R.I.P. To My Youth

2

The rest of the day I only saw the boy and his friends a few times. None of them had even glanced my way since our awkward encounter in the hallway. I was glad considering I couldn't handle being embarrassed on the first day. It was definitely a very rare and almost unrealistic fear I had somehow accumulated since I had moved. Without myself doing something completely and utterly embarrassing there was nothing for me to fear.

I stayed hidden most of the day until it was my lunch period. I had sat down at a table outside surrounded by what felt like half of the student body. It wasn't long before there were no more seats left and two girls were left standing with their trays filled with an assortment of healthy foods. I looked away mentally weighing my options to be a nice person or not.

Neither of them looked shy but by the way they were rejected by another table made me feel like I had to jump out of my comfort zone for a second and make a few new friends. Worst case scenario is I start speaking Spanish because I freaked out from overthinking my introduction. Good thing I hadn't spoke the language since sophomore year.

I waited until one of the girls turned their head in my direction. I waved with a smile and began to silently freak out in my head as the other pulled her friend towards me.

"Hi. My names Serena and this is my friend Eliana." Said the blonde. "May we sit?"

"Yeah, of course." I smiled.

They both were very pretty and definitely dressed as nice as the red haired girl I had seen this morning. Eliana was tan with dark brown hair and eyes. Even when she wasn't smiling she seemed to look genuinely content the entire time. The same with Serena, once I had them talking they were amazing to talk to.

"What grade are you in?" Asked Eliana as she took another bite from her salad.

"I'm a senior." There was no point in trying to hide it. I was a senior at a new school and it sucked.

"Why did you move if you're a senior? Couldn't you have stayed at you're old school? It must not have been far." She replied.

"I came from New York City. I have a lot of family here so my brother and I thought it was best if we lived closer to them. I don't care much about leaving my old school behind. New York is full of materialistic people and I could use a change of scenery. I mean, I've only visited Beacon Hills once." I said seeing both girls stare back at me in awe. "So what grade are you guys?"

"I'm a senior and she's a junior." Serena pointed to her friend beside her.

"How did you guys become friends?" I asked curious to how a senior would want anything to do with a junior.

"We played soccer together my sophomore year and then we just became friends." Serena said after swallowing the last bit of her strawberry mango smoothie.

Once we became deep into our conversation the last two girls I wanted to see walked into the courtyard. Both of them I had partially met this morning while bumping into their long lost  friend they thought they would never see again.  It finally became awkward as the red haired girl made her way towards us with her friend behind her.

Her heels clicked against the concrete until they finally stopped beside our table. Lucky for me she turned to Serena to talk. The girl I shared locker space with made eye contact but didn't change her facial expression at all. She looked at me with hateful eyes and looked away as if to ignore my presence completely.

"Serena, you're taking AP Biology this year correct?" The red haired girl asked placing her hand on the table letting her purse slide down her arm.

"I'm not sure yet. I have a free period during that class and I'm still trying to decide." She said while starting to look a little nervous.

"Please Serena. Can you please take the class. I need a partner that I can rely on during an assignment and I know you're the smartest girl out there." She begged.