Loose Ends

Part4

I had pencilled in a phone call with Amelia but with everything going on, I simply forgot and I decided not to go for it after remembering a week later. She would simply be too mad. Instead, I anxiously prepped for school with Savvy's help, worrying that people would recognise me.

The first day of school finally came. I picked out a spaghetti-strap tank top which was coloured an awkward green and paired it with a simple skirt and a cardigan. It was not the most flattering outfit, but it wasn't ugly either and it would certainly make me blend in. I had handed my old clothes down to my cousins back in Leeds, UK, to make sure that I don't have to worry about getting mixed up.

I went down and packed myself an unconventional lunch, full of fruits, granola bars, and a nice turkey wrap - super healthy compared to my usual bag of barbeque chips. I triple-checked my outfit, and once Savannah had given me her sign of approval, I went in my mum's car to school.

Jefferson High School was a sight I have not seen in a long time, but it still looks the same way as how I remembered it - long hallways, brick outer walls, and a track and a basketball court fenced off at the back. There was a side building connected by a small path, the cafeteria, and a garden patch on the side.

I walked in the admission office to get my schedule and to "change" my name. "Caley Burbank?" the secretary asked. She was young and new, twenty-four at the oldest.

I nodded. "Actually, I prefer Leigh, so can you put that down instead of Caley?" My request was easily granted as Leigh could pass as a nickname. My schedule and locker number was printed off and I headed to put my bag away.

BURBANK, Leigh

Honors English
Algebra I
Physics

Chemistry
Gym
Biology

French
AP World History
Art

When I found my locker, a long-haired girl with braces was waiting for me. Lydia Mathers seemed just about the same as last time: smart, cheerful, caring, and naïve. "Hi, I'm Lydia Mathers-Collins! You must be Leigh Burbank?" she greeted, "well, you're the third Burbank in our grade." I remember the twins, Marissa and Keira, and how we used to tell people we were triplets and how no one (more in comments)
teen.stories.xobelieved us. But what caught my mind was Lydia's surname. "Mathers-Collins!?" I nearly shouted, but caught myself.

I cleared my throat. "That's right, I'm Leigh." I force myself to smile, which she returns, and she shows me the way to English (which I already know). "Here's Standard English." That was where I used to be, but two years away has done me some good and they moved me up. "Where Marissa and Keira Burbank are," she jokes, and I laugh. It was also where three of the four boys I dated, AJ Byers, Joshua Frampton, and Callum Webb, were. I was glad that I didn't have to go back in there.

We walked along the hallways a little more, to the next door. "This is AP English, where I am... but I'll take you to Honors English." Maximilian Smith and my ex-best friend who I blew up at, Layla
Newman, was here.

We continued up to the last door in the alley. "Well, here you go. " I entered the room and was met with thirty-one stares and a smiling teacher. Miss Kent gestured for me to come forward. "Everyone, this is-" she squints at the paper, "-Leigh Banks." I exhale at my luck; she pronounced my name incorrectly! That was even better for my coverup story. "She looks awfully familiar." "I'm sure she's got one of those faces!" "Definitely one of those faces. Lulu, you're delusional." I awkwardly sat down in the only empty seat at the back, next to a girl I did not recognise. She smiled shyly at me and looked back down to her table.

Miss Kent clears her throat. Once she gets everyone's attention, she scribbles something down on the whiteboard, and announces, "Everyone, we will be starting with an in-depth analysis of 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Please come to the front and take a copy." Everyone groans.

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