Broken Brain

Sometime, you wake up and know that it isn’t going to be another normal, run of the mill day. Thursday, October 3rd was one of those times.

My alarm went off at 5:00, even though I didn’t have to leave for the bus until 6:50. It only took me 45 minutes or so to get ready, but I never knew when something might come up, like if I needed to change everyone’s sheets or reorganize all the canned goods.

I got out of bed and put on my favorite jeans and a shirt I really liked, a fitted yellow one with a cartoon dinosaur on it. I felt like today would be awesome, which in turn called for awesome clothes. I reorganized all my shoes by style before selecting a pair of boots. It might have been a little early for boots since it was only the beginning of October, but I had to wear boots. I just had to.

I felt like I should’ve done something nice-ish with my hair, but I had to go around and synchronize all the clocks, watches, and phones in the house to my cell phone, which was going to take some time. I wasn’t sure if I would have time for breakfast or not, so I grabbed a few cereal bars to eat while I worked. That way I wouldn’t feel rushed.

Once I was satisfied with my work, I still had a few minutes before I had to leave, so I brushed my hair a little more, grabbed my bag, and hurried out the door.

The bus ride was pretty normal, and so was first period English (where I alphabetized the textbooks) and second period Health (where I slept). But then I got to third period History, and that is where my story really begins.

I hurried into the classroom, because I had suddenly realized that I had to switch all the chairs around. As I walked through the door, my eyes were focused on the chairs. I actually forgot about the possibility that there might be other people in the room, and in my haste, I bumped into someone, but fortunately not hard enough to induce one of those stupid movie moments where we both drop our books and have a romantic (but sappy) first conversation as we picked them up. But it was still pretty significant.

“Oh…whoa…sorry,” I said, but my voice trailed off as I looked up to see who I was apologizing to.

The first thing I saw wasn’t his eyes, like most people would have done, but his teeth. He had really great teeth. They were white and straight, like rows of tiny ivory dominoes. They made a good first impression, but didn’t exactly match the rest of his appearance. He had dark hair, messy and tousled, not in an obviously fake trying to hard “I don’t care” way, but a sincere “I seriously don’t give a shit” type of way, as if he didn’t own a hairbrush. Then I saw his eyes, which at first I took for light blue but later learned were actually light grey. He wore an open red and black flannel shirt with a worn dark grey t-shirt underneath and worn “baggy but not saggy” jeans, as I like to call them. Actually, he wasn’t that attractive, but it was the “I really do not care” vibe that surrounded him that pulled me in.

“Um, it’s alright,” he said. His voice wasn’t deep, but it wasn’t high either. It was really just a pretty average voice. “Could you move? I have to pee.” He was so blunt. It was adorable. Then I realized maybe I should move.

“Yeah. Sorry,” I said, stepping to the side. He walked past me. I think he glanced at me. I’m not sure, but I like to think he did.

I went and sat down, taking out all the things I would need for history and placing them in their exact assigned spots. I put everything in the same spot everyday. The bell rang, and Mr. Halter began class. The kid who I had run into earlier walked in a few minutes later.

“Ahh, Mr. Hawthorn, you’re late. And on your first day in this class too,” Mr. Halter said, shaking his head a bit. “Not a good first impression to make.”

“I was here before the bell, then I had to pee. It’s not my fault,” the kid (whose name I still didn’t know) said.

“Just take your seat,” Mr. Halter said, obviously anxious to start class.

Seat. Oh no. I shot my hand into the air.

“Mr. Halter,” I announced, not waiting for him to notice me. “I need to rearrange the chairs.”

He sighed. “Katherine, are you sure you need to? Couldn’t you come back and do it another time?”

“No!” I half whined. “I have to do it now!” I stood up and grabbed my chair, searching for where it should go.

“Katherine, please, you’re interrupting my class.”

I marched across the room, chair in tow, and forced Asher Marvel out of his seat and replaced it with mine.

“You can’t do this now, I have to teach.”

“You can keep teaching. I’ll be quiet and I won’t interrupt.”

“No, Katherine. Just go back to your own seat.”

“But if I don’t rearrange the chairs then…then…” I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. I had a lump in my throat. I had to fix the chairs!

“Katherine!”

“The chairs!”

“You either need to sit down or leave class.”

I gave a little whimper. I had to fix the chairs, I had to stay in class. Why didn’t he get it?!

“Katherine, gather your things and leave my class.”

“No! Mr. HalterI can’t!”

“Katherine!”

I felt the lump in my throat expand as I gathered my things. I could feel everyone staring at me, especially No First Name Hawthorne.