Chapters On A Page

Monday came too fast. I woke the way I did every morning on the first day of school, which was grumpy and feeling unprepared but with some added dread in the pit of my stomach. I got ready like any other day though and skipped down the stairs to the kitchen where I poured myself a bowl of cereal. An insufficient breakfast, but something I couldn't quite care about this morning. I was the last one to leave as always -even Lilah had left before me though we went to the same school now. Being the end of August, I knew that the afternoon was going to be hot. But the morning air still held a chill to it as I walked down the sunbathed sidewalk that led me to a place I often liked to refer to as Hell. Even as I reached the school, that chill began to ebb and transform into the heat of summer and I was glad to push through the doors to be washed in air conditioning. I officially couldn't wait for autumn's crisp weather.

I wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes, clutching the strap of the messenger bag slung over my shoulder as I tried to remember my way around. I knew where my homeroom was since it was just off the main hall, and the main hall was more than familiar to me since I had walked down it while studying my temporary schedule at the end of May. I wanted to find Dominic though, and start my day off with the boy that was managing to make me less miserable now that summer freedom was gone. The halls were alive around me with an air of excitement as I walked, though I could tell everyone the emotion was coming from were also tired and irritable from the early hour. I couldn't say exactly what I felt myself. I knew I still didn't really want to be here, but I was currently searching for my boyfriend, a thought that brought a smile to my face. When I found him, he was leaning against a random locker on the second floor, chatting with James, Paul, and Stacey. I received an automatic glare from the latter when she spotted me, which only seemed to intensify when I looped my arm through Dominic's. James and Paul greeted me warmly though, and Dominic flashed me a smile and unhooked his arm from mine to wrap around me.

"God, you guys are already too lovey dovey for my taste," James claimed after Dominic placed a kiss atop my head. He made a gesture that insinuated he was going to throw up, and he straightened up again shaking his head. "But it's about time. What has it been? Three years since I introduced you two?" he questioned sarcastically.

"Fuck, it feels like it," I responded exasperatedly while the others laughed. The summer had dragged on and on, which I was grateful for. Looking back on the months between now and the end of last school year though, I realized how much fun I had had and was then reminded that almost none of that fun had been had with my now-boyfriend. "Be prepared for some more vomiting though, if that's what we induce in you," I warned, and then turned to Dominic while reaching up on my toes and pressing my lips to his. There was a grumble from James that he couldn't take any more and when I pulled away from Dominic, we were alone.

"It's going to be a long day," he insisted, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling as he took my hand. His face was grim for only a split second when he looked at me again. "But as long as we get to see each other, I think I'll survive it. Did you get your schedule yet?" he questioned eagerly.

He then took notice that my purse wasn't the only thing on my shoulder, meaning he had been my first stop, but I shook my head to answer anyway. "Want to walk me back to my homeroom so we can compare classes?" I wondered, swinging our linked hands back and forth between us joyfully while we stood facing each other. It wasn't a question that really had to be asked, but I still smiled when he nodded without hesitation.

I tried not to pay attention to the people on either side of us as we headed back the way I'd come. I wasn't sure if it was because I was too caught up in Dominic -because I knew that I truly was- or because I was attempting to keep myself from seeing a certain boy I hadn't talked to in over two weeks. Either way, I didn't spot one person I knew, even by face only. When we came to the door of my homeroom, I convinced him to wait for me while I slipped inside to retrieve my schedule from the teacher. My eyes went automatically to the small strip of paper stapled to the front that held my locker number and combination. Dominic followed me to the metal door marked as my own, resting against the one to my left so the door wouldn't hide him from view.

"What'd you get?" he asked me as I spun the lock to match the combination.

When it clicked and I popped the door open, I slipped the strap of my near empty bag off my shoulder as I began examining what classes I'd be taking this year. When my book bag was securely on a hook, I drew my hand back toward myself and lifted up the stapled paper to take a closer look at the classes listed in the grid on the paper beneath. "This… isn't right. At all," I stated slowly but very boldly at the same time. Dominic came around to stand at my side, questioning why it wasn't as he read over my shoulder. I poked a finger at the letters that spelled out my first period. "Latin Two? I didn't even know Latin was taught here. I took Spanish at Towson," I informed him, my voice growing high with anxiety. My finger slid to another class. "Band. I've only ever played piano, and that was a terrible disaster. None of this is right." For a moment, I was rushed into a memory. One of me walking down the hall that was only a few steps to my right as I thought of this exact problem happening. I had never expected this big of a screw up though. I honestly only thought there'd be one, maybe two mistakes, if any.

"Didn't you sign up for classes last year?" he asked, gently taking the paper from my fingers clenching around it so that it was now already wrinkled. I wasn't sure what him looking it over more closely was going to fix, but I let him.

