(I have absolutely no idea how this works so if I submit something wrong, I'm sorry in advance, this chapter is much longer than expected whoops
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Ruby's POV
Simple thoughts kept me awake the night before. My situation was close to being any cliche story opening. I started a new school, it's my first day, and I'm generally nervous. This overall isn't very interesting, but according to my brain as I try to fall asleep, there are many possibilities of things I could either mess up or forget. Now it's six am and I'm awake. Due to my morning exhaustion, I'm for some reason upset that I couldn't figure out a way to turn off my brain the night before. An alarm buzzes to the side of my ear and I sloppily glide my hand over it and slam down. The bus comes around at six forty, which gives me a decent thirty five minutes to get dressed, and get stressed.
I glance at myself in the bathroom mirror, and I don't really feel anything in all honesty. I should have some deep pitted issues that hit me when I glance at myself, but all I see is a sleep-deprived and anxious teen. I shuffle to the closet and I throw on a red tank and black shorts. Something like this is a everyday outfit for me, I've decided not to dress nice at the beginning of the school year because I know that would not be a habit I would be able to continue. I shove on some shoes and I scrunch some product into my coiled hair.
My mother calls from the kitchen and I make my way in. Her dark eyes meet mine, there's a sense of understanding that reflects back onto me. She slides a bowl and box of cereal over to where I've sat. As I'm pouring it in, I hear the loud thumping of footsteps down the hall. My brother plops into the chair next to me, he taps his fingertips on the table, he's either worried about the day, or is very ecstatic about me passing him the cereal box. I finish pouring and I hand it over, it turns out it was the second option.
"Morning Ruby! Morning Mom!"
"Good morning Aiden, please chew with your mouth closed."
Mom takes a seat next to me at the table.
"Anything either of you want to talk about before the day?"
I glance at the clock, six thirty eight. I shove the remaining cereal down my throat, shake my head, and run out the door.
I see Aiden trailing shortly behind me, I watch the bus pull up to the stop in unison to our footsteps. I step on, the bus has a decent amount of people on it, but it's not overly cramped. Yet. I suppose my brother and I are the only ones who get on at this stop because the doors close behind us. I recognize Amethyst but she doesn't see me, we hardly ever talk so it doesn't really matter anyways. We've barely spoken since she got that "new girlfriend", a pale and skinny girl with short blonde hair who wore a lot of green. Even though I was upset that this girl had caused a decrease in our friendship, I couldn't deny that they were a cute couple. They're two years older than me too, it's not like I'd be able to hang out with them anyways. I see a young boy I recognize as Steven, I've only seen pictures of him from Amethyst before, there's also a girl sitting next to him, from what what I can hear, they're talking about some sort of spirit animal books. I contemplate introducing myself, but realize the action isn't going to get me anywhere, so I continue walking.
I see a girl sitting by herself, her long hair falls over her shoulders and into her face as she buries herself into a book. I don't usually associate with book types, and I notice the row on her left is empty so it sit down. I study her while we wait for the next stop, but I find nothing interesting about her, maybe once she moves I'll be able to see her face. We come to the next stop and a large group of boys thunder into the bus. An especially large jock type plops down next to her, and props his feet up. At first I assume he's her boyfriend or something of that sort. But she never looks up. He glances at her, not really a glance though, more of an intense stare. He pushes his arm to the top of the seat and slowly begins to slide it around her shoulders. She flinches and pops her shoulders up as a signal for him to move his arm, which he does, but this doesn't stop him from trying to get touchy for the whole ride. I contemplate speaking up, or doing the things girls do where they pretend to be friends to get creeps away. But I cower away from my thoughts and stay quiet.
By the time we get to the school, I assume she's been prodded all over by this kid, but the whole time she never said one word, never even told him to stop. It was just and endless cycle of poking and flinching, that I wished I had put an end to.
I step off the bus and I begin to make my way to my first period class. Math. I'm in the lowest class possible, and yet I still don't understand it. The class is a blur, my mind just plays songs and thinks of better solutions to my past problems. I think of how I could've said a few simple words to help the girl. I feel my eyes slowly shut and my face falls into my hand. I hear a slam on my desk.
"Miss Ruby Clark can you repeat the homework assignment I just gave you?" I look up and glance into the eyes of Mrs. Y, who judging by facial expressions, is not at all pleased with my actions. I glance around nervously, hoping for some sort of hint from a classmate but I don't receive one.
"No ma'am, sorry."
"Well that is not acceptable now is it Miss Clark? Consider this your first and last warning." She writes the assignment on the board and the class is dismissed. I make my way to science. Our names our labeled onto desks that are pressed together to make long rows. I find my name tag "Ruby Clark." And I sit. I glance over at the names next to me "Jackson Brown" and "Sapphire Davidson." I look forward but then look at the name on my right again. "Sapphire" next to me. We both have gemstone names, and I'm currently wearing a red shirt, with aligns with that. It would be interesting if she came in wearing blue. More people come into the room. I see the back of the girl from the bus this morning, and my heart immediately starts pounding. I really hope she doesn't see me, if I was her I would be angry at me for not doing anything. She turns around and starts pacing towards my direction. I'm nervous but interested, I assumed that once she stopped looking down, her hair would part and I'd see her features, but her bangs brushed the tip of her nose and they laid straight across her face. I became more nervous as she drew closer. Would she be angry at me for not taking action earlier? Would she just give me that generally sad look? Either way it would make me feel awful. But she said nothing and didn't even appear to be looking in my direction. She came and sat at the desk next to mine labeled "Sapphire." And I notice that she's wearing a blue shirt.
