-Youth-

•One•

First day of school, junior year. Same old story repeated again.

Bodies slam against each other, shoulder on shoulder as students fight to their classrooms. Of course I am one of the only people walking serenely, lost in the beauty of their headphones. There is only another, and I don't know her name yet. Or is it he? I can't tell by his/her face turned away from mine. An ombré grey to white beanie is placed on his/her head, slightly dragging itself back. The head turns, and I realize it is a girl, looking at the perfectly winged eyeliner, lined thinly along her eyelid. She is really pretty. Her hair is probably short under there, considering I couldn't see the ends of it coming out from under her beanie. Her eyes meet mine for a second and she smiles, rolling up the sleeves of her black jean jacket. Judging by the things I've seen so far, this girl appears to be some kind of hipster emo hybrid. She is wearing black converse, the high top ones that I like and faded blue jeans. I tap her shoulder shyly and she turns around, taking one of her earbuds out. "Can I help you with something?" She asks, sounding like she's trying her best to be confident. She's nice.

"I- uh... Sorry for- I'm probably bothering you-" I stammer, running a hand through my black hair. She smiles and shakes her head.

"No, not at all. What's up?" She asks. I bite my lip, mentally cursing myself for why I actually tapped her shoulder. What do I want? Think of a question quick, Esme.

"Uh... What are you listening to?" I ask. She shuffles around in her pockets for her phone and pulls it out, showing me the screen. Pink Floyd?

"Comfortably Numb. Off of the Wall. One of my favourites". She says. Classic rocker, emo, hipster hybrid? What else is this girl hiding. She slides the lock on her phone and I stare at her background, recognizing the style of Japanese animation as her background immediately. She catches me staring and laughs. "Oh this? It's Naruto..." She mutters. Classic rocker, emo, hipster, otaku hybrid... I can't take anymore of this. I've never seen anything like it before. I find what she's been searching for on her phone this whole time. She shows me the screen again. The picture is black and white. Four men standing side by side, trying to hold back the smiles on their cheeks. "Pink Floyd". I nod slowly. The look so happy all together. "They broke up". She frowns. Even when you think you're inseparable, time catches up and breaks you apart. "What's the matter?"

"I was just thinking about-"

"Oh what's the hold up now?" She groans at the scene ahead of us. We've completely stopped.

"It's a fight!" A random student exclaims excitedly. The girl rolls her eyes and attempts to shove past, but is thrown back by the cheers of the crowd in front of us.

"Girl fight". She whispers to me. I stand up on my tip toes to see, but I'm way too short, at least for this crowd. "Never caught your name!" She shouts over the cheers, smiling ear to ear at the scene that she can see, standing up on tip toes. She's too tall for a freshman... How come I've never seen her before?

"I'm Esme!" I shout over to her, "Are you a junior?!"

"Nice to meet you Esme, I'm Billie. And yes, I just transferred!" She answers. She unexpectedly grabs onto my hand and drags me through the crowd, laughing hysterically. "Come on! Don't get hit!" She squeals. I widen my eyes as I see a girl throw a punch in another girl's face "Get outta the waaay!" She sings. What's this girl's deal? She laughs again, pulling me to the end of the hallway. "What's your first class?" She asks.

"I've got English first". I almost whisper, losing my self confidence as I see two girls whisper to each other, staring in my direction.
"Me too. They're not talking about you by the way". I stop and she turns around. "You coming?" She asks. I nod, slowly walking. She must be some kind of wizard too.

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