Kimberly's Story

A Little Drama

I slap my alarm clock and roll over, grumbling that I hate mornings. I try to ignore the cold shudders running up my spine as I crawl out of bed and get ready for school.

But as I finish getting dressed and slip out of the house I can’t shake the feeling of change. The good sort, of course. Maybe it’s the fact that I actually have something to look forward to; Keith.

A giggle escapes my lips before I get the chance to hold it in. Giddy and anxious, I start to walk up the path to school.

“Kim!” I hear someone shout behind me and I whirl around, shocked that someone knows my name.

As I see who it is, my heart skips a beat. “Keith,” I whisper, a grin stretching my lips and warming my cheeks.

Keith finally catches up to me, breathing heavily, causing a cloud of vapor to puff out of his mouth. “Next time,” he says while trying to catch his breath, “knock on my door so I don’t have to run to catch up with you every morning.”

I laugh. “Sorry. I’m not really used to having someone to walk with, I forgot.”

He lets out a soft chuckle. “Right. Come on,” he says, nudging his shoulder in the direction of the school, motioning for me to walk with him. “So, uh, how’d it go last night? Did you figure out what that crash was?”

I tense as he says this, biting my lip and deciding whether nor not I should say anything to him. “Yeah, it was…” I trail off.

Suddenly, Keith stops me in my tracks by standing in front of me, a sad expression on his face. “Kim, I thought we were past this.”

I look away.

I know everything that goes on in your household already. You don’t have to make any more excuses. You can tell me, anything. I told you that.”

I look back at him. “But you don’t know everything that goes on in my life, Keith. I-I only told you what I wanted to. I didn’t give you the details and I didn’t go into it that much, at all,” I confess.

He raises his eyebrows at me, surprised. “What does that mean? Don’t you trust me?”

I shake my head but don’t answer. Can’t answer.

His hurt-filled eyes tear away from me and the next thing you know we’re walking side-by-side again but in silence.

I feel something in my chest pang as we reach the school entrance and Keith turns to me again. “I’m sorry, Keith. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just not ready to tell you everything, yet.”

We stand there for a moment, searching each other.

Keith nods and then a slow smile creeps onto his lips. “Yet,” he repeats.

I roll my eyes at him, the gesture yet again unfamiliar to me, causing me to stop.

“I’ll see you late, Kim,” he says to me, smiling.

I really like that about him, I think to myself, he doesn’t make a big deal of things.

“See you,” I say, softly and head for my locker.

When the lunch bell rings, Lizzie and I walk to our lockers as usual. Stephanie’s locker is in another hallway—thankfully—so Lizzie and I are almost always together.

“Keith seems really nice,” Lizzie says to me as she shoves her binder into her locker and fishes out a granola bar.

“He is,” I say, distractedly. “Hey, do you have anything else to eat?” I ask her, somewhat desperately. The granola bar I had for breakfast wasn’t going to last me until dinner.

She peers into her locker. “Yeah, I have half a sandwich, you want it?”

I nod, feeling my brain bounce around in my head.

She laughs and hands it to me. “You really need to start remembering to pack a lunch.”

I smile, nervously but try to hide it. “Yeah.”

“Hey, are you OK?” she asks and I want to cry.

Boy, did I hate that question.

“Sure, I’m just having a bad day, that’s all,” I lie. Well, sort of.

She looks at my sympathetically and for a moment I almost feel bad for her. One of her best friends is a complete bitch to her and the other—being me—isn’t really who she thinks she is.

We get our usual spots in the foyer on the benches and start chatting away, listening for the latest gossip: Matt Littman and Stephanie Montgomery are officially an item.

I pull out my I-pod and stick the ear buds in my ears.

Now that I think about it, I really was feeling kind of crappy today. I hope I’m not coming down with something.

I close my eyes, leaning against the wall. For a moment I let myself zone out, become completely oblivious to my surroundings.

But as soon as I zoned out, I was yanked right back to the present.

What was everyone staring at?

And then I see her. The new girl.

At the time, I didn’t understand why she seemed so interesting.

This is exactly the moment where my life changes forever . . . not to be too melodramatic.

But then again, who doesn’t like a little drama?