The Phantom of Scranton Hill

15

Summer break sped by like lightning, and before Justine knew it, school was right around the corner. Her books were ready as were her supplies. Everything was good to go except for her. She dreaded having to return to school; homework, projects, gym class. Most high schools around the country had a required two years of physical education, but no. Scranton high just had to force all four years of gym upon its students to help with the stupid health program.

But Justine couldn't care less about gym. It wasn't one of her top priorities. All summer, Justine has been trying to contact any and all of her friends, successfully reaching Chase. Rose, however, hadn't responded to a single text message or phone call, and Max refused to speak about it.

Throughout the last summer months, Chase and Justine had grown closer. Multiple times, Chase had taken her out to movies and dinners and theme parks, and barely a sliver of awkward air was ever between them. They may have been close, but in no way had Chase filled the shoes of Dax. Justine had made sure that she kept that spot open, and sometimes at night, she liked to talk to herself, imagining that he was still there. As insane as it seemed, it kept her in check and stopped her from thinking about anything unreasonable and foolish like sleeping in a graveyard or something like that.

Justine may have been in some pain, but she would never, never, think about ending her life. She had too much to live for and was, believe it or not, more stable, both emotionally and physically, than most teenagers her age.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder if she did something wrong for Rose to ignore her. And she knew Max knew about it. But if they didn't tell her something, Justine trusted that she was let out of the loop for a valid reason. She owed them that much.

Then came the first day of school, the first day of senior year. With butterflies swirling in her stomach, Justine stared into her closet, unsure what to wear. It needed to be nice, but not too extravagant. It needed to say, "I'm comfortable, but somewhat fashionable," instead of, "I just woke up like this so deal with it."

Sort of satisfied with a pair of black rolled up jeans and a white and gray thin striped shirt underneath a light blue jean jacket, Justine pulled on her sneakers.

Exhausted and not at all motivated, Justine walked across the carpet over to the oak door of her new bedroom, just passing her purple sheeted bed she desperately wanted to crawl back into. Hesitantly, she grabbed her backpack, the same one as years past, and dragged it down the wood floor.

Once in the kitchen, Justine grabbed a freshly baked cinnamon roll from the counter and wished her mother farewell. Her feet not lifting off of the classic black and white checkered tiles, Justine locked the tall white door at the front of the house and ran off toward the closest bus stop. Times like these, Justine wished she could drive on her own.

As soon as she arrived on campus, Justine sprinted through the parking lot and toward the main office to get her new schedule, purposely coming extra early as to avoid the annual long line. No, 'long' is certainly a major understatement.

Imagine two Great Walls of China back to back, followed by six whale sharks, each forty feet long and hungry, lined up on their stomachs. Got that? Great. Now multiply it by four. That's around half of the expected line up on the first day of school here at Scranton High. First come, first serve. So, in Justine's mind, early was on time, on time was late, and late meant you were screwed.

"Ugh," Justine whined as she saw the line of students whirl out the door and around the corner of the main building. "Can't there at least be a nice roller coaster at the end of this? This is insane!" she muttered under her breath.

"I know right," a voice said behind her as an arm draped itself over her shoulder. "At least I know a nice girl that will let me cut in front of her."