Laurie

“Bastard,” Momma muttered under her breath as the car halted abruptly at the three-way intersection just outside of our neighborhood. My face furrowed in confusion on whom she addressed. She could have been addressing Daddy, who did not come home at all last night, or the man driving the luxury sedan ahead of us. I guessed she was deep in thought about Daddy due to the distracted and maniacal driving. I gripped the handle on the door as she turned sharply onto the street my high school was on.

The first day of school caused anxiety in addition to that already in existence due to the current state of my family. Usually, my parents kept their problem hidden from me, but they were both showing their worries in front of me.

Deciding to distract myself from my parents and Momma’s driving as she slammed on the brakes in the carpool lane at the main entrance to the high school, I wondered if I would be able to see Luke at all today. He was a year ahead of me, and I only saw seniors during the lunch period and at whatever after school program I whimsically joined for the year.

Momma sighed and leaned over to give me a hug.

“Have a good day, honey.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks, Momma.”

We both glanced at the car that had pulled up alongside us. It was the same car that Momma had or had not addressed earlier at my near-death experience. I recognized the boy as Jackson, an arrogant popular boy in my grade. He winked at me, but then again he winked at everyone walking by, and walked to the entrance of the building. I glanced at his father, a well-known lawyer in town, and noticed he was staring at Momma. Glancing at Momma, I realized she was glancing curiously back at him. A solid boulder felt like it was rolling around at the pit of my stomach.

I slid out of the car and closed the door with a wave, slinging the messenger bag onto my shoulder.

The hallways were crowded with new and returning students reuniting with old friends and being introduced to new people. I pulled out my semester schedule I received in the mail and began searching for the locker number located on the top. Deep down, I hoped I would finally have my own locker this year as an upperclassman. Counting down the numbers and turning to the next hallway, I stopped when I saw Luke squatted down at an open locker and placing a few notebooks inside.

Smiling anxiously, I began making my way over. As I opened my mouth to call his name, Jackson appeared in front of me with his grossly self-confident smirk on his face.

“Morning, Laurie.”

I rolled my eyes and shifted the messenger bag resting on my shoulder.

“Hi, can I help you with something?” I replied after a pregnant pause. Glancing over his shoulder, I saw Luke standing there looking at both of us. I waved, attempting to move around Jackson. Fortunately, he stepped aside, but not before interrupting with, “I’ll see you later, then,” and he walked off.

“Who was that?” Luke tilted his head, furrowing his eyebrows at Jackson.

“Just some chauvinistic boy. That’s the first sentence he’s ever said to me outside of ‘mind if I have that seat?’ during lunch in fifth grade.”

“I see,” Luke glanced down at the paper in my hand. “Where’s your first class at, again?”

Luke and I had shared our class schedules as soon as we received them in the mail.

“I’m still trying to find my new locker, but I saw you and… yeah.” I grinned.

He leaned against his locker and smiled. “I see,” he turned to collect some notebooks from his locker and turned back to me, his green eyes mesmerizing me as they always did.

Unfortunately, the warning bell rang for us to rush to our classes, and I had barely found my locker. Luke walked with me to my first class before heading off to his own.

“I’ll meet you at your locker before lunch?” I asked, fidgeting with my blue ballet flat.

“Of course, Miss Laurie.” He winked and turned to walk down the hall. I narrowed my eyes as a few girls clustered at the lockers at the end of the hall looked Luke over, giggled, and began commenting on how good this year would be.

“I hoped you would be in one of my classes,” I heard as I slipped into my fifth period class and sat down in a seat near the back.

“Great,” I muttered silently before turning around to face Jackson.

“Maybe you and I can study together for this class. I happen to be awful at," He glanced around the room, "World geography.”

“Jackson is actually admitting to a fault? I’m shocked,” I eyed him out of the corner of my eye, debating switching seats with anyone else in the class.

“Why are you being so nasty to me? What did I do?” He protested, sitting back in his chair.

I turned in my chair to face him again. The smug look on his face faded, and sincerity replaced it. His cocoa-colored eyes locked onto mine, and for a moment, I thought about what Momma must have felt earlier this morning. Once class began, I made a mental note not to think about or talk to Jackson the rest of the day, especially after the conversation I had with a girl after class.

“Stay away from Jackson." A tall girl stopped me in the middle of the hallway.

I gave her a quizzical look, “Excuse me?”

“Jackson,” She scoffed. “He’s not into you, believe me he gives every girl that look.” She rolled her eyes and started walking the opposite direction. “Just warning you!” She called.

Nervously looking around for any other confrontation, I began walking quickly down the hall.