Spinning Stars on Her Fingernails (Panic! At The Disco)

Chapter 2: Not A Bad Start

My next class was another writing class. Ryan was in it and sat behind me. This teacher didn't have any assignments for us, so we were allowed to-in her words-"mingle". What kind of teacher uses that word? I turn around to talk to Ryan only to see him scribbling in his notebook again.

"You're really into that." I laugh. He looks up at me and nods before diving back into his work.

"So when do you wanna work on that project? I have soccer practice from 5:00 to 7:00. How about tomorrow at 8:00?"

"Sounds good." He mumbles, not looking up from his writing. I give up on our conversation and decide to grab my own notebook out and think of ideas for our poem.

***

My next period was my first class of my Music course. I walk into the classroom to see one kid sitting on top of a desk.This classroom looked different from my others. The rows of desks were facing a small stage with a piano on it. Next to it was an array of guitars. One electric, one acoustic, and one bass, all next to an amp.

I sit down behind the seat a guy sits on top of. He shifts himself to face me and hops off of the desk.

"You're early. Mr. Vick won't be here for a while."

"Then why are you here?"

"Had nothing else to do. My class was right next door, Mr. Vick lets me mess around with the instruments."

"So I'm guessing this isn't your first year here, then."

"Second. Started my freshman year here. Is this your first year?"

"Yeah. One year of normal high school before my scholarship-thingy went in."

"You play a sport?"

"Soccer."

"Well, normal is boring." He grins. It was only then that I realized how gorgeous he is. His dark brown eyes sparkled when he smiled.

"I suppose it is." I say through a smile I couldn't fight when he shot me that grin of his. "I'm Riley."

"Well, Riley, I'm Brendon." We shake hands.

"So do you play any instruments?" He asks.

"I learned a little bit of piano when I was like twelve. That's about it."

"So why did you take this class? To meet devilishly handsome guys like me?" He rubs his chin and smirks. I laugh because I can hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Not quite," I shake my head with a shy smile. "I'm into song producing."

"Do you sing?"

"Yeah, when I'm in the shower. That's where I'm a star. Otherwise, not good."

"I bet you're just being humble."

"You wanna bet?" I say with a raise of my eyebrows.

"Now I'm a little scared, so no." He laughs.

"Thought so. What about you?"

"Yeah, I sing. Play a little piano and guitar, drums are fun to play, too."

"You'll have to show me sometime." I say somewhat flirtatiously. Wow, look at me go. Flirting on the first day.

"That sounds like a good idea. You should give me your phone number and we can do that sometime."

"Smooth." I rip out a corner of my notebook paper and scribble my phone number on it.

"You know, I think I like you, Riley." He says assuringly with a grin. I grin back, a blush creeping up my cheeks.

***

My other classes where the same as the first ones. The teacher introduces themselves, shares their expectations of the class and what we should expect, then lets us talk amongst ourselves. Luckily for me, I have no gym because of soccer.

5:00 rolls around fast enough, and I show up to the field with my soccer bag filled with a water jug and my own ball. I dressed in a gym shirt from my old high school and black soccer shorts with my blue soccer socks reaching below my knee covering my shin guards and my black cleats double-knotted. My hair was put up in the tightest ponytail I could manage.

I see some girls I recognize from the try-outs that were held a month before school started. They were tying up their cleats and stretching. I recognize the coach and walk over to him.

"Riley, is it?" I nod.

"Welcome to the team. If you don't remember, I'm Coach Julian. You can go ahead and warm up with the other girls."

I head over the the group of girls and start stretching. After a few minutes the coach comes over and motions for us to come together.

"So girls, are we ready for a good season? You guys are here because you stood out in the crowd at try-outs. I want you to push it. Hustle for the ball, be alert, be aggressive. That ball belongs to you, it belongs to your team, it belongs in that goal. Most of all, I hope you guys can have fun playing some soccer." He smiles.

"I'm glad we got that out of the way. Go ahead and take a jog around the field. Any corner cutters will take two more laps. You know who you are." We start a line and all jog at the same pace. When we're done, we all take a knee and grab a drink of water. We meet back with the coach standing next to a tan girl with black short hair tied back. She's wearing gloves that make her hands look huge.

"This is our goalie for Varsity. We'll take shots with her, then we'll work with our goalie for this team." We move to a goal post and line up in a half circle around the goal.

"Go!" The goalie would yell and the person next in line would take their shot. The shots that weren't over or past the post would be blocked by her.

"Go!" She yelled towards me when it was my turn. I back up and run towards my ball, swinging my right leg forward with a hard force. I kick the ball with the sole of my foot and it flies forward, the goalie dives, but falls to the ground, letting my ball land into the goal. Oh. That was me? My kick? My ball? The only one to make it in? Wow. Okay.

All eyes were on me. Even the goalie's eyes were wide. She gets up, grabs my ball, and drop kicks it, sending it over my head. I turn around and hustle to retrieve my ball. Finally letting my grin loose.

Not bad, Grace.