To Whom It May Concern

To whom it may concern,

Today was the first day of school. I woke up this morning not excited in the least. Turns out I wasn’t able to meet Brand’s younger brother, so I was going into this alone. Wasn’t looking forward to that.

The middle school and high school are right next to each other, so my dad drove Brock and I. I’m not so sure I want that to continue everyday. Not because of my dad, but because of Brock. I was demoted to the back seat, which isn’t fair at all because I’m older, and the whole time he has his window open which was making the wind mess up my hair. And he couldn’t help himself when I was dropped off first, and he just had to embarrass me.

“Try not to fall on your ass if you see a guy you like!” he yelled out the car as my dad was driving away. I turned, my face twisted in horror, and saw my dad smack the back of his head. Thanks, Dad. And it was during this time that some people were around and I noticed a few of them snickering and glancing at me. Juuust great.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of me going into the office and getting my schedule and all that stuff. Nothing really important happened. My classes are pretty basic: English, Math, Chem, Gym (some days), American History…that sort of stuff. I also had some electives and I was put into a class called Gothic Literature, and I had no idea what that even meant. Turns out, I think it’s going to be one of my favorite classes. There are no tests, just papers we have to write from assignments our teacher will give us about the books we are going to read. I’m kind of excited to read Flowers in the Attic and Carrie the most.

It was during this class that I actually had a conversation with someone. Since it was the first day and we didn’t have the books yet, our teacher let us talk amongst ourselves. My seat is next to the window, so I continued to stare outside because I didn’t have anyone to talk to. Everyone broke off into their groups, so what was I supposed to do?

“You’re new, right?” came a voice to my left.

I turned and stared at the girl seated next to me. I saw her when she sat down before class started, but I didn’t get a good look at her until now. Her hair, which was black and green, looked a gorgeous mess and it instantly made me jealous because it was obvious she didn’t brush her hair and it looked great. She sported a hoop ring on the left side of her nose, and her eyeliner was perfect.

I finally found my voice, “Uh, yeah. I’m Tallulah.”

She laughed. “Yeah, you definitely turned some heads when Ms. J called out your name, Tallulah Wren.” Why do these people feel the need to call me by my full name?

“I sort of get that a lot,” I told her.

She smiled. “I bet you do. I’m Shay,” she introduced herself.

“You have a pretty unique name yourself, Shailene,” I told her, remembering she raised her hand to that name being called.

She grinned at my statement. “Ok, how about we not call each other by our real names? Nicknames only.”

“Sounds good to me,” I shrugged my shoulders.

We spent the remainder of class getting to know each other, and when the bell rang she invited me to sit with her at lunch. I quickly took up on her offer for the obvious reason of me not having to sit by myself, but also because I liked Shay. She was different. I could sense that she was the rebellious type, which is the total opposite side of the spectrum from me. Opposites attract I guess.

I ran to my locker quickly so I could grab my lunch, and then hurriedly went to the cafeteria to find Shay. Luckily she was leaning against a wall right outside waiting for me. She told me to follow her through the sea of kids settling in the room. I have to admit it was kind of overwhelming seeing everyone and only knowing one person. Imagine if I didn’t? And trying to stay behind her was difficult because I felt like I was going to lose her in the crowd. I’m barely an average height, but Shay is even shorter.

Shay led me to the back corner of the cafeteria where a few other students were sitting at a table. She motioned for me to sit on the opposite side of her, as she then sat next to a boy with brown, slightly wavy hair that went a little past his shoulders. He looked up from his book as we sat down, and behind his glasses were green eyes.

He was obviously confused as to why a girl he didn’t know was sitting across from him, so he then looked to Shay. “This is my new friend Tilly,” she answered his unasked question. “She just moved here from Connecticut.”

“Walker,” he introduced himself and even stuck his hand out for me to shake, which I accepted.

“Me and Walker have been friends since elementary school,” Shay told me.

At this point Walker was back to reading his book again and answered without looking up. “She hasn’t left me alone since I met her.” He then glanced up at me. “So be prepared. She never leaves.”

Shay hit him on the shoulder with the back of her hand. “Shut up. It’s not like you talk to anyone else as much.” She then reached over his book and grabbed a French fry from his tray of food. He huffed and continued to read while shaking his head. I couldn’t help but to chuckle. They reminded me of an old married couple, which made me think if there was anything going on between them.

Shay then announced that she was going to buy lunch, so that left me with just Walker. Not knowing what to say, I took my lunch out of the bag it was packed in. Mom made me a turkey sandwich. I quietly started to eat, taking small bites and looking down.

Walker then slammed his book shut with more force than he wanted to, granted from the look on his face. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I can’t really concentrate with all this noise. Plus I felt like I was being rude.” He then smiled and I noticed he had a mouth full of braces.

“How long have you had those?” I nodded towards him, trying to make conversation.

“Four years,” he rolled his eyes. “My teeth were pretty messed up. Even had a big gap in the middle of my two front teeth. Shay would always make fun of me,” he grumbled, which made me laugh. He grinned and continued, “I was elated when I finally got them on. But when high school started I realized that I look like a stereotypical nerd complete with glasses.” He tapped them. “Not really a good look.”

“When do you get them off?” I asked.

He perked up. “This year actually.”

“Yeah,” Shay sat back down with a bag of cookies and a bottle of water. I guess she heard what we were talking about. “He can’t wait to finally grow into his looks and be like his brother.” I raised an eyebrow as she fanned herself. “His older brother is to die for.”

Walker snorted. “This is all very interesting coming from someone who doesn’t even like guys.”

My eyes slightly widened at his statement. Well, I guess nothing is going on between Shay and Walker.

“True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes,” Shay retorted. “Right?” she looked at me.

I nodded in agreement. “Right.”

Lunch was like that for the rest of the time; Walker and Shay going back and forth, and me sitting there trying not to laugh. School continued on for the day and Shay was also in another class of mine, as was Walker. They asked me if I wanted to ride home with them, but I had to decline because I knew my dad was going to pick me up.

It made me happy that they asked to continue hanging out with them. I started with knowing zero people this morning, and now I know two.

Let’s hope we become friends,
Tallulah Wren