[5] Avoiding Another Incident

Turns out, I'm early.

I roll up into the school parking lot at 7:23. I have more than 45 minutes to kill, so I'll have to find something to do.

I didn't actually think I was going to be late when I said that to my mom, I just had to get out of there. I had to escape that arrogant angry boy that, for all I know, could be a drug dealer.

So I unsuccessfully came up with something to use as a reason to escape his death glare. Whether or not my excuse helped to my advantage or not, I don't know. All I know is that my mother dragging me outside ended up being the perfect escape plan.

And I didn't even have to explain to my mom the real reason I was so eager to leave, that involved a mysterious dark-haired boy that could be potentially dangerous!

I call that a win.

So, as soon as my mom took those photos of me, (after discovering that she had been taking a video on accident instead of pictures for a while and that those glasses she couldn't find had been on her head the whole time) I hurried out of there as quickly as possible to get in my car to drive.

So yeah, I'm here pretty early, even for me.

It's not exactly ideal, but I'd rather be early than late, and sometimes spending some time alone in the car before school can help mentally prepare one for the day ahead of them. Lord knows I could use that.

A knock on my car window startles me and I jump in my seat, a weird shriek-like noise bubbling from my mouth without my intent.

I inhale a gulp of air through my mouth, clutching my chest. I look up to see a brunette with a wide grin on her face. I exhale.

"Maggie!" I shout through the window angrily. I hastily grab my backpack from the passenger's seat and open the car door to Maggie, who is laughing hysterically at me.

As I shrug on my backpack, I shove her playfully and insist, "It's not funny!"

She snorts. "Yeah it is," she states in between loud cackles.

"You legitimately scared me!"

"I know!" she snorts even louder and starts cracking up, eventually emphasizing, "that's what's so funny," then falling into a fit of laughter that requires her to wipe tears from her eyes.

As she recovers, taking deep breaths of air, I click the lock button for my car doors and start walking away toward the school.

"Wait!" she scrambles to catch up to me. "Wait for me!" When she reaches me, she's panting.

"God I am out of shape" she moans, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow.

"No, you're not," I assure my friend with confidence. I turn toward her with a smile, "You're just short."

She gasps and shoves me, "Hey!" she reprimands me.

"Ow, that hurt," I admit with a whimper, clutching my shoulder and rubbing it to soothe the pain.

"Good," Maggie agrees, "It was supposed to. Also, I'll have you know that 5'2 is a perfectly average height for non-giant people like me."

Now I'm the one snickering.

"Giant people?" I inquire with a laugh.

She crosses her arms. "Yeah. Like you," she elaborates, gesturing widely to indicate my 5'10 frame.

After pausing suddenly, her eyebrows become furrowed at me as she scrutinizes my appearance, looking me up and down, assessing my features.

"Hmmm," she debates something in her head while stroking her chin. "Well... actually..." she continues, concluding, "I'd say you're more of a slenderman with those legs of yours."

I gasp. "My legs are perfectly proportional!" I insist defensively.

All it takes is one look at Maggie's face and we both burst into laughter. I'm doubled over with my hand over my chest. Soon I'm gasping for air and my chest is hurting. All we do is take one look at each other and we're back into howling and cackling with laughter. Finally, we calm down.

We stand still for a few moments, refilling our lungs that have been deprived of oxygen. I glance at her for a second, savouring this carefree feeling.

Maggie pulls me into and tight hug. As she pulls away she looks at me and confides, "Seriously. It's good to see you."

I playfully punch her shoulder and respond affirmingly, "It's good to see you too."

And I mean it.

We walk side by side on the sidewalk toward the school. Our steps synchronize with each other despite our difference in height.

"So... what's your first block?" Maggie turns and asks with a smile on her face.

"I actually don't know..." I confess. "I think it's either AP Gov or Trig--"

I fumble through the straps and buckles to gain access to the contents of my bag "--but lemme check."

I hear a dramatic gasp. "How do you not know!?" she exclaims in disbelief.

I shrug my shoulders to answer.

"You're such a doofus" she teases, playfully shoving me and rolling her eyes "...it's almost like you didn't even attend orientation night."

I continue to dig through my backpack "I didn't" I admit truthfully, earning another loud gasp from a wide-eyed Maggie.

