Still Waters hide the deepest secrets

Back to School

Nixie

I grin at Shay, my best if only friend as we meet at our spot. A quiet nook, safely secluded in the bushes near the bus drop-off. "How was your summer?"

She rolls her eyes at my question and bats her hand at a branch. "Same as every summer. Mandatory exercise and one two-week break to lay on a beach at my grandma's house in Florida. Can you believe, only one more year of this particular hell on earth? How was your summer?"

"I worked and did summer school," I tell her what she probably already knows. I have taken summer school every year of high school. Last year, I landed a job at a local restaurant. They willingly took me back this summer. I was putting all the money away for the day I turn 18. "You have no idea how excited I am to get out of here." And, by here, I mean this town, not school. I love school, it was my first salvation. But my home? It's not, nor has it ever been a home. And I have been planning my escape from it since I was 7 years old. At 16, I attempted to run away. Once recovered from my failure, I began improving on my strategy. I learned from my mistakes, determined not to repeat them.

"I love your haircut, by the way," Shay tells me, pulling me back into our conversation.

"Thanks." I've worn my hair long with no bangs my whole life. My mom decided for me, making me replicate her hairstyle. Thankfully, she didn't force me to dye mine black. As a birthday present to myself, I splurged on a trip to a salon for a real haircut. Now my cinnamon red hair was shoulder length with layers, showing off my natural waves.

"You have your schedule?"

I nod and pull it out of my backpack as we walk to the front doors. Shay and I usually only have electives together. Shay is an average student while I am an AP student. As I thought, we have PE and our mandatory senior lifestyle class together.

"Why do we still have to take PE?" she groans. "I live PE!"

I laugh with her. Her parents are physical fitness nuts. It is obvious, she, too, is always working out. Standing 5 foot 9, her body is toned like a professional athlete. I, on the other hand, am 5 foot 5 and look like I need to start working out at a gym. My curves must be a genetic throwback because I work out every day, plus I run three times a week and I eat, maybe, 1500 calories a day, half of which are meal replacement bars. And yet they remain. "Who knows, but at least it's last period."

She grins at me. "Good point. And, I know for a fact, Marin has it third period."

"That's the best news I've heard in a month!" I cheer. Marin Kendrick was our school's queen bitch. She ran the school with her court of three. I had her in PE last year and she made every day a nightmare for me.

"And," she winks at me, "she got a car this summer, so we don't have to hide in that corner anymore!"

Marin lived in the same private, gated community as Shay and a huge group of students. They had a private bus because they live on the far side of town. So, we've met in the back, away from Marin and the rest of her squad who were always posing front and center. But if she was driving, she would be nowhere near the bus drop. Meaning we didn't have to spend all year cowering in the bushes to stay away from her.

"This year is looking up!"

"And your birthday is tomorrow!" she cheers as we walk to our first period classes. They are across the hall from each other. "Are you excited."

I look at her, with a frown. "The only thing exciting about my birthday is it means I'm one step closer to freedom." The most important lesson I learned from my first attempt to escape was at eighteen I am considered a legal adult. My mother no longer has any legal hold over me. No police officer returning me in handcuffs.