Broken Glass, Broken Hearts part 37

The following week passed by quickly. I went to school, did my work, hurried home, packed, went to bed. Next day, woke up, went to school, hurried home, packed, went to bed. And do it went for the entire week. Then on Saturday everything was finally packed. A single small U-haul truck was loaded with Milly and my beds, my couch, Milly's bean bags, and the boxes of crud we wouldn't give up. Angela and Jake stood on the driveway and waved goodbye sadly. It seemed unreal. I honestly believed that at any moment, I would wake up and find that the moon was still in the sky and my tired mind was playing tricks on me, giving me realistic dreams. It wouldn't be the first time I had a dream that was felt that real. But this time, deep down, I knew it was really happening. I was going to be the new kid all over again. Except this time I wouldn't have an angel as my escort.

I walked into the small, cold, white walled house and looked around. My mother had already moved in her furniture and hung up a few of her paintings. "Milly, yours and Tyler's rooms are past the kitchen-" Milly and I immediately hurried over to the kitchen and identified which room would belong to whom. My room had a door leading outside and Milly's room had a bathroom. I dropped my bag in the room and looked out at the small, square nicely kept grass backyard. No forest anymore. So far, the first of the new houses was just absolutely fabulous. (I'm being sarcastic.)

My mom dropped Milly and I off in front of this high school that was three times the size of our last one. There were no hallways. You had to walk across grass fields to get anywhere. As I walked across the main lawn I felt like my every movement was being measured. I caught my hair brushing against my neck as I looked around for the main office. I felt all my weight fall on my feet as I stepped quickly onto the cement. Water from a murky puddle leaked into my shoes and I quickly stepped into the main office, noticing the cold metal handle of the door. "Hi-" I started. A thin woman with obviously died blonde hair and lipstick the color of fire turned around to face me. She smiled widely, "You must be Tyler." I nodded, taking in the pink shirt and jeans the woman tried to pull off. "That's me," I said, my expression unchanging. "Welcome to our school, Tyler!" I looked up at the strange woman and said nothing. I knew thank you was the polite response, but at that moment all I wanted was to not be there. She seemed slightly thrown off by my failure to respond. "Well-uh- let me...um...get you your...schedule," she said in a worried tone as she searched her crowded desk for my schedule. "Here it is," she said breathily, handing me the paper. She pointed out the office window, "You first class is the one with the purple door." As I opened the office door, I felt the responsibility of saying thank you again. But I said nothing. I just left.

I opened the door, discovering, much to my dismay, that I was a couple minutes late. A cheery-eyed man in jeans and a loose brown and grey striped shirt smiled at me. His eyes lit up under his small, intelligent looking glasses. "You're Tyler," he said, sounding even happier than his eyes looked. I felt in shock. "Yea," I said bluntly. "Welcome!" he said oh-so-cheerily. "We're so happy to have you here!" Clearly. "Where should I sit?" I asked, once again ignoring my duty to say thank you. All the kids stared at me. Quite a few girls smiled flirtatiously at me, but I just leaned back into my seat, crossed my arms in front of my chest, and stared at the happy man in the front of the classroom. "Perhaps a former clown," I pondered in my head as the man introduced me to the class, telling them where I was from. "We have a bit of a tradition around here," he said in his scary-happy tone. I blinked blankly. "We have a bit of an introduction ceremony," he said, almost laughing in glee. I blinked again. Blank. White walls. Staring eyes. Brand name clothes. Strong perfume. I took in everything around me, feeling anger pool in my veins for no apparent reason. "Would you come to the front of the classroom?" The fatal last words. I stood up and made my way to the front of the room. I felt like everyone in the room had caught there breath, thinking perhaps that I may breath fire and burn down the whole school in anger at any given moment. I would have, too, if that was even possible. "Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?" the clown asked. "No," I wanted to say, "I would like to go back to where I came from and walk with Angela to English. I would like to write down the homework while Mr. Yarber lectures us on being on time." I said nothing. "Tell us your relationship status," he began, "WHAT?!" I hollered in my head. "tell us a little bit about any siblings of family members you have, and perhaps a little bit about what you like to do." I rolled my eyes. "I'm single. I have one sister named Milly. I like to..." I stopped. What did I like to do? "I like to walk with Angela. I like to hear her voice and see her smile and feel her hands. I like to see a rare glimpse of nothing but happiness in her eyes." CRUD. I just said that aloud. Why couldn't I have said that part about wanting to be at my old school out loud?

© 2009