It was the first day of school of my senior year..to say I was excited to leave this place is a complete understatement. I walked through the doors of St. John's Catholic school and was greeted with the smell of dry erase markers and pencil sharpeners. I was awakened by the ruckus coming from my fellow classmates. All the girls were screaming and jumping up and down while hugging their "bff's" while all the guys were checking out how the girls' bodies have changed over the summer. Typical. What happened to southern gentlemen and where can I find one? I had barely begun my first day and I was already dreading the rest of the year. You probably think I sound like a depressed and deprived teen..my bad. I'm very grateful for what I have in my life, I just tend to be quite cynical, but I rather think of myself as realistic. While walking to my locker, I felt someone wrap their hands around my eyes and say, "Guess who?" I smiled and turned around to see my best friend standing there with an annoyingly energetic presence about him.
"Why are you so happy?"
"Its our first day as seniors!!" I laughed at his adorable enthusiasm. My friend, Ryan, was handsome and very well liked by our classmates. He is a football player and a genius. The only difference between him and the rest of the guys is the fact that he is sweet and sincere. He and I have been inseparable ever since 6th grade began. He sticks up for me and I for him. After comparing schedules and realizing we luckily had almost every class together, we headed to our first period. The class we entered was AP Chemistry, my least favorite subject. At least Ryan was in the class, I thought. I led us to two seats in the back of the room. We were early so we sat down and discussed what extra curricular activities we were planning on doing for our last year of high school. I was going to do every club that interested me, which was almost all of them. I was ready for this year and ready to live on my own soon. Out of nowhere, Ryan gently slapped my arm..
"Hey, what was that for?!"
"It's Medea...."
Once he said her name, I couldn't help the disgusted look on my face. Medea was the "it girl" at my school. She barely knew me, yet every time she looked upon my face, she would make an irritating comment on how I was such a loner. Captain obvious much? As she entered the room, I swear every guy in the room's jaws' dropped to the ground. I'll be honest..she was gorgeous, but her personality made her the ugliest person I know. She made our uniform look like the inappropriate school girl Halloween costumes. You know the one's I'm talking about? She was a, how do you say it in an appropriate way, a harlot? Yes, a harlot. She used people to get what she wanted from them, and then dropped them like hot potato. And you want to know the even sadder part about it? Guys didn't mind being used by her because at least for a short while they would get to talk to a girl of her "beauty". The worst thing she does, though, is making everyone else feel inferior. And the way she looks down on me..I hate it. After all of the things she has done to me, I've realized I don't hate her. Now your probably thinking I'm insane, right? Well to be completely honest, I feel bad for her. I pray for her every night. How sad is it that she has so little respect for herself that she'll have one-night stands with strange kids that go to my school? How sad is it that she has to make people feel below her so that she can feel better about herself? I don't know her situation at home. I don't know what she has going on so I won't begin to judge her. I just hope she realizes what she does to people's feelings one day.
As she walked to her seat in the room, guys immediately surrounded her. I tried my best to resist from rolling my eyes. Just when I was doing a little cheer in my head because she hadn't noticed me, she turned around and said, "Hey, nerd. Did you gain even more weight?" As she said this, it felt like every head in the room turned their heads to see my face turn different shades of red and my eyes begin to water. I've always had SERIOUS insecurities about my weight so comments like that always hit me hard. I prayed that the tears wouldn't come out. As I started to calm myself down, I heard the laughs of my classmates and the tears began to come back up. Ryan spoke and shut everyone up, but I still felt bad. He whispered something I didn't quite catch because I was stuck looking at the gorgeous face of the country cutie, Jake. I don't think I have ever had a class with him and I suppose I never quite noticed how handsome he actually was. He was one of those guys that looked older than he actually was, with a smoldering smile, messed up hair, perfect skin, and muscular arms. I saw him because he was staring right at me. Although he was popular, his facial features were covered in sympathy and sadness. He quickly looked away and shook his thoughts when the teacher finally entered the classroom. After that incident, I couldn't help myself from staring at the back of his head. First period was slow and boring, but the rest of my morning classes, fortunately, flew by. I walked to the cafeteria alone because Ryan wasn't in my fourth period class, however, my other dear friend, Kathy, tapped on my shoulder and gave me a tight hug. Kathy was very smart. She was an excellent volleyball player and a brilliant pianist. Oh and also she was absolutely stunning! She was another person that has stuck by me since middle school. We walked together to our usual lunch table in the back corner and met Ryan there. There sat Ryan's friend Mike, Tucker, Kathy's boyfriend, Mimi, Jackie, Claire, Elena, and a few others. That was our little group, per se. We didn't always hangout together because I wasn't close with all of them, but we all got on very well. Lunch ended soon thereafter and we all parted ways. The rest of my classes went quickly and before I knew it, I was at my digital photography class, the last period of the day! I walked in, took my seat, and was met with a pair of beautiful crystal blue eyes.
"Hi, ummm..are you..uhh..okay?"
It was Jake, the same guy that looked upon me with sympathy this morning. "Uh yeah..I'll survive", I said as I laughed awkwardly. Nobody ever asked if I was okay, unless it was Ryan or Kathy. Plus it was especially surprising that a "popular" asked that. Wait, what was Jake doing in this class??
I hadn't realized he replied with a smile and took a seat beside me.
"What are you doing in this class, Jake?" I didn't have to pretend I didn't know his name because of the size of my school. The school was so small that everyone knew everyone's names.
"I like photography, this is a photography class so here I am."
Hmmmm. That's different, never expected the manly man to be a closet photographer?
Just as the thought entered my mind, I heard the teacher finally speak up and welcome us. She also mentioned how the people sitting beside us would be our partner for the rest of the year. Jake smiled a genuine smile my way before turning his head back to our teacher. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I thought about what it would be like to be partners with the a guy like him.
