Two weeks seemed to fly by with all the preparations for school and hanging out with Ethan at the cliff. Last night he had promised to walk me to school around 7. Which made me reveal to him where I lived after he relentlessly kept asking, and now had an excuse to know.

I glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:30, I had a good 30 minutes, I thought to myself, I finished my makeup that consisted of eyeliner, mascara and doing my brows. Usually I do more interesting eye looks that aren’t so typical but more bold but figured I shouldn’t scare everyone on my first day. My personality will do it for me.

I walked downstairs and saw Henrietta sitting by the kitchen table, coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

“Good morning,” I said while walking into the kitchen

“Good morning,” Henrietta replied, while trying to suck all the caffeine possible from her mug. It seems I'm not the only one needing all the energy possible for today. I grabbed a mug from the side of the sink where last night's dishes laid drying on a towel.

As I poured my coffee, the front door flew open and caused me to almost drop my mug. Who else would waltz right in but Ethan? I glanced at the clock, 6:45.

“Worry no more! I am here! Ethan shouted and looked at us with that wide goofy smile of his. But our expressions weren't what he expected; both of us stared at him frozen, looked at each other, then back at him.

“How do you have so much energy this early? I asked and continued to pour my coffee, facing my back to him.

Henrietta chuckled; “Good morning, Ethan, would you like some coffee? Rose didn’t mention it was you walking her to school.” Henrietta laughed a bit.

“Why, thank you, Henrietta, yes. Yes, I would and what? Blueb I’m hurt, I thought we were closer than that.” He smirked and made his way to the cabinet, ignoring my question.

I was not aware of this but thinking about it now, it doesn’t surprise me, but Ethan and Henrietta knew each other. Henrietta used to babysit him and his younger sister.

“So blueb, you ready?” Ethan asked while drinking his coffee.

“Can I finish this cup first?” I raised one eyebrow to intensify the sarcasm I was trying to message him.

“Of course, I don’t want you biting my head off today.” He said and stuck his tongue out.

After finishing my coffee in somewhat peace, we made our way out the door and towards the school.

The sun had already started rising above the horizon, and by the time we got out, the sun was already high enough for the tiny diamonds to appear onto the surface. The beach was quiet, not a soul around, my favorite time of the day, along with Midnight. The cool breeze of the morning mixed with the salty scent of the ocean perfectly.

“Don’t you just love the smell of the ocean this early?” Ethan asked while keeping his eyes glued to the water. He looked like he was memorizing it.

“Yeah,” I replied, “and the lack of people.”

“hahaha,” Ethan chuckled, “so you’re not a social butterfly, I’m guessing?”

“no. I prefer to be alone,” I replied while keeping my voice monotone.

Having friends wasn’t a thing with me. I had classmates and people I sometimes hung out with, but I wouldn’t consider any of them close friends. Plus, things at home certainly didn’t help the situation. I figured a long time ago it was easier to be alone.

“Oh, okay, that’s cool.” Ethan struggled to find words that made it more evident than it already was that we were the complete opposites of each other.

I’m guessing whenever the charm of being “new” wears off. He’ll fade into the background and continue to ignore me; maybe I’ll get lucky and get a “hey” in the hallway while passing him.

The rest of the walk was mainly quiet except for a few moments of awkward attempts at small talk and Ethan showing me the town. Well, at least what we were able to see in between the branches while walking this narrow path in a small forest between the road and the beach. It was just thick enough that if you knew where to look, you could see straight into the woods.

Once we got out of the woods, you could see the school. The school looked like your average high school. It had three doors at the top of a few steps, and the steps had metal bars that were currently in use by some students sliding down on it or just sitting and talking. At the bottom, there were round tables on each side of the stairs on the grass. They were occupied with students. Table one on the right was enjoying a cigarette, what it seemed in secret, hoping not to get caught by the teachers but yet in plain sight. I'm guessing they aren’t the smartest of the bunch. Table two, on the other hand, you have your, I'm assuming, “popular” girls sitting, giggling, and judging others.

I poked Ethan on the side with my arm; “Ten bucks, those girls are the superficial cliché of every high school.” I laughed.

Before he could answer, the girls from that table started screeching like birds. How can such noise come out of two girls?

“Ethan over here!!!” they yelled in unison.

“Fuck.” I thought to myself. I’m screwed now. “Does he know them? Great.” Although he's surprisingly easygoing and nice so hopefully, I'm just being a bitch and judging them before even talking to them. My brain felt like it was overheating from all this thinking.

We walked over, and I was waiting to enter the popularity scanner; it started slowly at my face to determine how “pretty” I was and if I were a future threat. Then we move down to my figure. Maybe they could trick me into developing an eating disorder like they did back in the 90s.

At the end of the scan, I am usually met with an “Omg! Hi, so nice to meet you!”

