It's Whatever - Chapter 1

I closed my eyes and splashed the frigid water on my face. It was 7:24 am and I was getting ready for my first day at John F. Kennedy Preparatory College. This would be the third school in three years. I looked at myself in the mirror and took a deep breath. My last school hadn't gone over that well, I had an incident involving pills half way through sophomore year and was home schooled the rest of the year.

But this year is going to be different, better different. I finished getting ready and left the bathroom. I padded into my room and put on the clothes I'd pick out last night.

"Hey Mom," I said once I'd made my way to the kitchen.

"Hi sweetie," she said beaming at me. "Breakfast?" She breaks my heart. She loves me so much and I end up disappointing her.

"No, I'll just grab a Starbucks on my way."

Twenty minutes later I'm sitting in my car a block away from my new school. I don't think I can do it. Go to school, make friends, fuck up and have to change schools again. I take a sip of my macchiato and let the bitter taste splash across my tongue. I close my eyes and think, I could go home, tell my mom I felt sick and curl up in bed, or I could go to school, get good grades, make my mom proud. I chose option two.

I walked across the front lawn of JFK Prep keeping my head down and trying to remain unnoticed. JFK Prep was one of the biggest private high schools in the Pacific Northwest, its student body grand totaling at 2,238 students.

What seemed like hundreds of kids were milling around the lawn, most of the girls were clustered into little groups each whispering more furtively than the last. And most of the guys were doing typical rowdy high school guy things.

I quickened my pace and hurried to the school where the narrow halls were crowded with kids, some applying makeup last-minute, some rushing to finish homework, and some just 'chillin'. I rushed past them and followed various signs leading me to a bathroom that, thank God, was empty.

I dropped my bag on the floor next to the sink and leaned against the sink letting the familiar and oddly comforting smell of bathroom cleaner fill my nose... I was about to close my eyes when a group of girls enter the bathroom.

"Hi," said one of them. She was petite and had sandy blond hair and adorable freckles.

"Hey," I replied slinging my bag over my shoulder trying to get through the wall of girls between me and the door.

"Are you new here?" Sandy hair asked smiling warmly at me.

I shifted uncomfortably trying not to appear rude, "Yeah."

"What's your name?" She said encouragingly.

"Gracee Tucker." I said with an awkward smile.

"I'm Lisa Bishop, what period do you have lunch?"

"Fifth." I'd spent the entire night before memorizing my schedule.

"Me too," she said with a smile, "how about you me at the vending machines in the cafeteria and we can eat together?"

"Sure." I was flattered that someone so apparently popular, based on the way the other girls followed her, had wanted to eat with me.

"Cool, see you then." She said as she and her friends strutted out of the bathroom.

I slumped against the sink, ecstatic that my first social encounter of the year had been so successful. I picked up my bag and did my best to imitate the way Lisa and her friends had walked and ventured into the crowded halls ready for the trying day that lay ahead.