And Then We Danced

Half Of Me

My mouth gaped open wider than it already was, but I quickly closed it without uttering a word. Instead, I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering how this random person knew both of our names.

"Sorry, how do you know who we are?", Maddie asked, voicing my thoughts. I didn't even know her name until now.

The man crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Because, Ms. Emerson, it is my responsibility to know the name of each and every student in my class, whether they're on time or not", he snapped at her.

Maddie's cheeks flushed, and she quickly looked down at the floor.

I spoke up, finally finding my voice again. "Um, we were actually just going to ask you where the front office is", I said, drawing the attention away from her. "We didn't expect to find our homeroom". 'And the devil', I silently added.

The mans eyes widened. "You mean you two haven't even checked in yet?", he asked, clearly bewildered.

"Uh... no, not yet", I said carefully, trying not to add on to his growing aggravation.

He shook his head. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. The front office is down the hall and to the left. Now hurry up and check in before I put you both in detention", he said before slamming the door in our faces.

Maddie slowly started to walk away from the door, and I quickly followed her down the hall.

"At least we have a nice teacher", I said as soon as we were out of earshot. I honestly didn't care if he heard me say it or not, but I really didn't want to be put in detention on the first day of school.

She smiled and shook her head. "I can't believe that guy's a teacher. He might have a degree, yes, but not a heart", she said half jokingly.

I laughed in agreement, brushing a few strands of brown hair out of my eyes.

"So, you're new here, too?", I asked, trying to start a conversation.

She nodded. "Yup. Well, kinda. We moved here at the end of the school year, so I've technically lived her for awhile, but I still refer to myself as 'new'. But school wise, yes, this my first year here", she said, taking a breath. "What about you? When did you move here?", she asked.

I glanced over at her, and the look in her eyes told me that she wasn't just asking to be polite, but that she was actually curious to know.

"Um, about four hours ago", I answered, knowing how unrealistic it sounded.

She raised her eyebrows. "You moved here at four in the morning? Why didn't you just skip school today? I would have if I were you", she said, lowering one eyebrow.

I was surprised that she believed me without any suspicions and I smiled before replying. "My mom didn't want me to miss the first day of school, she thinks first impressions are really important", I explained. "But in the end, her alarm was set wrong, so we ended up being late anyway." I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming my mom in any way, if anything I was blaming her alarm. "So why were late?", I asked, hoping I wasn't being to nosy.

She shrugged. "Pretty much the same reason you were. My dad forgot to set an alarm, so we didn't have a way of waking up on time. I would probably still be asleep right now if some idiot hadn't been yelling as loud as they possibly could this morning", she said sweetly.

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. "Um, I think that was me", I said, nervously putting my hands together. I knew my shout would have affected someone somehow, but I didn't know I'd be talking to that person today.

Maddie looked over at me. "That was you?", she asked, surprise clear in her voice.

My cheeks got hotter. "Yah, I kinda got excited when I saw how close our house was to the ocean. I'm sorry", I apologized. I didn't want her to get mad at me.