Unwritten

Prologue

Prologue

As long as there are people on around you, there will always be problems. There seems like there’s always some new drama to deal with. Most of the time, it’s not even our own fault. People just naturally bring drama into other people’s lives.

My name is Ariel Jenner. Taylor High School is known everybody who goes there for being a place where that’s just as dramatic as Broadway. I mean, to us we’re only average teenagers in an average school in a country where only the rich can survive. To us, the things that go on in these halls are only a part of life that we have to go through.

Personally, I don’t like to be in the middle of it all. But despite my attempts to stay behind the scenes and stay out of the drama that everybody else inflicts upon themselves, I am always dragged abruptly into the middle of the most dramatic situations. To be honest, I don’t know how people can deal with it all day every day. It’s emotionally, and sometimes physically, draining. But through it all, I’m thankful that I have my group of friends to get me through it.

First is Adrianna. I’ve known her since that I went to The Arts Academy for middle school. I had moved to New York in the seventh grade from my suburban home in Massachusetts and I coincidentally happened to be the only new girl in my class. I was nervous because I didn’t know anybody and back then I had braces. When you put those things together you get the typical response: I got teased all the time. But there was one day when I was on my way to my instrumental class. One of the more popular girls, Hannah, took my bag and ran down the hall screaming, “I’ve got it; I’ve got it. That skank’s bag is mine!”

I chased after her trying to ignoring the people who were in the hall watching us. They were doubling over in laughter like I was a part of some freak show comedy act. And that’s when it happened…

It started with a fist that flew from around the corner and knocked Hannah onto the ground. I ran up to her and saw Adrianna kneeling down next to her. She was whispering something in Hannah’s ear that I couldn’t quite hear. She then got up and handed my bag to me.

“Thanks,” I quietly said as I began to walk away to my next class. I turned around to say something else but I stopped when I saw Adrianna grab Hannah by the foot and pull her down the hall. Hannah screamed for Adrianna to let go, but she didn’t. Instead, from what I heard, Adrianna dragged Hannah all the way to the guy’s bathroom and used her face to wipe the urinals. She was suspended for a week because of it. Ever since then we have been inseparable. Eventually after hanging around her all of the time, her personality started to rub off on me somewhat. Our friendship helped me to be more open with people. By the time we graduated, I was really open to people. It was hard to believe that just a year ago I was this really shy girl who would be bullied to death every day and that now I was this extremely animated person.

Next is Marcus. When I first started high school, we had to go to a day-long orientation and pick up our uniforms the day before the first official day of school. While the principal was giving an opening speech to welcome us into the school, he sat next to me in the auditorium and kept flirting with me. In a way I kind of like him too; and he wasn’t ugly either. He was more of a person with average looks. What I really liked about him was his eyes. Even though he was Black, he had dull green eyes. It was so different that I couldn’t stop looking at them even if it was just to catch a quick glance at them. After the orientation was over he followed me into the subway. When I went down the steps I heard his friend yell, “Dude, I didn’t know you went that way home.”

“Shut up,” he retorted.

The next thing I knew, I was waiting for the train and he was standing right beside me acting as if he hadn’t seen me there. I looked at his eyes again. They were so pretty.

“You’re staring at my eyes, aren’t you?” He said out of nowhere. His words startled me. I quickly snapped my head back to staring straight ahead at the sign ahead of me. “It’s okay,” he laughed. “I get that all the time.”

I looked at him quietly. “I like them. They’re different.”

“Thanks,” he said with a smile. Then he hugged me. “By the way, my name’s Marcus.”

“I’m Ariel.”

“I like that name. It’s not something you hear on a person every day.”

“I can say the same about your eyes.”

Then he tried to make his move on me. Marcus slowly moved his lips towards mine. I didn’t want to be rude but I didn’t really want to kiss somebody I barely knew. For all I know, he could have herpes. So what did I do? I moved out of the way of his lips and let him lean forward until he ended up putting his lips on the cement pillar.

I held in my laugh until he abruptly opened his eyes and realized the situation he was in. Then I doubled over in laughter. It was so loud that it echoed into the subway to the next station.

“Are you having fun?’ He asked. I was trying to calm down but it was just too funny to resist laughing. By the time the train pulled into the station I was done having my episode. Marcus was casually leaning on the wall holding by bag for me.

“I guess you’ve gotten it all out?” He asked slowly walking towards me. I grabbed my bag and shook my head yes.

My stop was ten stops from where I was. So to pass the time I kept talking to Marcus. He was really funny and kept trying to flirt. When the train pulled into my stop, I got up to say goodbye when Marcus got up with me.

“Is this your stop too?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess.”

We got off of the train and, just as I was about to walk out of the terminal, Marcus engulfed me in a bear hug. Trying to act nonchalant, I lightly hugged him back. Then he caught me off guard with a kiss. It surprised me but I didn’t resist. His lips were really soft like marshmallows and I melted right into them. I did honestly like him. I just liked messing with him though.

He pulled back and looked at me waiting for a response. I was really speechless. Not knowing what to say I told him, “Your lips are really soft.” I giggled.

He smiled at me and hugged me again. “That’s actually the first time I’ve ever been told that. Thanks.” He let me go and started walking to the overpass.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I still have to pick my little brother up from school.”

“Oh. Where does he go to school?”

“Some charter school on the other side of the city.”

“Oh. So where do you live?”

“About ten minutes from his school.”

“So you came all the way up here?”

“I guess so. I wanted to spend some more time with you.”

“Okay.” That was all I could really say. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Later.” And with that our time together was over for today. He was cool. Too bad Adrianna couldn’t be here with us at Taylor High. I’d really miss her during the next four years. But she was my best friend so it’s not like we’d break apart or anything. School would be a lot more fun and random if I had her with me. But at least I’m not alone. I have one really cool person to talk to so far. As I walked out of the terminal I just kept on smiling.