The Dream Trotters

Chapter 8

In a single moment, the gym’s sound level went from the lowest it had been, to the amount of volume in a soccer stadium, after the winning goal had been made.  Chair and backpacks were thrown back as students searched out their friends to go share the excitement. Students of all ages and genders turned to each other and chatted as if they hadn’t talked in months.  Over all, it didn’t even matter who was talking to whom.  Everyone just had the sudden urge to converse about the obvious statements that had been made just minutes prior.

But all Phillipa wanted to do was cower and hide.  She didn’t want to stay at school any longer than she had to.  Without classes in the way, it would become a social battlefield, where the cool would play, and the weak would be trampled.  Phillipa felt sad for the man, yet no one else seemed to share in her feelings.  Some were scared, mostly the junior high students.  But most treated the incident like the opportunity to have a school wide sleepover.   Phillipa yawned and looked up to the giant screen, which was looming over the whole of Troy High School.  She wasn’t bored, but rather, intrigued.  Her mind raced with ideas and questions, all because of what the principal had said. Conversations buzzed around her head, barely missing her and moving onto other speakers.  To be frank, someone could have been speaking to her and she never would have noticed.  The man on the screen drained all her attention, a feeling that many of the other students didn’t seem to share in.  They all just talked about what “fun” it would be.  Staying at the school for a night wouldn’t be so bad, if only she had more friends, Phillipa thought.

Phillipa described herself, as normal.   She wasn’t strange, or anything special, just a stereotypical junior high student.  She had long, golden hair and a slightly short nose.  The rest of her was composed of an overdose of insecurity, a bit of a dorky sense of humor, and a need to fit in.  She would constantly give herself inspirational speeches, telling herself that everyone was insecure and that she just needed to move on in life.  Yet small lies and wicked whispers seemed to sneak back in through the cracks of conversation that she had with herself.  Why was the boy behind her whispering to his friend?  Was he talking about her hair?  In this way, she had composed herself a batch of enemies that were non-existent.

Looking around the gymnasium, she couldn’t help but admire a few people.  First, her friend Mandy. Mandy was the kind of girl who didn’t really care what others thought.  She was constantly smiling, her complexion a Plexiglas surface of composure and kindness.  Next, was Finn. Aside from her hatred of his popularity, she had a certain high regard of him.   Even though her interactions with him always seemed to be a bit cold and snarky, she couldn’t help but admire his confidence either.  To be truthful, he wasn’t the epiphany of attractiveness, yet his attitude shaped everyone’s opinion of him.   Finally, Phillipa turned to the girl she hated most in the school. Ironically enough, Jenna was also her idol, the girl that she thought was the crème de la crème of the female students at Colfax High school. One word that personified Jenna was perfect, and Phillipa hated her for being that way.  Brunette hair seemed to rivulet down her skinny face, framing her pink cheeks perfectly.  Stereotypical brown eyes and a flawless complexion dominated Jenna’s face, making Phillipa feel ashamed of each millimeter of acne that appeared on her face.  As the students stood and filed out of the gym, to the rooms they would be staying in, Phillipa couldn’t help but stare at her, wondering why she got the goods, while Phillipa was stuck with her braces and snorty laugh.

The walk from the gym to the main school was a short, yet chaotic one.  All of the teens in the building were excited, and giggles and cheers rose from every corner of the hallway, bouncing of each visible surface.  The school was large, at least for a town that small.  Twenty feet wide hallways dominated the focal points of the school, lined with uniform silver lockers.  The lockers were as much a part of the school as the students were, a constant reminder of social rank.  As your grade level ascended, so did the size and height of the locker.  They created a food chain among the students, even if having a taller locker didn’t mean that one person was more popular than another.