Crescent🌙

4

Today would be the perfect day to walk to school, all alone, enjoying the fresh autumnal morning scent. Wet leaves from the showers of rain from the previous night, yet now, with no clouds, the sun cast its rays onto the droplets. Glistening frost on the green grass, muddy soil sticking the front of shoes. Cold but just perfect, nipping the ends of noses, body warm underneath the thick layers.

My eyes were fixated on the red trees that would pass, and with the gentle wind, these leaves would fall softly to the ground, joining the rest of its family. Calm, I was, although I felt a little trapped in the front seat of the car, getting a lift all the way to school was mildly annoying. I often treasured walks by myself.

The radio was playing softly, a melodic tune on the guitar. My head rocked slightly to the music, my hands were kept safely in my pockets, and finding any warmth to cure the numbness of my fingers. With the heating in the car being on minimum to reduce battery, little goosebumps formed on my arms, the little hairs standing up as if it would help at all.

Though, the coolness of the morning was refreshing, and my large hoodie would soon trap enough body heat to keep me warm. 

"You seem calmer today, school treating you well?" My mother questioned, her smile turning inquisitively.

"Yeah, it's fine." 

"Any friends?" She asked.

"Not yet."

The car was silent now, with the radio being turned off and my mother ending our small talk. She steered the car gently; her eyes were scanning the road carefully. On windy days driving can be hard, the winds become arrogant sometimes. Maybe it's mad at humanity for filling the air with pollution. Either way, my mother was a very careful driver and slowed the car when the winds became wild and fervent. The leaves were now bundled up in the air and twisted and twirled like it became its own little tornado.

I wanted friends, I really did. Though I was insecure of my own personality, which arguably is worse than being feared of one's own appearance. I made enemies easily, in the past I found myself being in arguments one too many times. My mother describes me as being water in a boiling teapot; I need to let off steam, otherwise I'll explode.

The car was parked outside the school building. My stomach was a rope forming one too many knots for me to be able to swallow. It was this dreaded place again, one that I got through alone. I never knew how much I hated change until I saw this place. 

Inside was the heat was stifling and the energy was chaotic. The people were either predators or prey and, stuck in a crowded corridor, this did not go well. Unfortunately, I was prey. And as I was searching for my locker I was pushed backwards and forwards like the tide. My brain was becoming scrambled.

"I didn't do the English homework." 

It was that guy again, the annoying one.  And he was watching me, arms crossed as he was by my locker, he had an arrogant smile. He looked to me whilst I was haphazardly shoving items inside and messily arranging things around, then he looked to my eyes. Pleading, he was, and I knowingly expected what he was going to say next.

"Can I copy yours?" He, so innocently, asked.

"You have a problem with copying, don't you?"  

"You're so uptight, need to relax." His obnoxious tone deafening me.

"Do your own work, you might learn something."

He scoffed at me. Really. He scoffed at me. As if I was the one to fix all the problems of a guy who's name I didn't even know. Now, I may not be quick to judge someone's character, but this guy was a conceited, self- important asshole with humour as dry as my mother's pussy.