Heart

One

The chatter of high school students filled the hallways. They created groups of cliques of varying sizes, full of laughter and gossip. The drama team, all in black and sunglasses, lounged around the few benches pressed against the walls. They were aloof from the rest of the ruckus---ruckus whose major donors were the athletes. Baseball, football, soccer, basketball---they all made a contribution. Cheerleaders weren’t far away from those jocks, and applied their flirty poses and annoying giggles when appropriate. Loners wondered aimlessly to their classes and then the normal people just plain hung out and eagerly chatted with whoever would listen. Couples inconspicuously strolled around, searching for a little private spot. (Well, some didn’t care if they had privacy or not). The nerds tried to avoid the social awkwardness by hiding away in classrooms. And lastly, there was me leaning against my locker, observing all of this.

My custom was to wait at my locker until my life-long friend, Alan Layne, arrived with my breakfast. We took turns buying a meal for each other; it’s just something we’ve always done.

“Kara,” a familiar voice called, catching my attention. I turned and, speak of the devil, Alan came strolling up with a paper bag in his hand. He smiled a little, raising the food-filled sack up to his chin. “Sorry about being late. Line was kinda long this morning.” He stretched out his hand so I could take the bag.

“Hmm,” I assessed playfully, raising my eyebrow, “Sausage biscuit and hash brown. My favorites.” I smiled and fished inside, bringing out the hash brown to tear in half. I offered him one and I ate the other.

“How generous of you,” he replied sarcastically. He leaned against the lockers beside me and enjoyed his half of the hash brown, observing the students with a neutral expression. His deep brown eyes dispelled boredom to on-lookers, but he was nothing of the kind. He found human behavior quite fascinating.

“Oh, heads up,” he muttered under his breath, “The Ice Queen approaches.”

I instantly tensed, my fists tightening and eyes hardening into a glare. I risked a glance down the hall---and there she was. We called her the “Ice Queen” but her real name was Gabriella Quintanilla. (Mouthful, right?) She wore her shiny black hair long and straight so that it flowed enviously over her shoulders and caressed her tan face. Her large dark eyes hunted for me, just yearning to humiliate me once more, and her plump lips were contorted into an attitude-fueled smirk. That pretty face had dedicated itself to making my life miserable. Or, at least the last five years of it.

“Easy, Kara,” Alan warned on a whisper as the Ice Queen continued to draw nearer. She had spotted me, and he knew me all too well; I already wanted to smack her.

Gabriella sashayed to a stop right in front of me, her loyal friends (Laura and Melanie) on either side of her. She raised her eyebrows cynically. “Fast food breakfast? Really, Kara? Do you know what that does to your figure?” She paused with her mouth slightly open, her eyes searing me with a disgusted once-over. She barked out a single laugh. “Well, I suppose it’s obvious you don’t know.”

Laura and Melanie laughed, while Gabriella just stared unwaveringly into my eyes--which should have ignited her on fire. However, she wasn’t susceptible to my fury and just calmly walked away, disappearing down the hallway.

I shook for a second or two, then released an infuriated cry and spun around to face my locker, ripping it open. I threw the sack inside.

“Hey,” Alan growled in a reprimanding tone, “Forget her."

A tense breath seeped past my lips and I mumbled, “Yeah, yeah.”

“Well, go on and finish your breakfast. I did pay for it, you know."