Allison Clarence has been walking on eggshells her whole life. Her parents rule her with an iron fist, controlling almost every aspect of her life and she complies. She's never thought she was strong enough to give in to the urges she's had to live...
I woke up early the next morning, more excited for my first day of school than most people my age would care to admit. I loved to learn and do new things so school had always come relatively easy for me except for the few roadblocks here and there. School was also the one place I felt my parents couldn't touch me.
I jumped up, made my bed quickly out of habit, then headed to my closet. I flipped the switch as I walked and picked up the outfit I had already laid out last night. I checked the time and saw I had twenty minutes to make it downstairs and get a protein bar if I wanted to avoid my parents before catching the bus. Which I did.
I threw on my outfit, which was a dark red pleated skirt that came to just above my knees and a gray t-shirt tucked into the waist, saying 'Can U Not'. I put on some heart shaped earrings and my silver chain necklace.
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The skirt and shirt were an extra small, which would have been too short on anyone else except me. I clocked in at a measly 4' 11" , missing five foot by an inch. Most people towered over me and often thought I was younger than sixteen. I tied my all white Adidas shoes and checked my hair in the mirror.
Unlike my body, my hair was freakishly long. It came to the middle of my butt and was super thick. It was naturally wavy and had a dirty blonde complexion to it. Today, I decided to wear it down except for some of the front which I pulled up into a bun on top of my head. I gave myself one more look over, taking in my disturbingly bright green eyes, small nose, full lips that were always a bright pink so I didn't need any lipstick most of the time, and shrugged.
Good enough.
I ran to brush my teeth and grab my white bookbag with little birds decorating it. I checked the time again as I walked down the stairs and figured I had five minutes until the bus came. My sister, Veronica, had her own car and she has forbidden me from being anywhere near it so I opt to take the bus.
I didn't think I would enjoy being in an enclosed space with Veronica anyways. I heard faint sounds coming from her room so I assumed she was at least getting up. I saw the flashing lights of the bus and raced out the door.
The bus driver was a big older man who had a kind smile which I returned as I got on. A sign at the front of the bus read 'Mr. Chasman' and I made a long-shot guess that that was his name.
"Thank you, Mr. Chasman." I smiled warmly at him as I passed. He blinked, surprised, either because I knew his name or that I actually acknowledged his presence.
I made my way through the crowded bus that was literally filled with high schoolers. I passed by a particular group of rowdy boys that were roughhousing around. One pushed another causing him to fall into me and I yelped as I was sent flying into a seat and on top of somebody. My cheeks flared bright red with embarrassment.
That was a great first impression, Allison.
Once the boy who fell on me got off to retaliate against the guy who pushed him, I scrambled to get off the poor person who was underneath me. I avoided all eye contact as I spouted off an apology, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall on you it's just-" I was cut off with a deep chuckle from whoever was sitting in the seat.
"Don't worry about it," a deep voice said but I still refused to look up, the scarlet still present on my face. "It's definitely one way to introduce yourself."
I chuckled as I finally looked up to the guy sitting in front of me. He was tall, which wasn't anything special since I thought everyone was tall and huge. His biceps were probably the size of my head. I would have been scared if his smile didn't set me at ease. His smile was striking against his mocha skin tone and it struck with a sense of familiarity.
He was fairly attractive but he wasn't really my type.
He held out his hand and smiled again, "I'm Micah Pérez. I'm assuming you're new here since I've never seen you before."
I reached for his hand, feeling a strange sense of deja-vu, "Allison Clarence and yes, I'm new." Then it hit me, "You wouldn't happen to be related to a Dominic, would you?"
His brows shot up until realization shown in his eyes, "So, you're the Allison who helped Dom and Papá." He laughed as I smiled shyly, "Papá wouldn't stop talking about how this little girl kept trying to carry all the big things by herself without asking for help. He was very grateful for the money you gave us."
I ducked my head as a familiar heat spread through my face once again, "It wasn't that big of a deal, I just wanted them to know I appreciated them helping."
Micah laughed again, "Well, still, my father will probably worship the ground you walk on now, big deal or not."
His laugh was infectious so I had no choice but to let out a little chuckle. He looked me over again and moved his backpack out of the way, "Here, sit. I don't think there's a lot of open seats around anyways."
I realized I was still standing in front of the seat and sat down, quickly saying thank you which Micah just waved off. We talked for a lot of the bus ride, only having a few pauses. I found out that Micah had four other siblings, Dominic, who was going to college, and three younger sisters that he said made his life hell but his eyes betrayed his love for them. He was also captain of the hockey team which wasn't a surprise since he was huge and he was a junior and we had some of the same classes. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the school and we all rushed to get off the bus. I said goodbye to Mr. Chasman and then followed Micah off the bus. He led us to the courtyard in front of the school, which was a walkway with green grass and trees on either side of it. My mouth was tempted to drop open as I took in the school. This place is enormous. I hoped that I wouldn't get lost somewhere in there.
"Come on Ally, I want to introduce you to some people." Micah looked back at me, his eyes asking if that was okay and I nodded towards him. He set out into the crowd and I had to jog to keep up with his long strides.
The anxiety of meeting new people started creeping up in my mind but I tried to ignore it.
