The new face at school

There was always something about her that made my mind go blank, maybe it was her eyes, her smile, or maybe it was her voice. All I know is when I'm around her, my mind is just empty.

It all started in the 12th grade, I'm you topical emo girl, long black hair, dark circles under my eyes, combat boots and black lipstick. It just so happens that this day in particular was starting off to an ..... unusual start.I wake up at a crisp 6:27a.m, going about my daily routine of showering, brushing my teeth then getting dressed when I realize one of my combat boots are missing from my bathroom. "Mom, have you seen my other boot?" "I think I saw it next to the lawn mower in the garage honey." "Ok thank you." I run down to my garage and low and behold my boot is sitting perfectly upright right next to the mower. As I slip it onto my foot I look down at my phone realizing two things. The first being the battery percentage: 12%. "Fuck me, again. Another charger bits the dust." It was at that very second that my eyes glanced the time: 7:24a.m. "Fuck, fuck, Fuck. I can't be late on the first day, those assholes will never let this go." I ran back to my room and got my bag opening it up for a quick look at what was inside checking things off as I walk out my front door. "charger, check. pencil, check. replacement charger, check. By mom love you. sketchbook, check. alright time for this five minute walk and eight hours of hell." I look to my left as I get to the end of my driveway, seeing a line of cars spanning from one end of the road to the blinking light to my right. "Suckers, woke up early for nothing, still gonna be late as always. hehe." I chuckle to myself as I walk, listening to the world around me seeing how I can't plug my ears and listen to my death metal without killing my battery, but today seemed different. out of all the times I've had to walk this five minute journey, I kept a mental note of every car that I would see, well not the car itself but the licence plate. It was a game my brother and I played when we were younger, and since he's no longer here, I liked to keep the game going, but on this particular day, I noticed a new licence plate. As I passed this car, a few things jumped out at me, the first being the car itself. It was an older car, '87 maybe '88 charger, almost as black as the hair on my head, the sound of the engine eclipsed all of the morning noise. The second was the driver, average white guy, button up shirt, and a fedora sitting snug on top of his head. Through the tinted window it almost looked green in color. But the third thing, the third thing I noticed in that short five seconds it took me to pass that beauty of a car was the passenger. There was a girl sitting there, her face had a bored and tired expression on it, but it was her eyes that drew my attention. Her eyes were the brightest blue anyone could imagine, and even though I only saw them for a millisecond, i knew those eyes would forever be in my mind. It was only as I stepped foot on school grounds that I felt it. I cursed myself for letting my wild imagination run wild about that beauty of a car and the even more beautiful girl that resided in it. "sigh. More stained underwear, I'm so glad all my pants are black." I say under my breath so I don't draw attention. It was the bell that brought me back to reality, only to realize I walked all the way to my first period homeroom without even paying attention. As I walk into the class, everyone's conversations stop, like I was some kind of secret police and i glance at the teachers desk, "nowhere to be found as always Mr. H" I think to myself. "Your seats in the back fag, where you belong." one of the students says. "Hey, thanks, glad I was on your mind when you first woke up this morning, it means a lot." with that remark everything returned back to the way it was when I walked in. As I walked to my "designated seat", I set my bag down, plug my charger into the conveniently placed outlet under my seat and plug my headphones into my ears to drown out the noise of my "fellow classmates." When I see my battery charging I go to my playlist of music, picking out of the 9 playlists I have, I go with a more relaxing playlist consisting of DMX, Eminem, D12, tu Pac and snoop dog. I place my head onto my arms and begin losing myself to the opening beats of Eminem's lose yourself.

I was halfway through the song before I felt that uneasy shift in the classroom. A room once filled with laughter and joy had become still and silent. I shift my head so my right eye comes just above my arm so I can see what's stopped the class. As I look up, I see my homeroom teacher Mr. H, and one of our principals Mr. Jackson, both standing In front of the class. The class seemed to be paying extra attention to what they were saying so I decided to exit my little bubble and take out my ear-bud so I could hear what they were saying. ".....and that's why your class will be getting a new face. Remember, this girl isn't from around here, so if she has any questions, answer her with the utmost respect. Do I make myself clear students." "Yes Mr. Jackson" the class said in almost unison. "I couldn't hear you miss levy, seeing how your awake now." "Yea, I got you Mr. J" I say not moving my head so my words come out muffled. "Good. Now that we are all in understanding, our guest today is the head of killjoy studios, Mr. Barr, and with him he has brought his daughter, Catriona Barr. You both can come in now." Mr. Jackson opens the door letting the two people in, and only when the girl walks in do I realize what I just heard. "Holy Fuck, the daughter of the CEO of the biggest game studio ever is now one of my classmates, if I can get her to at least be my friend, I could get an opportunity to work there. Fuck but that'll require talking to her." I think to myself. As I slowly lift my head from my desk, not taking my ear buds out but turning off the music, I notice the girls eyes. "Those eyes, they're so blue. I've seen them before. Wait she was the girl riding in my dream car." As I stare at her eyes, the slightest movement of her eye catches me off guard, but now instead of getting lost in the blue oceans of her eyes, I was being ran threw by the blackness at the center. I stare back at her, wondering if she was in fact looking at me. I felt like she was looking right into my soul, and my soul was being taken by her, but just as quick as we made eye contact, I broke it. I placed my head back onto my desk, letting my mind run through those brief moments of what I though to be eye contact with one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen. "Fuck me beautiful you are gorgeous. Please god, if you're out there please let this girl be gay, or at least become my friend so I can look into those eyes every day." It was at the end of my internal dialogue that I heard one of the few sentences I dreaded when coming to school. "Ms. Levy, please come up to the front." My brain was ripping itself apart after I heard those words, but what was I going to do, tell my school principal to go Fuck himself, I wish that's what happened. But it didn't happen, I slowly got up from my chair and walked to the front of the room. The short 15 steps it took me to reach the front felt like a mile with each step. when I reached the front I let my left ear bud hang off my ear as I approached the principal. "Firstly Ms. Levy, what have I told you about head phones around school?" "If I want to wear them I have to have permission from a teacher or faculty member." I say this line like a broken record. "Do you happen to have said permission for them to be out as of right now?" "Yes in fact I do. Mr. H said as long as my work is finished and I'm not disrupting the class I can use them, and this has been our agreement since eighth grade." Mr. Jackson looks to his left to Mr. H, who in returns nods his head in agreement to what I said. Without turning his head back towards me, Mr. Jackson began to speak again. "secondly, this is Mr. Barr and his daughter Catriona, you will be given a free pass for the next week so you can show your new classmate around campus and help your fellow student get..... acquainted with the grounds. if you want to decline, speak now." "Soooo, what your saying is for the next week I don't have to go to my classes?" "That is correct, you will be going to her classes. Think of this as a an act of good will to the new girl in town." "Yea, ok. I'll show her around for a week. let me see your classes." While we stood in front of the class, she handed me her schedule and I skimmed it over. "So do you want me to start the tour now or do we have to wait for you to finish?" "Grab your things and take a walk." Mr. H says, leaning back against his desk. With that sentence I walk back to my desk, grab my bag and charger, and I walked out the class door with my new shadow in tow.

