The Smile Always Fades

2. The Mathmatician

Anna jolted awake to her alarm clock screeching in her ear. She slapped the device until the awful noise went silent.

6 a.m. Monday morning. A new school week. Anna groaned at the realization of having to leave her warm, comfy bed for boring, obnoxious school. She hadn't even started the book report that was due in English class today. It would have been deleted by Mom anyway, even if I did try to write it, Anna half-heartedly thought to herself. With that, she rolled out of bed and started getting ready for the new day ahead of her.

School was...school. At least it used to be somewhat bare-able until Cassy left for New York. Now school was just a chore. While sitting alone at one of the cafeteria lunch tables, Anna thought back to the first day she'd met Cassy...

Being a freshman in high school can be scary for anyone, but it especially was for Anna. She had no one to cling to that first day at the new school--the first day being at the bottom of the totem pole. She was the biggest loner if there ever was one. To Anna, books and paintbrushes were the best friend a girl could have, (none of that melodramatic baggage that came along with the girls at school). But that day--that first day of high school--Anna had wished she had, at least, one friend to cower in fear with.

The locker combination can be one of the most intimidating check points on a freshman's "to do list", and Anna was becoming quite familiar with that fact. She had tried the locker combo at least five times now, but there was no use. This locker was merciless.

Just as Anna was about to go into a silent panic attack, a girl in jeans and an "I heart milk and cookies" t-shirt appeared at her side. "Kick it" were the first words that came out of her mouth.

"Excuse me?" Anna stifled.

"Kick the locker," the Cookie Lover inquired. After a second of Anna standing there with a dumbfounded look on her face, the girl scooted her aside and kicked the lower corner of the piece of flimsy metal. With a loud creak and pop, the locker reluctantly swung toward the two girls.

"I'm Cassy. You must be my locker partner!" She reached out to shake Anna's hand.

"Oh yeah, I guess so," Anna replied while avoiding eye contact. She was never good with first impressions, was always too shy and self conscious to even begin to believe that she could talk to a complete stranger...even if that stranger was 14 years old and sweet as a peach pie.

"...This is usually where you would tell me your name," Cassy said expectantly.

"Oh! Right, sorry. I'm Anna." She reached out to finally shake Cassy's hand.

"Cool! Well, Locker Buddy, I'll try to keep my junk out of your end of the locker, but I can't make any promises," she smiled then and Anna got a good look of what this girl was like. Her eyes were a unique shade of green and hazel and they morphed into small slits when she smiled. Her hair was perfectly straight (the doings of a flat iron, Anna couldn't help but think) and reached to about her collarbone. She wasn't wearing any makeup other than a thin coat of mascara and a quick swipe of lip gloss. Anna had to admit, this girl was an old time pretty and it seemed as though she didn't even try that hard to look it. It was obvious though, that Cassy was more of the book smarts type than she was of the popular crowd.

"Wanna meet up for lunch?" Cassy had asked. "I know of this awesome spot outside where you can sit under a tree, near the parking lot, and scope out all the hot Asian guys!" They both laughed and Anna then found it the perfect moment to tell Cassy how much she liked her shirt. It had been a beautiful friendship ever since.

But now, three years later, Anna was spending her senior year alone and wondering what kind of fun adventures Cassy was having without her. Anna tried to shake the thought away as she pulled out her sketch book from her backpack and started to draw.