Soul Search

Not Too Heinous

    I'm positive you didn't open this book to read about mundane high school classes, so forgive me if I skip over the boring parts, like math, or biology or whatever.

    I did shared third period, history, with Julia Woods however.

    Who was Julia Woods?

    Goodness.

    She was always just a few seconds late. When she did arrive however, she was perfect. She had bleach blonde, long wavy hair that always looked incredibly soft from three seats back. Another amazing thing about girls, they did the impossible and more with their hair sometimes. Today for example, she had it down with braids keeping it away from her eyes. I don't think I'll understand how girls do that.

    Not to mention the way her pale sapphire eyes lit up and sparkled when she smiled. That was another thing about Julia, she smiled a lot. She was always so upbeat and happy. I thought that was amazing. She was so nice to everyone too, that's what made her so popular. Julia was nice to everyone and everyone wanted to be friends with her. You either want to be with Julia, or wanted to be her, there was no in between. She was amazingly smart too, she pretty much alway aced her classes. The day Julia Woods failed a class was the day I actually plucked up the courage to ask her out.

    No matter how much I admired her I was never brave enough to talk to her. I would give anything to find out that Julia was my soulmate. The thought of brushing by her and actually glowing was probably my biggest dream. You're probably wondering why I hadn't made it a reality yet, er...It's almost like someone giving you the spoiler to a good book before you finished. I was both completely captured her and utterly terrified that if I did hold her hand one day than nothing would happen. I was scared we might not be meant to be, so that's why I had always kept my distance.

    That, and Julia Woods already had a boyfriend.

    His name was Arthur Laurens.

    I had never liked Arthur. I loathed him, unadulteratedly loathed him. It didn't help that he had the same last name as John Laurens, the almost founding father, who didn't deserve to have this kid named after him.

    Before you jump to conclusion, no, Arthur wasn't Julia's soulmate either. They showed enough PDA for everyone to know that. It was common for people to date before they found their soulmate, practice or whatever. Some people went their whole lives without ever finding their other half. People like Abby who didn't really care and were only in it for the friendships. People like my parents got married without finding their soulmate, but they're not married anymore so I don't know what good that did them.

    I didn't feel like that however, and that was just another thing on the long and tedious list of things that scared me.

    To sum it up, Julia Woods walked into my history class slightly late, dressed in a flowy black blouse and jeans, perfect as always. Then I, as always, spent the entire period trying to come up with ways to talk to her, while the teacher droned on the about the French Revolution in the background. Just more stuff I could look up later.

    Then we parted ways, without so much as a glance in my direction, I was already half convinced she didn't know I existed. I guess that would change this year though.

    The next most exciting class I had was art, which was optional, but the teacher, Mr. Barton was widely cherished as one of the best teachers in Greenflower High, so a lot of the kids ended up taking the class anyone. Art was my back up if theatre failed, or if I just never plucked up the courage to. I wasn't really all that good, by my standard, but Abby thought I was awesome. There wasn't much about anyone that Abby disliked.

    Mr. Barton was setting up as usual. I paused and sighed internally as I saw my favorite spot was taken by no other than Arthur Laurens, who couldn't draw for squat. He tried and it certainly wasn't my place t tell him otherwise, but Arthur always liked to pretend he knew more about painting than he actually did, and he liked to talk a lot. Even though it technically wasn't allowed, because, hello, art class. Mr, Barton allowed it if you were quiet enough though.

    Let's talk about Mr. Barton for bit while I set up to continue a bird painting I had been working on for a few weeks. He was so awesome. He played music sometimes before class and it was almost never classical music, it was usually pop or indie rock. For the most part we could usually do whatever we wanted, as long as we promised to focus solely on that for a least that class. Mr. Barton also took the time to get to know everyone, he wanted to stay updated in everyone's lives. It was a really comfortable place to be in.

    "Micah," he smiled warmly upon my entrance. "How are you doing?"

    "I'm doing good." I glanced over to see Arthur was the only other kids here yet, and head had his earbuds in.

    "Any drama? Or just the usual?" He went on.

    "My parents are forcing me to try and find my soulmate this years." I said quickly, before more kids could walk in and eavesdrop.

    He frowned. Mr. Barton had thick eyebrows, so when he frowned it was obvious. "Sounds like quite the endeavor, I wish you the best of luck. Anyone particular you're hoping for?"

    I blushed slightly and glanced over at Arthur again, he still seemed lost in whatever music he was listening too. "Y-yeah, probable is she has a boyfriend, not a soulmate boyfriend, and I don't that it's feels wrong."

    Mr. Barton nodded, patting my shoulder. "Well you know, if by some chance it works out, than maybe it's for the better. You gotta remember to give everything a shot first."

    Guys, gals, and pals, the hilarious Mr. Barton. I almost laughed. Then I got busy with my cardinal in the snow painting. Arthur continued to ignore everything. He actually seemed quiet solemn whenever Mr. Barton tried to talk to him. I wondered if something was up.

    Art class was always over way faster than I would have liked. I still have an a singing lesson and a dance class to get to, but those weren't at the school. So I was finally packing up for the day. It was when I was getting my stuff from my locker when I get the chance to introduce another relevant human being in my life.

    The locker door slammed onto my fingers and I yelped out in pain, yanked my hands away dropping a few notebooks and spilling paper all over the floor. 

    "You better watch where you're going Halabi." Gregory Smith spat at me.

    I felt my self esteem drop dramatically and my face heat up with embarrassment as I bent over to pick all of my stuff.

    "Pathetic." He hissed one more time before kicking one of my book and continuing on his way.  

    Thank goodness. I got let off easy this time. There was a bruise forming where the door hit my fingers but it wasn't that bad. I had suffered worse, not from Greg, but from other worse bullies. Greg and I didn't actually have any personal rivalry, I just happened to get in his way sometimes. I didn't know what his problem was either, he transferred here for high school and has been a complete jerk since. I don't think anyone knows why, nobody has the guts to ask. I didn't care much either, I just had to avoid him.

    I picked up my fallen school supplies, put them away, packed my stuff and left. I started singing a little tune in in my head, to get over nearly getting beat up. Which, again, I've been through worse, so all in all a not to heinous day.