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01

"Mom! I'm headed off to school!" I yelled as I ran out the door. It was only the first day of school and already, I was late for the bus. My first day of my first year of high school. I couldn't believe it! I raced down the street as I heard the sound of the bus doors closing. I screamed and yelled for someone to hear me, but it didn't work. The bus sped down the road, as I ran after it. Just as I gave up and prepared for my mother's inevitable wrath, the bus driver slammed on his brakes and opened the doors. I got on the bus, panting, and realized that every seat already was full except for one, sitting next to a girl I'd never seen before in the very back of the bus.

I slumped to the back of the bus and asked to sit with her through heaving breaths. Shyly, she told me I could sit down. She moved her bag onto her lap and scooted as close to the side of the bus as she possibly could. I took a seat next to her and smiled awkwardly. Immediately, I noticed how... different she was. She was very beautiful, but not in an obvious way. It was hidden, but very much there.

We both sat staring opposite directions for most of the ride until I finally spoke up, like I'd wanted to the entire time.

"So, um, I'm Cole. What's your name?" I asked. I watched her turn her head towards me and stare at her lap. Her soft brown hair fell across her face and created a barrier between us.

"Mae." she said. Somehow, I knew she was a Mae. It was a name as mysterious as her beauty.

"What a beautiful name! Are you new here? I've lived here since I was born and I've never seen you so I'm just curious. Gosh, now I'm going to feel really bad if you've also lived here your whole life and-"

"No, I just moved here from Switzerland." She giggled. She looked up at me and gazed her bright green eyes into my deep brown ones. "My dad got a new job here, so we moved here, just in time for me to abandon my lifelong friends and childhood home to come here for high school. Sorry if I sound angry, but you're the first person I've talked to in weeks that I'm not related to."

"So I'm guessing you're a freshman?" I said, smiling. She opened up to me so quickly, and I don't even know how.

"Yeah, I bet you hate us freshmen, huh?" she replied. I guess I hadn't specified my grade either.

"Well, no, considering I'm a freshman as well. Who's your first teacher?" I asked. I was praying to a God I didn't believe in that she would have Mrs. Gunnery' English class, so I could get to know her more.

"I think it's a Mr. Perry. I have Physics first." she said.

"Are you some sort of a genius?" I joked. Mr. Perry's Physics class was typically taken by seniors, the prestigious juniors, and the occasional sophomore, but they were really rare, so taking his class as a freshman would be absolutely insane.

"Well, I don't know if you'd consider me a genius, but I guess so? The curriculum in Switzerland is just different, so some of the classes you'd consider basic are upper level classes to me. I'm taking physics as a freshman because it's one of the easy science classes back home. I just need to get on your curriculum so I'll just go up from here. I mean, I'd be fine with just taking biology like the rest of America's freshman but the school board insisted I take the same classes I would've back home and-"

"Well, that makes sense then. I bet you're still really smart though, even if you don't think you're a genius." The bus pulled up to the school and stopped abruptly. Neither of us were prepared for the stop and we both flew forward and hit our heads on the seat in front of us. She looked at me and started laughing.