If You Ever Wanna Fall In Love

2. A SMILE

[Song: THE CLIMB by Miley Cyrus]

I have butterflies in my stomach and  I am so nervous that I might throw up any second now.

How long it's going to take? I'm always nervous before starting something new but I know eventually everything will be fine. Will I be fine? Millions of questions like these were flooding my mind.

The drive to school for about ten minutes but to me, it seemed like ages. I saw houses, buildings, a park, and many trees as Aunt Jenna drove. Everything was running backwards in slow motion.

'We are here!' Aunt Jenna squeals as she drives through the big stone gate, written "Gracetown High" above.

'This place is so beautiful, Aunt Jenna!' I added as I looked outside the car window.

This place looks even more beautiful than it sounded when Aunt Jenna tried to explain its beauty. We drove through into a long stone road both sides of which have beautiful gardens. The buildings are old and elegant. A large grassless area in front of the school serves as the playing field as well as holds school-wide assemblies and other meetings.

Aunt Jenna parked in the parking and walked me toward the main building. There were students sprawled on the grass, chatting. I could see the inside of the building through the large glass door. Classrooms line the straight, sparsely furnished halls. Hundreds of students talking and laughing in the hallway.

I gave Aunt Jenna a firm hug and pushed the glass door and walked inside. As I started walking toward the admin's office, I noticed all-around students in small groups hanging out and occasionally turning to see the new face. The halls are decorated with bulletin board displays, banners, photographs, trophy cases, historical exhibits, and examples of student work. Similarly, the classrooms were covered with displays of students' work.

I stopped outside the office and peeked in to see an old woman, maybe in her mid-fifties in a yellow jacket. The office was small with a little waiting area with padded chairs, a glass cabinet displaying trophies of different sizes, two cupboards neatly stuffed with files and records, and a big clock opposite the women's desk. She looked at me putting her glasses on.

'How can I help you?'

'Iylah Jones.' I informed her.

'Come inside.'

Don't panic, Iylah. I smiled as I stepped inside taking a deep breath which seemed to calm my nerves.

'I was expecting you today. Your aunt told me you'll join us today. Here is your schedule and this is your tour guide.' She continued as she dug through a pile of documents at the front desk till she found the one she was looking for.

'Hudson here is giving the tour. Hudson, don't mess up this time.' she tells me and points her left hand toward a  girl sitting on one of the padded chairs with some other students. She handed me my schedule and sprinted out.

She's beautiful. She wore a perfectly ironed shirt and pleated skirt. The girl walks toward me with a grin.

'Hey! I'm Claire Hudson. I left the last person in the auditorium last time and told him to stay there until I'm back and I never came back it was dark there and he happened to be nyctophobic,' She says in a breath still grinning.

'Iylah Jones and I am not nyctophobic,' I said giving her a friendly smile.

'Good and I won't mess up this time and just asking, why are you joining mid-term?' She asks me with an adorable smile.

'Well, my family's a mess right now. Parents are getting divorced so I moved in with my aunt,' I answer her question without thinking about it.

Claire went through my classes highlighting the best route while giving me a grand tour and turns out that we have a lot in common including the first half of our day with Chemistry, literature, and Spanish. The rest of the morning Claire and I talked about ourselves in and in between our classes. She is the Mayor's daughter and her family is friends with Aunt Jenna. Claire has a boyfriend, Liam Dixon.

Within a few hours, we became very close friends. It's like we were meant to be friends. We had developed a whole new understanding of each other. It's nice to have a friend like Claire around. Claire's presence is so warm and welcoming. She is so amazing and her smile can indeed light up everything.

I walked with her to the cafeteria and sat with three of her friends- Jessica, Andrew, and Lydia from literature to whom she introduced me. They were all alike, at least in the way they talk. I was clueless about half of the things they were saying. Like who is seeing who? Who had a feud with who? I glanced around the cafeteria and started to recognize several of the faces from my morning class. Here and there always came someone who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about where I am from. And others who would gawk at me like I was some alien. The cafeteria wasn't crowded because half of the school was on the field for two reasons- First, players for football practice, and second, the player-watchers. I got invited to the meteor shower sighting party tonight which is a thing here near Grace Falls and guess what? I am going to a party!

I had botany after that which I had to bare without Claire, Lydia, and Jessica. They parted from me and went on to cheer practice.

I walked to the lab with Andrew. The lab wasn't small as I had imagined. It was clean and had cupboards full of specimens in glass jars. I followed Andrew, the only Asian this semester inside, and went up to a handsome teacher in his early thirties, Mr. Bannet who was sitting at his desk. He looked at me and I introduced myself to him. He gave me a warm smile of recognition. I looked around and saw Andrew already sitting with his partner at a white marble-topped table. Everyone had a partner except for me. How lonely. I went and sat on the empty stool expecting someone would come and claim the empty stool beside me, but nobody came. As I was about to lose hope I saw a boy almost enter the lab. He glanced at me once and swifted away quickly before entering the threshold. He was fast. I wouldn't have remembered his pretty face if it wasn't appealing. I opened my book slowly and had my head down the whole time cringing about something wrong with my appearance which made my possible lab partner run away.

Next was trigonometry. I hated every second of it. The balding, Mr. Gray was the only teacher who made me introduce myself in front of the whole class. It was embarrassing as I occasionally stammered and wasn't very loud for Mr Gray to hear my surname.

I walked home tired to see a note from Aunt Jenna.

*I'll be running late tonight. Don't miss your dinner. Call or text me if you need anything. Love you!*

I took a quick shower and changed into my pyjamas.

Informing Aunt Jenna about today's party is important or else she'd be worried sick. She would be with her patients right now so, a text message would do.

I quickly grabbed my phone from my bag and texted her.

*A friend invited me to the meteor shower sighting party tonight near Grace Falls, I'll be going there. Don't worry I won't be late.*

After about thirty minutes she replies.

*Someone had fun today BTW  is the friend he? Never mind, be safe honey, and enjoy.*

I started laughing and replied to her instantly.

*It's Claire Hudson and she's gonna pick me up at 7 don't worry I'll be safe.*

I changed out of my pyjamas into a pair of jeans and a black button-up sleeveless shirt. Put some mascara and blush on my face and started analyzing myself yet again. Suddenly the doorbell rang. It must be Claire, right on time.

I grabbed my phone and ran downstairs to open the door for her.

'Iylah!'

Claire sequels squeezing me into a hug.

'You're  gonna break my backbone.'

We sat in her car and within a few minutes, she pulls the car into a grassland, parking it with other cars.

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