Distance

First Day of Her Sophmore Year

The whole story will probably be in 3rd person. (2013+ words)

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The first day of sophomore year. 

Katie wasn't nervous to be exact, she was more, expectant. She saw all the fidgety freshmen, and wondered if that was what she looked like on her first day. 

Probably. She thought to herself, but now she had survived her first year of high school. Now to make it through her second. As she walked through the sophomore hallways to her locker she saw several of her friends. After words were exchanged and numbers, she left them and walked to her homeroom class. The teacher was assigning seats, great. The last thing Katie needed was to sit by a group of obnoxious cheerleaders or cocky jocks. 

"Anderson, Katie" Her teacher, Mr. Halleran, called. When everyone was placed in their seats Mr. Halleran left them to chat a bit before the bell rang. On her left was a girl named Addy, she seemed nice enough, in front of her was a short kid named Ethan (which was awesome since she wouldn't have to look over his shoulder), behind her was a quiet kid named Logan, and to her right was a kid named Braxton. No, it couldn't be. 

Braxton was the name of her middle school crush. She never had any classes with him, and she never talked to him. Aside from the one time her friends made her text him. She still had his number, and she longed to say something. She never did, and before she knew it. High school was around the corner and she was caught up in studying, sports, and friends. Which never left her a moment to think about him. Thankfully, last year they didn't have any classes together and rarely passed each other in the halls. So Katie, assumed her crush had faded. Well, no. It was still there, and her heart was ready to collapse from fluttering so much. Katie never had trouble talking to boys, or her crushes. But starting a conversation was just, so much harder than anything else.

Maybe it was she was afraid of getting turned away. 

In middle school, her friends relentlessly teased her about liking Braxton. They always tried to set them up, she didn't mind. She thought it would give her a chance to become his friend. Nope. She never talked to him (aside from the one time) and she didn't necessarily like it. She always scolded herself when she let her mind wander about all the things they could become. All the conversations they could have. If she only had to guts to talk to him. Sometimes, she would have a strong urge to say something, but she never did. She didn't want to look like a fool in front of her crush. No one wanted to, especially her. 

She was shy, she was getting better, more social. She made new friends all the time and hated being alone most of the time. She was getting a lot better, and she liked it. 

Ding. Ding. Ding. 

After giving a few brief instructions and telling us to have a good day, Mr. Halleran released us. On her way out someone called her name. 

"Katie?" She heard a voice say, it sounded faintly familiar but she couldn't place where she knew it from. She whirled around and came face to face with Braxton. That's where she knew the voice from. She tried to tell my heart to act normal, but her heart never listened. She nodded at him and he smiled. 

"Finally, someone I know," He said, he looked really happy for some reason, and it was very contagious. 

"What do you mean?" Katie asked casually, totally not believing she was having a conversation with her crush, after all those years. 

"Oh most of my friends gave up on getting good grades, so they don't get AP classes" His smile faltered a bit, then he continued, "but you seem like you have lots of AP classes, what's your first hour?" He asked.