Abandon Me

September 1: Don't make a complete fool of myself on the first day of school ❌

I've always hated the first day of school. Despite being a social outcast, the thing that bothered me the most was attendance. The teachers always called out my name, Rachel Snyder. Then I had to proceed to tell them that I go by Sam, my middle name. It just reminds me of my mom.

"Hey, mommy? Why is my name Samantha?"

"Because it's your middle name."

"Why don't you call me Rachel?"

"Because that's my first name, and it gets confusing."

"Then why did you name me after you?"

"Because now, we'll always have a part of each other."

I hated the name Rachel.

When we arrived at the school, my stomach started hurting like it always did on the first day. I had just turned 17 a few weeks earlier though, so I only had one year left of pure torture.

"Be a good tour guide for the girls, Jay. Sam hasn't been to this school and neither has Josie since she's a freshman. I would show them around, but I have work to do," Tori explained as we went into the school. She was actually a school counselor, so that made scheduling easy.

"I will, don't worry," Jay reassured her as we parted ways. "So, where do you want me to show you before class starts?"

"Why can't we just leave Sam and go look around without her?" Josie asked while she glared daggers in my direction.

She wasn't very fond of me, and the feeling was mutual. Jay seemed to be fine with me at least, even if I got on his nerves. I could tell he was putting effort into getting to know me, which I secretly appreciated. Izzy forgot about me lashing out on her in about an hour, so she was cool with me too. However, I couldn't stand to look at her sometimes.

"That's fine with me," I replied casually. "You don't have to try to be my friend, Jay. I'm not planning on staying at your house for long."

Josie rolled her eyes as Jay gave me a much-needed reality check. "Where else would you go?"

He sounded genuinely concerned, but I took his question as, "Who else would want you?"

And I couldn't find an answer.

The mood quickly shifted. "Just leave me the fuck alone. I'll find my way to class just fine," I muttered under my breath as I stormed away from them.

I looked at my class schedule in frustration, trying to find the gym. Luckily, I found it with ease. Kids were finally trickling into the school, which just made the hallways busy and loud. I was glad that I was going inside the gym so I wouldn't have to walk through the crowds of people. I guess it wasn't much better though, because I could hear the noisy cheerleaders doing their chants.

As I headed to the locker room, I checked my schedule again to see what class I had after gym. Unfortunately, I ran into someone while staring at my paper. "Watch where you're going," I said knowing full well that it was my fault.

The girl handed me the class schedule that I had dropped and just smiled. I had never seen a smile like that before. Actually, I had never seen anyone like that before. She had short, blonde hair in adorable French braids. She was wearing a cheerleader uniform too, and she looked incredible. However, I noticed that her pretty, brown eyes were sparkling. Not for any good reason, because she had been crying.

I must've been staring for a few seconds because she nudged my schedule at me and laughed a little. "It looks like you've just seen a ghost."

I took my schedule back from her and replied without thinking, "More like an angel." I quickly covered my mouth in shock. "No, it was a ghost. Sorry. An ugly ghost, I mean. I definitely saw a ghost..." My words were a bit muffled since my hand was still over my mouth.