Along With Austin

Chapter Two

In middle school, Austin blossomed into a beautiful girl that all the prepubescent boys wanted to be with.

Me on the other hand, those were the awkward years.

While Austin got into volleyball and softball, I was the artsy girl that sat in the corner with her camera. Everyone in school knew Austin, and as a result everyone knew me, too. Not that it was my choice.

I'd have rather stayed in my corner drawing, but Austin being Austin, would find me wherever I went. She would pull me along with her.

Austin made sure that I sat with her at lunch every day of middle school. She made sure to include me in the conversations, even if it was about some movie I had never even seen before. Austin made sure that I felt like I was apart of the group, even though it was completely obvious that the short, round girl could never be apart of the athletic crowd.

But Austin made sure that I was included and never left out.

My homeroom was with Austin for the duration of middle school and high school. Beginning in freshman year, we got the teacher that we would have for the rest of high school. I can remember the first day as clear as a bell.

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"Lauren," Mr. Fitzpatrick called out the last names on the roster.

"Here."

This continued on until her reached Lewandowski.

"Lewandowski?" The class was silent. No one spoke. "Okay, no Austin." Mr. Fitzpatrick continued.

I sighed. Austin was late everyday of her life. Even to her own birth, she came two weeks after the due date. She would be here, just later than everyone else.

"Lucas," Mr. Fitzpatrick called.

"Here," I spoke quietly.

He continued.

Five minutes after the start of homeroom, the door opened and Austin Joanne Lewandowski strutted into the room. Austin's slender frame glided back to the desk, he face held a smile.

Our eyes connected and she winked. The corners of my lips turned up in a half smile. Austin was telling me with that wink that she could get out of being tardy. The girl could get out of anything.

"Mr. Fitzpatrick, I'm sorry I'm late, but my dog got hit by a car this morning and-," Austin stopped and started to cry.

"It's alright, just go sit down. I'm sorry about your dog." Mr. Fitzpatrick was like any other male; he couldn't handle tears.

Austin nodded solemnly and moved to the desk beside mine.

She sat down, wiped her tears, then smiled at me. "Hey, what classes do you have?"

I rolled my eyes at her acting skills and shoved my schedule towards her. Her eyes roamed over the paper and then hers. "We have first through fourth together; that's going to be fun."

I smiled, anything with Austin would be fun. Austin was the type of person that everyone liked. Austin could make even the sourest of people smile because of something that she said.

"What are you doing after school?" Austin pulled her freshly dyed brunette hair out of a her ponytail and began to braid it down the middle of her back.

"Nothing. Well, I think I'm going to head down to the tracks and take some pictures. There should be some good lighting." Pulling out my camera, I fiddle with the buttons and checked the lense to make sure it was clear.

Austin's mouth popped open in delight. "Can I be your model, Candice? I love when you take pictures of me. I feel like a big time model in a photo shoot."