The tears were warm and soft, comforting in a way. Then, they became cold and hard with time like her heart. She lifted herself from the cold linoleum floor, wiped her tears away, slung her backpack on hard so the heaviness of her books could slam into her back, and walked down the hallway with her head hung low. She had to be sure to hide her reddened eyes and nose from onlookers. She slowly tangled her way into the other strap of her backpack and held on to each of them for comfort.
“Hello Ms. Triton” chirped Mr. Reel.
Mr. Reel was the favorite amongst the students, but was disfavored by many of the teachers for his unconventional teaching style. Mr. Real was twenty-two, and this was his second year teaching at Jefferson High School in Denver, Colorado.
“Hi, Mr. Reel…” murmured Ariel.
“Ariel, are you feeling okay?” questioned Mr. Reel.
“Yeah, I‘m great….but I have to get to class….” said Ariel as she quickened her pace.
Mr. Reel stood outside his classroom and watched as Ariel ran down the stairs. He had known Ariel for quiet some time. His parents and her parents had been friends, but now their parents were more distant, and in turn made Ariel and himself more distant. But, he still worried about her like an older brother would for his little sister. He sighed and promised himself he’d talk with her after school, since he was her ride home, she couldn’t ignore him on the way home.
Ariel got to the library, and sat down on the floor behind the tallest bookshelf. She grabbed a torn, blue leather book, and started writing something in it.
“Dear Diary,
The principals secretary gave me a note from my cousin Annie and it said grandma Lily has died. I cried on the floor for awhile, I hope nobody saw me. I want to go home but I can’t let mom know grandma Lily died or she’ll force me to go up to Kansas and find out if I can get any money from her will. David is the only person I can talk to, but when I’m at school I have to call him Mr. Reel, and pretend he’s nothing but a teacher to me and not my friend….my best friend…..my only friend.”
Ariel closed and tied the book up, then placed it between two large unsuspecting books. She sighed with a faint whimper, and put her backpack on the floor, and used as a pillow while she rolled herself into a ball. She loved this spot, where nobody ever ventured out to, where no one would ever find her. She came to this spot everyday since freshman year to write in her diary, and now she was a senior. Ariel was seventeen, she had long black hair and bright green eyes, too pale skin, and was about ten pounds over weight but would never be considered fat or obese. The bell rang, and the library filled with newspaper student staff, and Ariel got up and left for Geometry.
Ariel walked into the familiar room, and sat at her assigned seat next to Collin Holly and Tally Fisher. The board told everyone to read chapter five and do problems one through fifteen. Ariel opened her book, and started to pretend to read, because who really ever reads a mathematics book? After reading just one page, Ariel pulled out a paper and copied down the problems. Ariel did the problems with ease thanks to the studying she did last night for today’s test, then turned the paper in and sat back down.
Ariel pulled out another paper to draw on, while waiting for Mr. Mason to pass out tests and graded papers, and a poem of hers fell out and onto the floor. Ariel remembered this poem, it was about her best friend Lorene, at the time her parents disliked Ariel and thought she was influencing Lorene to do bad things, then ended up transferring Lorene to another school. Ariel read the old poem silently with tears welling in her eyes as she remembered the past years.
“Losing My Other Half
So this is what it feels like to lose,
But this is the path you had to choose.
