better for her - nate jacobs

junior year

Natalie's POV:

August 16

I wake up to my alarm on my phone going off. I groans and turn off my alarm. I sit up as my hair is a mess covering my face.

"It's the first day of junior year... wow..." I says to myself.

I wipe my face with my warm hands. I get up from my bed and walk over to the bathroom. I put on a pink headband and wash my face as well as brushing my  teeth. I start doing her makeup which consisted of thick eyeliner and loads of blush. My signature look was a heart on top of my beauty mark on my left cheek bone. I go to my messy closet and pick out a white top, a thick black zip up sweater, and a dark plaid skirt. I sit on the edge of the bed and put on thigh high socks and converses. I put on her black backpack.

I head downstairs and spots my brother Mario who is passed out on the couch.

I walk over to him.
"Mario, wake up" I shake him lightly.
Mario groans and slightly opens his eyes.
"I'm up..." I can smell his breath that reeked of vodka and marijuana.
"I'm surprised you came home... I never know where you are. Anyways go back to sleep. It's my first day of junior year. I really don't want to deal with this right now. I'll see you later. I love you."
"I love you too..." Mario mutters as he falls back asleep

I walks into the kitchen to grab a granola bar and a Gatorade but I shove them into my backpack. I never really cared about having a full on breakfast meal. I  walk over to a drawer where we keep my medications and other medicine products. I grab the bottle of Tylenol and places two pills on a napkin to cure Mario's hangover that I knew he would wake up to. I grab a cup of water and takes my medication for my mental illnesses.

I look at the time and sees that I'm late for school, doesn't phase me though. I'm always running late or late for school.

I walk over to the door and look over at Mario.
"Bye."
I leave the house and gets into my car.

I arrive to school and parked next to a pick up truck. I put on my headphones and blasts music before I  get out of the car. As I'm walking to the school doors, I pull out my schedule which I had English as my first class.

My first part of my routine was stopping by the attendance office where the office ladies already had my late pass ready. I walk into the office and pick up the slip. I then walk into English class. As I'm late already, everyone's attention is on me. I look over at the teacher Mrs.Smith and I knew she was pissed off by me coming late. Mrs.Smith hates when students come late.

"I will see you after class" Mrs.Smith says while crossing her arms and pausing the overview of the syllabus.

I sighs.
"God damn..." I whispered.
I walk all the way to the back of the classroom where I sit down to the only empty desk left. I take one headphone out and take out my journal where I always wrote on the daily.

I start to zone out during the lecture but I could feel someone staring at me from a few seats away. I chose to ignore it since eye contact made my anxiety kick in.

I started writing in my journal.

first day of junior year:

I came in late to class on the first day which isn't a surprise. I can feel that Mrs.Smith will give a detention. I don't care. But someone is staring at me. Do I even want to know who? Nope.

Class ends and everyone leaves the room while I stay in my damn seat.

Passing period is about 10 mins. So this better be quick.

Mrs.Smith walks over to me and sighs.

"Natalie-" Mrs.Smith tries to talk but I cut her off.
"I know what you are going to say, detention at 3:30?"
"Yes but I also wanted to talk about you making some friends."
"Why? It really doesn't bother me if I don't have friends."
But I was lying to myself. I always wanted to know what friends were like and I didn't want to be lonely anymore.
"It's junior year and you should be enjoying it before graduation comes and adulthood comes."
"Okay... I'll try..."
I just want the conversation to end.
"I know you just want the conversation to end so I figured I would have someone introduce themselves to you." As Mrs.Smith says that, a light knock is at the door and a girl with brown hair walks in.

she's so pretty.

"Natalie, this is Lexi Howard. Lexi, this is Natalie Garcia." Mrs.Smith smiles

I waved at Lexi
"Hi it's nice to meet you Natalie!"
"Same here Lexi."
Mrs.Smith butts in
"Lexi is very smart, she's a good student and I think she would be a good influence on you."
"Well passing period is going to be over soon so I will give you my number Natalie so we can talk more."
"Okay... sounds good" I don't know why but I feel so weird. I smile without even noticing until my cheeks hurt. I hand my phone over to Lexi and she is smiling. This is so weird...
"All set!" Lexi hands my phone back and I get up to go to my next class. Lexi follows behind but walks the other direction.