Greyson High School, home of the Greyhounds. The only 4A High School in Greyson County, North Carolina. Home to 5,000 students, and many different social groups. My name is Louis, and I am a senior at this wonderful place. I am 6 foot 3 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyway, at Greyson High, there are many different groups, the smarts, the athletics, the populars, and the biggest group, the nonclassified. I am in that group, I am a 'nonclassified'. I hate that schools nowadays have to follow some stupid status quo. Why are there boundaries for people to not talk to people just because they're in a 'group' made up by no one? Why can't we just talk freely? Well, my luck was about to change.
My best friends are David and Brandon. David has blonde hair and is shorter than me, but taller than Brandon. Brandon has brown hair and is the shortest in the group. We met in kindergarten when we were six and have been friends since. All of us have always been amongst the smartest people in our class and usually get All A's. Since then, we usually hang out every weekend, but ever since David got a girlfriend, Taylor, we haven't in a month. Lately, it's just been Brandon and I going downtown Asheville trying to find dates for our senior prom. So far, no luck.
Every year since my best friends and I were six, we go hiking on Simmons Mountain. We always pick a random weekend in September to go, and this year, it was the weekend coming up. Anyway, Simmons Mountain isn't the real name of the mountain. We call it 'Simmons Mountain' because there have been rumors that a kid named Wesley Simmons went up to the peak. They say they found him by the river speaking of extraterrestrials and things out of the norm. Some people believe it, but my friends and I just go around telling people to spread the folk tale. We think it's all a bunch of bologna.
Wednesday, November 5-Three Days until the Hiking Trip
David, Brandon, and I walked into our first period marine biology class expecting a pop quiz. Instead, there was a new kid. Nobody knew anything about him/her and he/she still isn't in the classroom yet. I'm guessing the principal forgot to get their stuff situated in the office because Mr. Flarone just stood there waiting for twenty minutes on them. Finally, the principal came with the new student, Lucy. Lucy Dewalt is the new student transferring from Hughes High near Jacksonville, Florida. She has brown hair and brown eyes standing there about as tall as David. I couldn't help but stare because this was my chance; a new girl who knows no one. I'm going to ask her to prom. This is the goal, however, more than likely she's going to say 'no' or she's going to be in the popular group. Then, I noticed, there was only one seat left, right next to me. This is my chance! She sat next to me and said, "Hey, I'm Lucy." Right as I was about to respond, the bell rung. She left before I could even speak to her.
Lucy probably didn't have any classes with me besides Marine because she wasn't in any of the classes I had, or at least I didn't see her in any of my classes.
Now, it was lunch time. I caught up to her and asked if she wanted to sit with us, but she refused and said someone had already asked her. It had started. Lucy was already taken over by the populars. I had no chance now.
Thursday, November 6-Two Days until the Hiking Trip
Again, we were all in Marine Biology. Today we had the pop quiz. Poor Lucy, on her second day being here and having to take a pop quiz. I knew everything on the quiz. It was easy! I finished my pop quiz and looked over to her. She looked as if she was struggling. I could tell because she would look up at the ceiling as if it would magically give her the answer, then look down again and squint her eyes, all while tapping her feet. She had a case of the unanswered, and once you have a case of the unanswered, you fail. She did a look of, "oh, what the heck," and turned in the paper. Right after, she put her head on her desk in fear; in fear of failing, in fear of making a bad impression on her second day. Five minutes of silence had passed and the bell rung. Mr. Flarone got up and said, "Alright, turn it what you have completed, and if you didn't finish, I'm sorry."
I put all my books away and noticed Lucy standing up and walking to Mr. Flarone. She was probably going to ask if she could redo her quiz since it was only her second day. Mr. Flarone is usually a pretty reasonable teacher, however, I don't think he'll give her a retake since it was a pop quiz.
I headed to my second period class, the only class I had with David and Brandon, and sat in my regular seat. David sat next to me and said, "I saw you looking at Lucy. You like her, don't you?" I ignored that comment and just said, "Psh, no, I just feel bad for her 'cause it's her second day and all." He looked at me with a straight face and said, "Right, so, when you're done coming up with lame excuses, you should ask her out." I said back, "even if I tried, it wouldn't matter because she's already in the popular group." "Okay, whatever bro," he said.
At lunch, I tried getting near Lucy to ask, but she started getting surrounded by Julia and Brooklyn, the populars. I finally caught up to her and said, "Hey, umm, I was wondering if you wanted to sit with us at lunch?" She looked at me, and at that moment I realized it was too late, I realized there was no hope of her sitting with us, "no thanks, I'm going to sit here with these guys, thanks for the offer though," she said. "Oh, okay, maybe another time," I replied as I left.
I sat down by Brandon, David, and Taylor. "See, there's no hope in Lucy, especially now." Brandon said, "just give it time, it's only her second day." Taylor even said, "Brandon's right, she'll come around sometime."
Friday, November 7-The Day Before the Hiking Trip
As we walked into Marine Biology, Mr. Flarone sat our quizzes on the desk. I made a 99 because I forgot to mark a question. However, right as Mr. Flarone sat my paper on the desk, he said to me, "You made the highest grade out of all my classes, congratulations!" Lucy looked over to me in desperation as I noticed a number that started with a 7- on it. I looked over to her and said, "You know, I could help you if you wanted. Marine comes easy to me, plus, it would be a good way to get to know each other better." She looked over at me and said, "I'm sorry for how I've treated you the past couple of days. It's just that, at my old school, I wasn't the coolest kid in the school, in fact, some thought I was the opposite." "Seriously? You?," I said, "You're awesome! I mean, you seem cool." Gosh, I wish I could redo that whole moment. She looked at me with a slight smile, "You really think so?" I replied, "Yes, of course," and smiled. After that, Mr. Flarone started his lesson and we didn't really say much the rest of class.
Lunch. Without even looking or speaking to Lucy, she came over to our table. She didn't sit down or anything, but she at least came over to us. "Hey guys, what's up?," she said leaning over the table. We all awkwardly said, "oh, you know, working on some homework, eating our lunches," but our answers jumbled together so it came out a blurred mess. She laughed and said, "You all are funny. Anyway, Louis, do you think you can help me with Marine this weekend?" I smiled and said, "Sure," not realizing the hiking retreat was this weekend. David backhandedly hit my arm, "Dude, our thing is this weekend." Realizing my mistake, "Oh, right, sorry Lucy. I can't this weekend, however, I can help you on Monday at the Frew's Cafe?" She looked at me worried and said, "What if Mr. Flarone gives us a pop quiz on Monday?" I looked back at her in confidence and said, "He's never given a pop quiz on a Monday before, and I'm sure this Monday won't be the first." With less stress in her eyes, "Oh, alright, that makes sense. Okay then, I'll see you Monday at Frew's." She left and headed back to the popular table. I was still staring at her when Brandon said, "See bro, what did I tell you?" David laughed and said, "Brandon, shut up and eat your lunch."
