My Name is Driftwood

Emilia walked into the classroom looking awkwardly around. Middle school was supposed to be hard, she knew that. But, her parents had to make it even harder by moving to Nebraska. Until that moment, she had been a California girl, born and bred. But, now, things had changed. Many of the kids stared at her with curious eyes while some of the girls gave her dirty looks. She began to feel ugly in her jeans and black sweater. Knowing her skin was glaringly tan and her hair too naturally sun-kissed, she felt out of place. Tugging at a lock of her light brown hair, she approached the teacher.

"Hi, you must be Emilia Brown," she said warmly.

Emilia immediately like her. She was small with short blonde hair and a wide smile. She smelled like tea roses. Nodding shyly, Emilia looked up to meet her eyes.

"There's an empty desk over there. You'll have to go to the library to check out your books. Tim!"

A skinny boy with dark hair and blue eyes looked up from his desk, closing a notebook he had been writing in.

"Yeah?"

"What?"

"I mean yes, Mrs. MacArthur?" he corrected himself.

"This is Emilia, would you take her down to the library to get her books?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"I mean, yes, maam."

Emilia smiled slightly and walked over to him.

"Come on."

She followed him like a lost puppy dog as they walked out the door. He walked briskly and she trailed behind.

"You can walk with me," he said sarcastically.

"Sorry," she whispered and fell into stride next to him.

"So, Emilia, where are you from?"

"Santa Monica."

"What?"

"Santa Monica, California," she said a little louder.

"Oh god, why did you come here?"

"Long story, parents moved and I'm only 12. What can you do?"

"Well, one day I'll get out of here. You can come with me," he said with a smirk.

She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"That's quite a promise to make when you don’t even know me."

"Oh, I know you. You're going to be another one of those people who don't fit in, just like me. Here's the library. I'll wait for you outside."

Giving him a strange look, Emilia walked into the library. When she came back, he was gone and she made her way back to class. Tim wasn't there either. He had just vanished like a ghost. This was the first time Emilia and Tim met. No matter how, she could never shake what he said to her.