Lauren Cimorelli

Chapter 1: Friends (Thursday)

Skylar's POV
I reached my locker and took two swift glances over my shoulder

Ok good everyone should be at lunch.
I thought to myself.

It took a while but I finally retrieved my locker combination from the back of my brain. And there he was. Seeing my goldfish Bubbles happily floating in his crystal clear jar blowing bubbles made me smile. I won him at my high school carnival one month ago. Honestly I'm surprised he survived all the way to October. He... (Or she I guess... I don't know) still made me happy everyday i saw his face.

"There ya go bubbles" I sprinkled the fish flakes into his container and began to screw the top back on. I have to admit there's a lot of things about me that I'm rather glad no one saw.

I had moved to California the year before in 10th grade. I was the kind of kid that passed through the crowd without turning any heads. It's not that I was ugly or socially awkward i was just always the new kid. My whole life I had the same river blue eyes, semi-messy carmel hair, and sun-glazed skin. I had moved around a lot as a kid and was never able to form any close relationships. Embarrassingly enough I was already sixteen and had never had a real best friend let alone a girlfriend. I always moved before anyone got to know me really well so I ended up abandoning friends and loved ones. This was finally my chance to start a new life because my dad finally retired from the military and bought a house here in the city. But old habits die hard. I couldn't bring myself to attempt to form new friendships. It's not that I was shy, I just didn't feel like going out of my way to talk to people that may or may not remember me the next day.

Bubbles kept giving me a blank expression. "How the heck did I daydream off that far? I was just feeding you like 3 seconds ago" I thought to myself.

"Boo!!!"
"Ahhhhh!!!" Caught off guard by the sudden loud voice in my ear I slammed the locker shut trying to conceal my secret stowaway pet. I spin around and am met with a pair of piercing beautiful brown eyes that belong to Lauren Cimorelli. She was, from what I could tell, one of the most popular kids in the junior class. The reason why she talked to someone as low as I was on the social ladder was beyond me. I met her last year but I don't remember how.

"You couldn't hear me sneak up behind you?" She finally managed to say after a string of laughter.

"No sorry, I was running through LaLa Land just a second ago"
She shot me a quick smile before glancing at my locker.

"How's Bubbles doing?" She asked.

" Still blowin' bubbles" I said with a smile.
She was the only one besides me who knew about him. The day after the carnival she saw him while she was pulling out a textbook from her locker right next to mine.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked. "Don't you usually sit with your group during lunch?"

"Ya.. I forgot something in my locker so I came to get it but I just remembered I don't need it today. "

"Oh I see..."

"So what about you?" She asked
" I haven't seen you in the cafeteria before?"

"That's because I don't eat in there"

"What? I thought everyone had to eat in there?"

"Well we are, but the monitor doesn't mind me eating under the oak tree in the quad. I was heading there now."

"You eat there all alone?" She asked.

I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me. I probably seemed like a total social recluse for saying that. "Well ya..." I muttered. " I ate outside all the time at my old school so i really enjoy it."