Good Enough

Chapter 1

"Oh my word, you're a gem!" the brunette exclaimed. Her eyes shone with gratitude, and I knew that saying yes had been the right thing to do.

"It's no problem, Para. Let me know if you need anything else." However, my words were lost on deaf ears as Para was already speed walking to her next commitment. I shifted the heavy box in my arms and began heading towards the dean's office to drop off the box of supplies that my best friend had just gifted me. Para was head of the Activity Committee which was responsible for planning school carnivals, dances, movies and anything else the administration (and the rest of the committee) deemed appropriate for means of student body entertainment and community building. This coming weekend was our Welcome Back dance, and it set the tone for the entire school year. So, Para, being the perfectionist she was, decided to take it upon herself to make this year's dance the best yet. Being one of her best friends, that meant I was enlisted to help as well.

Continuing the long walk to the opposite side of school, I let my mind wander. This proved to be a bad decision. "Hey, watch where you're going!" I refocused to see supplies and decorations tumbling out of the box and my face meeting the pristine hardwood floors . The boy I just walked into seemed to be doing the same.

"S-sorry." I did not do well with conflict. In fact, I was always extra nice to everyone just so I didn't piss anyone off. But it was looking like I would be making my first enemy. Guess I couldn't leave high school without at least one.

"I wasn't paying attention."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Hey, no need to be obnoxious." Okay, so I didn't like conflict, but I did not tolerate rudeness. "Maybe, you could help me carry this box instead." I huffed exasperated with my situation.

Looking me up and down, he grinned maliciously. "Sure, but you owe me one." With those words, he put the supplies back into the box, folded the tops down, and began to haul the package off.

"Umm, hey bud."

"Yes," he was losing patience.

"Don't you want to know where you're going with those?"

"Dean's Office, I assume?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"I can tell they're decorations for the dance. It makes only sense." He turned his back towards me again and slowly disappeared down the long, echoing hallway. If I'm being perfectly honest, I was a bit rattled. I had never seen the boy before, and despite the fact that my high school was pretty sizable for a prep school clocking in at 800 students, I knew practically everyone's name. If I didn't know your name, I knew your face. Don't get me wrong; I wasn't a stalker or anything. I just really liked to say hi to people. So my not knowing this kid's name or face threw me into a tailspin. Combine that with previously finding myself in a tangled heap on the floor, and you've got yourself an off-balance Blay. Yet, I was also thankful that he seemed to be at least somewhat generous — one more thing checked off my long to-do list. And I mean long.

My schedule was constantly packed. If I didn't have class, I had a meeting with a teacher or my Speech and Debate coach. If I wasn't at sport's practice, I was running a student council meeting. I was always on the move. Seldom did I have any time to just relax and hang out with friends for more than 10 minutes at a time. And if I didn't stop staring after the the boy I crashed into, I would be late for my own club meeting. Running through the halls and narrowly escaping another crash with an entirely different peer, I burst through the door to my English classroom, or for the time being, venue for my book club. Technically, it was also my friend Annalise's book club, but you get the point. Upon entering, I saw that I was still one of the first to arrive. Made sense, I had always prided myself on my punctuality. I sat down in a chair and pulled out this month's book — When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead awaiting the arrival of the other members and my co-head. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, the rest of the crew flooded through the door.