Pissing Off the Bad Boy

The First Day

When people tell you that the first day at a new school isn't so bad, those people have obviously never had their own first day.

I woke up the morning of the first day of senior year, and only so thanks to my cat, scratching at the bottom of my feet. I guess I never set my alarm. What a great way to start off the first day at a new school.

Anyway, after moments of just staring off into space, I finally have the energy to get out of bed. I do my morning routine: brush teeth, shower, get dressed. When I'm about to put on some mascara, I look over at my clock to check the time. 7:55 am! I only have 10 minutes until my first class starts!

After horribly putting on mascara, I run down the stairs, of course, not without tripping and falling flat on my face. I grab an apple from the kitchen and my car keys from the bowl in front of the door and sprint out to my car. Pulling out of the driveway, I pray that the traffic on the way to school is not terrible. Back in Nebraska, we only lived in a small town. I could leave the house 5 minutes before school started and be in my classroom with five minutes to spare. Knowing this city, traffic in the morning is the worst.

And, obviously, with all of my *great* luck today (I hope you detected the sarcasm),  the roads were packed with cars on the way to Rack High. I think about just parking and sprinting the last couple of blocks to school but then decided against it, knowing that I would regret the decision after school. Instead, I wait out the traffic and finally pull into Rack High's student parking lot around 8:07 am. School had started two minutes ago, and I still had to go to the office to get my locker and my classes. Grudgingly, I fast-walked up the steps into my new school. In the rush, I don't notice how big the school is. Reading about it amazed me, but actually seeing the enormous school, I was terrified. Great, more people to stare at the "new girl."

Exhausted, I pull the door open to the office, taking in the scent of hand sanitizer and chronic sadness. "Wow, I may actually belong here, " I thought.

Walking up to the secretary, whose name I read as Ms. Sylvester, as politely as I could, I said, "Hello, my name is Coriander Spice. I'm new here. Do you know where I could get my schedule?" 

"Coriander Spice, huh?" she replied. "That's interesting."

It took all of my willpower to not punch her straight in the face. "Yes, my parents have an excellent sense of humor. Anyway, do you know where I could get my schedule?" I kind-of-sort-of snapped.

She looked tense at my response and replied coldly, "Here are your classes," handing me a piece of paper. "At the bottom of the sheet is your locker number and combination."

I took the piece of paper and walked out of the office, already almost 15 minutes late to class. A week ago, they made us buy all of the books we need for class, and now they were weighing me down. I make a bee-line toward my locker, enter in the combination, and throw the books that I don't need for the next two periods. Checking my phone, I see that I am already 20 minutes late to class. I sprint down the hallway, about to turn a corner, when I hit a brick wall and sprawled out onto the ground.

What the heck is a brick wall doing in the middle of a hallway? And why is it laughing at me? Wait, brick walls don't laugh. I look up, only to see the idiot from the lake, the one whose phone I  pushed into the water...

After recovering from his hysterical laughing fit after seeing me embarrass myself, the jock squints his eyes, trying to remember where he's seen me before. His eyes light up after remembering and turn into a hard glare.

"You're the chick who ruined my phone at the lake!" he accused angrily.

"Who me, no that wasn't me, I've never been to a lake, never seen one, not even online, it couldn't have been me, it was probably my evil twin sister, she's the one you're looking fo--," I said before he cut off my rambling.

"You owe me a new phone, princess, or at least a favor, if you know what I mean," he replied, winking at me. 

The nervousness I had before was completely replaced with anger. The audacity! I guess he didn't get the hint at the lake.

"I don't owe you anything, and I'm sure as hell not going to buy you a new phone!" I picked up my belongings off of the floor and stomped away, angry that he thought he could get away with anything with just his charm.

"He sure is cute though," my brain told me.

"Shut up, brain," I said aloud, "He doesn't deserve you."

Finally, I made it to my first class almost 30 minutes late. I walk into the room that my schedule tells me is Mr. Eiken's Government and Economics class. I see the whites of everyone's eyes as I walk in, and I shrink back at all the stares.

"Um hello, who are you?" asks the man in the tie at the front of the class, who I assume is Mr. Eiken. 

"Hi, um, I'm Coriander Spice," I hear snickers around the class at the mention of my name and sigh. "I'm new here."

"Well, Coriander, you're late," he replies sternly. I open my mouth to tell him why but he stops me. "Forget excuses, just take a seat."

Drudging to an open seat in the back, I sit down, finally taking a breath after the crazy events of this morning. I think back to the encounter I had with the boy in the hallway, praying that I never see him around school again.

At that instant, the door swings open, and lo-and-behold, the boy from the hallway walks in.

"Ah, Arsen, nice of you to finally show up to this class for once," said Mr. Eiken.

"Always here to impress, Mr. E," he said with a wink.

"Since you're here, I guess you can take a seat next to our new student, Coriander," Eiken says and points to me. The boy, Arsen, and I make eye contact and I look at the seat next to me.

Why does the universe hate me?

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There's chapter two!