we-“

“Woah! It’s totally fine Jess,” Marisa chuckled at her rambling friend. She grinned even wider when she saw how genuinely concerned Jessica was, even though they had known each other for no more than four hours.

“Kenny!” Jess began shouting. Marisa whipped around, seeing a lost boy in the midst of a big crowd. He spotted the two in the line and jogged quickly to them.

“Hey Kenny, you have any spare money?”

Kennedy shot Jessica a shocked look before rolling his eyes.

“Way to be blunt Jess,” he sighed while digging in his pockets. He fished out two five dollar bills, waving them in Jess’ face. She snatched one of the two bills and handed it to Marisa.

“No, it’s fine. I really don’t need a lunch today,” Marisa said while handing the bill back to Kenny.

“You forgot your money?” he asked with a quirked eyebrow. “Well, yeah, but-,“ The bill was shoved back into Marisa’s hands. “Take it. It’s fine. Just give me back the change afterwards,” Kennedy smiled. “Uh…sure. Thanks,” Marisa replied. She was confused – why was everyone so generous here? They hardly knew her.

“Why the sudden generosity Ken? I would always have to beat your ass for the money,” Jessica playfully glared. Kenny looked at his shoes, shrugging. “Awe, you like her don’t cha?” Jess teased while pinching his cheeks. His face went red hot and the color of roses. “N-no!” he squeaked out.

“Awe, you don’t like me Kenny?” Marisa joked, although she was a little pink herself. “No! It’s- it’s not like I- you know what? You’re both mean, and I’m finding a table.” The boy walked off, leaving to girls behind. One of them was extremely amused while the other one didn’t know what to feel at all.

“Next!”

Marisa dropped her trance and walked up to the counter to order.

Jessica led her and Marisa to a table that Kenny was sitting alone at. He was trying to flick a penny and make it spin; he wasn’t very good at it. The two girls sat in front of the boy, but he was too concentrated to acknowledge them.

“Wait, here,” Marisa started. She grabbed the change she owned Kennedy and span each coin back to him. He stared at the coins in shock and awe.

“How did you do that!?” he exclaimed.

Marisa pushed her lunch aside and grabbed one of the coins from the table. She placed the coin on its edge and kept it in place with her index finger. Kennedy nodded, getting her to continue. She flicked the edge of the coin and sent it twirling towards Kennedy.

“Voila,” she smirked. He lightly smacked her arm that was resting on the blue lunch table. “Don’t get cocky,” he warned with a teasing tone. “I’ll get cocky if I want to,” she retorted back. “Well you owe me money, bitch,” he fired back.

He tried to keep a straight face, but only letting his eyes say other feelings. Marisa could clearly see the worry in his eyes; he was scared she might’ve taken offense to his comment.

“I gave all your money back, dick,” Marisa teased, sticking her tongue out at him. Kenny sighed in relief. He brushed the coins off the table and into his palm.

“Hey, you owe me twenty-five cents!” Kennedy complained. Marisa laughed and pulled out the quarter she wanted to keep. “I want it, please?” she pleaded. “What’s so special ‘bout it?” he asked. She slid the coin towards him, tails side up. Kenny looked at it curiously. Instead of seeing an eagle, there was a messy heart carved in, remnants of the eagle being filed out.

“It looked pretty, so I was thought ‘what the hell?’ It’s hardly usable anymore, anyways,” Marisa explained. Kennedy nodded without a word and slid it back over.

“You still owe me a quarter,” Kennedy laughed. Marisa rolled her eyes.

“It’s just a quarter Kenny,” she argued.

“You’re right,” Kennedy nodded. “So have more – feed your family!” He tossed coins in her direction, only successfully hitting her once.

Jessica watched it all in amusement. She could tell there was something between the two, and she had a pretty good guess what it was.

--

Tossing her bag to the carpeted floor, Marisa hopped into her bed. Her first day wasn’t bad. In fact, she rather enjoyed it.

Reaching into her back pocket, she retrieved the quarter that she had ‘taken’ from Kennedy. She reached under her bed, grabbing a circular box that contained some of her most prized possessions.

The box was once plain and wooden, but with Marisa’s creativity and paint, the box was now a flurry of colors. It was rough around the edges, but the paint made the surface silky smooth. Her hand travelled to the lid. She flipped it open, revealing small photos taped to the lid. Photos of her and some old friends. She sighed, but smiled.

Marisa dropped the coin into the box and tipped the lid close.

Jessica and Kennedy were already claiming the titles of ‘best friends’ and Marisa didn’t mind one bit.