Chasing a Broken Butterfly

In my Warm Cocoon: Chapter 1

"Turn it down would you, Elle?", grumbled Mikey as he turned the corner towards school.

"Sorry", I mumbled as I reached to turn the radio off. I wanted the distraction of music before the first day of the last year of our lives at Willow Glen High. As excited as I am that today marks our first year as seniors, I couldn't be more impatient for it to end. I'm ready to leave it all behind and forget it. The sooner the better.

As Mikey pulls up and parks his car in the student parking lot, I notice that Kylie and her crew have decided to gather at the front of the school entrance. By the looks of it, they are already taking advantage of their seniority status by picking on the many vulnerable freshmen. I can already tell this is going to be a long day.

"Don't worry about them," Mikey interrupts, "they just have nothing better to do than to make other people's lives miserable. Don't let it get to you okay?"

I love that he always knows what I'm thinking or feeling. Saves me the effort of constantly having to explain myself or speak up when I don't have to.

"I've handled them for the past three years", I reply , "I'm sure I can handle them perfectly fine".

He gives me a smile as I put the hood of my gray sweatshirt up and open the door. We both agree to meet up at our usual spot at the bleachers near the baseball field for lunch and then go our separate ways for class.

After surviving my first three classes of civics, anatomy, and Stats, I finally make it to English with a sigh of relief. Maybe it's just me, but I believe that I adore reading and writing because of my inability to hear like your average human. Regardless of the reason, English is my safe haven. I start daydreaming about the books we will end up being assigned for class and wonder what the essay prompts will consist of. Due to these little mind distractions I was having I didn't notice the boy with the curly dark brown hair and grey eyes sitting in the middle of the rows of chairs until after settling myself into the seat at the front of the room.

He must be new here. I've never seen him around before and here in our small town, everybody knows everybody else, unfortunately.

He catches me staring at him, so I whip my head back to the front of the class. Thank god I don't have the type of skin that easily betrays itself by flushing red. I'd be beet red if I were.

I feel something poking my arm so I turn my head in its direction and find that someone is jabbing a pencil at me. I look up to find that the arm is connected to the new kid.

"What are you doing?" I meant to say aggressively. Instead it came out a hoarse whisper.

"Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" He says with a smug smile.

"Elle" I respond hastily. Who knows how long I can uphold this conversation without faltering.

"That's a nice name. My name is Nathan".

"Nice to meet you" I say, avoiding his eyes.

I start to fidget with the hem of my grey sweater when I notice that he keeps staring at me. He's most likely thinking what a strange creature I am. I mean, he tried to start a conversation with me and look how that turned out. It's for the better I suppose. I like being in my own comfort zone. It's better that way. Things are more predictable.

Finally, the teacher enters the room, saving me from any further humiliation that I may have caused myself. I can't help but notice that throughout class, Nathan keeps his steady eyes on me. I've never been the center of anybody's attention before, so I'm not sure how to feel about that. If only he knew I wasn't completely normal. Maybe then he would leave me alone.