I still remember that day. That day that I met him. It was high school. It was the first day of freshman year actually. A tough time for me. My parents recently lost both of their jobs and my sister was battling depression. It seemed like no one was paying attention to me and I was all by myself in the world. I walked three miles to school because I can't be in the car with my parents for more than a minute. My flats gave me blisters and my thighs were chaffing. I had sweat stains through my sweater (I found out today that that's possible).
I was walking up to the front door when a hand reached behind me and opened it for me. I turned around and saw him. His tall, lean body standing close to me. A pack of cigarettes was coming out of his jacket pocket and his messy brown hair was falling on his face. He pushed it back and smiled at me.
I stared at him for a couple of seconds, but then I realized that my makeup and hair were probably messed up. I said thank you, walked through the door and turned back one last time to see his eyes trailing me as I walked away. I pushed my hair behind my ear and walked quickly to the main office. As I waited in line for to get my schedule and locker I watched the older kids walk by. To them this was all the same thing over again. They knew what to expect and what to do.
I saw the same boy who opened the door for me this morning. He was walking with a couple of friends who were all dressed like him. One of them caught me staring at them but he just looked at me for a couple of seconds then looked away. Other girls looked at them but they didn't seem to notice. Or maybe they did but they didn't seem to care.
I got up to the secretary with poofy hair and she put her glasses on her nose.
"What's your name sweetheart?" She chewed her gum like a cow.
"Um my name is Amelia Lawrence."
She moved her fake nails across the keyboard whose letters were wearing away. She looked at her screen then down at her fingers then at her screen again. She printed something out and carefully picked up the paper with her long dragon nails. She handed it to me and smiled with her damaged teeth.
"Have a good day sweetheart."
"Thank you, you too."
I took the schedule in my hand and went on my way.
I had to shove through hallways of smelly teenagers, cigarettes, aftershave and perfume. The girls wore their best clothes to try to impress the boys. The boys tried to make it look like they don't care but they secretly stayed up all night trying to find the perfect shoes. After the first week everyone will look terrible because they'll give up.
I finally arrived at my locker. It was tall and skinny and green and looked like it had been punched by its many owners before. I spun the lock and put my combo in. I put my books away and took the ones I needed for the first half of the day.
I slammed my locker and turned to face the hallway. Of course the first thing I see is that boy who opened the door for me. I suddenly couldn't move. My legs were glued to the floor and my eyes were stuck onto him. His brown eyes looked down at the floor. He brought his gaze up and met mine. He walked over to me and smiled.
"Hi. I'm Julian."
