The Girl Next Door

1.

"Stacy you're going to be late if you don't come on!" Dad called to me from downstairs. Today was the first day of my senior year and I was in no rush. I was completely over high school. When I finally came downstairs, Dad greeted me with a bear hug. I accepted it happily.

"Can't I just go with you daddy?" I knew the answer was no but I tried it anyway. Any other time, daddy had a hard time saying no to me. His laughter vibrated against my chest.

"I wish you could Princess. Come on, we both don't wanna be late on our first day. I'll drive you."

I never liked riding in daddy's squad car but I really didn't like pulling up to school in it. I got enough stares without everyone knowing my dad was the towns' new sheriff. Daddy's uniform fit against his chest and biceps snugly and his chocolate skin glistened under the August morning sun.

"Have a good day baby girl."

"You too, bye daddy." I kissed his cheek like I did almost every morning that he dropped me off. Since he brought me home from the hospital, I was a daddies' girl and I probably always would be. My dad was my best friend.

I ran my long, slender fingers thru my black wavy hair and sighed. This was my last first day of high school but I wanted it to be over already. By the time I got my class schedule and figured out how to open the raggedy school locker, I was over being at school already. Every five minutes I had to remind myself of the promise I made daddy when we moved here. After being expelled from my last school at the end of my junior year, he made me promise not to get involved with the wrong crowd again. My friends were normal to me though. Normal enough to get me expelled just to save themselves anyways. Daddy accepted a new job in a new town with less than 10,000 people and looked at that as a new opportunity for us both.

By lunch I was ready to call daddy to come get me. The school wasn't big and overcrowded but it felt like it with how many boys and girls felt the need to talk to me. Everybody wanted to know something about me. I just wanted to be left alone. My last class of the day was Spanish 2 and I couldn't be more upset. I knew nothing about Spanish anything!

"I'm sorry but this was the only elective that wasn't full. You're going to have to make it work until second semester sweetie." The secretary handed me back my schedule and smiled softly. She mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' but I turned my back and walked out of the office. There was no way I was going to pass a Spanish 2 class when I barely knew how to say anything besides hola.

The bell rung as soon as I sat down in the back of the classroom. I had an hour and then I could walk home in peace. I knew I had to be the only person in the room who didn't understand a word Mr. Velasquez was saying. So I pulled out an empty notebook and tuned him and the rest of the class out. This was going to be an extremely long semester...