On My Way to Believing

Chapter 1 - Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

"Hey! Claire!" Mary hollered, who'd just arrived at the school's auditorium for the morning assembly.

"Hey, Mary." I replied, hugging her.

Mary was my best friend ever since our first year in High School. She had long, straight brown hair, green eyes, and she was slightly taller than I was. She was a transfer student, while I've been in the school ever since Nursery. She's a no-bullshit type of girl, who'd tells me exactly what I need to hear, slapping my face with reality. Once we got close however, she became one of the most affectionate, caring, and fun people that I know. We became classmates this year again, which made us both really happy. I really wanted to spend my last year in High School with friends.

"You know, you could be a little more enthusiastic!" she said, laughing a bit while I smiled.

"Yeah, sorry, you know how I hate waking up early." I said, laughing with her. "Have you seen Paula?"

"Not yet, she's probably la-" she was interrupted by Paula, who just got to our spot, catching her breath.

"Hey...Guys.." she managed to say in between her panting. Contradictory to Mary, I've been friends with Paula ever since middle grade school. We met in a music class. She had long, wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, and, like Mary, she was taller than I was, albeit slightly shorter than Mary.

Almost everyone's taller than me, sadly.

Anyways, she's a sweet and soft-spoken girl, lacking in confidence though. Like Mary, she's affectionate, caring, and fun to hang out with as well. Sadly though, she was put in a different section, but she never fails to hang out with us before the assembly starts and during breaks.

Well, almost never, considering she was almost late this time for the assembly.

"Jesus, Paula, you look like you ran a marathon.." I said, while wiping some of her sweat on her forehead with her handkerchief, which she was holding when she got here. "Well, at least you made it."

"Yeah, my alarm didn't wake me up, strangely enough." she replied, gaining her composure and hugged both Mary and I. "So, how are you guys?"

"I'm fine, how 'bout you, Claire? Have you gotten over him?" asked Mary, crossing her arms, smiling. Oh God, I knew exactly where this was going. Mary has a habit of bringing up touchy subjects so as make the person, in this case, me, face the problem head on. I know that it's for my own good, but really, it's intimidating.

"Y-yeah, of course I-" I then proceeded to cut myself mid-sentence, seeing as I can't lie for shit. "Okay, just a tiny small part of me says no, but I'm working on it."

"I kne-" both Mary and Paula suddenly stopped talking.

"What?" I cocked an eyebrow at them then looked behind me, where they were looking. I was then face-to-face, well technically I had to look up due to my height, with the bane of my existence.

"Hey Claire!" Vince said, smiling. Well, this day just got slightly worse.

Vince Henderson was my best friend a year ago. At first I didn't have any feelings for him, but he's given me mixed signals and basically played with my feelings. He said he wanted to follow me to college, for fuck's sake. I confessed to him, and he rejected me. We've never talked since, except for when he asks something that's related academically, which annoys me because it felt like he's only using me. One thing's for certain though.

I won't let him affect me, nor my day.

"Hey Vince." I replied, monotonously.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Did your Physics homework?"

"Yep."

Why does he even bother?

"Sleep well?"

"Yup."

"How's your brother?"

"Good."

Will this ever stop?

"Right, well, I'll go line up now. See you later!" Vince said, walking away, thank God. Albeit, smiling. He was never really one to show his true feelings. Instead, he has this facade on where he's happy and basically acts like a clown around people.

I sincerely hope he got the message that I don't want anything to do with him. Not anymore.

"..What was that about?" Mary asked cocking an eyebrow in Vince's direction once he's out of hearing range.

"He probably thinks that we're still friends. He didn't even greet you guys." I replied, sighing. "Well this morning was definitely eventful. I won't let it affect me though."

"That's right, it really shouldn't affect you. He isn't worth it." Mary agreed, smiling at me. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

"True that!" Paula said, while both of us were laughing.

"Ahem, please line up according to your sections. We will begin the morning assembly momentarily." our principal announced on stage.

"Aw, see you later, Paula." I told Paula, as I hugged her. Definitely sucks to have her in a different section.

"Yeah, meet you guys at the canteen?" Paula asked, turning to hug Mary.

"Yep, same table." Mary replied as she hugged her back. Paula then walked to her section's line, leaving me and Mary.