It Should Have Been Him

Chapter 4

Then

All summer's eventually come to end, but in my mind, the end of was signified by the first day of school.  When it did, I could barely hold in my excitement.  

I had waken up extra early that morning, and walked down the stairs, wide awake. I wasn't too big on my appearance; I usually threw on whatever I could find first and walked out the door. Despite my enormous walk-in closet, that most girls envied, I never really asked for it. Or wanted it. 

Every time I used to clean it out, and try to donate the clothes to kids who actually needed it, my mom would restock it, as if my closet were a pantry. It annoyed me, I didn't need the clothes, but I was forced into wearing them. 

That day was different. I actually picked out my clothes and tried on multiple different outfits until I decided on one. Light blue jeans with a red top, which honestly wasn't any different from an outfit I would normally wear. 

I was excited, and nothing was going to stop me from having a great year. I was going to get into Stanford, and I was going to be successful. I was going to be something, I was going to do something with my life. Because that was what I had been working towards, and that was the year everything was supposed to come together. Because that's the way it should have been. 

Quickly, I wolfed down my breakfast, which was some type of wrap filled with eggs and mayo. I didn't like it, but I looked past the horrible taste. I swiped my lunch from off the kitchen island and stuffed it into my backpack, practically running out the door. 

"Work hard!" my mom called out to me on my way out the door. I nodded my head. I worked hard because I wanted to. My mom has always put so much pressure on me to work hard, get into a good university, and become a lawyer like her. I didn't need all the pressure or motivation. I worked hard all on my own. 

I never really took my car to school. The parking lot was complete chaos, and it took at least half an hour to get out of the parking lot after school. It was easier to just walk. I took out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and dialled Katherine, plugging in my earbuds. The streets were quiet in the neighbourhood. No cars passed by, and there wasn't anything close to a breeze, it felt like no one was awake. I felt like I had the entire town to myself. Until I saw a guy my age whiz past me on his bike. I ignored him and kept walking. Once he was completely out of my sight, I would have the entire town to myself again. 

"Hello?" Katherine answered. 

"Oh, hey have you left yet?" I asked, playing with the cord of my earbuds.  I had almost forgotten I was on the line with her. 

"Almost, meet you outside homeroom?" she asked. I heard rustling in the background, which led me to believe that she wasn't even dressed. 

"Yup." I ended the call, and proceeded to breathe in the fresh morning air. I glanced upwards to see that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The lane of cherry blossoms that led the way down the sidewalk began to blow in the newly occurring wind. It really did seem like the perfect way to kick off  my last year of high school. 

I went through the back entrance of the school - only because I saw that Student Council was lined up at the front, prepared to give out candy that also coincidently came with applications to be part of their team. I didn't want to be bothered, plus, there was something pleasant about the back entrance. It went unnoticed most of the time, making it way more peaceful than the front. You'd never see a fist fight go down in the back. 

I continued down the hall, studying each set of grad portraits, starting from 2000. It went all the way to 2017, and then, there was an empty space in the sage green wall. I halted and stared at the empty space. That was where our graduating class would be, class of 2018. I took a breath, I was so close, I could almost taste the sweet feeling of graduation. 

I found room 217, with Katherine standing outside, scrolling thorough her phone. She was wearing heels with a cropped white dress that had a flower print. Judging by her choice of shoes, I was guessing she probably took her car, which was probably why she had beaten me. 

"Katherine?" I called out. she peered up from her phone and smiled, tucking her phone into the pocket of her bag. 

"What's up?" she asked. We stood just beside the classroom door and watched as people walked by.

"Ready for our first class?"

"Only you are, I couldn't care less about the course," she mumbled. I couldn't have expected more from her, she didn't exactly scream dedication. We watched as more people past by. I looked at the row of steel blue lockers in front of us. The lock was located in the middle, there were little vents at the top and bottom, and you could easily slip a candy wrapper into it.

"Are you excited for the senior dance?" she asked. I squinted my eyes shut and winced. The words themselves triggered my gag reflex. It was partly my fault for thinking Katherine would have forgotten, keeping up with who was going out with who, and which dance was when was the only thing she actually took away from school.

"Yeah," I said softly. She smiled and tapped her freshly manicured hands against the wall white walls.

Then, the bell rang.