Hollin walked up the stairs of Richmond high, ready to get her last year of high school over with. She hated school but more importantly the walking souls within it. She hated how she had to pretend that she was okay, so she didn't stand out. She didn't like standing out, she was like a shade of blue that could blend in with a few shades of grey. She never wanted to be the outcast. She walked into the door and went straight to the second lobby, waiting for the bell to ring. Sitting there, she searched through her medium sized knitted bag then decided what she was looking for wasn't in there. She sat there desperately, trying not to fall asleep. She didn't have many friends, the ones she did have, weren't there. She looked around and noticed this guy who looked to be about seventeen, staring. She shook it off and looked away. He made his way towards her and she sat there dreading that she decided to come early.
"Hey, I noticed you sitting here by yourself- mind if I join you?" His voice was calming with a slight tendency of humor and understanding.
"I like being alone." With that she got up and left.
The boy stood there in shock, millions of questions going through his mind. Why did she leave like that? Should I go after her? What's her problem anyway? There were more questions but he decided to just push them away.
Hollin decided to go into the main lobby, figuring her friends might be showing up there shortly. She honestly just wanted to leave. Just a few more hours of sleep could've helped too, she thought to herself. Why did that guy talk to her like she was just so easy to take advantage of? She probably shouldn't of been so rude but in the past, being hurt so many times, she just didn't want it to happen again. No, that won’t happen again. She saw her friend's figure pass through the door. It was her best friend Fallen. They've known each other since elementary school and were practically sisters.
Hollin ran up to her and they hugged then started to slowly start a conversation. It basically was about how they didn't want to be there and how boring it looked already. Hollin then, decided to bring up the guy. Fallen gave her a look as if to mean 'are you serious'?
"Why didn't you talk to him?"
"I just didn't want to. Who cares if I didn't anyway? I don't even know the guy and plus he could be a serious stalker." Hollin joked.
"Yeah, I'm sure" Fallen shot back with sarcasm and an eye roll.
The bell rang and the two girls went their separate ways. Hollin went to room 167 and sat in the desk in the back of the class room, a corner seat, as usual. She waited there with five other students for about a minute until ten more decided to come in. The teacher then shut the door and began to talk about what was expected of them, same thing every year.
Hollin's stomach tied into a knot after noticing what was happening next. A boy walking into the class, apologizing for being late and when she saw his face she noticed it was the boy from this morning. Oh great, she thought to herself.
"Take a seat, and don't let it happen again" The teacher was strict but it was easy to tell he just had an early morning. He shouldn't be like this all year, definitely not. This would be a good year, it had to be. It just had to be, Hollin thought.
The boy spotted Hollin almost instantly and made his way to the seat next to her. She put her head down, letting her bright red hair scatter all over her desk. Why me?
The bell rang very shortly after; it was the first day so nothing usually ever happened. They just had talked about the rules and what they'd be doing after everyone got situated and comfortable and then Mr. Harmon, the teacher, began talking about life lessons. Hollin already knew she'd like chemistry, well for the most part.
Everyone began to walk out of the class room and the boy pulled Hollin by her arm, "Hey, I'm sorry for earlier- I didn't mean to..." He trailed off, obviously knowing he did nothing. "I'm sorry”, he finally decided to say.
Hollin giggled at him, smiling, and walked away. She couldn't get hurt again. She left the boy smiling too because he felt her laugh was just so beautiful and she was too. He had to know her, he just had to. "Wait" he bellowed from across the hall. The girl did the opposite of what he said and just turned the corner to her next class. Not knowing what else to do, the boy went her way.
He saw her going into her next class and frowned knowing that he had English next while she just walked into calculus. It'll have to wait till later and he ran off to his next class.
Hollin found a place to sit and a few minutes later the teacher began blabbing about things she could care less about, instead- she thought about the boy. She had to admit he was very attractive. He had black longish hair, blue eyes, and red cheeks. His clothes even shared a similar style as hers. He wore converse with black pants and a striped blue and greys shirt. How could she not find herself thinking of him? She pushed the thought out of her head, she couldn't be thinking of him. She had to just get over with high school and then live her life painting, something she wanted to do, and something she loved.
Hours went by and it was the end of the day, she started for her locker to gather her things. Her friend Emma came up to her and hugged her. They had caught up on the latest news of the people they didn't like, typical girl things. After they said goodbye, Emma made her way to the main exit. Swinging over her black bag she closed her locker and started to make her way towards the door as well. She caught someone looking at her as if she were something gross stuck on the bottom of their shoe; she shot a disturbed glare and kept walking. Out of nowhere she heard a voice.
"Hey, can we talk?"
It was from a distance and she observed that it sounded faint. She looked around and finally noticed the boy who has been trying to talk to her all day. She sighed and then decided to just get it over with. She turned to him and spoke plainly, as if she had no mood at all. "What do you want?" The boy noted that her voice sounded bored. "I just wondered if you wanted to..." She cut him off and answered quickly, "No" and with that she walked away. This time, the boy didn't seem to go after her, though he wanted to. Even then, Hollin knew, she wanted to talk to him. She did, but she also couldn't risk getting hurt again, not after what happened in sophomore year. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, they were far too disturbing to think about. With that, she found a tear escaping her eye.
