Determination

Chase, if anything, loved mornings.

It was odd for a fifteen year old to love mornings, especially ones involving school. But love them Chase did. So, as the October morning dawned, she found herself smiling as she woke. She knew school wasn’t for another hour and a half, and it was only a fifteen minute walk, but she was an early riser.

As she got ready, she let her thoughts drift to the girl in all her classes. The girl—whose name Chase didn’t know—was new this year, and it didn’t seem like she had any friends. Chase had meant to talk to the girl, but she was nowhere to be found at lunch, and she always hurried out of the classrooms.

Today, their English teacher was letting them choose new seats, and Chase planned on grabbing the one next to the girl. She felt as if the girl needed a friend more than anything else, and she planned on being that friend.

***

“Okay class,” Ms. Ender said, clasping her hands in front of her. “You’ve earned the right to pick your seats. Get to it, we have Shakespeare to read!” Holding back a giggle at Ms. Ender’s enthusiastic mention of Shakespeare, she grabbed the stuff off her desk and picked her bag off of the floor before making her way to where the girl was sitting.

“Hi,” Chase said, plopping down in the seat next to her. The petite blonde looked at Chase with a rather blank expression, offering a small wave and a soft “Hello” in response.

“I’m Chase. I’ve been meaning to talk to you since the beginning of the year, but I hadn’t gotten the chance. So, I thought I’d come and sit by you. What’s your name anyway?” Chase said, her voice letting her excitement show.

Chase was a good person, caring and kind, but she had a tendency to be overenthusiastic about things. “Hailey,” the girl said, her voice still quiet. She looked down at the book on her desk, playing with the edge of her sleeve. Though before Chase could say anything more to her, the teacher called the class to attention by telling them to prepare for Shakespeare. While Chase should have been following along, she couldn’t help but to think of the girl to her right.

Hailey, as she had introduced herself, was a mystery to Chase. Most people, even ones that are rather shy, warm up to Chase within seconds of meeting her. It was rare for anyone to dislike her, and so Hailey’s slight coldness surprised her. But Chase was determined to find out more about the girl. And when Chase set her mind to something, she didn’t give up.

So, as Ms. Ender had them digesting Shakespeare, Chase was thinking. English was the second class of the morning, meaning there was another one to go before lunch. Chase decided she would move a bit faster after math next period so she could follow Hailey, and hopefully get to know the girl a little. When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Chase went to her locker and grabbed her math stuff and the brown bag with her lunch in it. She stuck her lunch in her purse so she could go straight to lunch with Hailey, and then headed towards her Algebra II class.

Sitting at her desk, she looked at the bored where the teacher had written the assignment for today. Partner up and do 2.5, evens and odds. Another chance to talk to Hailey, she thought to herself with a smile. The other girl was already in the room, her seat being in the back. Chase walked over to her, a slight bounce in her step, and found herself sitting backwards in the desk chair in front of Hailey.

“Hello again, Hailey!” Chase said happily. “I thought we could partner up for the assignment. Since you don’t really talk to the people in our classes, and I wanted to talk to you some more. We didn’t have much time during English. So, is that alright with you?” Chase asked the girl in the same excited manner she had used before.

With an indifferent expression, Hailey offered a shrug. Nothing in Chase’s expression or eyes changed, but that’s when she realized that befriending would be far from easy, and that only made her more determined than before.