it unfolds -- larry/reader - sal/reader

nockfell high

I couldn't sleep at all.. though I'm not going to complain about it because it gave me time to calm myself down about the horrid day I'm about to experience, and I got to finish the gameboy game I just bought.

Today is my first day of my senior year, since I moved from New Jersey. Even though it was already the beginning of December.. I would have started sooner but my Aunt thought it was best that I recover from my parents death by my self since she said "the feeling" I gave off was one that needed to heal through peace itself. As I said before, she had some screws loose.

However, she's been gone for almost 2 and a half weeks now and the $9000, and the letter she left behind don't make it seem like she's coming back anytime soon.. And I have nothing else to do around here anymore, especially since I don't have a car to escape. So i've decided to finally register myself as an official student at Nockfell High.

---

I slowly walk past my window, seeing that the sky shows no sign of daylight, though it's accompanied by a lit up window on the fourth floor of the apartments. I don't think anything of it so I look away and move over to my mirror to inspect how bad my eye bags have gotten. Not.. great.. I groan and make my way to my bathroom to attempt to cover it up with concealer.

After about 15 minutes I had finished applying small amounts of make up, still carrying a half-dead look though. I head back to my room and put on a pair of baggy jeans, a thrifted horror movie tee, and an oversized flannel. Along with some fluffy socks, converse, and a couple rings I got from my dad after he passed. Remembering that it's probably freezing outside right about now, I slid on my large black coat and shove hand warmers I found in the kitchen cupboards into my pockets. Lastly, I grab a random book bag from under my bed and grab a notebook or two and my game boy, packing them into my bag.

Though even after looking for some sort of pencil or pen throughout my house during the night I couldn't find a single one. You would think that would be a normal thing to have... though I've never been into writing or art so I wasn't surprised I didn't have any.

---

I patiently waited by the bus stop in front of Addison Apartments, wondering if I were to see the two boys I had seen last week.. It wasn't snowing but it wasn't warm in the slightest so I had already started massaging my heating packs to warm myself up.

I was surprised to find four.. teenage boys walk out of the front door of the apartments. They all seemed to be friends seeing that they were easily talking to each other, they were all pretty short aside from one of them. I didn't realize I was intently staring at them until they were practically next to me. However, the taller one and another boy who seemed to have a... mask.. on walked past me without giving me any notice and started walking to a beat up car on the street curb, turning it on and driving away blasting some sort of metal. The other two boys stayed behind and waited for the bus.

I stayed quiet and smoothly stepped away from them, too nervous to even attempt to converse with them. Especially if they were the boys that were in the tree-house, though I had a sneaking suspicion that they weren't...

---

Finally arriving to Nockfell high, I was one of the last people off of the bus. After adjusting to the slight warmth of the inside, stepping out, accompanied by the creaks of weight being lifted off of the tires, the cold dry air of Nockfell chilled me to the bone. I started to wonder if I should have brought more hand warmers, seeing that the ones i'm using right now are almost lifeless.

"Maybe it'll be warm inside" I murmur, gently rubbing my hands together as I follow the crowd inside.

I make my way to the principals office to get my schedule and locker code, nervously squeezing through different students trying to see the labels above each door in the building looking for my destination. Finally I turn a corner and find the right door, I go up to it and attempt to open it but the knob won't turn.. I freeze for a moment and attempt to turn it again.. still no luck. I look up at the labeled plaque above the door. "Principal's Office" in bold letters.. I exhale deeply, trying to decide whether I should just knock or ask one of the many students bumbling around for help, but my thoughts are cut off by a familiar face..

"Hey, uh, you have to knock.. the staff doesn't really trust any of the students so they keep the doors locked." I look over at him, actually.. I look UP at him.. I think he's one of the guys from the apartments, probably the tall one! I recognize his voice.. kinda douchy, or what I would imagine a typical high school romance stoner character to have.

He has somewhat tan skin, dark brown eyes, and long messy brown hair. He was also wearing a band shirt and a typical large black winter coat, it interestingly suited the color palette his body was presenting, though I couldn't say I knew what band was on his t-shirt.

After observing him for about 10 seconds I realized I was just staring at him, probably freaking him out. "Oh! Oh.. sorry.. thanks I guess.." I try to form a small smile but it probably just came off as a cry for help. I quickly turned away from him and knocked on the door to the principals office. In the corner of my eye I saw he was still standing next to me.. no backpack or anything. I turned to face him a bit and saw that he was looking me up and down.

"You need somethin'? I struggled, but attempted to make eye contact with him, he softly smiled at me and was about to say something but we were cut off by the principal opening the door to his office and welcoming me in. The boy came into the office behind me but after receiving my schedule and locker code he seemed to have dissapeared...

---

After receiving my schedule and putting my backpack into my locker I headed to my first class.. english class. Which has never been my strong suit, but i'm more worried about the possibility of the teacher making me introduce myself to the class.

I walked into the already filled class and stood at the entrance for a few seconds till the teacher noticed me and waved for me to sit in a seat in the back. Once I sat down I exhaled somewhat deeply, glad that the teacher didn't do anything extravagant. However as I started to look at the board and see what we were studying I noticed all of the students around me were whispering.. about me?

I interlace my fingers together, feeling them growingly get more clammy from the attention I was getting and try to observe the room around me to distract myself. There were several vintage looking posters that seemed to be of writers like Shakespeare and such throughout the room, and occasionally I would see a "Best Book of the Year" award hung up. I looked up at the male teacher wondering if he might be an author. Though I'm not good at writing myself I like to read them, they make me feel like I'm actually part of the story I guess, or maybe I just like to imagine that I am...

I stop looking around the room when the teacher starts rummaging through his desk, picking up a small pile of papers and passing them out through the room telling us it's a small quiz about the book they were reading in class. Once he gets to me and puts a paper down on my desk, he stops and kneels down to my height and tells me I don't have to worry about it since I haven't read the book yet. I nodded, thankful that the first thing that I did at this school wasn't failing a quiz.

I look down at the paper that the teacher gave me even though I had no need for it.. maybe he left it to make the other students feel like I wasn't being let off easy. I read over the paper and I'm surprised to see it's on a book I happened to read over the summer. I smiled a little bit and start reading over the questions..

Realizing that I know pretty much all of the answers on this quiz I decide it wouldn't hurt to do it.. maybe I could even impress the teacher. I never really cared about grades because my parents never pressured me into thinking I had to do really good, but I enjoy feeling useful.. I go to start figuring out how to start my sentences but quickly realize I'm lacking a pencil, of course...

I look around for a minute to see if there teacher has a jar of them at the front but don't see anything.. When suddenly a blonde boy in front of me with a few bruises scattered along his body turned to me and whispered in a raspy voice, "Stop moving around. You're being distracting." He peered at me in disgust, but lost his scold-full expression as he realized I didn't have a pencil, he clicked his tongue and reached into a pencil box he had inside of his desk pulling out a short pencil, giving it to me. Confused by whether he was a good guy or not.. I take the pencil and smile awkwardly, not wanting to make any more noise. He seemed to have a boost of confidence after, grinning stupidly and turning back around facing the front of the room, while leaning his shoulders up on his chair occasionally peeking back at me. I ignored him for the rest of class..