Always Near

New School

I close the car door, waving at my dad. My long caramel brown hair nearly gets slammed in the door as I turn. It's my first day at Myra Caetlin High. I look down at my schedule, I have locker A166, right by the entrance. I stuff my backpack in my locker and slam the door. I look around and try to find where I go. First hour I have Language Arts, I walk down the hall and enter the room. Ms. Millary is layng out place cards and I look for Shay. I walk around and finally see my name. I look at the name next to mine. I laugh. The card says 'Shai'. Is this some sort of joke? I thought, but then I realize it probably isn't.

The bell rings and everyone sits, a short-hair caramel brunette girl sits next to me. I avoid eye contact because I don't want to draw attention to myself. I listen to Ms. Millary and I start becoming a zombie. I learn, but I do it automatically, not really paying attention. The bell rings and I stand in sync with everyone else. I walk out of the classroom, homework in hand. I complete it all in my head and realize I could probably zombie-out this entire day. I walk to my locker and realize my locker neighbor is the girl that sits next to me in first hour. I try my best to ignore the fact we are sitting next to each other in my next period also. I sit down at the desk assigned my name, again, her name is next to me.

"Hello everyone. Please, sit and lets begin," Miss. Monte begins to teach the lesson.

I listen to Miss. Monte, repeating all the Spanish words she says, and listening to the lesson. I begin to wonder, Who is this girl? I wonder how many classes we have together. I keep these thoughts to myself however, and finish up Spanish class. The bell rings, and I collect my Spanish homework, finishing it again by the time I get to my locker. The girl, Shai, looks at me, then quickly looks away. Is she as curious as I am? I continue wondering about her until next period.

I walk into History, and sure enough, she sits next to me again. History begins and I just about pass out. History is by far one of my worst subjects. I listen to Mr. Rinese and zombie-out once more. We listen to him, talking about the Civil War. The bell finally rings and I collect the homework, its a single question, 'When did the Civil War end?' Okay, we're in 9th grade, everyone should know the Civil War ended May 13th, 1865. Duh, I thought, writing down May 13th, 1865 in Palmito Ranch, Texas. I turned in the paper, a week early, and go to my locker.

"Hi," I hear a loud voice behind my back. I ignore it, thinking it was a mistake, or it wasn't meant for me. I walk to my locker, and open it up. I grab my fourth hour, Literacy Extensions, binder and head off. I get to the door and step in, finding my name once again, and sitting next to Shai.

"Hi, uh, I meant to talk to you in the hall," She whispers, because the one-minute-warning bell rings.

"Oh, that was you? I'm sorry, I thought someone was talking to someone else, I'm sorry," I reply, in a small, mousy voice.

"It's okay. I'll talk to you in the hall, if that's okay?" She asks, ignoring the final bell.

"Sure," I whisper, small and mousy as normal.

Literacy flies by, I begin to think that I'm not paying attention. I find out, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was listening. Miss. Wurkmon, the teacher, calls on me. I answer correctly, and earn a piece of candy. The rest of the class is a blur, and the bell finally rings. I stand, homework is easy, finishing it before heading out the door. I turn it into the basket, and Miss. Wurkmon looks at me strange, but nods. I remember that Shai wanted to talk to me, so I head out the door without a word.

"Hey, you!" Shai calls when I reach my locker.

"Oh, hi," I answer, opening my locker.

"So, what do you have next hour?" Shai asks.

"Oh, uh, I have Choir," I look at my schedule, making sure I was correct.

"Oh god," She slams her head into her locker, "What about lunch, A or B?"

"I have A," I look at her strangely.

"Okay, 7th?"

"I have Math, Mrs. Oak."

"And 8th?"

"Huethal."

"We have all the same classes. Well, we better warm up to each other," She takes my hand and leads me to choir.

"Well, nice to meet you, I guess," I let her lead me to the Choir room.

We go into class, and grab two chairs, sitting next to each other. Class begins, and we start working on lists of songs to sing. Class flows by, we sing and try to see what songs we should put on our lists. Remarkably, we both love the same songs, and hate the same too. Shai and I quickly realize we were made to be friends. The bell rings, and we turn in our song list. We stack our chairs and make our ways to lunch.