Sophomore Year

1. Pilot

(MOST of the details in this story will be based off a true story where I had encountered personal experiences. I will be replacing names of people and the school to protect the identity of others. Many chapters will contain self-harm, suicide, sexual assault, drug use, and alcohol use. If these topics bother you, I advise you to not read. Thank you.)

————————————————————

My sophomore year wasn't too different. It was just like any other kid's year but at the same time, it wasn't. I recently moved back home to where I had grown up. In 2016 my family and I moved to Illinois, and we moved back home to Kentucky after my freshman year in 2018. It was actually stressful for me as I didn't know much of where we'd live or where I'd go to school.

I started off at a new school, Daniel Lee High, where I was unfamiliar with the staff and kids. I'm not one to put myself out there to make any friends, so I just kept myself aloof from the others. The first day of school, I didn't make any friends. I just went to my classes and tried to remember how to get to each. The school was a decent size. About 1,500-2,000 students went there, so the halls were very crowded and difficult to get through.

My second day, I met this girl Katelyn at the vending machines, and from that day on, we became good friends. She was my first friend, and I was okay with only one. In my sixth period, English Pre-Ap, we were assigned an assignment. My teacher, Dr. Barns, had come up to me to talk.

"Do you know Vanessa and Ellison?" She asked.
"N-no, ma'am."
"You could go work with them!" She exclaimed.
"I'm okay. I'll work by myself."
"No," she began to giggle. "Go work with them. You're new. Make some friends."

She smiled as I walked over to the two girls and sat with them.

They were really nice and friendly, but I wasn't much of a new people person.

"Um, y'all don't have to work with me if you don't want to. Dr. Barns said I should come over here with you guys. I'm an awkward person," I said.
"Oh! I'm an awkward person too. It's okay," Vanessa said.

Eventually, I became friends with them as well, and we worked on everything together in that class.

I had a busy schedule. Once school was over at 3:00, I had work at 4. My shift normally ended at 10, and I would be home around 10:30-11. It doesn't sound like much, but working 7 days a week and having school work, it is. My grades weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. They were decent. Most nights when I got home, my mom's boyfriend, Keeton, would be in his car asleep and drunk. Keeton and my mom would argue most nights when he was drunk, causing my sister and me to not sleep well.

I went to school on Friday and fell asleep in my English and Chemistry class. Dr. Barns spoke with me after school, and we talked about why I had been falling asleep. She seemed to care a lot as I could see she started to tear up. I assured her I'd let her know if anything happened anymore. By Monday, I was really tired once again. Dr. Barns passed a sticky note to me asking about my weekend.  I wrote back, and she read it. At the end of class, she had asked me to stop by her room after school again. A bit confused, I agreed.

As asked, I went to Dr. Barns after school. She had me sit down, and she closed the door to the classroom. She began to tell me that she called DCS. I began to cry and panic, but she had helped calm me down. She told me about her past, and that was when I understood why she was sad about my situation. She was very supportive, and she even offered to go with me to talk to DCS when they come and see me. In case of emergencies, she had given me her number as well. As scared and nervous as I was, I knew that she had done this out of love. From that day on, my days went by slow.

Just like any other day, I went to my classes, but one day I was called out of fourth period, Spanish Pre-AP. I already knew who it was, so I walked down to Dr. Barns. She assured me that everything will be okay as long as I tell the truth. The rest of the day had gone by pretty fast. My mom found out about DCS, and she was not happy. Later on after this situation, I made another friend in my 3rd and 5th period class. Her name was Hadley. We were close but not very close. She was a great person to be around. In 5th period, we really clicked and soon after, we had our group of friends. It was Hadley, Malee, Rylee, Justin, and me. We all seemed to get along great, and being around them helped me a lot.

This girl I became close with had the same name as me. Lindsay. We talked all day everyday; she was my best friend. We joked all the time, and we often would do pranks on Ellison during Spanish. I moved in with my dad when my mom and sister moved back to Illinois. Lindsay and I were always on the phone, and at school, we were inseparable. So often we'd go to Dr. Barns during lunch and mess with her and joke. Dr. Barns had gotten use to Lindsay and me, so occasionally she would crack a joke too. There were days that Lindsay and I would even do pranks on Señora Thorn, and occasionally Ellison would too.