"No," I replied, trying not to sound annoyed as I gave a shake of my head. "I came in the last week of school. I figured maybe you guys did it over the summer or the first day or something," I admitted, becoming defeated. I hadn't given a second thought to how I would set my classes for the year. It was a fall problem, not summer. Maybe it should have struck me while I was with the guidance counselor last year, but I had only wanted to get out of there. Now it was obvious that another trip there was essential. "Well, I guess I'll be starting my morning off right," I groaned, taking the green slip that Dominic was handing back to me.

"We'll have to be surprised then," he said in response, referring to when we would get to see each other throughout the day. We made a plan of where to meet in case we would have the same lunch and when we were done, I lifted my face to his to let him kiss me once more. "I'll see you soon. Hopefully," he called as he walked backwards down the hall. But then the bell rang and he spun around to hurry back to his homeroom.

I gave a sigh before shuffling into my own and taking a seat at a random desk. At least I could be counted for attendance here since I probably wouldn't be getting to my -wrong- first period. After sitting through the announcements that only seemed to make me more tired than I thought I had been, I asked to be excused. My theory was that if I went before the next bell that maybe I could beat everyone else flocking to the guidance office to change their own schedules. I was wrong, but not by much at least. Two people waited before me, already chatting about how it was basically a crime that neither of them had gotten a study hall for the year. I threw myself into one of the chairs next to them and prepared myself to wait just as they were.

Twenty minutes passed in what felt like sixty, both of the other students being called back by counselors as they became available and more coming to join me. Finally, the woman behind the front desk told me I could go back and I practically sprang to my feet and propelled myself down the short hallway. I found myself standing before the same doorway I had last year, and I knocked softly on the frame of the threshold. Without looking up from paperwork on her desk, the counselor I had joked around with just three months ago waved me in. When she lifted her head, it was clear she didn't remember me from our brief previous meeting. She stared at me expectantly and it took me a moment to realize I was now supposed to tell her the problem that had brought me here.

"Oh. Um…" I held out my schedule and let it float down to her desktop. "My classes aren't in the least bit right. I transferred here the last week of school last year, and no one informed me that I should probably have signed up for this year's classes then," I explained, probably using more hand gestures than necessary to accompany my words.

She lifted the slip of paper, holding it between thumb and forefinger of both hands. After clearing her throat, she asked, "What's wrong with these classes?"

I felt my eyes widen considerably at this. I was sure saying that I hadn't picked any of the subjects on the list had been enough to let her know what was wrong with them. But I shook it off and sat forward to point out all the mistakes. "Well, uh, my fifth period is basic Algebra. I took Honors Algebra Three last year, even after I got here. And I can't speak one word of Latin. I should be going into Spanish Three. Child Development? I can stand one kid, and that's my youngest sister, so I hardly care how they develop. Don't even get me started on band," I told her, highlighting the few that bothered me most. "The only one I'm okay with is astronomy. That's something I can live through for the year," I added, figuring it wouldn't hurt to let her know I didn't hate everything about my schedule.

I had almost expected her to put up a fight that I should keep the classes given to me, therefore leaving me clueless for the entire year. It was obvious that she simply didn't want to deal with an entire schedule change, and I didn't blame her. But she was accommodating and got me nine new classes, adding me to eight different attendance sheets for the semester by calling each teacher. Looking a little worse for wear once it was all said and done, she sent me off to sit out the last ten minutes of first period which was now AP Chemistry for me. Her tone as she said goodbye implied that she didn't want to see me again for a while. I thanked her graciously what was surely a thousand times and then hurried off to stop at my locker, my new schedule, still warm from the printer, clutched in my hand. After slipping a single binder from my messenger bag, I headed off in search of the first room on my list. The halls were as eerily silent as they had been the last time I had done this, but doors were beginning to open the farther I went and idle chatter drifted out to meet my welcome ears. I no longer felt alone when I finally made it to my class. A quick explanation to the teacher about who I was was all there was really time for before the second period bell rang. At last, my first day of my senior year was underway.

Second period was Spanish and the teacher wasted no time putting us to work after he had assigned us seats. I shared the class with Lindsay though, and I was excited to catch up with her since I hadn't seen her since she had walked into my party back in July. Trig was third period, a class I probably wasn't ready for but was going to have to work hard through, if only to stick it out with Rian. Fourth was split between two classes, Astronomy on A days and a business class on B days. Since Astronomy was first, it was the one that I experienced first. I found I shared the elective with a fair few of my friends. Paul, James, Art, and Allison all sat clustered in the back and called to me to join them. Rian and Jack were in the row in front of us with Alex, whom I was persistently ignoring.

