Girls and Boys

Chapter Two

Last night my brothers and I had stayed up watching a few to many episodes of Law and Order. The next morning I regretted staying up late, Edward barged into my room shaking me awake, I had hit the snooze button on my phone one to many times

"Go away" I yelled at him, he continued shake me awake

"Charlottttte, you're gonna be late, get your ass out of bed!" he yelled at me walking out of my room

I lay in bed for a moment prying my eyes open, I wished I went to bed earlier and got a full night of sleep before my first day of school. Five minutes passed like one and eventually I stumbled out of bed into my clothes.

I walked down stairs where Rowan was eating eggo waffles, he gazed up at me with a sleepy nod, and continued to munch on his waffle. Five minutes later I had made myself iced coffee and toasted a bagel, grabbing my backpack, which was loaded with fresh school supplies grabbed onto Rowan's shirt sleeve and dragged him out the door with me.

Our new morning walk to school went down a quiet little road with a view of the ocean, it was a little bit windy, and cold since the sun had barely been up, but it gave us a chance to talk that would not normally take place. Just me and Rowan, walking down the sidewalk to our respective schools. At our old school the walk was a little longer, but it gave us a chance to talk, he told me about school, and friends, and I told him about school, and friends, and guys, we talked about surfing, and the weather, and our brother, and some rare days Rowan would ask me something about our parents.

Today Rowan dragged his shoes with every step, his head hung low, his back curved from the weight of his school supplies, which weighed him down like the stress of being at a new school. His hoodie thrown lazily over his head his skateboard tucked under his left hand at the ready, and I could tell that even in his tired state he was itching for recess to skate, he had been working on new tricks all summer. Finally we had reached his school, we said our goodbyes and he rushed off to greet his friends. I continued on down the road to my school, where kids hung around in the parking lot talking and goofing around. I walked up the steps to school, a man who I assumed was the principle stood outside, shaking kids hands and welcoming people back. Inside I went to the office and got my locker assignment. Sticking my books inside and walking off to meet my friends. When we first moved to Santa Cruz I dreaded it because I thought I wouldn't have any friends all summer without school.  But then I learned that Santa Cruz is not like New York or LA, my brothers surfing friends became  my friends and a week or two of living in Santa Cruz I met Ginger, a tall girl with strawberry blonde hair (Ironic I know), and Rosie, a small girl with almost white sun bleached blonde hair. They both took me under their wings, and became my closest friends. They were leaning up against some lockers talking a group of guys. 

"I heard he went to jail," one guy said. 

"Who are we talking about?" I asked

"The new guy," Leo answered, then Ginger and Rosie looked over at me, smiles spreading across their faces.  

"Charlottttte!" they chirped in sync, both wrapping their arms around me,

"Hey!" I greeted, as excited as I could muster, Leo looked over at me with a faint smile. Then the bell rang and everyone went rushing around to their classes. My first class was english, then a double of bio, then lunch. Both teachers handed out packets and descriptions of the classes. Rosie and I had English together, and Ginger and I shared the same biology class.  I had to keep introducing myself to people who I hadn't met over the summer, people kept giving me confused looks, probably wondering where the heck I came from. I recognized James, he sat in the back of both classes, I looked back at him and we exchanged glances before he smirked at me and I went back to writing down notes. Leo, Kai, and Ginger waited outside for us, and we all walked to the cafeteria, I followed them to their normal table, as the freshmen rushed around us trying to find their places.