The final bell had tolled, signaling the end of the dreaded first day of junior year. A day full of similar syllabuses of new classes and smiling and saying 'hello' to people I didn't know or frankly, like too much. Or there was the awkwardly meeting new people in classes I didn't even want to take. I had just spent the last forty minutes counting ceiling tiles and trying to count the freckles on my teacher's face.
Finally the day was over and I could finally go home. All I brought to school was a notebook, a pen and my phone. I plugged in my headphones and turned the volume as loud as it could go. It was cold for the second Monday of September, but it was always colder in New York City.
Imagine Dragons filled my brain and I let out a sigh of relief as I exited the high school. Now don't get me wrong, I like school and all, just the first day is so boring because it's always the same thing every year.
I think my favorite part of the first day of school was my outfit, not going to lie here. I had on some pretty killer electric purple skinny jeans and a black tank top with studs on it and destroyed black combat boots and a black beanie. It was kind of my favorite outfit.
My style was pretty all over the place, one day I was in a pretty dress with cute shoes and the next day I would wear a leather jacket and a band shirt. My fashion style kind of correlated with my music taste. Mostly I listen to alternative punk, but I am also a sucker for instrumentals.
The walk from my school to my house wasn't that long, it was only about twenty minutes. When I got home, I was greeted by my elderly dog and a cupcake sitting on the counter. No one else was home.
"Hello Crummy," I said in that voice that pretty much everyone uses when they talk to dogs or babies, "I would much rather have stayed home with you today."
Crumbles just barked in response and followed me to the counter. It was chocolate, my favorite. A little Post-it sat adjacent to it.
Hello CeCe! We hope you had a SWEET day at school! We love you, Mom and Dad
Such corniness and clichés all in one Post-it. I shrugged and took the cupcake up into my room. My plan was to go for a run, but cupcakes come before runs. I hopped onto my bed as I ate my cupcake. I must say, it was very delicious. Crumbles had followed me into my room and sat at the edge of my bed.
"So Crummy, bark twice if you think I should go for a run," I said after I had finished my cupcake. Of course, Crumbles had indeed, barked twice, "Alright, whatever you say Crum."
I remorsefully got changed out of my super cute outfit and into some shorts and a shirt that used to belong to my older brother. I popped my headphones back into my ears, blasting the new Selena Gomez album, it's a good playlist for a run. I never really liked going for runs on major streets, so I always took side streets until I got to Central Park. There, I just did a bunch of laps and I would run back home.
It was really relaxing to run through Central Park, the only annoying this was having to run around tourists. Plus, there was a lot of family history here, it was where my parents had gotten engaged and my mom had told my dad that she was pregnant with me here. I always came here when I was a kid with my older brother.
We always liked playing soccer together, he's the one who really got me into soccer. I even started on the varsity team when I was a freshman.
I was reminiscing on my childhood at Central Park when my thoughts were interrupted by a ball hitting me in the back of the legs. I stumbled a little but luckily I had enough coordination to catch myself before I fell. I stopped in my tracks, pulled out my headphones and turned around. And of course, when I am all sweaty and gross, the most attractive guy is just standing there watching me. I had no idea what to do, so I just stared at him.
"Hey," he spoke with a voice that glued me to my spot on the sidewalk, "Sorry about that, can I have the ball back?" He said pointing to the ball sitting at my feet. He ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair and smiled a little bit.
In an attempt to impress the stranger, I kicked the ball up into the air, bounced it on my knee and then passed it to him. He looked slightly impressed, but he kicked the ball high into the air and headbutted it to my feet.
"Me and my friends are playing a little pickup game, want to join?" I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped, but before I could catch flies I closed my mouth. I mean, I have played pickup soccer games before, but never with attractive guys.
"Sure, I'm CeCe by the way." I said smiling as I playfully kicked the ball back to him, he nodded a little and motioned for me to follow him.
"I'm Jake, are you any good at soccer?" Jake asked, even his name was attractive, that is if names could be attractive.
I kicked the ball from his path and started dribbling it backwards, "I'm alright, I guess," Jake smirked and I thought a piece of me just died.
"Looks like you're better than alright," Jake replied, "These are my friends over here, that's Andy, Josh, Mark and Edward. Guys, this is CeCe and she's on my team." He placed his arm over my shoulder and winked at me, "Will is on my team too."
Everyone else nodded and agreed and we got into our teams. Josh played goalie and Jake and I were in the field. For the first half hour of the game, everybody wanted to take it easy on me, but I showed them I was a force worth reckoning with. I scored at least six out of our eight goals and the other team only scored a total of like three.
I had mentally cursed myself when I realized it was getting dark, my parents were not going to be happy about this. I said goodbye to my new friends, I was invited back for another game tomorrow, and started to run back home. After a little bit, I heard someone calling my name.
I turned around and saw Jake running to catch up with me, "You left your phone, I put my number in by the way, I better see you back here tomorrow." He said with a wink and then in one flabbergasting moment, he was running back to the game before I could say thanks.
