Hazel Irises

Chapter Two

Our new apartment was just like it looked in the pictures.

Of course, that didn't stop my mom from going absolutely crazy when we walked in for the first time. I have to say, I was also quite pleased, but not in the same sense.

The place was already furnished, but we had brought a couple things in the U-Haul that would "make the place our own," as Mom had put it when we were lugging items from our old apartment down the fire escape and lifting them into the truck.

I was just relieved that I could finally settle down in a bed that I could call my own in a room that I could call my own. I no longer had to worry about if anything I did was okay. For the rest of the afternoon, I helped my parents carry mattresses, rugs, mirrors, lamps, and boxes filled with sets of dishes and framed family picture up to our apartment. When we were finished, the question arose for dinner.

"Oh, dear, I had completely forgotten," Mom cried. "I'm so exhausted I'ver been ignoring my own hunger."

I held back any sarcastic comments I had and sat on a stool that was positioned at this little bar in front of the kitchen sink. I twisted it around so that it faced the living area.

"I could go grocery shopping and prepare a little something for everyone," Dad suggested. He stood behind where Mom sat on the couch, massaging her shoulders.

"No, no, that's too much for tonight," Mom said, waving off the idea.

That was the first she's said something was too much in a long time. I decided I should speak up before Mom and Dad completely forgot who they were.

"We could order pizza," I said.

Both my parents snapped their heads straight at me.

"I am so sick of grease," Mom complained.

I shrugged.

Eventually, we decided Mom and Dad would take a nap before going out to eat at a place with an atmosphere they were comfortable in, while I would stay home with my greasy pizza scamming off the neighbors' WiFi. I was happy.

Or, happy as I could be in a totally strange city with no friends, and with pizza and free WiFi, it wasn't too difficult to achieve.

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Two days later, I found out that I would be attending Horace Mann High School in about a week. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

I was already registered, so I already had my schedule, ID, and little map of the school. I was prepared. Mostly. The problem was that I had no idea where my classes were other than what I'd seen on the map. On top of that, I didn't know anyone, which meant I would be the "loner guy." It wasn't anything I wasn't used to. I was that guy until Hazel started noticing me freshman year.

We had shared a couple honors classes, and then we saw each other around town, like one day when I had turned up at a bakery as an errand for my parents. Lo and behold, she was there, standing behind the counter wearing this cute little apron. I'd be the first to admit that the baby pink hue of the apron was definitely not her color (since when did normal boys notice this kind of thing?), but she still looked adorable, wearing large rectangular glasses I hadn't seen on her before, furnished with a pretty smile.

And that's how we met--after that, she had introduced me to her friends, who were nicer than they had appeared to be.

As I sat on my bed reminiscing these memories, my laptop left unattended beside me, my parents were Skyping with their book club from New York downstairs. They were going to find a new book club, of course, but they "wanted to finish the current book" before they switched, because they were "just getting to the juicy part." It didn't take a genius to know they were lying.

They were already homesick, and I didn't blame them. I was wishing for simpler times, too, although you can't get much simpler than how I lived at the moment--browsing the Internet all day, unwilling to explore the new setting around me beyond the vast new apartment.

I'm not going to lie. It wasn't much different from my lifestyle in New York, but there was one huge exception: I missed my friends.

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"Thanks for the ride, Mom," I said as I stepped out of her rental car. She wished me good luck before she drove off.

I walked up to the front platform of my new school, trying to calm myself between waves of anxiety. I kept telling myself in my head that I would be okay. I hoped I was right.

Suddenly becoming aware of all the students who could potentially be looking at me, I began to walk until I was climbing the steps leading to the front doors. I clutched my backpack straps for a little support. Soon, I was through the doors. The air conditioning washed over me, providing some relief.

I followed the flow of people to what seemed to be the cafeteria, and that was when the panic set in again. This time, though, it was worse. It felt like I was being suffocated in a blanket of nerves and pounding heartbeats. Any minute now, I could start hyperventilating.

I stood against the cinderblock wall, trying in vain to calm down. My eyes scanned over the different cliques at the different tables. None of them looked too promising.

Maybe I could just stand here until the bell rings, I thought. It was a good plan, so I stuck to it. I fished my schedule out of my backpack and looked at it for a decent amount of time. Reading the class names over and over again gave me a small sense of peace. It was just enough to keep me from asking one of the robotics kids to borrow their inhaler.

As soon as the bell rang, I took off like a rocket to the room I had marked as "first period" on my little map. One foot in front of the other. Right, left, right, left, right, left.

I made it to the classroom with a minute to spare, still a little dazed by the number of students in the school. My old school was just as big--maybe even bigger--but I knew the faces there, and, obviously, I didn't know a single person here.

I took a seat near the middle of the room, beside a girl with hair that made her head look like it was on fire. She looked at me and smiled, then went back to doodling in a composition notebook laid out on her desk. I was sure that if I stared at her any longer, she would tell me to take a picture, so I looked away.

Unsure of what to do with myself, I watched the clock stationed at the front of the room and twiddled my thumbs underneath the desk until the bell rang and the teacher came in to start her lesson. Expectedly, her first move was to check the roster. A suprised "oh" escaped her lips.

No, I thought. No, please don't make me introduce myself.

"It appears we have a new student among us," she announced. I winced.

Aaand here we go.

The teacher--Mrs. Vasquez--made me stand up and do a short introduction. I noticed the red-headed girl was smiling as I spoke. She had a cute smile.

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Author's Note

Hello, everybody! I hope you're enjoying the book so far. Will my mobile peeps comment what you thought on this paragraph here? I would love to hear your opinions, as always. And I'm open to feedback, if you have any.

My friends made me a couple covers, since I didn't have a proper photo editing program on my computer (whoops), so I want to start off by saying thank you. I'll be attaching the drawing that jojo1233456789 made me, and if you want to check out her profile, that would be totally cool, too, since she's writing a story called The Test. P.S. The girl in the picture is a new character. Can you guess her name?

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to vote and comment if you've enjoyed this chapter. Take care ♥