Suffocation.

I stared at the foreign person looking back at me in the mirror. I could honestly say that this was not Lennon Abrams. The Lennon I knew wouldn't be wearing this school uniform. She wouldn't be caught dead stepping foot into a school like Saint Joseph's. But here she was, throwing her backpack onto her shoulders and heading out of her room.

Daphne along with Toby and Melanie were already sitting at the counter in the kitchen, munching on pieces of toast, when I entered the room. Daphne was wearing the same thing as me only with different black shoes and her hair is pulled back into a ponytail. Toby was dressed in his school uniform and so was Melanie.

"You look so sophisticated!" Denise said as she came into view.

"Yes, you look like a beautiful young lady," my dad said as he pushed a lock of my red hair behind my ear.

My dad had decided to take the morning off so he took take Toby to his first day at Saint Joseph's sister school; Saint Thomas. Melanie is in fifth grade there while Toby will be starting the sixth. Daphne will be driving her and me to school. I had gotten my schedule a few days earlier and toured the ancient school that was once a Catholic church that was conformed into a Catholic school that eventually dropped their Catholic ways and is now just a prestigious private school for the New England's finest. Even though Daphne is a junior and I am a senior, we have a few classes together; calculus, history of the arts, and most importantly lunch.

I was happy that history of the arts is my first class. I followed Daphne into the classroom with my crutches and the students that were already in the classroom stopped what they were doing and stared at us. I guess I should have been prepared for this, but I wasn't.

"That's Mrs. Mourdoe," Daphne whispered to me, urging me to go speak with her.

I waited until Daphne took her seat to go to the front of the class and introduce myself to the teacher as her new student.

"Um, Mrs. Mourdoe, I'm Lennon Abrams, your new student," I say quietly to the older, thin lady who was seated behind a computer.

She looked up from what she was trying and looked me over. "Yes you're Daphne's sister."

"Step sister, actually, we're not related."

She ignored me. "You can take a seat at the empty table."

I took a seat at the large block wood table where three other people were already seated. Beside me sat a larger guy and across from me sat a girl. I smiled at her and she tossed a long lock of her chestnut hair over her shoulder and rolled her brown eyes.

Mrs. Mourdoe started speaking in front of the class, giving a lecture about the subject matter we were going to be looking at for the rest of the year. We were going to start at the very beginning; just after the Ice Age ended and going into the Stone Age. Eventually we'll end with the popular Pop Art.

My next class is English, specifically British and World literature. Mr. Henry, the teacher introduced me briefly to the class at Daphne's sister even though she wasn't in this class, before shooing me to my seat. Then he went over the class schedule of what we'd be learning for the remainder of this year. I was glad the first part of the year was spent on poetry and that I got to bypass that. Now we'd be focused on some of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. First on the list is Wuthering Heights, and I had already read it my junior year at the high school I attended in Huntsville.

I slid the school's copy of Wuthering Heights into my bag; we were instructed to read the first part tonight, before heading to my next class, which is gym.

I got to the gymnasium a minute after the bell rang. This school had no elevator but many levels of stairs that I had to climb up and down and my leg was threatening to break all over again. When I opened the door, Graham, or Mr. Rhodes stopped talking and everyone turned towards me.

It would have been awkward enough just being late but after New Year's Eve it is almost unbearable. Graham and I haven't seen, much less talked to each other since that kiss. It was just a stupid heat of the moment kiss that took us both by surprise.

"Sorry," I mutter before taking a seat on the bottom bleachers.

"It's okay. I was just in the middle of roll call," Graham said before returning back to the sheet of paper.

Once he was finished Graham began to go over the rules and procedures for what he expects us to do while in gym. He showed us the locker rooms and then the weight room before we returned to the gymnasium to go over our uniforms. Denise had bought my gym uniform along with my school uniform. We were to wear navy blue mesh shorts that went down to just above the knee and a white tee shirt that had the schools logo on the front. We were also to wear white socks and black tennis shoes.

The office had told me that even though I wouldn't be able to participate in the physical part of physical education, I still needed to take it in order to graduate. Instead of playing the sports I had to study how to play them and the rules of the game then take a test and that is how I would get my participation points; and I was still required to change.

Graham asked me to stay behind since I had lunch next, so when the bell rang I stayed seated on the bleachers while everyone around me walked down the steps, across the large room and out of the wooden double doors until it was just Graham and myself.

I give him a small smile which he returns. "How's it going?" he asked.

"It's going good. Weird looks and I'm sure Daphne is getting questioned a lot because all the teachers have introduced me as her sister. The stairs suck and I feel like my leg is going to give out, but I was warned."

Graham nods and leaves us in an awkward silence. I knew that he wanted to talk about the last time we saw each other but neither of us could think of a way to bring it up.

"Look Lennon, we should probably talk. Daphne has something after school so can I give you a ride home?" It was my turn to nod. "Good. I'll see you after school then."

Daphne had a seat waiting for me when I entered the long room that is the cafeteria. She is seated next to A.J. with her head buried in a book while he talks to the rest of the table.

"I went ahead and got you lunch," Daphne said when I approached the table.

I looked down at the grilled chicken salad in front of me with a bottle of water and an orange. "Thanks." I take a seat and prop my crutches against the table.

