How To Be Happy

Chapter One: Alburry and WALLace

        Eve Wallace stared at her stringy, blue-green hair in the mirror running her fingers through the tangles. Today was the first day of her ninth grade year and she was wearing a nice white blouse, with a dark blue skirt. She had saved up all her money to buy these, and she was very proud of them.

                “Hello I’m Eve.” She beamed at the mirror, making sure to show all of her teeth. She squinted her eyes, smiled with a closed mouth before frowning and sighing in defeat. She heard a quiet beeping noise, and rushed out the bathroom, almost tripping in her hurry. She slid her shoulder bag over her arm, sprinting out the door and down to the bus stop.

            They had placed the bus stop right next to an elementary school which Eve had thought was a horrible idea. What with all the stoners and sluts, great examples for young minds. Eve rolled her eyes, and in this brief moment of distraction she tripped, her bag going flying. It hit Renae Miller square in the jaw. She tumbled backwards but was quickly caught by her trio of friends.

            Eve looked up, her eyes wide in shock. She opened her mouth to apologize before Renae whipped around and got on the bus which had just arrived. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bag, hurrying up the steps. She took her place in the very last seat, panting quietly. Her knee was bleeding and her elbow was scraped. She put her headphones in, shut her eyes, and leaned her head against the window.

***

            “Hey kid. I have to get to my next stop wake up.” Eve was prodded awake by the bus driver who was very annoyed.

            “Huh? Oh sorry.” Eve got up quickly, slipping on her bag and hurrying down the steps. Once she reached the ground she looked around.

            Her high school was nice and small with light blue buildings and dark blue roofs. It was an outdoor school, and there were plenty of grassy patches everywhere. A skinny lean tree was growing behind a classroom, its leaves were orange. She pulled crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket, unfolding it. She squinted at the tiny print before reading the room numbers. She had Geometry in room 204. She heard the shrill sound of the bell and ran off to class.

            Her teacher had bottle-blonde hair and bright green eyes. In big, bold handwriting she had written Ms.Jean. She struck Eve as a person who wanted to seem important.

            “Hello my name is Ms.Jean and welcome to Advanced Geometry. She beamed before lifting up a clipboard. “Let’s take attendance. Connor… Al…burry?” She blinked up, confused.

            “Albany.” Connor stated softly and Eve suppressed a smile. Ms.Jean continued going down the list, pronouncing almost all of the names wrong.

            “Eve. Wall-us.” She stretched out the “Wall” and Eve raised her hand.

            “Here.” Eve said loudly, and everyone turned to stare. She blushed and dropped her gaze to her desk.

            “Alright class, shall we begin?”

***

            Eve was the last one out of the class. She checked her wrinkled schedule, smoothing it out. She had PE next, and she sighed quietly before hurrying over to the locker room.

            Nobody had to change today and it was mostly just getting to know the teachers. Eve had Mr. Flyer (who was balding but wore a very obvious toupee) and also Connor Albany who sat in the very front of their number rows. Now that she could see his actual face, she noticed a rather large bruise underneath his left eye. Besides that, he had blonde hair and dark brown eyes.