Brighter Places

Chapter One

It has been one full week, and it's nothing like what I had expected. People crowded every inch of the long hallways, making it exceedingly difficult to stride through the school with ease. Or, as my Spanish teacher would say, "Muy fácil, sí?"

The population is only a small contributing factor to how wild Chandler High is. The chatter here is so loud that I swear it has reached points beyond this school. I've noticed some people surviving with their oh-so-essential music. Though, it is a rather good idea; anything is better than hearing obscurities flow consistently from my peers' mouths. I'll have to bring my iPod in tomorrow.

I saunter over to my locker and hastily creak it open after entering my combination. The air reeks of cheap perfume- roses, it seems. I wrinkle my nose up in mild disgust as I grab the materials required for my first class and slam my locker shut; the noise is quickly drowned out by people's loud laughter and chatter. I heave out a small sigh and hold my supplies close to my chest, taking daring steps around my peers.

I trudge over to my classroom only to be stopped by a couple making out in front of the door. Seriously? Of all places- oh, wait. This is Chandler High, of course this would happen.

Maybe it's normal for this to happen at community schools. It's not like I'd know; I spent my entire school years leading up to this point attending a private school- Scott Creek Academy- where music, PDA, short skirts and shorts, swearing, smoking, and alcohol were banned. But what can I do? It is a wonder how they managed to stay there so long without getting shoved, however. Kudos to them.

I grumble something under my breath and attempt to maneuver past them, but it was all in vain; the space to get into the classroom is only so big.

I am left to two options: one, politely ask them to leave, or two, walk away and hope they leave soon so I can get a head start on our assignment.

I decide to roll with option one, but it doesn't end like how I hoped it would. I shuffled and squeezed through the crowd in the hallway to them and opened my mouth to disrupt their "love session" when the girl glances over and locks her eyes with mine.

In novels and the such, authors frequently describe characters engaging in a "silent conversation," meaning they communicated through facial expressions or just simply conveyed their feelings with a quick glance. I never knew what that looked like until now, when the girl and I made eye contact. Her eyes narrowed down at my figure standing right by them and then at my face. She must have figured out that my intentions were to tell them off because her face then contorted into one with the sharpest glare I've ever seen. The meaning was simple: don't you fucking dare.

So I didn't.

I meekly nodded and resorted to my second option- walking away and hoping they leave soon.

I drag myself all the way over to the school's poor excuse of a library. The place may as well just be labelled as "ancient" or "abandoned" with its condition- it appears to not have been touched in years.

I sit down at a small table coated with dust and dig through my backpack, searching for my AP Physics textbook. I eventually grasp the nightmare-packed book and drop it onto the table with a loud smack.

I flip open to the lesson after the one we were just assigned and begin skimming through the section, which seemed to drone on and on and on. I keep my head supported with my cheek resting in a hand.

The physics lesson is like a black hole luring me into its endless nothingness. That's how it goes, right? I wouldn't know; this lesson is failing to keep me interested. Why does this textbook apply "emulsify" to velocity? I flipped through the lessons of the textbook with boredom weighing down on my being. Maybe majoring in physics won't be such a good idea for me.

The sound of someone aggressively dusting snaps me out of my trance- wait, aggressively dusting? I blink and glance around, only to see nada. That's not too surprising; who would want to visit an ancient and abandoned library hidden deep within the school that nobody seems to know about? I should major in librarying and reincarnate libraries.

I laugh openly at my preposterous and idiotic thoughts, which seemed to provoke an unwanted reaction from the source of the aggressive dusting.

"Who's there?! I swear, if it's you again, Jake, I swear I'm going to-!" An elderly woman marches into view. She cuts herself off when she notices it's me instead of this Jake. "Oh, hello."

"Good morning, miss," I greet in return, happily slamming my book shut and focusing my attention on her. Anything is better than physics.

"What are you doing here? Are you lost?" she questions, as if the idea of simply visiting the library seemed improbable. She slides into the seat across from me.

"No. I'm just visiting until class begins," I reply, raising an eyebrow at her. Ignoring the library's poor condition, there has to be at least some people who visit occasionally. Right? "Why?"

"Visiting? Just visiting?" she repeats, incredulous at the prospect. "That hasn't happened in, like... I don't know how long!"

I can see why, I think to myself. This place is a disgrace to all libraries. I know better than to voice my thoughts aloud, however. "Really? Does no one appreciate books anymore?"

"Exactly!" the old librarian exclaims, throwing her arms up. "The lil' kids of this generation have no respect for books anymore! No respect!"

It's honestly a wonder how no one has decided to replace the library with something else at this point, seeing how no one bothers to care for it. "That's unfortunately true."

"Hey, I see you at least have some taste. Are you doing anything during lunch?" she asks, leaning toward me a little.

"Um, no. Why?" I have a hunch of what she's about to propose, but I'm not going to object because really, what else do I have to do as the new kid?

"You can help me spice up the place! You're a child of this generation; maybe you know how to lure the others back in! Then the library will be a popular place again!" she clasps her hands together gleefully. I don't believe that's how it works, but I'll play along.

"You're right! I shall accept your request!" What do I have to lose?

"Excellent! Now, class starts in two minutes. You should-"

"SHIT, NOT AGAIN!" I jump up. Why didn't she tell me?! "I'LL SEE YOU AT LUNCH, MISS!"

I don't wait for her response as I bolt out of there, scurrying towards my classroom. Why am I always late now? My mother is going to murder me!

On the bright side of things, at least the couple who were previously blocking the door to the classroom are now gone. Good riddance.

Did I mention yet that this place is nothing like Scott Creek Academy?