Impress

Chapter 1: New Kid Catchphrase

I was bored. I was on my computer taking random personality quizzes. Ooh, one about how I would make new friends! Which I didn't need to do, by the way. I was just a normal girl who went to school with the same people she's been going with since kindergarten. Anyways, I took the quiz, and it got me thinking. What would I act like if I were a new kid? I needed some sort of friend pick up line. A new kid catchphrase. I thought about it. I would sit alone, obviously. If someone approached me I would be super chill and cool. I was gonna say something like, "Hey, you can sit with me if you want. Or you don't have to. I'm pretty good with being alone, too." Sort of an edgy vibe, ya know? The thought of that was so cool and kind of exciting. So that night when I was at dinner, I guess I was still on that weird high. 

It was a Sunday, and on some Sunday nights my family would go out for dinner. That night was one of those nights. Once we got our food, my parents sort of gave each other an "it's time" sort of look. I'll skip the details, but my mom basically announced that we might move to Virginia.

"Would you guys be open to that?" asked my mom. My brother immediately responded with an excited yes. My sister was clearly upset. It's weird, they are twins but they always have the opposite opinion.

"I guess we could give it a try" I responded coolly. I was thinking about my super awesome catchphrase at the time. My sister looked at me, terrified. She knew better than I did that normally I would be disgusted at the idea. It wasn't until that night that I realized my mistake. It wasn't that bad, though. Next time it was mentioned, I would just say what I really thought. Right?

The only problem was, it didn't come up again. The only time I heard it mentioned were overheard conversations between my parents. And those times it wasn't even clear if they were talking about it or not. I usually would just shake it off and act as if I hadn't heard anything. I was actually kind of happy that it didn't come up. That meant it wasn't happening, at least in my mind, so it was fine by me. No one even seemed to remember the conversation we had at dinner that night.

Nonetheless, I hadn't forgotten. The morning after that dinner, I had gotten up in the morning for school, just like any other day. The only difference was, I had some serious news. I wasn't technically supposed to tell anyone about it, but I would tell Asher everything. He was the only one I was going to tell, and maybe the rest of our very close friend group. I had to get to school first, though. This is usually the part where the sort of shy teen talks about how much riding the bus stinks. I didn't ride the bus, though. I got a ride from my family friend's mom every morning. It was a nice gesture, but I was a little bit awkward about it. I was friends with the girl, Julia, but we weren't that close. Her mom would always get us to try and hang out, even though, clearly, we didn't want to. But I'm getting off topic. I got to school, and as usual, headed for my locker. Another downside to riding with Julia was how late we arrived. The homeroom bell rang at 7:40 and we would get there at about 7:37.

As I quickly unpacked my bag into my locker, I kept my eyes peeled for Ishaan. He had the locker next to mine in 6th and 7th grade. He was kind of annoying, but I pitied him. He didn't have many friends. Sometimes I regretted being nice to him. Especially when he would try to slam my locker closed before I was finished putting my things away. So, to avoid wanting to punch him, I just made sure he wasn't nearby as I shoved my things into my locker. I closed my locker and checked my watch. Crap! 7:39 already? It didn't help that my homeroom was nowhere near my locker. I sprinted down the stairs and into classroom 123. The bell rang as the door closed behind me. I sat down in my assigned seat, which happened to be next to Ishaan. We always ended up next to each other thanks to our last names both starting with M. I had gotten used Ishaan's jokes, that always involved teasing me, and I just went along with it. Finally the homeroom bell rang and I headed out into the hallway. I waited at the staircase, where I would normally bump into Asher. We didn't actually have any classes together so I tried to catch him in the hallway whenever I could. We had lunch together, though. I saw him pass and I rushed to catch up to him. I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yo." I said

"Hey."

"I got big news, sit with me at lunch, okay?"

"Okay."

And that was it. He kept walking and I turned around to get back to the staircase. My next class was upstairs.

                                                                                                  ---------

The bell rang. It was finally lunch. I had been itching to talk to Asher all day. I walked to the cafeteria, spotted my friends, and sat down at their table. I saw Asher walk into the cafeteria and I waved him over. My main friend group consisted of Rose, Aiden, Kade, Dov, and, of course, Asher. Once we all had our lunches and started to eat, I got everyone's attention.

"Guys, I have big news, and I'm not sure that it's good." I announced.

"I'm scared already!" joked Dov.

"This is serious.'' I said as I gave Dov a death stare.

"Let's hear it!" said Aiden, leaning in, as if that would make it more interesting.

"Ok, so at dinner last night, my parents asked what we thought about moving." I started.

"So? It could mean nothing." Kade suggested.

"No, they were serious, they mentioned Virginia specifically, they said they were thinking about moving at the end of the year."

They were silent. I was silent. I nodded, as if to say, 'Yup, it's true.' We ate. My friends processed it all. Finally, Asher broke the silence.

"What did you say?"

"Huh?"

"You said they asked what you thought."

"What did I say? Isn't it obvious?" I assured them.

"Phew" sighed Rose.

I mean, I didn't technically lie... I just sort of... deflected the question. What did I say? I couldn't tell them. They would be confused and angry and disappointed. How could I be okay with leaving them?