Lunch came next, thankfully, and Dominic was waiting for me right where we had planned to meet. He greeted me with a brief kiss to prevent us from getting caught and then promptly led me through the doors and into a line already spanning twenty feet. Once he finally had a lunch that could feed three of each of us and I had an iced tea and an apple, we weaved our way through others finding friends to get to our own. The four I had shared the last class with were already seated at a corner of one of the long tables, Stacey with them. She still had no amount of love for me, completely ignoring my presence when everyone else greeted Dominic and I. As we ate and talked of the day so far, I somehow managed to spot Jack and the others through the chaos that was the first day of lunch. Maybe it was because he was trying his best to keep everyone they sat with in hysterics, a group that consisted of every one of their friends. Just having to see Alex again put me in a bad mood though.

"Do they always manage to get lunch together?" I mumbled to myself grumpily, paying extra attention to the flaps on my tea carton. I was sure no one had heard me over the talking that sounded like yelling with everyone doing it in unison. But Dominic's arm went around my waist and he gave me a grin when I looked up at him as if he could tell I had grown somber about something. As my eyes traveled back to the vinyl tabletop, I caught Stacey's intense glare burning a hole right through me. I couldn't help but hope that James' comment last year was right and she would get a serious case of senioritis. I knew I wouldn't be able to put up with her all year.

After the half hour of lunch and socializing came Anthropology, my fifth period for the first semester. It didn't really make sense with the rest of my classes, but I had been willing to try something different just to fill up my day. I regretted it instantly when I found that the only friend I shared it with was Alex. Was he even technically my friend anymore? I tried my hardest not to silently debate it as I attempted to pay attention to the teacher as I sat on the complete opposite side of the room as Alex. I practically ran from the room when it was over. Heading to my next class, I remembered that it was the only one that I had with Dominic and I perked up again in a matter of seconds, fighting to refrain from sprinting to get there but not having to try to forget about Alex. English was a simple class, maybe the easiest of my whole lot. The syllabus was gone through and papers were handed out that could be added to the other thirty I had already gotten throughout the day. The last half of the period was spent telling stories with Dominic in the back of the room, continuing as he walked me to the last fifty minutes of the day. There was only one class option that had struck me as being possibly beneficial to my hopeful future as a pastry chef of some sort, but it was only a food and nutrition class. I knew right away that it might not help anything but make my attempts at cooking real food more terrible than they already were. I found myself staring at the teacher's outline of the entire semester while gnawing on the inside of my cheek nervously until the final bell went off overhead.

The halls were pure pandemonium once the day was over at last. I thought they had been bad on the last day of school, but I had truly never seen kids so happy to get out of a building. Though I tried to be slow about the trip to my locker, the crowd only seemed to want to carry me at a fast pace. I basically floated down corridors and a staircase that led to the first floor. Stopping was like getting off a train. I had to step to the side once I reached my locker and pray I didn't get stomped on. I already had someone waiting there for me though, and he made sure I wasn't crushed in the discord.

"So what are you doing now?" Dominic inquired as I added a couple of new textbooks to the pile already accumulated on the top shelf. "Do you want to hang out?" he asked before I even had a chance to answer the previous question.

I bit my lip, an involuntary reaction to getting a better offer than what I actually had to do. "It's a salon work day," I told him, receiving a pout in return. Since I had so suddenly quit my job at the department store and done so rather rudely to one of my mom's friends, I of course had to be punished. I had already been an unofficial employee at my mother's salon, though I hadn't done anything there for most of the summer. Now I was being forced to be there nearly everyday, especially after school, and I was only getting paid half of what I had been before. All until October, when she found it fit to release me from the discipline. I had explained this all to Dominic when it began, but he still liked to try to turn me into a rebel by getting me to skip it.

"You should let me give you a ride then. Because you know, we're still in this euphoric honeymoon stage and I think we need to milk it for all it's worth," he insisted, crossing his arms as if to say that there was really no arguing with this logic.

I rolled my eyes sarcastically and gave a mock grunt of annoyance, but the smirk on my lips contradicted it all. "All right. Let's go," I demanded, still using an irritated voice though my hand was clasped in his and we were both laughing. He shut my locker door for me as I draped my messenger bag strap over my shoulder with my purse and we turned to head to the doors. The moment I was facing the other direction, my eyes met the dark brown ones I had spent a lot of time seeing the past three months. There was a distinct look on Alex's face as he stared at me, one I knew I had seen before. But he changed his course and turned his head so rapidly, I didn't have a chance to wonder about it for too long. It wasn't until I was in the passenger seat of Dominic's car, the moment flashing through my mind as we started toward my house, that I remembered the expression. It was the generous and insistent one Alex had used when he had offered me a ride home for the first time.