Where There's Light | ✔

04. Is It True?

Bee called me twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off, which I would've hated her for if she hadn't mentioned that her dad made breakfast sandwiches.

I threw on jeans and a formfitting pink shirt. I didn't want to spend too much time going through my clothes and noticing the lack of new items. Last year I had at least a week's worth of new outfits to start off the school year. Now...

No. I told myself. We're not going to think about him and ruin the first day of school.

Mom was still asleep when Taylor started to cry out from her nursery so I quickly got her changed and gave her some dry Cheerios to eat.

After I finished getting ready for school, as much as I didn't want to—she worked late hours—I had to wake Mom before I left so Taylor wouldn't be unattended.

"I love your dad," I said around mouth full of biscuits, eggs, and turkey bacon as I sat Bee's car.

Bee side eyed me, all serious. "He's taken."

"Gross." I smacked her arm.

The rest of the drive to school was us just jamming to whatever song came up on the radio. When we pulled into student parking the first day jitters kicked in. Or maybe it was the breakfast sandwich I practically swallowed whole.

As to be expected on the first day, the school was swarmed with students. Clusters of people stood around catching up, yelling greetings to each other, goofing off. Tiny freshmen looked both amazed and terrified as they entered new territory. I felt like one of those freshmen even I've been here for the last three years.

Bee parked, then turned to me, a grin splitting across her face. "We're seniors," she squealed. "Top of the food chain, baby!"

Despite my shaken nerves I laughed at her enthusiasm.

We pushed through crowd of people huddled around the series of print outs taped to the side of one of the buildings in the quad to figure out which classroom to pick up our schedules from.

Since Bee and I had to go separate buildings we agreed to meet at the lockers when we got our schedules.

As I made my way to classroom 3B I waved to a few familiar faces and had short conversations with old classmates that happened to be heading the same way. After I got my schedule I made a beeline to the lockers in the senior hallway.

The red metal lockers that lined the walls shined with new paint and pad locks. Even the statue of Cedric the bear, Bellcreek's mascot, looked like he got a fresh coat of paint for his red shorts and boxing gloves. Clearly Principal Gibson didn't hesitate spending that donors money.

I caught sight of Bee's curly hair and tiny Pokémon themed backpack as she hoovered by the water fountain, tapping away at her phone. Making my way through the sea of students, I came to an abrupt stop when someone's shoulder bashed into mine a little too hard for it to have been an accident. I whipped around to see a girl with tanned skin and long black hair, a smirk on her lips.

"Slut," she said loud enough to catch the attention of the surrounding students.

Eyes flickered in my direction, but most of them were too busy trying to find their classes to stop and stare for long.

"Hey!"

Bee startled me, appearing at my elbow. My gaze bounced from Bee and back to the girl, but she was long gone.

Bee's brow creased, following my gaze. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I quickly shook it off, fixing my face with a smile as I held out my schedule. "Do we have any classes together?"