If Life Was Simple

Chapter 2

     I walk through the front doors of Woodland High, seeing faces I haven't seen in 3 months. I'm casually walking through the halls, searching the crowd for Lex and Carmen, while looking for my locker. I wander through the maze of people, looking for my compadres, when I hear something I most definitely do not want to.
     "You damn ugly little thing," says a deep-ish obnoxious voice. I don't even need to turn around to know who it is.
     "What do you want, Leo?" I ask as I walk on, looking for my locker. I find it conveniently placed in the center of the school. I fiddle with the lock, working out my combination. Unfortunately, the dirtbag has followed me, as I suspected he would.
     "Nothing really, just the satisfactory feeling of insulting you," he replies. I roll my eyes as I put my bag in my locker.
     "Let's see, how can we get to Olivia today?" Leo inquires. I turn to face him, leaning on my locker door. I have my eyebrows up, and I am batting my eyelashes, pretending ever-so-obviously that I am vulnerable.
     "Alas, Leo. You cannot come up with something. Probably because I am just too perfect, and you are just too stupid," I say innocently. I then close my locker and walk towards my homeroom.

     I sit down in Mrs. Valen's classroom, knowing that Lex has her for homeroom as well. Lex has been my best friend since we were in kindergarten. She and I have always been like sisters, more so than Flora and I. Lex is an only child, so she is over at my house all the time, and we make her feel like part of the family. When Lex walks into Mrs. Valen's classroom, she practically sprints over to me.
     "Junior year! Isn't this exciting, Liv?" she squeals as she plops down next to me. She acts as if we haven't seen each other in years, yet it has only been a day. I decide not to point that out to her.
     "It didn't exactly start out that way," I reply. Her smile fades. She already knows who ruined the start of the year. I preceded to tell her about Leo, and his attempt to get at me, and how he never got the chance.
     "Ah, Liv, don't let stupid Leo get to you this year. He never has!" she exclaims. I nod.
     "That's not the point. I'm afraid one of these days he's going to say something that does tear apart my insides," I sigh. Lex sighed too. Her mood lightened immediately when someone completely unexpected walked into the classroom.
     "O. M. G. Liv, he's in our homeroom!  Brandon Parker is in our homeroom!"
     Brandon Parker has been my crush since freshman year. He has deep hazel eyes, brown hair that is always somewhat messy, and he isn't some jerky football player. Brandon plays guitar. I know this because a) he's in the high school band, and b) we  hang out when his mother is giving my brother piano lessons, just like she used to give me. So Brandon and I have been friends for a long time. It was two years ago when I realized I liked him. And I still do. When he walked into the classroom, he saw me and waved. I waved back and smiled. He smiled, then chose the seat behind me.
     "Hey, Olivia," he greeted.
     "Hi, Brandon," I replied. "How was your summer?"
     "Great. I mainly had a staycation, but did lots of things around town. You?" he asked.
     "Ok, I guess. Mom took us on a 'family bonding road trip'", I replied, using air quotes. He laughed.
     "Good morning, juniors," Mrs. Valen greeted as she walked in the classroom. "How does it feel being in eleventh grade?" There were a few murmurs from around the room. Mrs. Valen nodded.
     "Okay, then. Announcements will be coming up shortly, then you can get out of here and go to your first class," she said. Announcements did sound, we said the pledge, and we were off.

     I strolled from class to class, teacher to teacher, and was bored out of my freaking mind. All day it was syllabus after syllabus, class rules after class rules, and a shitload of life stories. I expected it, of course. Everyone has that expectation that the first day of school is going to be just dandy, and the teachers are going to be super awesome, and the classes are going to be completely unique and to themselves. But then RING RING! Reality speaking. It's the same damn thing in every class. I guess by junior year everyone should have that down to a basic. But there's always hope, right? Nope. Not when either of your best friends are in any of your classes. Not when you have the teacher with the obnoxious voice for you're favorite subject. Not when you're enemy is in every. Damn. Class. And he sits next to you. In every. Damn. Class. I was overjoyed when I walked into choir class, the one period I don't have with Leo. And the one I do with Carmen, my other best friend. Of course, it was still horrible because it was another syllabus. Obviously. I was even happier when I walked into the band room, and there was no syllabus at all. I actually got to play my clarinet. Imagine that.
    

     The last bell rang, and I felt relieved. I walked as fast as I could to the middle school to pick up Malcolm. He dragged over to me, looking bored and tired as hell.
     "Man, I thought the fist day of school was going to be fun, like elementary. Not syllabuses and class rules! That was boooorrrriiinnngg," Malcolm complained.
     "Just wait, dude. It's like that for the first day of school for the rest of your education. It sucks the life out of you even more than finals," I told him. He sighed heavily.
     "Shoot," he remarked. I chuckled as we strolled home.