Reach Me

1

Erin taps her finger against the glass of the car window rapidly in nervousness. Her taps begin to get louder and louder. Soon she begins to tap faster and faster until,

"Erin! God, will you stop that? You're killing me here." Her mom exclaims.

"Sorry Mom." She inhales a gulp of air and blows it out in raspberries. It's just nervousness. She thought.

The car rolled by many many trees and rural plains. Welcome to Montana. She mumbled. Where there is literally noone around. It was definitely a change from Illonois.

"What was that, honey?" Her mom questioned.

"Oh. Nothing."

-

Erin watched as the car rolled up to the building, a not-so-big block of stone with a farely small parking lot and a sign hung up on the entrance to the school that read Welcome to Johnston Kin High School.

She could feel waves crash, tsunamis tumble over towns in her stomach. She grabbed her backpack and opened the door of the car. Erin's mom bid her farewell and Erin somewhat joyfully replied with a thanks. She stepped to the front where fellow teenagers were being dropped off quickly whereas Erin was trying to make everything go slower and she was completely overwhelmed with this process. Many teenagers started huddling in groups like groups of animals kept apart in a science lab.

Erin was so overwhelmed she almost forgot what to do. The Guidance Office. She reminded herself. She started looking around by herself because, how big could the school be? Soon, she managed to find it and pushed open the heavy door leading to an odd old woman stapling papers with spectacles on behind a big desk. She didn't look up until Erin timidly spoke. "Hi. Um. I'm a new student here to receieve my schedule." After a long pause, she nodded her head in understanding and smiled fakely. She stood up slowly and went to a table behind her chair and found a manilla folder filled with an enormous amount of papers.

"Name?" She said and cleared her throat.

"Erin Hudd"

The old woman shifted through the papers and then pulled out one and smiled at it. She leaned forward towards Erin, way too close in fact. The woman smelled of peppermint and dusty book which only made Erin even more sick. She handed her the paper attached to a map of the school with her classes highlighted. The woman explained to her the classes she receives from the sheet she filled out before she attended school. Blah, blah, blah and more boring talk continued about stuff she already was told over the phone her mother called the school.

Just then, a boy came dashing through the doors with a bloody nose. His hair ruffled messily, his shirt jostled carelessly, and his left brow slashed, leaving a deep cut. Obviously, he was beaten up. Blood was smeared across his forehead as well. He stumbled over to the woman assissting me.

"I need the nurse." He mumbled under the tissue held to his face.

"Honey, the nurse is not here today. Can you clean yourself up in the bathroom?" She didn't seem to care that he was proof of a bloodbath. Erin didn't even know what to say. First day, and your first warning is not of the strict teachers, but of the menacing bullies that you haven't met yet. She stood before this boy and felt sorry. She didn't know if it was because she actually felt sorry or if she was only sorry for herself and placing it into the form of sorry for the boy.

"I'm bleeding. I don't know what to do." He mumbled more. The office lady only studied him with her brow raised, obviously unamused. Erin thought that the office lady ought to have more care for the boy and she didn't even ask him what had happened.

"Do you want to go home?" The office lady asked wanting to get rid of the boy as soon as possible. It seemed she asked the question as more of a challenge.

"No." He had given up. He turned around, sighed, and left the cold insensitive office.

-

The first class of the day consisted of breifly being told to sit in the only empty seat, which is the sad lonely desk in the back. (She didn't mind. Isolation only felt comfortable) No one told her what to do, so she helplessly followed along to the confusing lesson which was only review for her other classmates.

2nd period, biology, we studied pictures of cells and what was classified as what and all that nonsense.

3rd period came around and while introducing herself, as instructed by the teacher, she noticed the boy she so downheartedly watched basically bleed to death in the office sitting in a desk at the back of the classroom. "Ah. Erin," Mrs. Harris stated. "Go sit next to..." She trailed off. "Matt" She smiled. "We're glad to have you." She gestured towards the boy Erin had seen in the office. Matt. The teacher had said. In the back, the desk Mrs. Harris was referring to was an old wooden chair that shared a desk with Matt's. After trailing to the back, Erin sat into the horribly uncomfortable chair.

At first, the awkwardness was obvious and at the same time unbearable. Erin sat uncomfortably close to Matt, their knees were touching. At contact, Erin moved her knees sideways to Matt so they wouldn't touch. Erin wanted nothing more than to have no physical contact. She didn't know why she felt so uncomfortable and awkward.

"I'm Matt." He said. As soon as Erin's eyes met his, he looked at the table and avoided eye contact. He nervously scratched the back of his head and behind his ear. "I'm Erin." She smiled slightly. Erin appreciated the kind gesture. "New? So late in the year?" He asked. It was apparent he was debating wether to actually ask the question. "Mhmm." She mumbled. Matt didn't do well in front of people, let alone girls. Not only was he appalled by her outstandingly interesting ginger hair, but he was interested in her life and what went on in her brain, at one time he was also a newbie at this school.

Mrs. Harris kept on teaching her calculus lesson and it didn't matter if Erin didn't understand it because Mrs. Harris would copy the notes written by another student.

"Calculus? You're pretty smart then aren't you?" He questioned. He drew circles in his desk with his fingertip to pass the time and supported his head with his fist and elbow on the table.

"I guess." She answered timidly.

"Well then I guess you're gonna be doing my homework for me?" He joked. Matt saw that she was scared and anxious about her first impression on people. He just wanted her to be herself.

Erin gave a big smile. "In your dreams." She chuckled. Matt chuckled too.

-

Lunch came after 3rd period and Erin was lucky enough to sit a table with two other people that were friends and 1. didn't have the nerve to talk to her and 2. occupied some of the table so that she didn't look too much like a loner.

Erin bought the school lunch, which, today, was a hamburger and fries. She sat and ate silently and couldn't shake the feeling of insecurity and awkwardness. Everyone around was happliy spending time with friends and chatting about their lives, wheras Erin felt left behind and misplaced.

Soon, she felt a body plop into the seat next to her at the table. "Lunch line was way too long. So glad I found you." It was Matt. He had the same lunch food with him and had sat down next to Erin.

When Erin didn't answer because she felt the need to hold back her feelings and not be too loud Matt greeted her once again, "Hi."

"Hi." She said quietly. "I'm glad you found me too." She smiled at him. Her prominent cheek bones made Matt smile too.

"So. New girl," He started. "Where are you from?" He took a bite of his hamburger and chewed, this time with his mouth closed, he didn't want to scare off the new girl.

"Ilinois." She answered. "Much bigger than here. Especially, population wise." She chewed her fries.

"Yeah. Montana's not the.." He paused to think. "The most popular place." He finished, once again taking a bite of his lunch food. Then and there, Erin felt warm, welcomed, and, in a way, loved. Loved in a way that a friend would care for a friend, let her have the rest of his fries, or give her a ride home and made sure she was safe. That kind of love.