𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐤𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐨

one

📍 passaic valley
high school

  i walk into my new school, looking around attempting to make my way to the office, but having absolutely no luck. "hey, are you lost?" a girl questions me, "yeah.. i'm new, i gotta get to the office," i mumble, laughing at myself.

  "well hey, i'm vic, and it's that way, here i'll take you," the sweet girl reassured me. "thanks, i'm jackie," i replied softly, "sweet, let me guess... you're a junior?" vic asks me as we walk down the narrow hallway.

  "yeah, just moved here from texas," i respond, opening my phone and making sure i looked okay. "cool, one of my boyfriend's friend is from there," vic smiles, "well here is the office, have a good first day! see you around," vic smiles, before leaving me alone.

"hi i'm jackie, well jaquelyn mendoza, and i needa get my schedule please," i say walking inside the office, speaking to the registrar. "oh okay sweetie, let me go get it from the back, be right back," the slightly taller brunette woman says before heading to the back.

after a couple more minutes of sitting in the office, bouncing my leg up and down anxiously, i finally get my schedule. "okay so here's your schedule, and here's a map of the layout of the school," the same lady tells me, handing me a stack of papers.

"cool, thanks," i smile at the lady before heading out and attempting to find my way to the first class, english. a short five minutes later, i end up on the opposite side of the door of the classroom.

i knock softly on the door, making the teacher get up from his desk and walk over towards the door. "hi, i'm jackie... i'm new," i whisper, looking up at the teacher.

"hi, come in, i'm coach jackson," the taller man says, moving over, allowing me to walk inside. i smile lightly before turning to face the desks, feeling all eyes on me.

"hey jackie! over here!" a familiar face calls me over. i smile, realizing that it was the girl who helped me to the office earlier, vic. "hey vic," i smile down at her, taking a seat next to vic and a boy, who i assume was her boyfriend, seeing as they were holding hands.

"what's up, i'm alejandro, or alex, whatever you want," the boy says, smiling at me. "hi, i'm jackie," i clarified, before sitting back in my chair and looking up at the board.

the teacher gives a short lecture before taking a seat at his desk and telling everyone to work on an assignment from another class or quietly talk amongst themselves. "so vic told me you're from texas?" alejandro says, sitting up and looking over at me.

"yeah, i lived in houston," i say, looking back over at the pair, before looking down at my phone, seeing a couple notifications on my lock screen. i quickly shut my phone back off before looking back over at the two.

"that's cool, my friend alvaro moved here from there," alejandro says, making me sit up in my seat. "wait... what's his last name? he sounds familiar," i question the short boy. "uh, romero, yeah.. alvaro romero," alejandro laughs at my sudden interest.

"no fucking way.... alvaro was my bestfriend up until he moved, and yunno we didnt have phones yet, so we just fell off..." i say. a smile instantly grows at the memories that flood my mind of alvaro and i as little kids.

"aw that's cute," victoria says, seeing how happy i got. "hey what lunch do you have? we all have second lunch," alejandro says, reaching over to grab my schedule off of the desk.

"good question..." i trail off, studying my schedule, trying to see if i could figure it out, but having no luck. "well you have second lunch, so you can sit with us if you want," vic says smiling at me .

"sweet, thanks," i respond, sitting back and looking over my schedule again for the third time. "oh and you have your next class with me, so i can show you where it is," alejandro says, making me look over at him.

"cool, that's... art?" i clarify, looking back down at the schedule. "yeah, me and my friend pinto are in there," he says, sitting back and throwing his arm around victoria, which makes her smile at him.

after twenty more minutes of the three of us getting to know eachother, we all exchange numbers. finally, english class comes to an end, making all three of us stand up and say our goodbyes. "bye guys, see yall at lunch," vic says, leaning over to hug alejandro, then waiving bye to me.

"come on, it's this way," alejandro says, leading the two of us out of the classroom and down another couple of narrow hallways. we eventually end up in our next class, and we take a seat at a table in the back of the classroom.

a couple minutes later another boy walks to the back and takes a seat across from the two of us. he looks at alejandro, then over at me, and back at alejandro again with a confused look on his face. "did you and vic break up?" he asks, making alejandro and i both laugh.

"nah, this is jackie, she's new, so me and vic were helping her figure out what lunch she had, and yeah.." he trails off, still laughing at what the guy had said. "well shit, my bad... what's up, i'm francesco, but most people call me pinto," he says smiling over at me.

"hey, i'm jackie," i smile back at the boy. "you on the soccer team?" i question the boy, looking down at his shirt that says 'pvhs soccer,' before looking back up at him. "yeah, we both are, and so are most of our friends," alejandro answers for him.

"cool, ev-," i begin before the teacher cuts me off. "okay i know i have a new student... uh jaquelyn?" the lady questions, looking around the room. "that's me, but i go by jackie," i respond, raising my hand. "come over here so you can get the assignment, the rest of you, get to work," the teacher demands.

after getting the assignment, which was just to 'sketch out something that represents your favorite holiday,' i go back to take my seat. i decided that i was going to draw a skyline with a big circle, dropping down with a countdown to represent new years.

"holy shit, you're good at drawing," pinto says making me look up at him, "haha, thanks," i laugh. we all quietly talk amongst ourselves, laughing every once in a while, and before we knew it, the class was about to end.

after another two classes, it's finally time to go to lunch, and i have no idea where to go. i stand to the side and whip out my phone, shooting a quick text to vic asking where i should go, until i feel someone tap on my shoulder.

i turn around to find pinto standing there, looking down at me. "lemme guess, you need help finding the cafeteria?" pinto questions, making the two of us laugh. "yeah, yeah, yeah, yall got a big ass school," i remark as pinto shows me the way to the cafeteria and the table i'd be sitting at.

"look who i found looking lost as hell," pinto says as we arrive at a table where alejandro and vic were sitting. "oh shit, sorry i just saw your message," vic says looking down at her phone, "its cool, pinto helped me out," i reply as pinto and i take a seat across from the two.

eventually another two boys come to join the four of us sitting at the table, they all greet eachother before the taller boy says, "yo, who's this?" i look up at him and reply,  "hey i'm jackie.. and you are?"

"oh hey, i'm mattia, and this is kairi," the boy says, pointing to the shorter boy with a smile on his face. "hey guys what's up- jackie?" the boy who i hadn't seen in years, alvaro says. "oh my god! alvaro! hey," i beam at the boy standing next to me.

"oh my god, how are you?" he asks, taking a seat next to me and giving me a side hug. "i'm good, how about you... oh my god i haven't seen you in forever," i say examining the now grown up boy i had grown to adore all those years ago.

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