“Hey, guys!” Ethan said with his usual tone, but I noticed something this time. Not sure what.

“Ethan, Hi, where have you been?” The girl on the left asked, but her eyes quickly shifted to me.

Ah, let the scan begin.

Ethan picked up on their staring and spoke up.

“So, this is Rose. She just moved here, and today's her first day, so I figured I’d walk with her and help her out.” Ethan flashed a smile at me, which they didn’t seem to enjoy.

Fake smile in 3…2…1…

She turned to me and flashed a big smile.

“So, where are you from?” She asked but didn’t seem interested.

“Oh, just like a couple of hours away, nothing interesting.” I struggled out a peal of nervous laughter and a smile faker than my hair color.

They stared at me confused, like what I said didn’t make sense. Then before she could open her mouth again to bite my head off like a vicious beast, I was saved.

“I should get Rose to the guidance counselor before the bell rings,” Ethan said while grabbing my shoulders and proceeding to spin me around.

“Um yeah. He’s right. I should get going.” I said confused

“Awe, what a shame.” The savage beast spoke with a tone that could only be sarcastic.

“I hope we get to talk again soon!” She yelled after us.

I didn’t get a chance to reply since Ethan was speeding up the stairs and inside the school.

“You owe me one, Blue,” Ethan whispered into my ear as we walked.

The inside of the school was bigger than I expected. As you walked in, you were greeted with vast open space. Next to the entrance, there was a couch and next to it a football table. Straight across the room, there was an entrance door to a library that seemed to open up to a little outside area, which was visible through a window next to the doors. Just like the front of the school, the inside was also filled with students. Crowds don’t bother me, but when everyone is around me, I have a massive sign saying BRAND NEW. It bothers me—a lot. I feel like an attraction at a circus. I tried ignoring all the glaring eyeballs on me and followed Ethan down the corridor on the left, which led to classrooms, and further back up the stairs, there were faculty offices.

“Okay, here is where I, unfortunately, leave you. I don’t want to be late for my class.” Ethan chuckled and turned to walk away.

“Okay, I’ll see you around then, dumbass,” I said

“Don’t worry, you will.“ He yelled from the staircase.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door that said, guidance counselor. I waited patiently until a male voice called for me to enter.

“Hello-” I started,

“Um, I was asked to come here on my first day. My name is Rose...”

The man furrowed his brows and, after hearing my voice relaxed his face and switched to a warm, welcoming smile.

“Yes, Rose! Please take a seat. I heard you were starting at our school today!” He said, gesturing towards the chair in front of him

I closed the door behind me and sat down on the wooden chair in front of his desk.

“Now. Let’s get you started. Shall we.” The man said and proceeded to pull out numerous papers from his desk drawer.

The entire meeting went by in a haze—the man who is known as Mr. Geller; Was amicable and informative on all my classes and teachers as well on the numerous and I cannot stress this enough numerous clubs they had to offer.

By the time I got out of the office, I had missed most of the first class and decided to wander the school a little, trying to find my locker as well as my next class. All the walls were filled with posters and club pamphlets. It was insane. I mean, my old school had clubs as well, but I don’t remember there being nearly as many as here. I glanced at a few of them and noticed a surfing club, martial arts club. A lot of things I’d be interested in, I laughed to myself. Maybe I could see myself having a legitimate future here.

The school layout wasn’t as complicated as it first seemed; I managed to find my locker quite easily. As I went through my stack of papers for the one with my locker combination, the bell rang, releasing the floodgates of people, And amid all the people, there was Ethan. I waved at him, and luckily, he noticed me as well and almost ran to me.

“Hey! How’d it go?!” He asked and looked at the stack of papers in my arms with a slight smile.

“Oh, you know. He had me rob the secretary’s desk.” I said and flaunted the papers.

We both laughed, and he snatched them from my hands and looked through them carefully.

“Hey!” I said

“Hold on, Blues; I'm just seeing what classes we have together. Oh, would you look at that? Everything, you were transferred to my class.” He smirked.

“Don’t get any ideas, funny boy. Now help me find my locker combination so we make it to the next class in time!”

He was still chuckling to himself as he handed a little slip with a series of numbers on it. I opened the locker to throw most of the papers, my jacket, and some books in it to ease the load on my shoulder.

“Ready?” Ethan asked.

”Ready.”

We made our way to the next class, and a wave of relief washed over me; most people were already either in class or waiting by the door, outside, etc., away from the halls, so there weren’t as many eyes on me this time. The following few classes went by as I had thought. First was the introduction, which I sucked at every single time. Then, the eyes and whispering as I sat down that continued through all my classes, and of course, I was in the sight of every teacher, so I got asked a bunch of stupid questions I either had to lie about or lie about. But worst of all was lunchtime when I saw her.