Chapters On A Page

Sunday night provided little to no sleep, and I had a feeling that it had nothing to do with my sleeping until noon that day. I tossed and turned until my alarm began going off for school, just desperately attempting to calm the knots in my stomach. No matter which way I lay though, nothing helped. So I was up and dragging by six to get ready. The bathroom -which wasn't en suite like our mother's but to which I had a door in my room to- was too brightly lit for the morning after a sleepless night. It was quiet for the most part though since I shared it with Kaylee and she was too young to be barging in to dominate the space. It was right next door to another bathroom -something that made absolutely no sense to me- and I could faintly hear Lilah getting ready as well. Maybe it wasn't a hard night for only me anticipating this first day at someplace new.

After a quick shower, I simply braided my wavy hair because I knew the day would be too hot to want to deal with the mess it would turn into. I did my basic makeup first, covering my heart-shaped face in foundation, before slipping the two nose rings I always wore in my left nostril and then continued on to doing my eyes. There was a small extendable mirror off the side of the medicine cabinet that I pulled close to apply my eyeliner. This close, I could easily study the green of my eyes with the amber flecks forming a circle around the pupils and the third of the right iris that was actually brown for some unknown reason. Besides this small aspect, they looked exactly like my mother's. It only took me a few more minutes to finish my eye makeup after my short memorization of the details of my irises. Once done, I headed back into my room to change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

The first floor of the house was still quiet when I stepped into the kitchen. I sat at the island while I ate a bagel, settling in to the noise that came with both of my sisters and our mom waking up and eating breakfast. None of us spoke, but that was normal for an early morning. The only words out of our mouths were ones of farewell as they each left. In our old house, I was always the first one downstairs and the last one to leave in the morning. My mother left first to open her salon, sometimes taking my younger sisters to school if she had time. When she didn't, they caught the bus, making them the next out of the house. Our dad would head to work next, and then Emma would go to her early classes. Besides the latter two, it appeared as if the routine in this house would be much the same. A silence encased the house again while I locked the front door behind me. On normal days when the weather was nice, I would ride my bike since I didn't have my license or a car. But Dulaney was much closer to this house than Towson was to the old house, so I set out on foot.

I skipped up the stone steps at the front of the building once there and headed straight for the office. I was greeted with a warm and questioning smile from the secretary who I'd met while my mother had transferred me. I assumed the questioning half of it was because she didn't remember me. I shook this off, explained that I was new, and she immediately sent me down the hall to the guidance counselors' offices. It seemed like a lot of walking just to get a schedule, but I obediently made my way in that direction. It took more explaining of what I thought was obvious to get a counselor and then to finally get my schedule worked out. The bell for first period came and went, as well as the one signaling the end of it. This was something that I couldn't find the need to care about. There was only a week left before summer. I had already taken all of my finals before I left Towson. There was no need for me to waste my time here. So it was at a leisurely pace that I walked to what was to be my second period class.

I studied the rectangular piece of green paper as I continued down the hall. I couldn't talk the counselor into simply giving me seven study halls, even though she claimed I made a pretty compelling argument. My second period was a History class I didn't need because 1) I'd taken it last year and 2) they also had already taken their final and would probably be doing nothing but sitting around. The former was probably going to cause chaos next year with the classes they gave me, but I didn't even want to think about it right now. So I only double-checked the room number and continued on down the deserted corridor. Finding the door, I automatically pulled it open and stepped inside.

As I had predicted, clearly no one was doing anything of importance. The noise level was high with multiple conversations and no one paid me any attention while I walked the few feet to the teacher at his desk. He was a joking type, as he presented himself from the get go by sarcastically bad mouthing whoever decided I needed to be transferred instead of starting summer early. But he handed my schedule and the paper I had needed him to sign back and told me I could take a seat without having to do anything more. Not making me present myself to the other students let me know that he was also laid back, and I definitely liked him for that. Maybe I would get lucky and he taught another class that I would have next year. For now though, I took the nearest empty seat and spent the next half hour reading the book I'd brought from home and chewing gum. No one bothered me or even noticed me for that matter.

I was not as lucky for third period.

The bell rang and everyone exited the room in a hurry, me following slowly behind so as not to get trampled. I moved along with the sea of kids to the next room on my schedule and once again walked in to meet the teacher. This one had decided that the back of the room would do well as the front instead and I had to walk through the rows of desks to get to hers, causing the few people there before me to watch my every move. Instantly, I knew I wasn't going to like this teacher and not just because of her classroom setup. She took the paper I would have to return to the office hostage and asked me to wait, standing in front of the chalkboard. Unfortunately, I was still there when the room was full and the bell rang to signal the start of class. I didn't need the confirmation of her standing to know her dreadful plan.

