His Girl

New School

"This is your key, Chanel." Mom handed me a freshly cut piece of silver that would grant me entry to the new apartment. "I won't be home tonight, I have class."

"I know, mom."

I pulled my hair into a messy bun and held the sleeves of my sweatshirt over my hands. I rummaged through an unpacked box for a pencil. My backpack was light, I didn't have any books yet.

I walked to the city bus stop, LA has a lot of those. I must have passed five homeless people on my way there. It has a lot of those too.

The ride to school was twenty minutes except with all the stops and traffic, it was forty. I'd know that from now on and wouldn't be late again. I sighed and rested my thumbs inside the straps over my shoulders as I walked.

The office was full of people. It was noisy and smelled like pencil shavings.

"Chanel Banks," the admin called me.

"Yes, ma'am," I said and stood at the counter.

"Yes ma'am," a boy mocked as he walked by into the principals office. I swallowed hard and looked down.

"This is your schedule and here's a tardy slip for today but be on time tomorrow." She left the papers in front of me.

"Okay." I'm not sure who I was speaking to since no one was listening. The admin had turned around and resumed her tasks.

Few things are as daunting as wandering alone in the halls of an unknown school. Nine out of ten psychologists say it scars you for life. Or, I'm sure they would say that, if asked.

I found the classroom that matched my schedule. Home room 12B.

I opened the door, trying to ignore the sixty eyeballs on me as I handed the teacher a bright pink tardy note.

"Class, meet Chanel Banks. Have a seat," she said unenthusiastically.

I shuffled to one of two open desks in the front row. Whispering and snickering behind me. It was going to be a long junior year.

Mrs. Suarez sat at her desk to take attendance. Roll call was completely disorganized and took longer than needed. Maybe by design. It didn't appear very much else would be done.

The door swung open, thankfully someone was later than me. He made his way to the only empty desk, next to me. He walked like he owned the place.

"Hi Breaker," I heard girls voices whispering.

"Sup," the boys greeted him.

He glanced at me before sitting. He wore black tennis shoes, black jeans and a gray t-shirt. Tattoos peaked out the collar and sleeves. His hair was wavy, his eyes were light. His mouth was otherworldly. Perfectly shaped lips with fullness at the corners. A pencil behind one ear was his only school supply. I tried not to stare.

"Hey, girl," he kicked the leg of my desk. I looked up. There was an intensity between us, but I couldn't tell if it was mutual or one sided. Probably just me. It didn't look as though flustered entered into his vocabulary. "Paper?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." I handed him a few sheets from my binder.

"Cool," he winked at me. My heart jumped.

The rest of the morning was a fog. I couldn't focus on anything except wondering if I'd see him again. At least it distracted me from the harsh reality of my new school. Between classes, kids screamed in the hallways, fights broke out, I saw uniformed cops apprehend a boy.

By the end of the day, my stomach was in knots. How was I going to get through two years of this? At the moment, I only had to get through last period.

That wasn't going to be easy. There he was, in the last row. He sat on the desk with his feet on the chair. Kids circled around him. He looked up and waved me over. I was tingling. He shooed a boy away from the seat next to him and offered it to me.

"So we have first and last period together," he said.

"I guess." My eyes were on the floor in front of him.

"Chanel is shy," he smirked.

"How do you know my name?" I asked. He hadn't been there when the teacher introduced me.

"I asked around."

"Oh."

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I'm not really that shy," I said. I felt it was a negative observation.

"You're shy but not that shy," he said, challenging me.

"I mean, I don't know. No. I'm not shy at all."

"We'll see."

That made my stomach jump. What did it mean? We'll see. How? A test?