Still The Same

Chapter 1

Walking down the hallway, the foul scent of body odor and new sneakers burned my nose. The high school, my high school, was swarming with kids that push and shove me as they try to get to where they need to go. It's as if no one learned any manners and don't know how to use the words "excuse Me." But of course, no one does. This is high school. Everyone's only purpose here is to maintain a passing grade so they can eventually walk down the aisle with a cap and gown on, at least that's my purpose.

I told my mother in the car this morning I wasn't nervous, I don't get nervous. My trembling hands tell a different story. Starting at a new school in the middle of my sophomore year wasn't going to be easy. But it's easy to disguise the nerves. The blank stare on my face is enough to keep unwanted kids from talking to Me as I stand by the wall, my long brown hair cascading down my shoulders.

My gaze jumps around the hallway: looking, studying, judging. Just like the others. A boy taller than me walks by, his posture confident, his facial features focused ahead of him, his jaw tense. As if he felt me staring, his gaze flickered to mine. His eyes quickly but surely ran down from my face to my shoes, then back up before he gave Me a small smirk. Then, he turned his gaze back ahead and continued walking.

I watched him walk down the hallway, watching the way his muscles tensed and untensed with each step. The thought of how gorgeous he was floating around in my mind, making my stomach churn in anticipation to know who he is. Then my name is called, pulling my focus away from the boy and to the person that knew my name already.

"Michaela!" I hear the voice again, louder this time, as if the person is approaching me. He is. They both are. Two of them. The two boys that share so many childhood memories with me. Graden and Aaron.

The smiles on their faces are contagious, resulting in my lips curling upward as I walk towards them.

"You guys, I haven't seen you guys in forever!" I say, wrapping arms around them both. Their arms wrap around me, giving me a sense of security and warmth. A feeling of home.

"It's been too long," Graden says to me. They both let their arms fall to their sides when they pull away from the embrace, I do the same.

Aaron nods his head. "Way too long."

"I've missed you guys."

The memories from my childhood swarm my head as I stare at the two of them. Learning how to use the toilet together, me being the only girl at their birthday parties, countless adventures we would go on, the day they both helped me pack my things and move away.

The move. Toeele. Jesse. Trenton. It all bringsthe nightmares back to me, the ones that haunt my dreams and keep me up at night.

That's why I'm here. To get away from it all. To come back to my safe haven and make something better of myself then what I've become the past three years.

"We've missed you too. I mean, you can have the three marketeers without three lifelong best friends right?" Aaron says, causing Graden to emit a small laugh and me to smile at them both.

"Right," I reply. Then as if on cue, the bell rings, signalling that we had five minutes to get to first period. "Text me faggots, I've got to get to zoology."

They both nod, give me a quick hug, then walk away to whatever class they have, leaving Me to walk to the first class of my first day of school at Kearns High School.