Moment of Reflection

Chapter 8

"We're finally seniors, Daisy," Audrey said as we walked across the parking lot, which had been repaved over the summer. "Can you believe it? Top of the food chain, we get first priority over everyone, we hold a higher power over the rest of the school, even the freshmen." She was clearly excited about being seniors.

"Yeah, it's about time." I said, forcing a laugh as we approached the large, glass doors.

Thankfully the school had multiple entrances so all two thousand students plus nearly two hundred staff didn't have to cram through one entrance.

As we entered the doors, the gymnasium was to the right just as it usually was along with one of the many trophy cases.

Walking past, I was greeted with the scent of rubber, sweat, and hardwood gym floors. I was so glad I never had to take that class again.

Involuntarily, I began to reminisce about that class over the last three years.

After gym class, we are forced to walk into a locker room with fifty or so other sweaty teenage girls. Mixing all of that stench in one room could never be a good idea. The scent of the mile run stings in your nasal passages as you change back into your regular clothes. It's sort of like an unwanted visitor in your house. The kind of person who lazily lounges on your couch and borrows your toothbrush, but doesn't tell you until you're in the middle of brushing your teeth. It hits you all at once, and for a moment you think you might run from the room screaming, but then you just grit your teeth and move on to what you have to do.

The worst part is when everyone wants to make themselves smell better. Of course, no one likes the same scent of perfume or lotion so you're ambushed with everything from the hot pink of Sweet Pea to the murky brown of coconut. It all just mixes into a person with too much personality for anyone to handle.

"Want to do our usual walk around before the school fills up?" Audrey asked, bringing me back to reality.

"That would be a great idea," I said, making sure not to cringe at the thought of being left again like usual, "the last thing we need is freshmen asking where to go." I added as we passed one of the empty cafeterias.

For some reason, I didn't know why, but every cafeteria had the same aroma of spilled milk and bleach. It wasn't necessarily disgusting, but I didn't think it was anyone's favorite scent.

As we continued talking, we strolled down the art wing of the school. Being that the building was so large, it was split up into wings based off of the classes. The art wing always consisted of the smell of paint thinner, acrylic paints, oil based paints, and that underlying earthy smell of wet ceramics.

While only certain parts of the school had their own distinct smell, the rest of the hallways had been the same. Most mornings, before everyone got here, they had a very sterile aroma, due to the janitors cleaning every inch of the school just about every night. Even if it was just the hallways. Other times of the day they usually had one moshed together scent. It was usually a mix of perfumes, colognes, overly concentrated body odor, sweat, tears, and books.

After about 15 minutes of walking with Audrey, Alek showed up. Keeping my slight irritation to myself, I threw on a smile and let Audrey go with him. I didn't mind that much because I figured I could text Vito as I walked around.

Daisy: Goooood morning

Vito: Well good morning! You're up early.

For a second I thought I was going to have to give away I was still in high school. So I had to play it off as if I wasn't.

Daisy: I'm naturally an early riser.

What I said wasn't a lie, I just didn't mention it was because of school.