Zoophobia - A "Safe" Haven: Book 1: JUNE - SEPTEMBER

Chapter Four: Back to School

First days of school are always very stressful. For starters, you have to get used to that damn alarm waking you up at 5:00 in the morning every day for 180 days—179 technically. Second, you have to get used to meeting new people or seeing how others have changed. Despite meeting some of my classmates at the party in July, who's to say that some of them haven't changed. When I woke up—at my house of course—things felt sort of different, not in a bad way, but in some sort of way that made me feel like I probably shouldn't go to school although I had no choice.

When your parent works for the school, you're pretty much expected to show up to school on time, with your homework completed, and to show up at all! Standard rules: everyone knows them. As I stood up, I brought a hand to my head, feeling shaky. My breath was a little shaky, too, and I had to brace my hands on my bookshelf to keep myself from falling over. My house was close enough to the school that I could walk there, and I was old enough to the point where I could walk by myself. As I reached the door, I had a sudden nauseous feeling. I ran to the bathroom and gripped the edge of the sink. My movements were so quick, that I knocked over a bar of soap which hit the ground with a loud clatter.

"Is everything alright?" My mom asked.

"Yes," I said, choking back a gag.

I had never felt like this before. This was humiliating. First week of school, and I was already going to miss it because I had the stomach flu or some other kind of virus. The feeling of nausea slowly began to dissolve. I turned away from the sink and pressed my back against the sink and slid down. I brought a hand to my heart as I felt it beating harshly. My breathing began slowing, but I waited a few seconds after to make sure that I was officially okay. I finally stood up and looked in the mirror.

"Maybe my period is coming," I reassured myself.

I briskly headed into my room where I scanned the calendar and tapped on the date: August 2. Weird. There wasn't a dot there which was pretty unusual because I was an organized and well-known planner, alway keeping everything in check and neat. I flipped back a page and noticed that the red dot had been placed on July 20. My heart started pounding. But then I slowed for a second. I had had late days before. I simply uncapped a red pen, drew a circle on tomorrow—assuming that I'd made a mistake—and carried on with the rest of the day.

Despite the late-period scare, the walk to school was very peaceful. That's what happens when you live in the woods. I knew them like the back of my hand it seemed. I'd go for daily walks especially in the fall when the leaves floated to the ground. As I entered the school, Addison met me up inside.

I sighed, "We're officially seniors, Addi. Isn't this great?"

"It's fine," He said. "Though I will miss it here."

"We could become TA's once this is over, don't you think?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Cel. Not everything goes as planned."

Addi was a little on the pessimistic side, but he made up for it with his artistic skills and introvertness. I filled in for that with dance and my extrovertness. As I entered the senior classroom, Addi's eyes fell upon the students. I remembered that he didn't go to the party, so he hadn't seen how they changed.

The top four most popular people in the school were: Rusty, Thorax, Kayla, and Zillion.

"Nice to see how everyone's grown up, huh?" I said, nudging him a little.

"Holy cow..." Addi said.

"What?" I asked.

"Thorax...when did that happen?"

I turned to look at him. Thorax had light beige skin, bright yellow eyes, and thick and gorgeous red, black, and white hair which he loved showing off. He complimented this look with mascara and eyeshadow.