You're My Backbone

I took in a deep breath and held my books and binders close to my chest.

"Shit. This school's big." John observed after joining me at my side in front of the school's entrance.

Kids were buzzing by talking with their friends and laughing. Some kept to themselves while others were talking so loud that it cause me a headache.

"Thanks captain obvious." I rolled my eyes.

John chuckled to the side of me and nudged me in the arm. "Come on. Let's find the office."

I nodded my head and followed John. People turned around one by one and examined the rather tall boy walking through the hallways. Girls gave him that flirtatious look that made me want to throw up in my mouth. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

We found the office after about five minutes.

"Hi, I'm John O'Callaghan and this is my sister June. We're new here." John spoke up for me to the white-haired women behind the wooden desk. Her name plate read "Mrs. Greg."

"Age? Grade?" She asked, not making eye contact with either John or I. She flipped through the papers on her desk.

"We're seventeen. Both seniors."

She nodded her head then licked a finger and turned a page. I gave her a weird look, knowing that she wasn't going to look up at us anytime soon.

I elbowed John in the arm lightly and he turned to look at me. I furrowed my brow and gestured to the women. John grinned then held up his middle finger just before the desk cut off and so the women couldn't see.

I started to laugh, but then held a hand to my mouth.

Mrs. Gregs then looked up at the two of us. "Are you two twins?"

"Yes." We both said in unison then our head whipped to face one another. We began to laugh, but then shut up when the women cleared her throat.

She held up our schedeules in both hands. As we took them she said "Funny, you two look nothing alike."

John shrugged. "Yeah. We get that a lot."

The women smiled weakly then her frown returned. "Alright, so your lockers are right next to each other and you have.............history together."

I nodded my head, waiting for her to continue, but she never did. How were we suppose to find our classes?"

"Run along now," She waved us off. "First period starts soon."

John and I scurried out of the room, in search of our lockers. Everntually, we found them and piled our belongings inside.

"I bid you a do." John bowed and I rolled my eyes.

"Stop embarassing yourself." I glared.

"Well, then. See you in history."

I waved lamely as he strutted down the hallway. My stomach twisted when I realized I was alone in this big ass school with no one to help me.

"Hey! I met you yesterday!" A voice called from the side of me.

I turned around quickly to find Kennedy and two other boys standing behind him. My eys widened slightly. "Oh, uh yeah."

"You didn't tell me you were going here!"

I smiled slightly. "Sorry."

"That's alright. Are you lost?" He asked and suddenly I was grateful to have someone I knew, even if I didn't know them very well.

"Yeah. Kind of. And my brother just abandoned me."

Kennedy chuckled. "Is your brother your age?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah. We're twins."

"How old are you?" A small boy piped up from behind Kennedy. I recognized him as the boy on the skateboard yesterday.

"Seventeen."

Kennedy grinned and so did the boy. "So are we! This is Pat by the way," He gestured to Pat. He then turned around to the boy with red hair behind him. "And this is Jared."

Jared waved. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded my head. "You too."

"What class do you have first?" Pat asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Um," I peered down at my schedule. "Science."

The boys all gave me a disappointed look and I assumed none of them could help me get their.

"None of us have science first, but what room are you in?" Kennedy said.

I looked down at my schedule once again. "314."

"Hey, I'm going over there! You can follow me!" Pat chirped.

"Okay. Thanks."

"We'll see you later June." Kennedy waved.

"Bye." I waved at him and Jared as they made their way down the hall.

I followed Pat and discovered some things about him along the way. One was that he would not stop talking. It was quite funny though and he seemed like a nice boy.

"So you're not very good at skateboarding are you?" I asked, a smirk present on my lips.

Pat chuckled and shrugged. "I used to be. I don't know what happened."

"Pat!" A voice called from behind us.

Pat spun around quickly on his heel and a smile grew on his face. He waved exaggeratedly. "I got to go to class Garrett! I'll see you next period!" He called down the hallway.

I tried to look for the other kid he was talking to, but the hallway was too crowded for me to see anything. I sighed heavily and waited for Pat.

"Sorry 'bout that." Pat said. "Oh, this is your class."

A smile and relief washed threw me. "Thank you so much."

Pat waved me off. "It's fine."

"No, trust me, I would have gotten so lost if it weren't for you."

Pat grinned. "Okay okay. I know-I'm amazing."

I smiled. "I'll see you later, right?"

He nodded his head. "Of course!"

I waved before entering the classroom.

My first day had been a sucess....so far.

It was lunch, and everything bad always happened at lunch. Think about it, food gets poured on people, girls fight over lunch tables, and guys shoved food into their mouth disgustingly.

I couldn't stop thinking about where I was to sit. Who would I sit with?

I prayed that Kennedy or Pat were in my lunch period, but something told me that with my luck, that wasn't happening.

I walked into the cafeteria after swallowing hard. I stood at the entranced examining the room intently and waiting for someone I recognized.

No one.

Who would I recognize besides my own brother?

Just because Kennedy and Pat helped me out doesn't mean they'd want to sit with me. I bit down on my lip hard and my foot started patting against the floor anxiously. My time was running out. I needed to find a place to sit before someone noticed me and called me out on being anti-social.

"Are you John's sister?" A girl's voice sounded from next to me.

My eyes widened at the girl and I wondered how she knew my brother. Or how she even knew who I was.

"Um, yeah. Do I know you?" I asked instantly regretting my word choice. How rude of me.

The girl smiled. "No. I mean, it would be creepy if I did," She laughed. "I met your brother earlier in my English class. And it just so happened he was in my gym class also. He found out I was in this period of lunch and told me to look for you. He said we seemed like we would like each other," she shrugged and smiled. "I don't know what that means."

Inside, I was bursting with happiness. How I loved my brother sometimes.

I laughed. "Yeah, he can be like that sometimes," I paused and remembered something. "How did you know it was me? John and I look nothing alike."

"He said the same thing. He also told me what you were wearing. And what you looked like."

"Oh." I said nodding my head and a smile crept upon my face yet again.

"So, do you want to sit with me?"

"Sure!" I jumped on the offer right away. "I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

The girl waved me off. "It's fine. I'm Darry."

We sat down at the end of a table. Our end was empty, but the other end had many girls chatting and gossiping.

"Darry? Is that short for something?"

Darry shook her head. "Nah. My parents just really liked the book The Outsiders." she smiled.

I grinned. "Isn't Darry a guy though?"

She shook her head and laughed softly. "Yeah. My parent's are crazy."

Darry and I talked the whole period, but I didn't find much out about her. She told me about the school and even mapped out the whole place so it was easier for me to find. We talked about music and books mainly and she occasionally brought up her boyfriend.

"What's your boyfriends name?" I asked.

"Jared." She replied, not really paying attention, but shoving a binder into her bag.

My mind went to the Jared I met this morning, but I merely ignored it. I'm sure their are many Jared's in this school.

I was curious about why Darry wasn't sitting with the girls on the other side of the table. Was she friends with them? Did she sit alone everyday? I didn't ask because, well, it wasn't really my place to.

The bell rung signaling lunch was over. Darry and I said our goodbyes and then we parted ways.

School was over. Finally.

I met John at our lockers. He approached the locker surrounded by a group of kids laughing and talking.

Figures. He already made friends.

He smiled before opening his locket. As others passed, some patted him on the back and called out "John Oh!" In return, he would laugh and call out their name.

"What the hell? We've only been here a day and the whole school knows you?"

John shrugged and closed his locker. "What can I say? People love me."

I rolled my eyes as John and I walked out the exit of the building to the parking lot. I was glad this day was over. Now I could go home and not have to worry about anything.