"Class!" she called, clapping her hands together joyfully as she brought all the attention to the front of the room. "We've got a new student with us. Her name's Valerie Rutherford. Valerie, why don't you introduce yourself?" she suggested, turning to look at me where I was still leaning against the chalkboard already cleaned and washed for summer.

I made no effort to budge. "Uh, didn't you already kind of do that?" I wondered, speaking softly so no one else heard me. A few of them in front still sniggered. I could already feel my cheeks heating up. She threw me a pointed look to let me know that the sweet act was only skin deep and it somehow forced me to step in front of her desk. "I'm Val," I blew out quickly. "I went to Towson until Friday because my parents are getting divorced and my mom apparently couldn't wait a week to move. I like music and baking and taking pictures. I wasn't part of the in crowd at Towson, and I hardly expect to be here. Actually, I don't even really expect any of you to remember me by the time school starts up again in the fall," I said honestly. With that, I turned around to the teacher with eyebrows raised. It was obvious that she was barely satisfied, but she handed my paper over nonetheless.

I had been nervously scanning the faces as I spoke and had recognized a few of them from various places. But one stood out among the others, a dark-haired boy my cousin was best friends with. Unlike everyone else though, he didn't stare at me. I think it was mostly for this reason that I sat in the empty seat behind him in the back of the room. I saw it as my opportunity to be left alone since we were once more left to do as we pleased. I figured since he wasn't openly examining me like I was a wild animal in their otherwise normal class that he would leave me be. And even if he didn't, I knew him and had spoken with him more times than I could count. To do it here while I was the new girl wasn't exactly going to bother me.

For the first half of the class, I sat back in my seat with my feet weaved into the spaces in the metal basket underneath the desk in front of me. My book was in my hands again and I turned pages silently as I read. I had replaced the gum in my mouth when I had sat down and continued to chew the new piece as the time wore on. I absentmindedly began to blow bubbles as my mind became utterly occupied with the text in front of my eyes, most of them popping without a sound. One though, only slightly louder than the others, managed to break through the noise of loud conversations between everyone in the room. It wasn't all, but several of the people around me turned in my direction at the sound. Most of them continued talking and even went back to ignoring me after only a second or two. The boy in front of me though turned right around and kept his brown eyes trained on me.

"Sorry," I mumbled, somewhat self-consciously as I worked the deflated bubble back between my teeth. He only shrugged, and I took this as accepting my apology. I lowered my eyes to my book once again and paid a bit more attention to my gum than before. But after another minute, I could still feel eyes on me. I let my gaze crawl back up to see he hadn't quit staring at me.

"You're Valerie?" he wondered the moment he saw I was looking at him again. He had been talking to the boy next to him since before I had even sat down, silently exchanging words while I had still been presenting myself to the class. But the other boy wasn't paying attention now, facing forward to talk to the girl diagonal from him. So it was just the two of us listening instead of everyone I didn't want eavesdropping.

"Val," I corrected a little sourly. It was weird when anyone outside of my family called me Valerie, and even that was mostly just my grandparents at this point in my life. It made sense for people who didn't know me to make the mistake, but he did know me and I was sure we'd gone through this before.

He nodded in apology. "Val. Sorry. I'm Alex," he introduced as if he had never met me before. "You and I should go out sometime," he said, obviously trying to sound smooth.

I tried hard to contain my laugh. "Sorry, I'm taken," I lied, figuring he was simply joking and I made the decision to play along.

He raised his eyebrows. "If your boyfriend doesn't like you hanging out with another guy simply as friends, then I won't tell if you won't," he promised, a smirk on his lips.

Covering my mouth with my hand and ducking my head, I snorted lightly. When I emerged again, he appeared to be completely clueless as to why I found this funny. After searching my thoughts for another moment, I came up with another blatant lie. "Girlfriend. I'm into girls," I told him, stage whispering because I knew no one else would hear me. At my statement though, he looked taken aback, almost like him coming onto me was something he wanted to immediately apologize for. It took me seeing him confused to realize that he wasn't messing around with me. "I'm joking! Alex, it's me," I exclaimed, finally closing my book and setting it on the desk as I sat up. Now I was confused as well. The expression on his face changed but the lines between his eyebrows didn't smooth out. "I'm Zack's cousin. I've known you since like ninth grade," I reminded him, thinking this would help solve the puzzle for him. Did he really not remember me when we had seen each other only two weeks ago? I tried not to be hurt about being forgettable, but I had to admit it was tough.

"Oh…" Alex responded slowly, not doing very well to convince me that my words had fixed the problem. "Oh!" he repeated, recognition finally clear in both his eyes and his small outburst. "Sorry," he chuckled. "It's the hair. I'm used to seeing you with it down," he claimed, thoroughly seeming to actually know who I was now and not just faking it.

