The bus arrived promptly in front of the blue-tinted house at 6:50am. The doors swish open, and quickly let out a big gust of air. Riviera Hernandez, an eighth grader at Waterville Junior High School climbs up onto the bus, clarinet in hand, and sits in her assigned seat, seat 19. Right across from her is Maria Nawfel, another eighth grader, and one of her close friends. She is one of the nicest people Riviera knew, and always had a smile on her face. Her kind words can make your day, and her happiness is contagious.
"Good morning!" Maria said eagerly, which was surprising since it was seven in the morning. "Morning Maria!" Riviera wasn't a big morning person, to say the least, but she tried her best to match her friends' enthusiasm. She then opens her bag, takes out her airpods, and starts playing some music. She watches the trees going by through the window, thinking about if she had homework in any of her classes.
Finally, the bus halted to a stop, right in front of Waterville Junior High School. Everyone on the bus collected their things, and they were off. Riviera walked down the steps of the bus and smelled the fresh air of Waterville, Maine. She looked up at square shaped building and reminisced about her first day of school in sixth grade. She was all dressed up, and excited to finally go to school with the big kids. Now, she was counting down the days till high school. 25 to be exact. She wasn't exactly excited, but she was prepared for the homework, drama, and bad school lunch that the high school will bring. The one thing she WAS excited for, was the drama program. Her sister who was a sophomore in high school, played in the pit, so Riviera always got a free ticket to all of the high school productions. Charlottes Webb, Cinderella, Grease, Mamma Mia, every musical better than the next. The lights, stage, costumes, music, and everything else is exactly what Riviera thrives for. The tin can of a "stage" at her own school wasn't exactly cutting it. She suddenly snapped back to reality when a crowd of kids started shoving to get into the one open door of the front of the school. Riviera walked down the busy hallway, and into the gym. The bleachers are all ready to go for the day, with each row fitting one grade. Sixth grade on the far left, seventh in the middle, and eighth at the end. Riviera's friend group always sits in the same spot every day, the front row. Since she and Maria are usually on the first bus, they are greeted with the silent gym and awkward walks to the empty bleachers. As the two girls continue their small talk from the bus ride over, more kids start to slowly fill the rows of empty bleachers. Finally, more of their friend group arrives. First, arrive Josie and Gwen. The two girls are attached at the hip, and usually seen everywhere together. They both walk in, talking to each other about inside jokes or interesting stories from home. They both look up and say hi to the two other girls. The next to arrive are Belles and Izzy. They are both named Isabella in SOME form, but don't like getting mixed up. They aren't exactly friends which each other, but can easily strike up a conversation with anyone, including each other. Belles sits down and opens a book, but Izzy starts talking. She usually always has some sort of fun or interesting story to tell us about her very busy life.
"YOU GUYS ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS." She says very enthusiastically.
"What's up?" Riviera asks.
"OKAY SO BASICALLY I WAS AT MY GRANDPARENT'S HOUSE, AND MY FRIENDS AND I SUMMONED A GHOST WITH A OUIJI BOARD." She announced, jumping up and down in the process.
"For some reason, that does not surprise me," Riviera replies.
Following Izzy are Tessa, Carson, and Owen. Tessa and Carson were best friends since grade school, and have never failed to make anyone laugh. Tessa and Carson are the people to go to when you have a problem, and they will help you in the best way they can. And Owen? Well, he's complicated, but he's there. He walks in next to Tessa with his under-armor bag and crewneck sweaters. His hair always covers his eyes, which makes Riviera wonder how he can even see. The next one to arrive is Penelope, one of Riviera's closest friends. She always quickly sneaks into the gym and hides in the big clump of our friend group. She is definitely an introvert, to say the least, and tries to go unnoticed, but her unique style and floofy hair make her very easy to spot. The friend group is complete for the most part, except for Bitsy and Javon, who are yet to show up on time. The big group of friends around Riviera makes her feel happy, yet sad. She feels disappointed that it will all change in a couple of weeks, but lucky to be so lucky to have each and every one of them. Suddenly, the happiness is interrupted by a voice yelling,
"RIVER, I HAVE SOMETHING I'D LIKE TO DISCUSS WITH YOU."
She stands up and looks around to see a blonde boy standing on top of the bleachers, computer open in one hand, waving his hands around. Riviera rolls her eyes at how extra he is, but can't help but smile at his messy hair and outfit, which consists of a collared shirt, a tie, a sweatshirt, and corduroys.
"Yes Joshua, I'm coming." She answers back, and slowly walks to the eager boy.
"Two people haven't done their section from LAST WEEK, and I didn't get to release it! Can you talk to them please?" Joshua says, as he mentions "The Chronicle", a school newspaper created by him and Riviera.
"Why don't you talk to them?" Riviera says as she raises her eyebrow at him.
"Well, I mean I could... but isn't it technically your job now? I mean you are technically a manager or whatever you call it." A couple of days before, Riviera and Joshua had gotten into an argument about their positions with The Chronicle. She believed she wasn't reaching her full potential with just one job, and he didn't want to give anything up. Eventually, they compromised, and Riviera got to do more. She respects Joshua as a person AND a co-worker, but sometimes she doesn't think Joshua respects her at all, so she tries to be more strict with him.
"Fine, I'll talk to them. But you owe me one." Riviera says as she turns back to her seat on the bleachers.
"Thanks, River, I appreciate it!" He replies, then walks away. Suddenly, the bell rings overhead. People shuffle to grab their backpacks, for the day has officially started. Riviera grabs her bag, says her goodbyes to her friends, and heads to the double doors that open to the classroom wings. Here we go again. Another day of school, just like any other day. Because what could go wrong?
