I Hope You Like the Stars I Stole for You

I flopped onto my bed, actually content for once. I had just moved with my parents to a small town in Illinois, to make a fresh start, just in time for my senior year of high school. I had been bullied at my last school, and my parents didn’t want me to go through that during the “best year of my life.” Honestly, I hadn’t objected when they suggested a move. I looked now at my new room, a smile spreading across my face. It was perfect; second story and big, with an adjoining bathroom. The ceiling was slanted on one part, and the room featured a window seat that overlooked the street. The slant of the ceiling lead right up to the window seat, and I had big plans for that area already.

I unpacked the rest of my things, and at the end of the night, my room looked amazing. The window seat was piled high with cushy pillows, and I had added fairy lights around the window. My desk was set up with everything I needed, and my bed had its new comforter on. The theme of my new room was navy blue with gold accents, and I loved how it was turning out. I spent a long time trying to find something to wear for the first day of school, until finally I settled on super skinny jeans and a shirt with three-quarter sleeves. It was simple, but I thought it was cute in a classic sort of way. I didn’t want to look like I’d tried too hard, plus I wanted to see how girls here dressed before I tried anything extravagant. I was so nervous about school, considering how unpleasant my last school had been. All the girls there had hated me for no reason, I mean, I know I’m not pretty, but I didn’t think I was that bad looking… They all bullied me relentlessly, about anything and everything. Sometimes things had gotten physical, and let’s just say I could not hold my own in those types of situations. But, I was trying to put that all behind me know; let’s hope it works out.

I woke up in the morning shaking with all of the emotion inside me- fear, paranoia, nerves, and a touch of excitement. I got ready in a hurry, and rushed downstairs. My father gave me a disapproving look, and I frowned. Sighing, “What dad ? What is that look for ?” “Well, you aren’t even going to dress up for the first day at a new school ? You aren’t even going to put some effort in ?” He shook his head. My mood darkened a little, I never could please either of my parents. I mean, of course I loved them, but I was never good enough for them no matter what. Everything I did was always wrong in their eyes, and it hurt me, it hurt me a lot. I forced a smile and kissed them both, then walked to the bus stop.

I felt like a loser, standing alone on the corner, so I slipped my headphones in to bring me some comfort. Music was my life, it was everything to me. The Asking Alexandria blasting through my earphones calmed me down considerably, and I felt almost confident when the bus pulled up. I stepped on, being extra careful not to trip. It was almost full already, but I found a seat in the middle. Two blonde girls with perfectly straight, long locks sat in front of me. One of the turned around and spoke to me. I pulled out an earphone, “What ?” “Is that you playing that emo shit ? Can you turn it down ?” She wasn’t necessarily rude about it, but it still made my face burn with embarrassment. I simply turned the music off, and gazed out the window. So far, this day wasn’t going that well…

I found my first hour right away, and I even chatted a little with the girl next to me, Ella. My second hour, however, seemed impossible to find. I was speed walking through the hall, desperate to get there on time, when somebody else ran smack into me, as if they hadn’t even seen me. I flew backward, landing hard on my ass. “I’m so sorry !” A melodic voice said, and a hand was held out to me. I looked up, and it was exactly like a high school movie. In front of me stood a very attractive guy, but his appearance differed from what the movie cliché would be. He was taller than me, but almost short for a guy. He was skinny and definitely of Latino descent, with a sexy silver nose ring. His hair was shoulder length and curly, wisping out from under a beanie, and his lips were a pale pink, contrasting with his white smile. I took his hand and stood, mumbling “It’s okay.” I hurried in the opposite direction, leaving him standing there. He called out to me, and I turned around, afraid of what he would say. He pointed, “Uh, you were heading that way….” He chuckled a little, and I blushed crimson, rushing now in that direction.

The rest of the day, that scenario kept playing over again in my mind. I had already made a fool of myself and it was only noon…. I consoled myself by reminding myself that he had been the one to run into me, not the other way around. I probably would have felt worse if I had been the one to knock him down, so I felt a little better now. Ella invited me to sit with her at lunch, and that made me feel good. She sat with three other girls; Sydney, Reid, and Emma. They were all pretty nice to me, and lunch wasn’t too bad. Emma walked me to my fourth hour, since we had that period together. We sat in the back of the room, gossiping about the teacher. I finally felt like I belonged, as I sat there girl-talking with a friend, for once in my life. I glanced around the room, only to see a familiar face- the boy from earlier !

He was sitting in the next row, a few seats ahead of me. I had stopped talking abruptly, so Emma followed me gaze. “Please tell me you don’t like him. Just tell me you don’t think he’s cute, and put that ridiculous notion out of my head right now.” She looked at me, questioning me. “I uh…” I stuttered. “He’s like…emo.” She told me, rolling her eyes. “His brother Mike is cool though, you can like him all you want ! He’s kind of a player though.” She shrugged, and then the teacher entered the room and began talking.

I kept letting my eyes wander to the boy, whose name I learned was Victor. What exactly did Emma mean by ‘emo’ ? Girls like her, no offense, tended to wrongly use that word. Maybe he just liked the same kind of music as me, so people called him a scene kid, like they had done to me so often. Labels in a high school were one of the worst things.

The day finished quickly, and I felt like this school had a lot of promise. I began to walk home, the day sunny and warm. I was about to put my headphones in when the same voice from earlier spoke to me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. He walked up to me- “Uh, hey. You’re new, right ? I think you’re in my history class…well I’m walking the same way as you and I wondered if we could, like, walk together ?” Victor smiled hopefully. “Y-yea, I just moved here. You’re, uh, Victor right ? I’m Pruitt.” “Just Vic,” he said still smiling, extending his hand. I shook his hand and smiled back, probably a very dorky school-girl smile. We awkwardly shuffled next to each other, and to avoid silence, Vic started questioning me on how my first day went. “Besides the fact that some jerk knocked you down,” he said playfully, bumping my hip with his. Was he flirting with me ? He had, after all, made a special effort to try and walk home with me. But who would flirt with me ? He was probably just being friendly.

We chatted comfortably the rest of the way, and he ended up walking me right to my house. “I live just around the corner,” He told me, almost excitedly. I nodded, “Well….thanks for walking me home. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” I gave a little wave, and he gave me a small nod and kept walking.
I went to bed that night with him on my mind.