I wasn't completely convinced, but I shrugged it off because I decided that it didn't truly matter. "So do you always ask girls out by making it a suggestion rather than a request?" I inquired as I sat back again. Just to have something for my fingers to do, I pulled my book back toward me and felt the bottom edge digging into my thighs when it landed in my lap. There was a smirk on my lips, already enjoying the chance to mess with him some more.

"What?" he asked back, looking dumbstruck. Then within a second, it clicked in his brain and he remembered what had started this whole mess of a conversation. "Oh!" he laughed. "No. If I thought it would work, maybe. But I was asking because you said you bake and I was thinking I could possibly get a cupcake out of it," he admitted, and it was easy to tell that, this time, he was joking.

I went along with it again because I knew I wasn't going to be caught in the joke alone like before. "I see. Your plan was simply to use me for the treats and not even the sexual kind. Strange boy," I pretended to mutter but made sure he still heard it. "What makes you think I make cupcakes anyway?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled once more and ran a hand through his brown hair. For the first time, he looked away from me, only for a second to glance at the back of the head of the girl next to me. "If you bake and don't make cupcakes, then that's fucking stupid. No offense," he said. He didn't even tack the latter on quickly in case I really did take offense, and for some reason it made me laugh.

"It's a good thing I do sometimes make cupcakes then, I suppose. I'll bring some by the next practice I come to," I insisted, thinking nothing of it. It was honestly a surprise I had never showered the four boys with baked goods before. Everyone else usually got them.

As I was thinking about this, the bell for the end of third period rang and everyone's reactions were instantaneous. Alex said something that sounded like Looking forward to it, but he jumped from his chair at the same speed as everyone else and rushed the door with them. I was much slower than everyone else just as I had been last period. According to my schedule, I had lunch before fourth period. So I rose lazily and slipped my book into my purse before pacing out into the hall. I hadn't even been assigned a locker since I wouldn't be given any textbooks, so I simply began searching for the cafeteria. The halls were still abound with frantic kids trying to get to their next classes or running to their lockers to throw their books inside before lunch. It was amazing that I even heard my name over the din, but I did and I reflexively turned at the sound of it. It took a few seconds, but his blond hair was soon visible bouncing among all the other heads, his hand raised so I would see him.

"I heard there was a new girl walking around that fit your description," James stated when he made it to the spot where I was waiting for him. Without a second thought, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

This sounded like news to me since I had really only been seen during the period I'd just left. Other than that, I had really only noticed people disregarding me like there was a new person at the end of the school year every single day. Instead of commenting on this, I just nodded. "I did tell you Thursday at work that I'd be here today. You were just way too busy staring at Laura's tits to realize I was speaking," I teased lightly, not bothering to tone down the playful accusation in my voice.

He shrugged as if to say that he couldn't help that she continuously wore her shirts so that they exposed more and more of her cleavage each day. I wouldn't argue with that logic. "So where are you heading now?" he asked just as the second bell rang. It was pretty much a rhetorical question now but I still answered. "Sweet, we get to eat lunch together for the next five days," he said excitedly, and began leading us to the cafeteria.

I wasn't at all hungry and he didn't want to wait in line, so he brought us right to the table he probably sat at everyday. We waited a few moments, sitting side-by-side on the round plastic chairs that were attached to the tables. We talked about work for a couple minutes since it was the one big thing we had in common. My eyes wandered the large room as we spoke and they found Alex five or six tables down, sitting with the two other members of the band he was in with my cousin, a few other boys, and two girls, one of which had her arm tight around his waist and her head on his shoulder. In the second that I was glancing at him, he must have felt my gaze because he looked away from his girlfriend and gave me a small wave. I smiled back, my own hand lifting enough to be considered a wave. After that, my view was blocked by someone sitting in front of me.

"Val, this is Art," James introduced as the boy across from me threw me a smile. "Then we have Lindsay, Allie, Paul, and Jill. It looks like Stacey's sticking strong to starting her senioritis early," he mumbled to himself as an afterthought. I ignored this and introduced myself to the two boys and the three girls that had sat on the other side of the table. I could tell they were easy to get along with and we were already talking when James interrupted once more. "There he is!" he yelled. I had no clue what he was talking about until I felt someone sit down to my left. "This douche is Dominic. He's on the football team, but prefers to hang out with us for some reason," he went on.

"I'm second string. That's why I prefer to hang out with them. I'm an equal loser," Dominic claimed, clearly speaking only to me. "Dominic Scoleri," he announced, even though James had already given me his first name. He held his hand out to me, a smirk playing on his lips.

I took it in my own, feeling his smooth skin as we shook hands. "Val Rutherford," I replied, thinking of how I was enjoying getting acquainted with the people here even though I had been sure it would be a disaster. When he slipped his hand from mine, he started right into his lunch. But he continued to speak to me as if no one else was there, making me feel even more welcome than James had with their group of friends. It was too early to tell since I would only be here for four more days, but maybe changing schools wouldn't be as bad as I had anticipated.