Footsteps

1

"Foley!" My new gym teacher yelled from across the room. "Pick up your legs and go faster!" She was quite the woman. I was missing my old school.

This was only the first week of these other kids' school year, but it was my first day here. And gym here sucked. It was so much fun at my old school. It was awful here.

I was trying not to let my blond curly hair fly into my face while I was doing this exercise that our teacher, Ms. Gibbons, was making us do. But I hate putting my hair up, so the latter was just letting it flop in my face. And that's what it did.

I couldn't use my hands to move my hair out of my face because Ms. Gibbons would yell at me. Again. So I just squeezed my eyes shut and hoped I was going the right way.

But, next thing I knew, I was tripping over a hula-hoop and toppling onto another kid. When I stood up, I reached down to help the kid, but when the kid stood up, I wasn't really sure what to say. He was a light-tan boy with dark, wavy hair and brown eyes. "I'm so sorry..." was all I could say.

"It's all good..." we both realized suddenly that we were still holding onto each other's hand, so we hurriedly let go. "Joey La Coni!" He said quickly.

"Hi, Joey, I'm—"

"Foley!" Came Ms. Gibbons's angry screech again.

"Foley?" Joey said quizzically.

"Foley," I sighed. I went back to doing the awful knee-touches I was doing before, until Ms. Gibbons blew the whistle for us to meet in the corner. "Okay, so today, we're going to be partnering up and doing some simple passes with the basketballs," she said. We all seemed quite enthused with the easy task. "And then we'll end our class with a push-up competition!" She added. Some of the class groaned, and some of them were ecstatic. I was not one of those people. "All right, quit your whining, and partner up!" She demanded, blowing her whistle.

I attempted to free myself from the swarm of kids trying to partner up. No one wanted to be with the new girl, so I was most likely going to face being partnered with Ms. Gibbons. Someone tapped my shoulder, and I spun, hitting him in the face with my hair. "Woah, tame your lion, there, Foley!" Joey snapped jokingly, flapping his hands. I rolled my eyes. "Wanna be partners, my friends already partnered with other people?" He asked.

"Wow, so I know I'm a good second choice," I muttered sarcastically.

"I was kidding, my friends don't even really talk to me if they don't have to," Joey crossed his arms.

"Feeling vulnerable, La Coni?" I asked.

"What?" He didn't get it.

"Crossing your arms is a biological thing, when you feel vulnerable, you protect your core area, which has now come down to just crossing your arms over it," I explained.

"Yeah...vulnerable...me...you're hilarious," he grumbled, tossing the ball to me. It hit me in the chest before I could reach it.

"Well, at least I know we share a good sense of sarcasm," I shrugged, "and you coulda' said...uh, I dunno, chest pass!" I wailed, throwing the ball back at him.

"See, that's not how we do things here, Foley," Joey threw it back.

"It's Eaden," I corrected him, throwing it back to him.

"Not anymore," he gave a sly grin.

"You are all kinds of confusing..." I shook my head.

"Where are you from...Eaden?" Joey asked with an emphasis on my name.

"Connecticut," I answered pridefully,

"Hmm...what was your school like there?" Joey asked.

"Tiny, dramatic," I shrugged.

"Well...welcome to Manhattan, it's not tiny, but it's plenty dramatic,"

"I feel welcomed, where do you live?"

"Greenwood Village,"

"...Me too..." I looked at Joey strangely.

"Well, considering you moved here probably...what...three days ago and you probably haven't been out and about very much...and Greenwood is kinda big, it's not a surprise we haven't seen each other," he shrugged.

"I guess," I nodded.

"So, what do you like to do?" He asked.

"I take after my dad, I like to sing and dance, and act and write, and above all, I like to choreograph," I said, quite proudly.

"I see, I too like to act and dance, I haven't put a whole lot into singing, although I used to when I was younger, but hanging out with certain people here kind of made me feel...embarrassed," he shrugged.

"Foley!" Came the screech I knew all-too-well. "Put your wrists into it!" She yelled and then backed away, running over to someone else to terrorize.

Joey mocked her, and I almost peed myself from laughing. "Hey, so, sucky first hour, right?" I finally caught my breath.

"Yeah, I hate first hour PE," Joey agreed.

"What's your next class?" I asked.

"Math," he said.

"Me too!" I grinned. The bell rang, and I was about to bolt off. "Hey, see ya there, Joey!" I called to him as I ducked into the girl's locker room.

"Yeah, see ya, Foley!" He grinned back.