Present Drifter

Chapter 1

 Students wander through the school's bland hallways as I slip through the entrance. Some are just standing around talking, others are working, and then there's the select few who are actually at their lockers. I walk past all of them, the classrooms, and the rows of vacant lockers, towards the cafeteria. Every morning I wait here for my friend Emma, who never arrives until about ten minutes before the first bell rings.

No one looks my way as I past by, but I take in every face. There's small groups of friends every few feet, but the main group is at the end of the hallway in a big bunch. In my head I refer to them as the popular girls, and I guess they are, but I never give them that kind of recognition. Their just a group of people who pretend their higher up and better than the rest of us. For some reason others start to believe that.

It's not that their bad people or anything, some of them are actually tolerable. They just get so wrapped up in their own lives, and their status, that the rest of us become side characters to them. They don't really matter right now though. I'm just trying to survive high school without emotionally getting screwed over.

Only a few people are in the cafeteria when I enter, just like every day before school. I take my seat at the third table down in the first row, like I always do. You could say I live my life in a strict schedule. I'm not a perfectionist or anything, my life just always falls into a sort of order.

I drop my backpack onto the floor as I slip into a chair facing the wall instead of the rest of the room. It's oddly quiet in here other than a group of boys, sitting two tables down from me, doing who knows what. The only one there that I ever talk to is David Matthews.

David is just a friend of mine. It's actually kind of odd that we're friends because we're almost total opposites. He's outgoing and more on the popular side, I'm not. He is the kind of guy that everyone likes and everyone wants to be friends with. I guess I'm lucky that for some reason we became friends.

The rest of the boys at the table are a combination of the jocks, and their close friends. They don't act popular, but depending on who they're dating, they are seen that way.

I'll be honest, I've never had an actual conversation with most of the people at that table. I'm not an introvert, the popular crowd and I just don't mix well. The only time I'll be found talking to them is if Emma somehow gets me too.

Emma is my closest and best friend. We met in math class last year when she forgot her book and had to look off of mine. After that we became close and now we're making our way through high school together.

She is outgoing, like David, and if it weren't for me not being a people person, she would probably be more well known among our classmates. She's the type of best friend that drags me out of my bedroom to go have fun and makes me socialize with people who aren't her. It's a good thing though, that's how she takes care of me.

As my thoughts wander I realize that I've been sitting at this table doing nothing and probably looking like a total dork. A sigh escapes from the back of my throat as I turn and open up my bag. I reach in and wrap my fingers around the smooth hardcover of my biology book. I open it and place it in front of me so it at least looks like I'm doing something.

As my gaze falls to the pictures on the page, a loud eruption of noise comes from David's table. A few of them have stood up and it sounds like they are almost cheering or anticipating something. My eyes land on David whose glaring at Jarrod, one of his friends. The table has become unwelcomingly quiet as they wait for someone to say something.

David slowly walks over to Jarrod and comes to a stop once they're face to face. Jarrod teasingly smiles and says something, but it's too faint to hear. David's hands form fists at his side and before Jarrod can react one of them is slamming into his cheek.