Dreams - Dwayne Hoover

Chapter I

August 24, 2007

The family was getting used to their new life in Albuquerque. Mr.Fullman's job was going well, Mrs.Fullman was becoming friends with the neighborhood moms, and Juliet was almost completely unpacked. She hadn't made an effort to meet new people like her mother had. She preferred to stay at home and read, draw, or listen to music. And she was nervous to meet new people and not at all excited to start at her new school. She had known everyone at her old school since elementary and though she was not considered popular the familiarity was enough to not fear talking to people.
It was the last day of summer vacation for Juliet. She had gone shopping for new clothes and notebooks the week before and was on the verge of a panic attack since. She had gone over everything that could go wrong and was convinced it would. Since she was joining the school in her junior year, everyone in her grade would already know each other and understand how the school dynamic was. She just wanted to make a good impression and maybe make some friends.

August 25, 2007

Juliet's mouth felt dry as she walked into Highland High School, the main lobby was a big open room, and above it was the landing for the main staircase with a red welcome banner hung from the railing. A sign was hung on the main office window
"New students please meet in the office"
Juliet walked to the office door and entered, carpet crunched under her feet as she walked to a secretary's desk. The woman looked up at her
"New student?" she asked
Juliet nodded
"Name?" she picked up a pile of files
"Um, Juliet Fullman"
"Here's your schedule"
Juliet took the schedule "Thanks"
The secretary turns her attention from Juliet to her computer screen. Juliet turns around and almost bumps into a tall brown haired girl
"Oh my god I'm so sorry" Juliet exclaims
The brown-haired girl smiles "It's alright. Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Juliet Fullman would you?"
A confused look crosses Juliet's face
"Uh yeah, I am."
"My name is Corrine Bright, I've been assigned to help you out on your first few days and make sure you do get lost" She ended her sentence with a giggle
Juliet's face softens
"Oh cool" she smiles
"So I've studied your schedule already and we have the first period together!"
Juliet looked down at her schedule, US History II: Drake, Timothy. She looked up at Corrine, she was definitely a popular girl. Her hair was down and a blue headband sat atop her head. She wore a white tee shirt with the Abercrombie & Fitch logo on it and a gold necklace with "Corrine" written in cursive hanging from her neck.

They made small talk as they walked to their first-period class. When they entered the room a lanky man was standing at the front of the room writing on the whiteboard. The desks were set up in three rows of 6 by 2. They sat down toward the back of the room as more people filed in. Almost all the seats were filled when the bell rang.
"Okay! Welcome everyone" Mr. Drake called out from the front of the room
"I'll start roll call. If you're here say here"
As Mr. Drake called out names Corrine gave a fun fact about them
"Abigale Connors"
"She got a boob job last year"
"Liam Goodman"
"Got a girl pregnant in 8th grade"
"Rachel Fink"
"Got pregnant in 8th grade"
In the middle of Mr. Drake's speaking a tall black-haired boy rushed into the room and quickly sat down in the only open seat.
"Oh, that's..."
"Dwayne Hoover" Mr. Drake called out
"Here," Dwayne said
Everyone turned to look at him, some seemed surprised
Juliet turned to Corrine "Why are they all looking at him?"
"We haven't heard him speak since last year"
Juliet looked at Dwayne, his black hair was sticking to his forehead as he had run there
"Why?"
"I don't know I don't associate with those types of people"
"What types of people?"
"You know, the emos and goths" Corrine rolled her eyes
Juliet looked at him again 'he isn't dressed goth or emo' she thought. 'And what makes someone not want to speak?'
Dwayne turned around and met her eyes, she quickly turned her gaze to the board which was being written on by the teacher. She looked again quickly and he was still staring at her. Her stomach flipped and she quickly changed to gaze at the board. Pink crept across her face as she wrote history on the cover of her notebook.

***

At lunch, Juliet looked around aimlessly at the sea of tables. Corrine waved her down and beckoned her to sit at a table near the front of the cafeteria. Juliet sat down across from Corrine.
"This Juliet. She's new here" Corrine said to her friends.
"Hi," they called out in the same tone.
These were not the type of people Juliet was used to socializing with. She was a theatre kid, and theater kids were not considered popular at her old school, and the girls she was sitting with were definitely popular. From across the cafeteria, Juliet spotted Dwayne sitting alone reading a book.
Corrine turned to see what Juliet was looking at "Oh yeah! Dwane Hoover spoke today" Corrine said in a tone that rubbed Juliet the wrong way.
"Such a weirdo," a redhead to the right of Juliet said.
Juliet became slightly disgusted with the group of girls she was sitting with. 'Why are they making fun of some guy?' she thought to herself
"So where did you move here from?" a blond girl asked Juliet, interrupting her thoughts
"Um, Boston," Juliet said
"Why'd you move here?" another girl asked
"My dad got a new job"
"Do you like it here?" Corrine asked
"Sure, yeah, it's great"
Corrine smiled and began talking to her other friends about someone Juliet didn't know. She looked at Dwayne again, he was already looking at her, and when they made eye contact he quickly looked down at his book. Her heart skipped a beat and she smiled to herself.

***

Juliet's last-period class was anatomy, the classroom was set up with lab tables, three on the left and three on the right.
"Whatever number is on this slip of paper is the lab table you will be sitting at, " the short teacher said as she handed out small slips of paper from a hat to the students who entered her classroom.
Juliet found her seat and sat down, a girl sat across from her and Juliet smiled at her. Another girl sat down diagonally to Juliet leaving the seat next to Juliet open. She bent down and grabbed a notebook from her bag, when she wasn't looking someone sat on the stool next to her. When she came back up she turned to look at the person who had sat down. She was shocked to see Dwayne sitting next to her. Her stomach filled with butterflies and she whipped her head around so she wasn't staring at him.
"Okay, students it seems everyone is here. These will be your seats for the year, so I want everyone to introduce themselves to their table mates." the teacher said
Juliet looked around at her tablemates, but no one said anything.
"Uh, hi. I'm Juliet" She looked at everyone again
Dwayne looked around at everyone and still no one else said anything.
He took a deep breath "I'm Dwayne."
The two other girls looked at Dwayne a little dumbfounded and then introduced themselves.

All through class Juliet watched Dwayne from the corner of her eye and hyped herself up. She knew she needed to make a move to be his friend, it was a gut feeling she had. She planned it out in her head, she would ask him for his phone number or myspace with the excuse of being lab partners. She just had to get the nerve to do it. The final bell rang and as Dwayne got up to leave she stopped him.
"Hey, I don't know if this is kinda weird but I was wondering if you had like a Myspace or something?" she said quickly
Dwayne looked at her confused by the word vomit that had spewed from her mouth
"Cause we should be able to communicate about school. Cause we have, like, three classes together so we might want to share answers or I might need help." she awkwardly laughed at the end of the sentence.
Dwayne smiled slightly "Uh yeah I'll write it down" he ripped a page from his notebook and wrote his MySpace handle and phone number on the paper. He folded it and handed it to Juliet who was nervously fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
She took it and put it in her pocket "Thanks, I'll add you" she smiled
Dwayne nodded and put his notebook in his bag. She watched him for a second and then turned to walk out of the room.
"Hey," Dwayne said
Juliet turned around
"I like the pins on your bag," he said putting his backpack over his shoulder
She smiled "Thanks"