The walk was mostly silence, except when we reached the classes on her schedule: homeroom, art, math, science, French, English, digital design. As we pass each class, the new girl takes a quick peek in the window door and we continue our walk in relative silence. That is until she started up a conversation between walking from her English to digital design class. "So why were you in the back all by yourself. Not a lot of friends in your homeroom?" This question hurt me a little, but I gave an honest response, "Not a lot of friends period, I'm not what you call popular around here." We keep walking, but I purposefully take the longer hallways to keep this conversation going. "Oh, if you're not popular with the people here, then what are you exactly?" I didn't need to turn around to know she was looking at me, I could feel her eyes on me, they were cold, but I give a little chuckle, "Just your average introverted emo fag in attendance, but watch out, if the rumors are correct ill try and turn you so stay away or whatever." I let my joking tone fall off a bit so she would get the picture, that its not all sunshine and rainbows for the bottom of the barrel at this school. what she said next brought a small smile to my face, but she said it in such a hushed tone I almost didn't catch it. "I hope those rumors of yours have truth in them." I didn't even notice we had already passed her language arts class, oh well. As we walk through the empty halls, at this point I could feel her eyes exploring my back half, and I could feel a particular heat rising in my stomach, but the harder I tried to push the thoughts of taking her to the nearest bathroom or janitor closet, the hotter I became. "Ok well its almost lunch, so lets head to the cafe for some good food." and with what seemed like perfect timing the bell for lunch rang and the halls filled with bodies. In a complete move of desperation, I grabbed her hand and pulled her along to the cafeteria. "Her hand is so soft, she has to use lotion or something, questions for later." Once we managed to squeeze our way through the crowding people, we were graced with the smell of hot dogs and desperation. The cafeteria was already filled passed max and the lines were still full. I knelt next to the girl I still haven't let hand free and whisper in her ear, "its like this till the bell, wanna just go outside and chill there till we can eat." She nods her head in approval. We turn around, still holding her hand I take her to the football field, where surprisingly no one is to be found. "odd, this place is usually as full as the cafe. Looks like we have the place to ourselves. wanna sit at the top or at the bottom of the bleachers." "lets go to the top." As we walk up the bleachers, I hear a small chuckle from behind me that caught my curiosity. "What's so funny?" "So are you ever going to give me my hand back?" She ask this question in a joking manner, but I can't help the redness creeping over my face at mention of me still holding her hand, but in the spur of the moment, the only thing I could get to come out of my mouth was a chocked up, "your hands are soft." This response made her lose it with laughter, but even though she appeared to be losing it, she never let go of my hand.

When we reached the top, I led her over to the announcers box. "This thing is never locked and we don't have a team anymore so people just come up here to smoke and bang before, during, and after school. Its also a good place to chill when the sun is out like it is." As I opened the door to the box, I was hit with the smell of stale cigarette smoke and beer. We walk in to a relatively empty and clean room. Two wrestling mats are propped up against the wall, two chairs are in the middle of the small room, one chair having the back completely torn off. As we walk inside, Cat closes the door and takes a seat on the full chair, I sit down on the floor across from her, pulling out my phone, seeing it at 50%. I think to myself "better than 12% I guess." but before I can go on thinking anymore about nonsense, I'm brought out of my thought by words I never thought would be said. "So which is it." "Come again?" I say, completely lost to what Cat was trying to get at. "are we here to smoke, or are you going to show me a few of those rumors you mentioned earlier?" I would be a lier if I said I wasn't as red as a tomatoes but my body was as hot as a chili pepper. "Are you joking about the second one?" "No, I'm not." I looked her up and down, her body even while she was sitting down was flawless, and I couldn't see any indication that she was lying, but to be sure I just gave her one test. "if you're serious, take your pants off and sit on my lap." I say this with a smirk clearly visible on my face, not thinking she would follow through and chicken out like the rest of the girls I've taken up here. In truth I was the only one who ever came here, my little home away from home, but my home just got a lot hotter after what happened next.