The Epitome of Me

Chapter Two: Suspended (Part One)

Somehow—by the grace of God, maybe—my parents didn't find out about my suspension. It worked out kind of perfectly for me because it meant that my life wouldn't be ended prematurely. On the downside, they still dropped me off at school the next morning and I had to sneak around campus to avoid all of my teachers and the principal.

In my stealth, I noticed the girl from the day before. My chest burned with anger. How did I get suspended for 'dismissing' a class, but she got nothing for aggravating a group of seniors? I was so pissed off that I decided to approach her. I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me, but just as I opened my mouth to spew my venomous words at her, there was a booming voice behind me that made me cringe. Busted. 

"Jamie, Alexandra! You two are not to be on campus, given the fact that both of you are suspended." Principal Winster stared us down as I turned to face him. "Since you're both here, however, I suppose I can put you to work. Follow me." He pivoted and ushered us into the school. For a split second, I contemplated (yet again) making a run for it, but then I realized that this girl, Alexandra, did get suspended. That meant that we both fell victim to the harsh punishment of Principal Winster. We had a common ground ... Plus, she was kind of cute.

We followed the principal as he led us through the school and into the basement, a 20x20 room where there were dozens of piles of file folders stacked up as tall as me. Against one of the walls, filing cabinets stretched from one side to the other. "You two are going to spend today and tomorrow going through these folders and sorting them alphabetically. Once you're done with those ones," he turned and pulled out a cart stacked six feet tall with even more folders from behind a shelf. "There are these ones too. Have fun!" The sarcasm dripped from his voice, and with that, he left.

"What a dick." Alexandra scoffed once the door was closed and he was out of earshot. She tossed her bag onto the floor and sat down next to it. I put my own bag down and started to work on sorting what must have been every single student file the school had ever had. It was ridiculous, and this girl was just going to sit and do nothing? Maybe she wasn't so cute after all ...

"Aren't you going to help, Alexandra?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips in exasperation. She recoiled at that and I thought she might start yelling at me or something.

Instead, she just spat out, "Don't call me that." Like I had called her a dirty word. "My name's Alex. Alexandra is what my mom calls me when she's pissed off." She glared at me, but stood up and walked towards the stack of folders I was closest to. "Alex Maine," she said in a friendlier manner, sticking her hand out to shake mine.

"Jamie Reder," I replied, taking her hand in mine. Standing beside her I noticed that she was a few inches taller than me. Her mid-length purple hair was partially hidden under a black beanie and her outfit consisted of all black again, this time the exception was a brown leather bomber jacket as an accent piece.

"We should definitely not come back tomorrow. Whine-ster might make us stay for the weekend if we're not finished, and I would rather not." She noted, picking up a few of the folders and starting a sorting pile for the letter E. I wanted to agree with her, but the words from yesterday echoed loudly in my ears, "If you so much as roll your eyes ..." 

"Won't that get us into more trouble?" I asked, joining her in the process of sorting. There was a lump in my throat. How could she be so nonchalant? She shrugged and pulled out her phone, scrolling until she found what she was looking for. Suddenly, soft music started playing from her speaker.

"How much more trouble could we get into? Besides, he even said we weren't supposed to be here. He can't get mad at us for following his orders." Her nose scrunched up in defiance and she continued her job. She had a point. This was never the plan, it was just a "happy" accident (not for us, but definitely for Whine-ster). I watched her for a moment; her lips moved along with the lyrics to the song and her fingers danced over each file folder rhythmically. It was entrancing. "Aren't you going to help, Janie?" She mocked, adding more sass than I could possibly muster.

"It's Jam—oh. Touché ... " I wasn't used to being jerked around by anyone but my best friend. It was refreshing, but also kind of terrifying.

It was another hour before either of us spoke. We worked in silence aside from Alex's music, which was an interesting mix. Half of it I had never heard before, but I didn't hate it. Once we finished a stack, she turned to me with a grin on her lips. "I think that's enough torture for today," She said, dusting off her jeans and grabbing her bag. I looked at her in confusion, until she meandered to the door and shouted, "What the hell? He locked the door!"

"Are you serious?" I shot up from my place like a rocket and was beside her in record time. I tried the handle, and sure enough, it wouldn't budge. "This . . . This is illegal!" In my frustration, I felt a hot tear roll down my cheek and quickly wiped it away. Not before Alex could see it though, apparently.

"Awe, it's okay, Jamie." She giggled with a little pout. At that moment I wanted to strangle the air out of her lungs. There was no need for her condescending tone. "Lucky for you, I have a lock picking kit." And then my point of view changed from wanting to kill her to wanting to kiss her. Wait, I didn't mean that!

I didn't mean that at all. I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks, even though I knew she hadn't heard my thoughts. "Oh yeah, cool. You, um, yeah you do that ... " Ugh! I was so pathetic. She let out a snort and dug through her backpack until she found her gear. She stuck the metal thing in the lock and jiggled it around a bit. Soon enough the lock clicked and she swung the door open. I had never seen somebody do anything so cool in real life. This wasn't mission freaking impossible.

"Perfect!" She self praised, picked up her stuff and walked out of the room. "You coming, J?" J? I barely knew this girl and she was already being so colloquial? Well, I guess it was only fair, considering her preference for a nickname.

"Uh yeah, but I can't go home yet. My parents don't expect me until 3:00." She smirked at me and nodded towards the stairs. I followed her and we snuck out of the school, this time without being caught. It was exhilarating, to say the least. I had never snuck around so much in one day.

"I know the perfect place, let's go." Before I could argue, she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards a side street I had never been down. We took so many turns that I wouldn't even begin to know how to get out of the maze. Finally, we reached a park where a couple of small children were playing as their mothers watched from a bench.

"Oh a park, my favourite." I deadpanned, dropping Alex's hand after realizing that mine was still in hers. Heat rose in my cheeks, but I hoped she didn't notice. She rolled her eyes at my statement and kept walking towards a forest on the outskirts of the park. This time I followed her without hesitation. I was curious as to where she was going until she started climbing a tree and I stood at the bottom looking up at her. Nope.

"Don't worry, it's completely safe. The view from up here is amazing!" Alex called down to me. The only thing I could manage to do was stare at her with my mouth agape. How did she figure climbing a tree was 'completely safe'?

"I'm sure that's what you'll be saying when you fall, crack your skull open and die." I could practically feel her eyes roll from where I stood, five feet beneath her feet.

"At least I'll have lived a little." She shot back, jumping down from her tree branch and landing beside me. "Tomorrow I'm going to make you climb that tree, but for now let's keep it more ... your speed." Great, now she probably thought I was a wimp. I might have been cautious but I was no wimp, I'd show her.

"Fine, let's go to my favourite spot then!" As soon as the words came out of my mouth I regretted them. I had never taken anyone besides my best friend to my little piece of paradise, let alone a girl I had just met. What if she ruined it? What if it was no longer my special place because she was there too?

"Lead the way," she gestured forward. "Cautiously, of course." I glared at her for a moment. She really liked to mock me, didn't she?

 It was at that moment that I realized that I still had no idea where we were. "Uhhh," I started, biting my lip. "As soon as you bring me out to a street I recognize, I'll get right on that." She let out a breath of a laugh and shoved her hands into her pockets, walking back the way we came.

"Any landmarks that you know of near this place of yours?" She asked, turning to look at me. My mouth was dry. I guess I really had to bring her there now, didn't I? She raised her eyebrows in anticipation and I sighed.

"Do you know where highway 28 is? It's near there." The conclusion was clear. I wasn't going to get out of showing Alex my secret place, I might as well embrace it.