Rubber

Chapter Two

The yellow lines zip past my window as the radio blares throughout the car. I've my forehead pressed against the glass. I try to keep up with the center line when my mother jostles my leg. I turn away from the road to stare at her. I hold eye contact, my face blank.

"This next turn is your school." I huff and turn back to the window.

A few more minutes and then we turn, a large paneled building seems to grow from the ground. A gasp comes from my mother. I know her hand is covering her mouth. I turn to stare out the windshield and watch as groups of other teenagers make their way in through the small front doors.

My father parks the car and turns in his seat to look at me. "Are you sure you don't need us to go in?" I nod my head and slide out of the car, my empty backpack coming with me. I shut the door and walk toward the school.

The school doors are shut by the time I reach them. I push one open and step into a messy hall. I blink slowly and scan the long corridor. People are at lockers and lounging against the walls. I feel someone run into my back as they come in through the doors. I turn to confront whoever it is.

"Sorry." The voice comes from a short boy, his light hair covering his eyes. I stare down at him and guess he's a freshman. I leave my comments to myself as he slips along the wall to his locker. I turn back around and notice a large decline of bodies.

I start walking, my head moving from side to side as I read the plaques on the doors. I reach the one I want and enter. A woman in a tight dress looks up from a pile of papers. Her smile is fake and her eyes are dead. I step up to her desk and place a single piece of paper beside her many. She physically deflates but keeps her fake smile plastered to her face.

"You must be the new student!" Her voice is sickly sweet. "We've been wondering when you'd arrive." She pauses to read the paper, "You're classes seem very advanced for a junior." I shrug but she doesn't see. "And they're all scattered around school. You'll need someone to help you find them." She finally looks up, but I have moved to the side, my eyes scanning the pictures along the wall. She clears her throat, trying and failing to get my full attention. "Young lady, if you are to stay in this school you will have to learn to dedicate your attention to the person conversing with you." I turn and blink blankly at her.

She sighs and leans over to a radio looking object and presses in a brown button. "Would Sky Anders please report to the main office. Sky Anders report to the office." Her voice has lost its sweet edge, now it's demanding. She leans away from the object and goes back to her papers.

I continue to watch her as the clock softly ticks away the seconds. It takes her roughly two minutes to realize I'm watching her. She mumbles something about this Sky Anders person as she watches me out of the corner of her eye.

A few more minutes pass before a skinny, blue haired girl comes sashaying into the office. Her just entering the bleak room seems to send vibrations throughout it and me. She glances from the woman sitting behind the desk to me. I'm surprised to see her eyes are different colors, one dark brown and the other light green.

She smiles when she sees I'm staring at her eyes. She glides over to me and snakes an arm through mine. "Hey there missy." Her voice is cheery and her touch causes my arm to tingle.

I pull my gaze from her mesmerizing eyes to her arm. She seems to sense my discomfort with our touching because she pulls away. I look back up at her face. "I guess I'm going to be your tour guide!" She doesn't seem fazed and before I know it I'm following her out of the office into the hall.

Her hand goes to her mouth and she makes a walky talky noise and then speaks as if she were a prerecorded tape, "Please keep your arms, hands, feet, legs, and small children inside the vehicle at all times. Place all personal effects in the bins to your left and take a seat. Your belt should be pulled across your lap and tightened so two fingers cannot make a space between it and your legs. Keep your head back as the bar comes down about your shoulders." She stops talking and walks backward so she can take me in.

"Isn't Miss Chaw a ray of sunshine?" She laughs and her entire body seems to glow. I don't say anything as I continue to follow her around a pile of trash. "You don't talk much, do you?" I shrug nonchalantly and she smiles.

I shiver as we pass under a vent, her bare arms and shoulders grow goosebumps but other than that she doesn't seem bothered. She glides around and skips down the rest of the hall. Her frame and long hair sway in opposite directions before she stops in front of a window.

I stop beside her, but she quickly turns on her toes to start skipping down the hall to the right. I watch her sway for a moment before I follow. She starts humming and twirling, "Your first class is math." I nod and she points near the middle of the hall. "There's the room." We make our way to it. She stops again and presses her face into the small window, "And there's your teacher."

The man she points out to me could not have been more than thirty, if not younger. His hair shaved at the sides, but long on top. He was dressed in khakis and a green fitted shirt. Muscles made themselves obvious along his stomach, chest, and limbs. When I turn my head I see every girl drooling and big eyed, their eyes plastered to him.

I turn away from the window to ask Sky why they are all staring at him that way, but I stop myself when I see a glint of jealousy as she stares at the girls in the front row.

She snaps out of it and opens the door, ushering me in before her. She shuts it quietly and clears her throat. Daggers are thrown at her when the girls in the class realize their teacher has to put his attention to someone other than themselves. "Hi Mr. Schmidt. This is your new student." He looks up from the girl he's helping and smiles welcomly. I stand there stiff and silent.

He straightens and walks over to us. He looks at Sky and smiles, "Thank you Miss Anders for helping her find her way here." I glance at Sky who is practically jello. A snicker comes from someone in the room. He turns his attention to me. I notice his eyes aren't how I pictured them; they're dull and green. "As Miss Anders here already made known, my name is Mr. Schmidt." He holds his hand out. I take it and shake slowly. "What might yours be?"

"You should have it on your attendance sheet." My voice is flat and his smile faulters.

"It is, but I just thought you would like to tell us so the rest of your class can know."

I look at the class over his large shoulder, "I don't think they care, sir." He turns to find two girls staring at his rear. Their faces flush almost immediately, and the daggers are then thrown at me.

He clears his throat and faces me again, "Please address the class and tell them your name." His voice is strained and he slinks to his desk, trying to hide his face in some papers.

Sky leans toward me, "I'll be outside the classroom when class ends so I can take you to your next class." She slips over to Mr. Schmidt's desk for a tardy slip and then leaves the room quickly.

I walk to the front of the room and pick up a piece of chalk. I swiftly scrawl my name across the board, my calligraphy almost perfect. I set the piece down and place my back to the board. "I am Meg Green." I turn to look at Mr. Schmidt. He motions toward the students and I take that as an invitation to find my desk.

Once I find a desk a few rows from the front and in the center, Mr. Schmidt continues class.