From the 2nd Year

I

The butterflies fluttered more violently as we neared the school, I was ready to see the new friends I had made the previous year. I hadn't any communication with them over that summer because I was not allowed to have a smartphone yet, so I had wondered what they looked like and how much had changed or happened since our last gathering.

I stepped out of the car onto the curb where I would be dropped off and picked up each and everyday... A fresh summer breeze... I remember taking a moment before walking into the brick and mortar building. After a few deep breaths, I finally had the courage to walk into the establishment with some sense of pride and meaning. As I walked away from the vehicle I had just exited, I looked over my shoulder at my stepmother who waved me goodbye before I disappeared.

The halls of my school proved very difficult to the incoming freshman. They were so funny! You should've seen them, they didn't know where to go. They were like the gum balls of a jar that had been spilt- everywhere, going in every possible direction. The layout of that school was tricky, I'll admit. Our school had gotten an upgraded science wing that didn't match the rest of the building. Here you have a somewhat-vintage red-brick building with really wide black, tin trim along the top of the roof, and then- like a sore thumb, is this sleek glass and aluminum "fish bowl" as some of us called it.

It was definitely a sight for sore eyes, but somehow it all fit. Like a janky puzzle piece that you jam into the rest of the puzzle even though it doesn't fit. But even more odd were the hallways that had no element of cohesion what-so-ever. They were windy, crooked, and the room numbers where scattered throughout in such a way that didn't make logical sense to a normal human.

Although, I can't complain too much, the obvious flaws to the building gave it character. I was too excited about seeing my friends to care anyways! When I finally found a familiar face, I ran up to them, hugged them, and then asked them the question everyone was asking which was, 'How was your summer?' And usually you'd get a generic response because the person you haven't seen in 3 months is all of a sudden a stranger again. But whatever. After the short reunion and small talk we formed a posse and went on the hunt for the rest of the old gang.

That familiar friend and I found more of our old 'squad' members who we forced to join our group. Those friend who we took hostage were totally ok with joining the squad or else they wouldn't have, but eventually we all decided on the best meeting spot possible; the library. It makes sense because it was virtually always open and in a centralized location of the building. Okay. If you want to get technical, then technically the enclosed courtyard was the most central part of the building, but that's not important.

One of these many friends was Mandy. Her and I were the best of friends. I don't think she came on the first day of school- either that or I just never ran into her. On the second day or so, Mandy got word that everyone else, including myself, were hanging out in the library in the mornings. So when someone mentioned that she'd be there shortly I started anticipating her arrival because I wanted to hug her and tell her how much I missed her and ask her the same lame question I asked everyone else, 'How was your summer?'

Mandy was a petite girl with light brown hair- sometimes curly, sometimes not. She had hazel-brown eyes and blonde eyelashes. She looked a little goofy in the face because she had really rosy cheeks, but she was still pretty in her own way. Such as, Mandy wore a pair of thick-framed glasses and always had a flannel shirt of some kind. Now that I think about it- she kind of looked like a Tumblr girl.

She didn't live in the same neighborhoods as everyone else. Mandy lived in a really cool geodesic home. But she came from humble a household further outside of town in what people who live around here call the Hill Country. That part of the area was known for being either very rich or very poor. It was hard to find middle class in the hills especially the deeper you got into the trees. Most of those people lived in trailer homes and ran their own little methamphetamine drug ring.

Then there was my friend Korrin. She lived near Mandy, but neither of them lived in poverty- no. They had great lives as far as I was concerned, but Korrin was part Korean and part African American. She was a beautiful girl, very tall and slender, but she had her strange moments. Our other squad members were Aly, Hallee, and Nikki. Although, it wasn't just a bunch of us girls in the library, we had guy friends too.

While all of us were gathered in the library, I was closely on the lookout for what I thought was my 'man-to-be' when finally he entered the room. His name was Reid. I had a huge crush on him throughout freshman year. He was a tall white boy with blue eyes and brownish hair who always wore a pair of converse and a lightweight hoody. He was really smart when it came to his studies, but managed to say the dumbest things! Granted, the things he said were all funny and intelligent things, not just stupid and immature sex jokes.

For instance, freshman year I was really interested in zodiacs, so I would ask my friends what their signs were. I asked Reid his sign, "I'm a Virgo," he giggled. "Did you know that statistically, Virgo's are the most hipster zodiac?" All I could do was laugh at his rhetorical question and then try to refute his argument- you know, for conversation's sake. I am a libra by the way (comment and tell me what you are).

While in the library, everyone was sharing their schedules to see if they had any of the same classes as each other. I didn't have a class with anyone from my group of friends, no classes with Reid because he was in all advanced classes and no classes with my best friend Mandy- well, as far as I knew. From there on, it was all new friends and the only time I would see anyone from my group would be at lunch if I was lucky.