"I had to work!" I respond defensively, then adding, "You know how it is."

Maggie still continues to gape at me, looking shocked beyond belief.

God, she could be dramatic sometimes.

Or... maybe the amount that I worked wasn't normal. She has a point with that, I guess.

I heave a sigh, but then, just as I begin pondering my kinda crappy life circumstances, my hand brushes over the hidden pocket I had stashed my schedule away in.

"Aha!" I say, brandishing the piece of paper triumphantly.

The shocked look vanishes from her face and she claps her hands excitedly. "Oh oh, lemme see!"

Maggie stretches on her tippy toes, struggling to look over my shoulder at the paper, but stays quiet.

I open my schedule to see that I no longer have the advisory I've had for the past three years, but a new one instead.

I'm angry about this. I don't know why. I mean... Mr. Stuber was nothing special, but I eventually found comfort in his dull snores over the years. Not to mention it was a daily designated time to just chill and talk with Rohan.

We'd always have fun just discussing the newest advancement in space or chemical technology or scientific discovery that nobody else was interested in.

Ugh! This must be because they opened up the second high school this year! Both the population of incoming freshman students and the teachers got split up between the buildings, messing everything up.

"So you have AP Gov first!" Maggie notes excitedly, startling me slightly.

"Yep, that's what it looks like. With Mr. Nickleson, too, thank god. If I was stuck with Ms. Hoog I would drop that class quicker than a hot potato."

Maggie laughs.

"Oh! And something else good is that I think Rohan has it with you, so you'll be together every day for first block! That'll be great!"

"--Well..." she amends, "not for the people in your class, who have to hear you two nerd-talk relentlessly first thing in the morning."

"Pfft, like you care about the other people in the class." I scoff.

"Good point." She points a finger at me, "-but I do care about poor Mr. Nickleson, who seems to be an innocent, extremely nice teacher, undeserving of such torture."

I roll my eyes at her, but I do it with a small smile still on my face.

////

It's 7:56 and I walk into Mr. Nickleson's room located in the west wing.

He greets me with a smile and I smile back, feeling more and more confident that this school year might not be that bad.

As I turn to head to a seat, I catch a glimpse of my best friend rounding the corner. A wide smile spreads across his face when he locks eyes with me. He hurries inside and we pick seats next to each other.

Rohan faces me. "So, how is the life of Spencer Hastings? Mixed reviews? 5/5 stars on Yelp? Give me all the details."

I decide to amuse him, answering dramatically, "10/10. Worthy of praise from Oprah. Potentially a New York Times Best Seller Autobiography."

We both laugh a little.

"Wait- actually, take that back. I give it 0/10 since it seems the school changed advisory for everyone."

Rohan's eyes widen. "Seriously?!"

"Yep." I point at his backpack, "just look at your schedule."

He leans down to unzip his bag, then pulling the white piece of paper out and holding it delicately as he unfolds it.

"Oh no, the world must hate me, I have it with Ms. Hoog." He suddenly whips his head up and looks hopefully at me.

"Do you have it with her too? Please tell me we will suffer through this torture together," he pleads desperately.

"Nope. Sorry, bro." I pat his shoulder to give my condolences. "At least we have this class together, right? Plus..." I send him a mischievous smile, "how could anyone be sad when Tesla just released the blueprints detailing the structure of their newest self-driving car?"

Rohan bounces back to his old self. "You had me at Tesla."

AP Gov is pretty great. Rohan and I get to talk, Mr. Nickleson is really funny, and the class is self-paced and mostly work time.

I walk to advisory with a spring in my step, feeling optimistic about my senior year.

This shouldn't be too bad.

Or at least that's what I thought.

I turn the corner.

I turn the corner into Jack Summers.

-------

AN:

So... not my best work, (it's kinda obvious this is a filler chapter) but I really wanted to update today. I have not edited this or gone through to look for grammar or spelling errors, but I will tomorrow/sometime soon. But right now my eyes are drooping and I'm running on 3 hours of sleep so yeah.

Anyways, I'm really excited for what I've got in store for you guys coming up soon in the plot

Things are about to get JUICY

lmao

Also, thank you so much for the love. Honestly all the support I've gotten means so much.

Love,

Leah