The Freshman Named Alice

A serious of “Hey!” ‘s, “OMG! It’s been forever!” ‘s, and “Have you seen that guy with the hair yet?!” ‘s surrounds me as I start walking through the corridor to go to my first period. If you didn’t already know, my name is Alice, I’m thirteen, and this is my freshman year of high school. I know, you’re probably thinking that if I’m thirteen I should be in eighth grade, right? Well, you see some shit happened when I went into public school in second grade, and they didn’t know what to do with me since I was smart enough to keep on going, yet my birthday was past the cutoff date. For those who are a little bit slow, they ended up letting me continue.

So here I am going to a high school with only one other girl that I know. Luckily I’ve known her since the fifth grade. Meaning we are super close! The best part, though, is that she lives in the neighborhood across the street from me, which concludes in us riding the same bus. Halle-freaking-lujah! If I didn’t know anyone my bus I would be a total and complete loner to the MAX!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Room 137. Finally. I had Spanish first period with Senora Martinez. “Buenos dias mija!” , she greeted cheerfully, a little too cheerfully for my liking, being the first day and all. But with a smile on my face, under my breath I said, “Hola,” and walked quickly through the doorway of the classroom. ”Small,” I think to myself scanning the classroom for a seat to sit at. I didn’t want to be way in the front, nor did I want to be way in the back. Thank God I had gotten to class early enough to have a variety of desks to choose from. In the end, after about three minutes of “desk shopping”, my desk of choice was in the middle row, third to last seat from the back wall. Not too bad. Now, for the next few minutes, until the late bell rang anyways, I had the opportunity to chill and see who would walk in.

Students filtered in and out the classroom quicker than I expected. I say out, too, because every now and then a student that entered would realize that it wasn’t the right class they walked into. Dear God, please don’t let that be me, I pray quietly to myself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So far, there were not many seats left around me. The only desks around me that were empty were the ones directly to the left of me, and directly behind me. Since I didn’t have any friends yet, and I was going to a school where I didn’t know anyone, I sat quietly and listened to other people’s conversations. The reason I didn’t know anyone was because I wasn’t going to the high school I was zoned for. This high school that I am at now has a magnet program called IB. And yes, I am in it.

Any who, a few more minutes passed until he, walked in. “Alright, peace nigga,” he said as he gave his friends one of those handshakes that every guy knows about. The boy had dark brown hair, nearly black, that lay just perfectly on his head; dark, chocolate eyes that sparkled every time he flashed his gorgeous smile. With a smile like that, it looked like he came straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch, or Hollister catalog.

He walked through the doorway smiling kindly towards the teacher. Before I knew it he was walking in the row next to me, about to take the seat to the left of me. “Oh wait, I think Imma take that seat over there,” he said smiling my way, and nodding his head towards the desk behind me. I giggled to myself quietly as I watched the boy as he hoped over the bar attached to the desk and took his seat behind me. I turned sideways in my seat, with my legs out in front of me, in the middle of the isle. The boy noticed me looking at him now and looked up from his phone, which he was texting from. “Sup?”, he asked, adding a head nod. I just smiled sweetly not showing any teeth.

“What’s your name?”, the boy looked up at me confused,

“Me?”, he asked raising an eyebrow .

“I’m looking at you, aren’t I?”, I snapped back, but my tone was kind of joking. Clearly, someone didn’t realize that,

“Feisty! I like it,” the boy said winking at me. I just shacked my head,

“So are you gonna tell me your name? Or are you gonna stay anonymous?”, instead of answering right away, the boy gave me this look. He narrowed his eyes and finally responded,

“Why so interested in me, huh?” Great, he was a cocky one.

“Just trying to be nice and make some friends,” I said under my breath as I turned to face forward in my seat. Before I could turn all the way around, though, I felt the boy’s right arm on my left shoulder blade.

“Wait, don’t be mad at me,” I slowly turned back around to face him, and I just looked at his hand on my shoulder. “Sorry,” he said dropping his hand. “My name is Santi, and I know, I was being a total ass just second ago. Ugh, I’m just like my fucking dad yo!”

Like his dad? I wouldn’t ask what he meant by that since I don’t even know the kid like that, so I just said, “I’m not sure what you meant by ‘I’m just like my fucking dad’,” making quotation marks in the air with my fingers, “and I’m not gonna ask since I just met you, and I know you wouldn’t want to spill your heart out to me, but thanks for apologizing,” I said ending with a smile.

Santi laughed a little, “You know, I don’t think I would mind spilling me heart out to you,” I looked at him lost and raised my eyebrows. He laughed yet again, “It’s just,” he paused for a second, let out a sigh, then continued, “It’s just, you seem really nice, and you seem like the kind of friend that would actually care and listen when I talk,” just as he finished, the late bell rang and Senora Martinez walked inside to get the class started. I looked at Santi, “We’ll finish this later,” he smiled at me as I turned around and faced forward.