It Happened to Me

Chapter Thirteen

I could never understand why the hallways in high school are always cold. Not only are the hallways cold, but the classrooms are cold as well. The only difference between the temperature of the hallways and the classrooms is that the hallway temperatures vary. It can be really cold in one hallway but as soon as you turn around the corner it gets really warm. Why can't they remain at a constant temperature? On really hot days the temperature inside the buildings should but cool and vice versa.

I walk into my chemistry class and I sit in one of the seats closest to the front. I lean my head on my left hand as I stare at the window. I glance towards the front of the classroom and look at the clock. I already want to leave and there's only forty-five minutes of class left.

My chemistry teacher begins to speak but I don't listen. I hear some words and from the sound of it, it sounds like we're going to do some partner work. I look to my right and notice the empty chair sitting next to me. So does this mean that I don't have a partner?

"Before you guys begin," I hear Mrs. Bott say. "I'd like to introduce our new student, Lea."

I hear the class stir and their seats before muttering a "Hi, Lea" aloud. If I was in Lea's position, I'd feel insanely awkward.

Hearing the class say hi to Lea makes me think of the movie Finding Nemo. It makes me think of the part with the sharks where the head shark gets up in front of the other two sharks and says "Hey, my name is Bruce" and they all reply in unison with "Hi, Bruce."

"Lea, please take a seat next to Mia." Mrs. Bott motions to the only empty seat in the classroom.

The brunette quickly but gracefully glides her way to the seat on my right. I watch her as she puts her books on the desk and drops her blue backpack with the cookie monsters face plastered on the floor. Lea looks at me, her hazel eyes digging into me as a smile arises onto her face. I smile at Lea in return, acknowledging her presence. I don't want her to think I'm rude.

"Hey," She smiles. "You have any idea what we're doing?"

"Not a clue," I sigh, almost laughing. "I never do."

"Not good at Chemistry, huh?" She laughs.

"Not even a little." I smirk. "I'm on average in this class. I have a C."

"That's not too bad." Lea says.

"It is for someone who is above average," I mutter. "Then again, with the year I've been having I'm surprised that I have at least a C."

I glance away from Lea for a moment, watching the clock and counting the minutes until class is over. Maybe I'll get to see Jayce after class. God, I hope so.

I glance back at Lea seeing her eyes become a slightly darker shade than what it originally use to be. There's a glint in her eye, one of uncertainty. I knit my eyebrows together in a confused manner at her sudden silence. "You've had a tough year?" She asks.

"Yea," I answer while staring at my desk. "This is just not my year." In the year of a family member's death it never really equals a good year.

The two of us become silent and I just stare at my desk, my mind wandering to my father. I can finally sit here and think about him without crying. I'm almost glad that I can think about him in public but at the same time I feel like I shouldn't. Although I can think about him and not cry, I don't think that I can actually think about a real memory without crying. When I think of him I just think of the word father and loss; not necessarily my father himself.

"Mia," I hear a woman's voice say.

"Yes?" I look around for the voice, snapping out of my trance.