mountains • david dobrik

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bea williams woke up to her alarm screaming at her to wake up. she sat up with a groan and rubbed her eyes. it was her first day at school and she was reluctant to go as all teens would be. she got dressed and headed downstairs to see her mom waiting for her on the landing.

"ok, bea so busy day! you're getting the bus, you've got your bus pass, right? and when you get to school go to reception to get your schedule ok?" she rambled, not seeming to take a breath between her words.

"ok, mom" bea sighed; her mom was clearly more nervous about her first day at school than she was.

and with that bea was gone and the front door was closed. she headed to the bus stop which was only a couple blocks away; she plugged her headphones in and started listening to music, knowing that people would want to socialize with her since she was new, and also knowing that she wanted to prevent that from happening. luckily there was no one else at her bus stop, however, when the bus came to a halt right where bea was standing, an army of teenage faces was staring at her through the dirty windows of the school bus.

feeling like some kind of alien to the students of vernon hills high, she sat at the back corner of the bus with her backpack next to her, saving herself from the delight of having to tell people to fuck off. she put her music on max volume to distract herself from the many students staring at her and stayed like this until the bus made its final stop: hell, (aka high school.)

she got off and set foot into her new school. completely lost, she stood silently trying to figure out where the reception was.

"you lost?" a brace-faced, brown-eyed, all-black wearing boy asked, who was leaned against a locker.

"uh yeah, I'm looking for reception" bea replied quietly, as she was pretty much the definition of antisocial.

"hey I'll walk you there"

"ok" she sighed, not wanting to continue the conversation with a seemingly nice boy.

they walked for a few seconds before the unknown boy spoke, "my name's david, yours?"

"bea, bea williams"

"we don't get many new people here" the boy added.

"i figured, everyone seems so shocked that I'm here" bea shrugged.

"where'd you move from?"

"L.A. my dad's department got transferred here."

that was the first lie of many.

in truth, bea couldn't remember her dad. he left her and her mom when she was just two. so it was just her and her mom, as it had been for the last fourteen years. 

"i would hate to move from somewhere like l.a to a shit hole like vernon hills" david chuckled

"wow you talk very highly of this place" bea chuckled, distracted by the appearance of her new school.

and with that, bea finally came to a stop at reception.

"here you are" david added with a smile