The first day of senior year. What a joy.
Taking a deep breath, I push open the front doors to East High School. I'm met with the familiar sight of different friend groups bunched around the atrium, catching up on their summers and discretely trying to show off their first-day-back outfits.
I glance down at my t-shirt and jeans; the thought of trying to impress people with an outfit everyone would forget the next day never seemed important to me.
"Hey Jen!" a recognizable voice calls my name.
I turn around to see Carolyn. "Care-Bear!" I exclaim. She approaches me and we do a quick hug. She was just another one of those friends you only talk to at school. The type that prevent awkward situations when teachers tell you to pair up for projects or you only text when you need help on homework.
"So what classes you got?" she asks.
I shrug off my backpack and unzip the front pocket. My hand digs in and feels around for the slip of paper I printed out. Along with my schedule I feel old gum wrappers and spare change that I dumped in my bag last year.
My index and middle fingers pinch the slip of paper and hand it to Carolyn. She takes it and her eyes immediately start to scan the various classes and teacher names. While she reads my eyes drift over to a group of boys sitting in the corner of the atrium waiting for the first bell to ring. I recognize them all. Greg, Will, Josh, Sean, Derrick, and Ryan. They make up the group of boys the rest of the school seems to classify as 'nerds' and they usually get picked on by the jocks and ignored by everyone else. The only reason I don't talk to them is simply because they aren't in my social circle. I watch as Liam, the school's 'star' baseball player, steps on a piece of paper laying next to Ryan and kicks it away from him. Anger soon strikes through my body as I watch Liam and his friends that stand behind him like bodyguards laugh and walk away.
"Hello? Earth to Jen?" Carolyn's voice brings me back to our interaction.
"Sorry. What did you say?" I ask.
"We have second period together. And my older sister says your physics teacher is a dick" she says.
I take my schedule back and glance at when I have physics. Sixth hour. Good, it means I don't have to deal with that crap early in the morning.
The first bell rings, meaning we have ten minutes to get to class, and I say goodbye to Carolyn.
"See you second hour" I say.
"See you" she responds.
Taking another deep breath, I begin the journey of my last year in high school.
