Take Me Along

Chapter One

Chapter One

I sat with my hands folded in my lap and I looked out the window across the small room with a cold stare.

There I was, sitting in the principal's office on the last day of my senior year of high school. Only something I could pull off.

No, I wasn't one of those idiots who enjoyed sitting in the principal's office twice a week.

I was one of those idiots who enjoyed trouble in general.

Many of the kids at school think I'm the way I am because of my parents' divorce. Or because my dad lives on the other side of the country in Los Angeles.

It's nothing like that. It was something only two people in this whole world knew about. And I was going to make sure it stayed that way.

"Vanessa Rossi, nice to see you again." A man's voice said behind me. A man's voice that was all too familiar.

I looked over to see my short, chubby principal pull out the chair at his desk to sit.

My face remained emotionless as I waited for him to begin talking.

Principal Hayes and I both knew that yelling at me stopped working years ago, so he didn't even bother to waste his breath.

He smoothed out his gray mustache with his finger then started his oration.

"You just couldn't stay away from me, could you?" He asked, trying to make a joke out of the situation.

As usual, I just rolled my eyes and slumped down further in my chair.

"So, what is it that you did this time?" He asked with a sigh.

He picked up a pencil and started to fondle it between his fingers.

"Well, it was that stupid-" I started, but then stopped myself to refrain from swearing at the principal.

"It was that girl, Kim Diaz. You know, the reason why I'm usually here." I said calmly.

"And what did you do to Miss Diaz this time?" He asked. I could tell he was growing tired of asking these same questions over and over.

Kim Diaz and I have had it out for each other since the eighth grade. There was no reason other than the fact that we were both stubborn teenage girls.

It started out as innocent talking about each other with our friends and spreading rumors. But then in ninth grade, I finally got the push I needed to take it a step further.

Rather than our daily dose of calling each other "worthless" or a "joke," I actually went after her. Literally.

The funniest part was that she didn't even do anything; I just sprung onto her in the cafeteria and began to fight her with all of my strength.

Things like that had gone on for years, which leads me up to today.

I was putting my AP Literature folder back in my locker and I looked at myself in the mirror. This was something I always did between classes to make sure I looked okay.

I pushed my dark brown side bangs to the side a little more and I moved some of my hair to the front of me. I loosely curled my dark brown hair today because I figured that it would go well with my dark wash denim shorts, cream colored loose-fitted knit top, and my brick-colored gladiator sandals.

As I was looking in the mirror, I noticed that behind me Kim was pointing at me. She was standing next to the boy I've liked since I was in tenth grade.