“So, do you want me to drive you to school tomorrow? Or do you want to ride the bus?” Allie asked me over dinner.
“If you want, Tailee, I can walk with you on the way to the college.” Amber said, finally looking up from her phone, where she had been texting since we had sat down for dinner.
“Uhm, I guess I'll take the bus. What time does it come?”
“At 6:10. Are you sure, though? You'll have to get up early. And the bus ride is an hour.”
“I'm sure. I rode the bus to school in England.”
After dinner, I layed an outfit over my chair to wear tomorrow. It was a v-neck Michaela and I made a few months ago. It was purple and said 'The cool kids just showed up'. We cut out templates for the letters and spray painted the purple on. I also layed out a plain pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and my black, studded TOMS. Allie had bought me another pair, out of the blue; why? I'm not really sure. So I took the pair Mom had bought me and studded them on the sides; 4 going up, and 4 going down. The shirt and jeans I had snuck into my suitcase after Mom packed it. I knew that if she saw I was bringing them, she'd make me leave them in my closet.
The Next Morning
Beep. Beep. Beep. My alarm clock went off at 5:00 am, just like I had set it, though I was now regretting setting it for so early. I got up, washed my face, then dressed. I took a quick look in the fridge to see what Allie had for breakfast, but after deciding there was nothing good, I went back to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I sat, reading, until the bus pulled up.
“Tailee Ophelia?” The bus driver asked as I got on, glancing down at a clipboard to check the names.
“Yes, ma'am.”
“You'll sit in seat 15.” I nodded and walked over. I glanced at the number and an index card was placed next to it. I was glad when I realized my name was the only one on the card.
An hour later, we pulled into the school. I waited until everyone was off, then got off myself. Allie had told me to go to the office, instead of the cafeteria, so I entered the office.
“Can I help you?” the secretary asked.
“Uhm, yes. I was told to come up here and ask for a.. Drake Lexington.”
“Oh, are you Tailee Ophelia?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Just take a seat over there and Drake will be here in a minute.”
I sat down and waited until a tall, thin boy with dark brown skater hair, dark purple skinny jeans, and Pierce The Veil t-shirt walked in. Let me just say, Pierce The Veil is my favorite band. He looked around a minute, and when he saw me he walked up.
“Are you Tailee?” he asked. I was surprised by his memorization skills. I still had to glance down at a piece of paper to remember his name, even though I had had it to memorize for about 2 weeks now.
“Yeah. You're Drake?”
“That's me.” He smiled. “I'm supposed to be showing you around before 1st starts, so let's go.” He held his hand out to me, which I thought was weird since we had just met, but then I remembered Emily had said he treated all the girls like they were his girlfriends, so I took his hand.
He led me out of the office and down the 10th grade hallway. I was surprised none of the teachers stopped us for PDA. This was nothing close to my old high school, or any high school I had been to, for that matter. I understand it won't be the same since we're on different continents, but I didn't know they'd all have there own separate hallways.
“So let me see your schedule.” I handed it over and he tried to open it without letting go of my hand.
“Do you want me to get that for you?”
“Please.” He handed it to me and I took my hand from him to open it. Once I handed it back, he took my hand again.
“Okay, homeroom. Mrs. Cook. Perfect, that's my homeroom.” He dragged me with him to Mrs. Cook's room, and introduced me to the teacher.
“Hello, Tailee. I've already received your information packet, so you're all set. Your seat is number 14.” I glanced over at Drake, and he looked sad.
“What?”
“I wanted you to have 18 so we could be homeroom buddies. But 14 is over there.” He pointed to a desk and I walked over. While I was walking to the desk, I heard him talking to Mrs. Cook.
“But Mrs. Cook, please? No one sits in 18 and we could be homeroom buddies. She's new here anyway, she'll need someone to show her around.”
“Fine, fine. Just stop doing that puppy dog face.”
“Tailee?” Mrs. Cook called to me.
“Yes?”
“You can have 18 if you want.” I saw Drake smiling and pointing at number 18. “But you can have 14 if you prefer. Your choice.”
“You definitely want 18.” Drake said, dragging me over to it. He took my book bag from me and dropped it in the seat. He paused for a minute, then flung it over his back.
“What locker is hers?” He asked Mrs. Cook. She pulled out a large 3-ring binder and turned to the last page.
“Top, middle, or bottom?” She asked me.
“Middle.”
“Anything close to mine?” Drake asked, interrupting Mrs. Cook.
“What's yours again?”
“R187.”
“Let's see.” Mrs. Cook scanned the page. “The only close one is R188, but that's a top. Then there's R190, and that's a bottom. I would say R189 but Michelle has that one.”
“No.” Drake sang, happily. “She moved down to H140 because she wanted to be near Callie, remember?”
“Yes, thank you, Drake.” Mrs. Cook waved her pen at him. “R189 it is then.” She handed me a sticky note that had the combination on it and Drake took me out into the hallway and showed me the locker.
“See, and mine's right here.” He said, pointing to his.
“Has anyone ever told you that your annoying? Or maybe overly-optimistic?” I asked, spinning the dial.
“Annoying? You think I'm annoying?”
“Not in the way you're thinking of. Just overly-optimistic. That's a nicer word. You're just so happy about everything. Happy that I'm sitting in desk 18, happy that I got locker R189. It's not annoying, just.. unusual.”
“Oh, sorry. But what isn't there to be happy about?”
“The fact that I'm here.” I said under my breath, taking my backpack from Drake.
“You don't want to be here? America's great.”
“Not when you're forced out because of some party.”
“You got forced to move here?”
“I got drunk at a party and my mom told me my punishment was moving here to my grandmother's. I'm not allowed back to England until I'm 18.”
“I'm sorry.” Drake said, walking with me to my 1st period so I could meet the teacher. “But you'll like it here. And we're still going to the library today for tutoring, right?”
“Yeah.”
