Chapter 1

          Beep, Beep, Beep… Beep…

I threw a pillow over my face, trying to cover my ears as my alarm blared.   

“Ugh….” I groaned, pulling the covers over my face.

“Adylyne May Montgomery,” my mom demanded, “get up, or you’ll be late to your first day!”

I perked up, sitting like a deer in the headlights, and I realized the time and the day. It was September 4th, the first day of school. I got out bed, my legs gave out underneath, and I nearly fell over onto my nightstand. I caught myself, shook my legs out and headed towards my mirror. I took my hair out of my now messy bun. I stretched out my arms as I yawned.

I threw on my clothes. I realized that my outfit was a little too much, so I put on my white Converse now almost the color of the beach sand, ripped blue jeans that were only slightly torn, and a pineapple short sleeve shirt. I cleaned up my morning face with makeup. I clawed at my hair, trying to fix it. That didn’t go as planned, so I took my brush and almost ripped off my scalp with all the snarls in my hair. I sauntered into the bathroom and brushed my perfectly white, straight teeth. I then grudgingly stepped down the stairs one by one, counting them as I went.

As I was walking down the stairs, I smelt the delicious whiff of crispy bacon and waffles. Smelling this made knowing today was the first day of school a little more bearable. I sat at the table, ate my breakfast, and decided I was ready to start my day. I quickly consumed, and then suddenly I heard my bus pulling up to my stop. I gave my mom a kiss on the cheek.

“Adylyne, turn around and smile for me,” my mom exclaimed.

“No mom, I’m in tenth grade. I don’t need pictures for the first day of school,” I complained.

“Adylyne May, turn around right now, or I’m following you to the bus.”

At that, I decided to turn and smile. My teeth started chattering, which always happened when I was nervous. I cracked my knees and walked onto the bus. I prepared myself for the first day of sophomore year.

I arrived at school nervcited, nervous and excited. I stumbled into the building while getting run over by all the older kids. Most people in our school are jocks, so they think they can do anything. They think they can play on their phones in class and push people around. Honestly, I don’t think they knew I was there. They were stomping on my shoes, crushing my toes. I put my elbows out, thinking that would keep them away; it didn’t. They just pushed my elbows out of the way, almost like they were trying to pop them out of the socket. I looked like a grasshopper in the middle of a soccer field. The smell of Axe deodorant filled my nostrils; it was nasty.

“Excuse me,” I yelled, trying to get past all of them.  I pushed them; not a good idea. They just pushed back, but harder. I tripped and almost fell flat on my face. Luckily, I just fell into everyone else, catching my fall.

I walked into the classroom, making sure my toes were still intact; they were, but they were throbbing. All of a sudden the memories of last year rushed into my mind with the white, brick walls surrounded by green chalkboards and whiteboards. The room was filled with American flags, globes, maps, and giant textbooks; she was a Social Studies teacher. Desks set up with two connected, four rows across, seven back. We had a pretty big classroom; it looked the size of about a half of our school gymnasium.

My teacher showed me to where my desk was. I sat next to an open seat with a name tag that read “Zoe.” I’ve never seen that name. I pondered why she might have been moved to my class. Maybe she just moved here. What if she got kicked out of another school? Or she just got transferred from another homeroom. She could’ve skipped a grade. As I was thinking about this, I realized just how stressed out I was about starting this new school year. I don’t know why I was, though, I had only been here 12 weeks ago.

All of a sudden, I saw this girl, a beautiful girl, parade into the classroom. I had never seen her before, and she looked shy. She shot a few glances around the room and then started strutting over to me, almost like a model walking down the runway. She had a snobby look on her face, almost like the face you make when smelling a skunk. She took a seat next to me. So this must be Zoe, I concluded. She didn’t talk; in fact, she took out her phone and started snapchatting, right in the middle of class. She must have gotten kicked out of her old school, I was thinking. She smelled like Christmas, like candy canes and pine needles. I could tell she had makeup on, for she looked stunning with it. Our teacher, Mrs. Williams, started heading towards Zoe and me.

“Hi Adylyne, welcome back to school!” Mrs. Williams asserted. “Hello, you must be Zoe. Welcome to Woodlands High School.”

“Hi Mrs. Williams, how was your summer break?” I answered.

“Excellent!”  Zoe acted like she didn’t even hear her. She just kept playing on her phone.

“Zoe?” Mrs. Williams insisted.

“Yes?” Zoe responded. Surprisingly, she sounded sweet. Maybe she really just didn’t hear Mrs. Williams the first time.

“This is Adylyne, she will be your ‘buddy’ this year. She will be showing you around the school and keeping you company.”  I was aghast, for no one had ever mentioned this until just now.

“Oh, I think I can navigate myself,” Zoe retorted, stunned.

“Adylyne will be helping you,” Mrs. Williams replied, a little more sternly this time.

I felt like words were trapped inside my throat, more like lodged in my stomach. I was already terrified of starting a new year, so how was I supposed to be confident and show this girl around the school and keep her company?  She didn’t seem like a good fit for me. She seemed rude, addicted to her phone like glue sticks to paper; when you take it apart, the paper rips with it.  Zoe rolled her eyes.

She turned to me and said, “Hi! I’m Zoe!” over dramatically.

“Hi, I’m Adylyne” I spoke shyly.

The homeroom bell rang; Zoe and I got up. We looked at each other and left the classroom. The first day of tenth grade; I will always remember. It was the day I found my best friend. My best friend made me figure out the biggest secret of my entire life.

-Riley Messier