Never The Same After

Tom Sawyer

Jeff still wasn't fired. Adalyn had thought to keep her mouth shut, as Jeff was a really good person, other than his rather boring jokes. He dropped Adalyn off at school.

"Thanks Jeff," said Adalyn. "Thanks especially for using the Toyota and not the limo or the Ferrari!" Jeff smiled, nodded, and drove off.

Ddingg!
The first bell rang. Everyone hurried to their 1st periods. Adalyn walked, confidently, to Science. She greeted the teacher and sat down.
Doing!
The second bell rang. Once everyone settled down, Mr. Glants announced, "Students, we have a new student in class!" Everyone softly murmured among themselves. A pretty brunette stood near him. "This is Jimena! Please treat her well...." he kept talking.

Adalyn analyzed Jimena closely. She was dressed in designer clothing. And she had her hair down and curled. She was wearing too much red lipstick.

"Why don't you sit down... er... next to Adalyn?" Jimena walked over to her sat next to her.
"Hey," she said cheerfully. "I love your shirt!" Adalyn rolled her eyes and silently cursed.
"Oh, thanks! I love your hair!" she said emotionlessly. Jimena turned away from her and talked to the "cute cool girly girls".

It was going to be a long year.

***
Third period was free period. The period with Jacob. And the period Adalyn got time to herself. She took out her WIRED earbuds and plugged them into her iPhone 6. She went to Spotify and chose Golden Days by Panic! At The Disco. Golden Days was her favorite song.

Oh don't you wonder when the light begins to fade?
And the clock just makes the colors turn to grey
Forever younger growing older just the same
All the memories that we make will never change
We'll stay drunk, we'll stay tan, let the love remain
And I swear that I'll always paint you
Golden days!
Golden days!
Golden days!
Golden days!

She was reading Narnia. Her favorite series. Although she had every line, every word memorized, the books meant a lot to her. Adalyn closed her eyes but opened them as the song ended. She put on Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time and took out her math textbook and started to study.

A guy in Adalyn's class walked up to her. "Um... hello?" he said nervously. "Can I... sit here?" Adalyn studied him for a second before nodding.

"I forgot your name... what was it again?" The guy nervously said, "Sawyer, but you can call me Tom. You know... TOM Sawyer? Like the book?" He laughed weakly.

"I'm Adalyn." she introduced herself. "You can sit here and study if you want..."

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Tom. He took out his iPhone XR and his AirPods Pro. He put them on and started listening to something. Adalyn analyzed him. He had jet black straight hair that was styled like an anime boys. He had very smooth skin and jet black eyes. He was tall and pale. Adalyn smiled. He was actually really cute.

At last, Adalyn's curiosity got the best of her. "What are you listening to to?" she asked as casually as possible. He looked up for a second - his eyes were like black holes. Deep, beautiful, and no one knew what was on the other side.

"Panic! At the Disco," he said. No longer he seemed nervous. Adalyn felt excited. "What's your favorite song by Brendon? I love P!ATD as well!" she said.

Without thinking, Tom replied, "Golden Days." Adalyn fell off her chair. She didn't though, she felt like it. A cute guy who wanted to sit with her who loved the same song as her?!

"Oh, ha ha!" she laughed. "What a coincidence! That's my favorite song as well."

The bell rang, dismissing Third period. "What do you have next?" asked Tom, gathering his books. "History."

Tom grinned widely. "I'm in history, too!"

They walked off together.