Soon the summer days wind down. It seems like a punch in the face, so sudden for back to school time. This of all the days of the year was my least favorite, everyone grabbing school supplies off of stores' shelves and the schedules being sent out. All of the kids wondering what teachers they got or what everyone was wearing the first day of school. All I wonder is what William will be like at school.
For sure he wouldn't be popular. But, could he make friends? I keep telling myself he will. He has to right? I convinced myself I was sure of it. But was I really? The 4th graders can be tough. William has already learned that. He is too innocent to be exposed to the real world. It’s like a daisy in the meadow being trampled by the harsh boots of reality.
“Amandla, you better hurry up if you don’t want to miss the bus!” My mom screams from downstairs. I roll my eyes. I have time; the bus doesn’t come for a while. I throw on a white and pink striped and a pair of jeans. “Oh my god!” I can almost hear the girls from school say. “You totally didn’t plan that outfit!” I laugh at the thought before hurrying down the steps.
Once I get to the bus stop at the end of the street, I am glad to see William. You would think he would be looking nerve wreaking, right? Wrong. William smiles brightly at me and waves. Like, he’s done this a thousand times. “But he hasn’t” I remind myself in a whisper. I shake my head to free it of the negative thoughts that lay within. If he is being so positive then why aren’t I?
I spend the extra few minutes before the bus comes helping William with his schedule. I don’t think I realized how clueless he was.
“No, visual art is like paintings and stuff.” I explain to him as I look in to his ice blue eyes. He tilts his head up slightly so he is starring into my eyes. I can almost feel the arctic blue burning into my eyes. He nods and for the first time I realize that he is trying just as hard as I am to help him fit in. Maybe (as hard as it is to believe) he is not that innocent daisy.
Our thoughts are interrupted by the shrieking sound that signifies that the bus has arrived. I snatch my bag that lies by my side before hopping onto the bus. Once we enter the bus everyone goes quiet. The nosey bus sounds and flying paper planes stop and all eyes are on me. Wait no, on William. Seated in the back of the bus is Dalton and his “crew”. Dalton whispers something to the rest of the crew and they all snicker. If I had to bet I think it was about William… or us. I pull William into the nearest seat and whisper “Don’t mind them…” He looks over confused and answers “Mind what?” Either he is too innocent to notice or he is pretending again. I don’t know which but, I’m glad he’s not making a big deal out of it.
Once we reach school everyone piles out of the bus and hurries inside the brick building that we call school. I quickly look at William’s schedule and direct him to his class. As we walk through the winding hallways and push through crowds I glance over to William. He does certainly look distressed but, he studies the various hallways and doors. As if taking in every inch of his surrounding. It’s amazing and reliving at the same time. It’s as if he is- WHACK!
I was so busy watching William that I ran into a locker door. William rushes over and asks if I am ok. He has worry planted all over his face. Nearby kids stare and I feel awfully uncomfortable. I hop back up and the kids return to their previous activities and conversations. William sighs and asks me if I am ok. I tell him I’m fine and we continue down the hallway.
“Well this is your class and I already showed you wear your next few are…. So I guess I’ll see you at lunch!” I say slowly then try to put an enthusiastic ending to it. William nods and for a split second I am convinced I can see worrying cross over his face. But, as sudden as it comes it disappears. I then realize that I haven’t looked at my schedule and hurry to find my class before the bell rings.
The first half of my day flies by. If I had to tell you what I did then it would be wonder about what William is doing and get passed various sheets of rules that I couldn’t care less about. Soon enough it is lunch time and I will get to see William. As I hurry to the lunchroom I see William emerge from the 4th grade hallway. He waves to me and smiles. His smile isn’t the William smile I know and love though. It’s a fakey one that I always use in my school year book pictures.
Once we get to the cafeteria I show William to the lunch line. As we stand in line I can’t help but notice some other 4th graders eyeing us strangely. I wave it off and pick up a tray.
“So how was your day so far?” I ask William
“Alright.” He replies to me. We leave it at that and pick up our hot dogs.
William looks around the lunchroom confused on where to sit. I read his confusion like my favorite book. It’s funny how I can understand William so much already. But, somethings I don’t understand about him. A matter of fact I think there is a lot more that I don’t understand then I do. I can understand the simple things but I can’t help but feel there are bigger thing that he is hiding from me.
“Over there” I point to the last lunch table in the room. “That way we can take our time going to our next class and if we are late, we have an excuse. We were the last out of the lunchroom.”
William considers the thought then laughs. We spend the rest of lunch talking about what we should do this weekend. I mentally make a big list of the ideas. They all seem like fun like building a tree house or seeing who can hang upside down on a tree branch the longest. We spend most the period laughing. Soon it comes to an end though. I recall a saying my mom always says “Time flies by when your having fun.”
“So true” I think to myself as we exit the cafeteria.
Ask me what I did for the rest of the day? Well, I don’t really know. Regular first day of school stuff I guess. I am so relieved when the bell finally rings and we all rise from our desks. I can’t wait to get home. I go to William’s classroom to see if I can meet him there. But, after 5 minutes of waiting I decided to head to the bus.
I run to the bus because it is about to leave. As I approach it I see it’s a lot more crowded than this morning. When I get onto it I see that William is seated in the back reading a book. The bus takes off as soon as I enter so I am forced to sit in the first empty seat. I try to glance back at William but his head is buried into his book.
When we finally reach my stop I grab my bags. I thank the bus driver and exit. I wait outside for William and as soon as he steps off the bus I know why he didn't want me to see him.
~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~~~~
So I wrote a REALLY long chapter. So I split it into two parts! The next will be up soon. Sorry I haven't updated in a while! A lot of people have asked and my other books are on hole right now so I can focus on this one! Please comment, I love to hear them! Also if you have any suggestions! Thanks guys keep reading!
~RueWriter
