Heather (inspired by Conan Gray)

As She Walks By

The first day of school came around, and it was basically the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen.

"CORY!" my kind and sincere best friend screamed outside of my window."Get up and get ready or we're leaving you to take the bus."

Of course, threatening me with the worst. She knows I'd rather major in physics than take the bus again.

"I'm coming!" I said with my head basically already out of the house. Claire and Henry have generously started driving me to school after Claire let me sit alone at the bus stop for two weeks last year. Claire liked being early so we can get some breakfast on the way, since all the commotion in her house isn't a very peaceful setting to eat in.

Another thing, when Claire threatens something like that, she tends to go through with it. I remember one day when I overslept and woke up to text from her saying "you snooze you lose🤪". I got ready for her thinking it was a joke until about 10 minutes passed and I realized I should probably take the bus. So after that frightful morning I always got ready on time.

I looked in the mirror one last time, combed my black hair, fixed my shirt, and made myself look presentable. Of course I'm doing of this to impress Nathan on the first day back. Would he notice? Probably not. But it doesn't mean I won't try. As I was walking towards the car, Claire seemed to give me a weird look.

"Damn, someone's looking nice today," she noticed. "Anyone special at school you're waiting for?"

"No not really, just thought I'd dress nicely every once in a while."

"Is this about the new student you have to show around?" Henry chimed in.

"Of course," I'd reply after a silent pause. "First impressions are the ones that matter the most, right?" Shit. I completely forgot I have to show this new student around school today.

"So, I say for the first day, some egg sandwiches...? Or if that's not something..." I wasn't really listening to Claire's breakfast suggestions as I was thinking about how I was completely unprepared to show this new student around the school and basically pin pointed every conversation topic mentally just to prepare.

At the time I wanted to thank Henry for reminding me, but now looking back I wonder what would've happened if I'd completely forgotten about Heather.

When we got to school, later than planned since Claire couldn't make up her mind on anything, I had to meet with our guidance counselor so she could tell me when I'd be giving this new student the tour. As I got to her office, however, I realized that the guidance counselor wasn't a she anymore. The old lady that used to give us 'Live, Laugh, Love' stickers when we expressed any form of sadness was long gone, and in her place stood a middle-eastern man with a killer goatee and short brown hair.

"Hey," he said. "Are you Cory Palmer?"

"Uhh, hello?" I awkwardly stepped into the room. "Where's Ms. Swan?"

"She got into a horrible car accident over the summer, practically left her braindead," he'd reply looking me straight in the eyes with a stern expression. "No, I'm just kidding," he gave a smile, "I think she just got a better offer, so I got the job."

"Oh, and you are mister...?" 

"You can call me Mr. Hussein."

"Oh ok, Mr. Hussein, can you please tell me when I'm supposed to give the new student a tour?"

"Well, 5 minutes ago," he said with a smile. "But it's fine, she's also running-" he stopped himself and looked behind me to greet someone. When I turned to see where his eyes landed there stood the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. You may be thinking 'you're not even attracted to women', which is fair, but it doesn't mean I'm blind. Everything about Heather seemed perfect, from her dark skin and the way she styled her hair to her outfit that looked like she had picked it out weeks before to look this gorgeous.