In Between

Chapter 1

She walked down the hall, her head phones tucked deep into her ears. Those around her bustled and the laugh of teenagers, clouded with the ever present stench of hormones, filled the walkway.

It was the day before her eighteenth birthday, the allotted day of her freedom she had been dreaming of for years, and felt the need to celebrate by using her 5 GB of cellular data on rock anthems. 

Unfortunately, high school was inescapable. And neither was the tirelessly horny couple that used lock 254 as a support for their vertical mambo. These people were the vanity of her existance, mainly due to her inconsistent dress and overly introverted personality. 

Indulged in her thoughts, she almost passed right by the door that led to Corridor 8 Room 120. She slowly turned on her heals, keeping her head down and pushed through its doors. She was created by a shove to the shoulder and her belongings fell to the ground.

The girl looked at her with pure resentment and glared, making her make-up coated face crinkle. "Watch where the hell you're going." The assailant left her to pick herself back up, whispering under her breath, "Freak."

Cressida sighed and knelt down to pick up her strewn papers and ripped binders. A set of caramel hands helped her gather a few papers. She looked up and found Marie to be helping her.

"Bethany can be a bitch, huh?" Marie was always nice to Cressida. She was. Ice to everyone it seemed. It almost seemed like a mask but she still appreciated it. "She just can't handle that you have the most beautiful voice in the whole school."

Marie must have been lying. Everything about Marie was beautiful. Her blonde highlighted hair, dark chocolate eyes and the most perfect complextion anybody had ever seen. Her voice was completely heavenly no matter what she did with it. Much better than her own.

"Thanks, but I'm not that good." A soft pink grew in her cheeks as she talked about herself. It made her uncomfortable when she was complimented. She took out an ear bud, feeling rude that she was partially blocking Marie out. At the same time, all she wished was to be alone. It was awful having no one to talk to but sometimes it seemed so much easier to follow her own currents. That's how it always was; an internal war with herself. Like the devil and angel arguing on someone's shoulders in cartoons.

"You are stubborn, girly. But maybe that's a good thing," Marie said as she handed Cressida the rest of her belongings and got up from the floor, offering a hand. "You won't let anything corrupt you. Or change anything about you."

"I guess." Cressida took the offered hand and was lifted onto her feet.

"Jeez," Marie said as she massaged her hand, "you have an iron grip. How much do you work out?"

She looked at her totally puzzled. "I don't."

"Im kidding girly." Cressida stared at the ground avoiding direct eye contact. The tiles on the floor were unordinarily dusty. She never had been the one for small talk. Somehow, some way her mind always drifted to different thoughts. Most being completely audacious and she eventually learned it was best to smile and nod.

Somebody cleared a deep throat behind her, interrupting their conversation. "Are you ladies going to join the class or just gossip about each others good qualities?" Mr. Gustad stood with hands on his hips and tapped his foot.

"Sorry, sir." Marie said and proceeded to take her place on the risers. Cressida hung her head and followed. She wished she could punch his unshaven face and make his eyes swell shut. Setting her bag down, she brought her attention to her teacher.

He went to the front of the room and looked down onto a music stand. Mr. Gustad was the plump type. His beer belly hung off his stomach making his sweater vests go through a lot of stretching. He wasn't tall either, maybe 5' 6". It was crazy how much ego he could fit into one body. Even when his bald head was gloriously shinny, he wasn't the prettiest person she had ever seen.