The Way We Fall

I was never really a popular girl, until I got into 8th grade. By then it was my last year of middle school, and it didn't really matter. But, most of the kids from my middle school, including my best friends, ended up going to the same high school as me. From there on, everything kind of flowed. I never tried too hard to become popular, but being social came naturally to me. I stuck with my best friends no matter what. Sure, I had a few meaningless relationships, but by the end of my freshman year, one of my close guy friends, Andrew, asked me out. That's when I realized how much I liked him. From then on, my life went pretty perfectly. Now that you're all caught up, I bring you to the present day me, here on my first day of school.

••••

"ANDREA!" A scream erupted from the end of the hallway. The clicking of high heels drew closer as I spun around to see who called me.

"Oh my gosh! Claire is that you?" I said over dramatically. "But of course!" She curtsied, breaking out into a fit of giggles. I rushed over and hugged her, squeezing the air out of her lungs. "I.. can't.. breathe.."', she managed to gasp. Backing away, I sized her up. "You look good!" I announced. "Same with you!" By the way we spoke, you'd have never guessed that we spent the entire summer together, lounging at the beach and shopping.

"Ready to start our lives as juniors?" She asked me. "Hell yeah!" was my response. Though we weren't quite at the top of the school yet, we were getting there. Now there were only two more people I had to look for. After reviewing Claire's schedule, we deduced that we had 3 classes together- History, Chemistry, and Latin. We walked to first period together, catching up on what we had done in the past day, and that's when I saw him. 

His eyes sparkled as they connected with mine, and I ran up and hugged him, slightly swaying. He wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on top of mine. "You know, if we stay here much longer, we'll be late to first period." he said sarcastically. "Shut the hell up. I missed you!" I said into his Nirvana shirt. "I missed you a whole damn lot too." He said, releasing me. Luke was my best friend, and my neighbor. Funny enough, we met in kindergarten when I dropped my juice box and he gave me his. Yes, I know it's cliche, but some friendships never die.

Claire caught up to me, laughing. "I see you found Luke," she said with a smirk on her face. "Yep." i said, a smile on my face as he wrapped his arm around me and messed up my hair. We had the best kind of friendly relationship you could hope for, he was literally the defintion of attractive guy best friend. He let go of me as his reckless friends barrelled over. "Hey Lukey boy!" shouted Andrew and Ryan. Andrew winked at me as he slapped Lukes back. As the boys talked about.. whatever it is that boys talk about, me and Claire set out to find Jolie. It wouldn't be too hard, since she left a trail of perfume and staring eyes everywhere she went. Andrew jogged up after us, wrapping his arm around my waist while kissing the top of my head, "Hey beautiful." He flashed his pearly whites at me while Claire gagged behind us. "Oh thank God, there's Jolie." Jolie was waving at boys, sashaying towards us. Claire ran ahead to greet her, muttering about 'PDA'. Jolie wiggled her fingers at us, peeking over Claire's shoulders. Coming our way, she exclaimed,"Show me your schedules!", kissing our cheeks like she was Marie Antoinette. 

Me and Claire glanced at each other like "Oh gosh, not this again." But we love Jolie so we don't mind her fancy antics. Jolie shared the same classes as me and Claire, plus math with me. Claire was ahead a year in math since she took virtual school for it. Hearing the warning bell ring, Claire muttered "Oh shit," and latched onto my arm, pulling me to class as a balding teacher warned her about her language.

Andrew laughed and followed us, slipping his hand into mine. I smiled up at him, thinking,"This is gonna be a great year."