"You remember Allen?" she asked.

"Yeah, A.J. it's nice to see you again," I smiled.

"You are all anyone is talking about. There are at least a dozen rumors going around. My favorite is that you were in a juvenile detention center and someone stabbed you in your leg causing you to be released early in the custody of your dad, in hopes you straighten up," he laughed, his dark curls bouncing.

I put my face in my hands. All I wanted to do was to blend in but that is proving to be impossible. A.J. introduced me to some of his and Daphne's mutual friends but I wasn't listening enough to catch any of their names.

A.J., Daphne and I have calculus next. I didn't enjoy that class. I hated numbers and letters being put to together and I could tell that Mr. Burns would end up being a prick. I did my best to copy down the notes as fast as I could before he erased them from the blackboard. In the end, I gave up, deciding that if I needed any help Daphne would help me.

I was glad when the bell rang and everyone got up to leave. Daphne had some sort of science class but A.J. and I had U.S. and global economics. I couldn't decide which class would be worse, math or economics. Both had to deal with numbers but economics has a layer of the world's debt piled on top.

"Kill me," I muttered to myself as Miss. Rowland drowned on about a subject I had no interest in. I heard A.J. give a little laugh from the desk beside me.

My second to last class is biology; I figured that it would end up being my favorite. Mrs. Tipper seemed like a nut job but she kept the class entertained with her forgetfulness.

I sat in the back of the class, sharing a table with a girl that had a short, black bob. It almost looked like it was a wig but I could be wrong.

"You're in my gym class," she said as Mrs. Tipper was giving notes.

I wasn't sure if that was a question or statement so I ended up just nodding. "I'm Lennon."

"Oh I know who you are. This whole damn school can't keep your name out of their mouth. You're like a disease."

I look at her in shock; nobody had referred me as a disease before. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, it's this town. Nothing happens at all so when people found out that little miss goodie two shoes has some estranged sister that is on crutches, they let their imagination run wild."

"What has your imagination told you?" I ask curiously.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't like to judge people on what I see. I like to get to know people before making assumptions."

"I was shot," I whisper to her but give her no other details as I continue to take notes.

My last and final period came and by that time I am far too exhausted to even consider speaking any sort of language.

"Qui êtes-vous?" a lady with a pointed nose asked me who I was as she stood in the front of the class.

My French is rusty; I haven't spoken it since before Thanksgiving break. "Uh, je m'appelle Lennon Abrams."

"Ah, oui. S'il vous plaît avoir un siège," she said quickly, showing me with her hand to an empty desk.

"Merci."

I quickly sit down in the back of the class and try my hardest to listen and understand what Madame Miller was saying.

I had mixed emotions when the final class ended. I was glad that I survived the first day of school but I am not looking forward to the ride home that Graham offered me. I didn't want to talk about anything that happened. Why couldn't we just sweep the kiss under the rug and chalk it up to the alcohol?

I sent a quick text message to Daphne saying that Graham told me he would take me home since she had a student council meeting then headed down the main stairs and out of the main double doors to the parking lot.

People crowded the parking lot, some getting into their own cars, others waiting to be picked up and some were waiting in line to get on the yellow school buses.

I noticed that girl I was sitting by in biology. She had taken off her blazer and traded it for a zip up hoodie. She then pushed her black hair away and off her head to show her real hair underneath it. Her real hair is shades of light purple and blue. I now understood why she said that she wasn't going to judge people on what they look like because she looked different herself.

"Hey, you ready?" Graham said from behind me.

I turned around after taking a big gulp of air and nodded. I followed him to the teachers’ parking lot and waited for him to unlock his truck.

We had to wait for the engine to heat up before Graham could back out of the parking space and drive out onto the main road.

We soon arrived at my house. "Can you help me inside? My leg is killing me."

Graham nodded and turned the ignition off and got out. He didn't just help me inside but carried me inside. The pain going throughout my leg must have been visible on my face.

Graham deposited me onto a bar stool in the kitchen. I watched as he retrieved my medication from the counter and got me a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Thanks," I said once he handed them to me.

Graham waited for me to take the white pills before he started speaking. "I'm so sorry for kissing you. It was uncalled for. I lost my head in the heat of the moment and you were just standing there being beautiful, I messed up and it won't happen again."

I bit my lips together to keep myself from laughing. "You thought I was beautiful?"

"You are beautiful. You are very attractive. Why do you think that's funny?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "It's not solely your fault, I kissed you back."

"You did. You're a good kisser, in case you were wondering," Graham laughs lightly.

"Well you're a pretty good kisser yourself, in case you were wondering," I mock.

"Oh I already knew that."

"Way to by cocky," I smile and Graham smiles back.

"I have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow."

Graham rounded the counter to pull me into a hug. As he went to kiss the top of my head, the way he does to Daphne and Frankie, I moved my head and our lips connected again. Absentmindedly, our lips begin to work together and we deepen the kiss by twirling our tongues around each other’s.

Coming to our senses, Graham quickly pulls away. I bite my lip again to suppress a laugh. "Okay, now it won't happen again. I mean it. Bye," he said quickly before heading out the front door.

I let out my laugh and roll my eyes playfully. I knew Graham meant that, that would be the last and final kiss but something in my gut told me that he would be wrong.