LIMERENCE | Abby Littman

𝐨𝐧𝐞.

chapter one
[unedited]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐎𝐔𝐓, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘. Solange despised that first feeling of being up before the sun after staying in the bed until noon for two months and a half. She didn't like the pressure to dress up nice, to have her hair done, and she definitely didn't like packing her book bag. If she didn't despise her school and practically everyone in it then maybe things would be different. Until then, her first days would always be awful.

This year to Solange, there had been a steaming hot pile of horse shit shoveled and dropped on her first day, and that horse shit took the form of Paul Randolph.

"Are you nervous for your first day?" He had the nerve to ask her, while glancing over into the passenger seat.

She didn't have to think long for her response. "Shut the hell up, Paul."

And the rest of the car ride was quiet aside from the low music coming from the radio.

Mayor Paul Randolph had been Solange's mentor since the start of Wellsbury's troubled youth program, STAY. He hadn't really forced Solange into doing anything, obviously too busy to be a mentor with his actual career, but the townspeople had began to call him out on it, saying that he wasn't doing good by his word. And so the random visits to her house started, and brunches at the mayoral office, and now, forcing Solange into a 'start of the school year check in and breakfast' and then dropping her off at school.

Her school, Wellsbury High School, doesn't start until 8. But takes over a hour for Solange to actually get up out of bed and ready for the day, she hadn't packed her school supplies into her bag the night before, and she had to meet with Paul at 7 so her first alarm went off at 5:30 AM.

She was trying to get back some of the sleep she lost on the way to school from Blue Farm Cafe but she couldn't get comfortable with her head pressed against the window and the car constantly jostling. Paul was worried about the wrong things. He was worried about Solange when he should've been worried about redoing some of Wellsbury's roads.

When the car came to a stop and Solange heard the familiar noise that only can be made by a high school court yard she opened her eyes and sat up.

"I thought you went back to sleep there."

Solange unbuckled her seatbelt. "It was too bumpy."

"Oh, well do you have everything you need for school today? Your schedule and all that?"

"It's in my pocket," Solange stepped out of the car and glanced around. Nobody was paying her any mind just because she stepped out of the mayor's fancy Bentley, Wellsbury was full of rich people. There were students that drove their own Mercedes and Porches to school.

Solange went to close the car door before hesitating. "What is it?" Paul asked.

"Can you give me some money for lunch."

Paul looked at her confused. "Doesn't the high school provide free lunches?"

"I don't eat that sh—stuff." Solange had almost said shit but remembered how Paul had asked her to limit her use of 'explicit vocabulary words.' She didn't listen to it normally, but she thought it would help her get her money.