An Open Sky

Chapter Twenty-Five ~Alexa~

I pulled my car into the closest parking spot to the school I could find. There must be something going on today. Virtually every parking spot was taken in the small parking lot. The concrete was cracking, popping underneath the pressure of car tires. I grabbed my backpack, full of brand-new books and other various things to be shoved into the bottom of my locker, and walked across the parking lot to the glass, double-doors barricading off my entrance. I pushed open the door, noticing a piece of paper taped on the inside. Freshman Orientation was today.

                I trolled through the hallways, around corners, trying not to look lost. I watched freshmen practice opening their lockers, some scribbling their combinations onto their hands. I turned down what I assumed to be the science hallway due to the hanging skeletons and dour posters. I scanned the numbers over the lockers until I found mine, locker number eighty-two. I dialed the combination and opened my locker. The rusty blue door creaked as it opened, slightly tilted on its hinges. The upper corner was bent back at about a thirty degree angle. I glanced around the hallway, finding approximately eighty-one lockers that looked very similar to mine. I love this place already…

                The locker was much smaller than I’d expected. How the heck am I supposed to fit all of this, I thought looking at my bulging backpack, into there? It was like an elongated shoebox. I tossed my backpack onto the freshly-polished floor and unzipped it. A few book covers and folders immediately slipped out onto the floor.

                I was too focused on trying to figure out how to organize my shoebox to notice the click of a locker opening next to me.

                “Hey.” I jumped, hitting my head on the locker. The tall, slender, red-haired girl next to me tried to hide her laugh. I swore under my breath. I straightened to meet her; it was then that I realized just how tall she was. I was about chin height, so she was easily six feet tall.

                “I’m Dani, you must be the new girl, uh, Alexa, right? You’re from Rexford?” She smiled at me, exposing brilliantly white teeth.

                “I’m from Melrose, but currently rapt in Rexford,” I muttered, turning back to my locker.

                “Rapt in Rexford. I like it. It could be a great slogan, you know?” She paused, “Melrose is a pretty big city, near Boston, right?” I nodded and she continued, “So why’d you move?”

                “I don’t know, can’t someone just chose to move into the middle of nowhere?” I said a little too coldly. She didn’t notice, thank goodness, and let out a light-hearted laugh. I could tell we were going to be friends.

                “I wish, but everyone who comes to a small town is trying to escape something. We all have our pasts.”

                “Oh yeah?” I flashed her an inquisitive grin, “so what’s your past? I mean, what are you escaping?” I tossed a folder into my locker and turned to face her.

                “Well if you must know,” she said, twirling her fingers in her long, red hair. It almost reminded me of a curtain by the way it hung around her face. The freckles that seemed to cover every inch of her body stretched into odd shapes when she talked. Nevertheless, she was very pretty, and I envied her. “I got caught up in the wrong group of people a few years ago. Enough said,” she laughed like it was no big deal.

                “Oh,” I said fiddling with a folder that didn’t seem to want to fit right in my locker.

                “So,” she said, hanging her arm over my locker door, “what’s your past?” I knew the question was coming. I opened my mouth to tell her, but I never knew it’d be so hard to actually say. Now that I thought about it, I’d never actually told anyone that my mom died, they all already knew. Even Jay, I guess it was just implied to him or something. I never told him out loud.

                “Well?” She raised her eyebrows, anticipating my answer. I sighed.

                “If you must know,” I paused, forcing myself to get it out, “my mom died and my dad moved me out here.” I reached over and grabbed a handful of pens to put in my pencil case, becoming suddenly uncomfortable in the growing silence between us.

                “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

                “Don’t be. All I ever hear is ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Well great, you’re sorry. Who cares? It’s not like it’s going to change anything.” She smiled and patted me on the shoulder.

                “That’s exactly how I feel. I’m glad you’re like that because I felt stupid saying it. And besides, I don’t want to be trapped between two drama queens this year.” She winked at me and dumped a bag full of questionable objects into the bottom of her locker, not bothering to organize. The pile made my skin crawl.

                “Why? Who’s next to you?”

                “Olivia,” she spat, “You want to stay as far away from her as possible. Believe me, she’s bad news.”

                “Why?” I wondered what happened between them that would make her so mad.

                “Because she’s a b-“ she paused, regarding the passing families of freshmen, “a you-know-what.” I laughed, taking in the personality of my new friend. “I don’t know about you, but I need to do some serious clothes shopping before senior year,” she said, looking down at her obviously-worn sweater with a hateful glare. It’s a good thing she didn’t have laser eyes because she probably would have started herself on fire right then and there.

                “Me too,” I smiled.

                “Hey,” she said, closing her locker and throwing her arm around my neck, “in the past few seconds I’ve been thinking.” I laughed. “I’m going over to North Dakota in a few days because they have some major shopping malls. You want to come with?”

                I hesitated before uttering, “I don’t know…”

                “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. I have a cousin, Tia, who lives out there. She’s tons of fun and we’d stay with her for a night or two before coming back. Please?” she begged and stuck her bottom lip out for the full little kid effect.

                “Fine,” I said smiling and rolling my eyes. I took my phone out of my pocket, “What’s your number? I’ll call you.” I didn’t even have time to blink before she snatched the phone out of my hand and punched in her number. She handed it back to me. She pulled her own phone out of her pocket to check a text. She frowned.

                “I have to go. Make sure you call me, anyone who lives in Rexford is easy to track down, just keep that in mind, okay?” She said, taking off down the hallway.

                “Okay,” I called after her. When she turned the corner, I smiled and threw my empty backpack over my shoulder. I closed my locker and spun on my heel, taking off in the opposite direction.