Feelings at Bay

Chapter 1

It was the first day of her brand new life. The long drive to Hope Valley was finally over and Amy Goodman had gotten a great night's sleep, refreshed and ready to begin attending school there. As she got out of bed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

A scrawny, brown haired fifteen year old stared back at her. Her eyes were brown, crusty ones that wanted to close, but she forced them to stay open. After brushing her teeth, getting dressed, and almost missing the bus, she let out a sigh as she claimed a seat in the back.

The bus made several other stops before getting back on its course. Two girls got on board. They were giggling to each other as they took their seats; they had matching outfits as well as bracelets. Amy tried to ignore them, but they were too loud.

"So, did you hear about John and Emily?"

"Of course I did; they're having relationship issues again?"

"Nothing new there. It's too bad they won't just make up their minds."

"Are they even officially together?"

"Well, not really. She more or less just claimed him as hers."

"That's kinda funny."

"Most guys envy him, you know."

Argh. Of all things she had to listen to, it was this. She tried drifting off to sleep, but it didn't work.

"In other news," the older girl began, "Matthew's going to be busy this morning and we'll have to catch him later."

"Is it about the Festival?"

"Yeah, he's helping with the security detail, whatever that means."

The girls continued to talk until the bus came to a screeching halt. Before she knew it, Amy was standing in front of the gate that separates the school from the rest of the world. Once it opened, she followed the mass of students flooding inside.

The morning was filled with learning the school's scheduled classes and where she was supposed to be at a given time. After homeroom, she was approached by the two girls from earlier. She had been sitting alone when they came over to her.

"You're the new girl, aren't you?"

The younger and shorter one had initiated the conversation, energetically.

"You'll have to forgive Julianna here; she's unfortunately like this all the time. Anyway, the name's Jordan."

After their rough introduction, the girls sat next to her. She could only watch as they did so. Turns out they were all going to be in the same class; they had noticed her, then they decided to befriend her.

A voice on the loud speaker presented the morning announcements. Afterwards, they awaited their next assignments, when suddenly the door flew open; a boy stepped inside, tired and out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late... we got a flat tire... and-"

"Slow down, kid; breathe." Jordan interrupted before he collapsed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Better?"

"Okay. So I had to run two miles just to get here before lunchtime. Not fun. By the way, who is this?"

He was about to motion towards Amy, but froze halfway through it. She was able to speak up.

"Hi, my name's Amy and I just started attending here."

This wasn't that Matthew guy she overheard the girls talking about. It made her wonder just how close they were to everyone. This boy's cheeks were tomato red, of course, that was probably because he had just run to school.