Falling

Chapter 30 Back to School Shopping

Since I'll actually be going back to school this year I have to go back to school shopping. It feels weird to buy things for school since I haven't gone in a year.

"Hurry up you all!" My Mom yelled for Katie and Ruben to come downstairs.

Noah isn't going, instead he'll do his own back to school shopping later on this week.

Mom and I patiently waited for Katie and Ruben and once they came down we were out the door.

"We're gonna go to Target, they have a back to school sale going on right now" My Mom said as she pulled out of the driveway.

The car ride was short and quiet and most of the time I just stared out the window and let my mind go blank.

When we got to Target Katie and Ruben both split off from Mom and I to pick up what they needed for school.
"Why don't we look at some binders first" My Mom said as we started walking to the back where all the school supplies was.

"Are you excited?"

"More nervous than excited"

"I'm sure it'll be fine" She said trying to reassure me.

When we got to the binders I was surprised by how many choices there were. From what I remember there would only be a couple of colors and sizes to choose from but now there was a ginormous selection.

"You can choose whichever one you like most just make sure it's at least 2 inches"

"Okay" I said as I started browsing the binders. I opted for a mint green ringed binder.
"I'll get this one"

"Okay let's see what's next on the list" My Mom said and we spent most of our time going through the list and getting the different things I needed.

Everything was going fine until we got to the question of pencils. I didn't think much of it and started looking at the different pencils like I would anything else. I noticed my Mom got quiet behind me and when I turned around she looked like she was deep in thought.

I grabbed some orange number 2 pencils and put them in the cart.

"I'll need a sharpener for those" I said as I started looking at different sharpeners.

"We have one at home"

"But what if my pencil breaks at school?"

"Then you can use the ones at school" She said trying to get me to move on.

It feels bad to know that my Mom doesn't trust me enough to let me get a pencil sharpener for school.

After we got the rest of my stuff we started looking for Ruben and Katie. We found both of them pretty quickly and went to the register to pay and leave.

When we got home and started unpacking the stuff we bought the realization that I'd be going to school in a couple of weeks set in. We were all in the living room putting our stuff into our book bags and talking about random things.

I started biting my fingers trying to calm my nerves down. My mom noticed and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing" I said looking at the floor in front of me.

Both Katie and Ruben looked up at me which just made my nerves spike. I bit down a little harder and my thumb started bleeding.

"Ew" Ruben said looking at me in disgust.

"Ruben!" Katie said in return.

Mom took me to the kitchen and started wrapping a band aid around my finger.

"What's wrong?" She asked sympathetically.

"I told you, nothing's wrong I'm fine" I said avoiding her eyes.

"Is it about school?"

"No" I said as I started biting my index finger.

"Jackie stop" She said as she moved my hands away from my mouth.
"Talk to me please"

I sighed and said, "I'm scared to go back to school. There's nothing you can say to change that"

"Well I wanna let you know that it's okay to be scared about doing something new. I know that once you get used to going to school again, you'll love it just like you did with summer camp"

"Three girls broke my foot while I was there"

"School will be different. You'll meet new people, try new things, and learn to come out of your shell a little more" She said finishing with the bandaid.

"Trust me, it'll be fine" She said ushering me back into the living room to finish organizing and packing my stuff.