Schoolgirl

Part 1

"No! You can't make me!" The memory of my sister's voice echoed through my mind. "I love you, Avida, and I'll come back for you, I promise!" Were the last words I ever heard from her. That was two years ago today. September 30th. So much for that promise... For the last two years her words meant so much, I constantly thought about them. But I realize now that they're hollow. They have no meaning anymore. She wasn't coming back for me, I knew that now, and as much as it hurt, maybe it was time for me to understand that this was just how my life worked and move on. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that when my alarm went off I barely heard it. This morning I woke up before my alarm, as I often do. Today was a Friday, so I wouldn't have school for a few days over the weekend, then soon after would be Autumn break. Not that that was much better. Either way I'm ignored, I don't really talk to other people, unless I have to. I don't really have friends, besides a girl named Tuesday, who I sat with in the cafeteria. It's hard for me to connect with people. I sigh and shut the alarm off, groaning. I roll out of bed in my navy pajamas, walking over to my little closet. I live in an 'orphanage', as people call it. It's just a place for kids like me, waiting to be adopted, who aren't in foster homes. I haven't been in a foster home for a while. The older I get, the slimmer my chances of being adopted get. Right now I'm 13 and haven't been in a foster home for a year. I think some of the other kids here think I'm mute. I'm not. Just nobody talks to me, so I don't talk to them. Although, some kids heard me singing in the showers, and word spread quickly through this place that I was a weird silent kid whose only way to communicate was singing. It was kind of true, though, I always have earbuds in, and can't fall asleep without music. I hum as I pull out a white tee shirt, navy pleated skirt, white socks, and black Vans. I looked like I went to boarding school, but I liked how I dressed, though everybody else called me 'Schoolgirl.' It's not so bad, once you learn to block out their comments. I walk out of my room to head to the bathrooms. Sadly, there are only two bathrooms, instead of everybody having their own private one. I walk into the girl's one to brush my teeth. When I walk out I hear their whispers about me, the ones they think I don't hear. I stop when I see somebody standing between the door to the girls and the boys bathrooms. When he notices me he turns away and slowly steps towards the boy's bathroom. What was that about? I know him as Haven. He never seemed very shy, but now that I think about it, he's been acting weird lately. Avoiding people... maybe I should talk to him, but who am I kidding? He's a somebody, here I'm considered kind of a nobody. They kind of made ranks here, deciding who's cool and who's not. I decide to wait for him to come out when I'm done getting ready. Maybe that's weird, and maybe I care too much. But Haven seems pretty nice, and that's saying something, considering a lot of the others here aren't. Finally he comes out of the bathroom, stiffening when he sees me waiting outside the door.

"Um, hey." I say awkwardly. He blinks and opens his mouth to say something, but stops.

"Hey." He says simply. I smile and he gives me a small smile back.

"So..." I said awkwardly, "I noticed recently you haven't been acting much like yourself, you're not hanging out with your friends, just... checking in." Ugh. I cringed at my own words. Should've listened to myself earlier when my mind told me it was a bad idea. I'd barely even had a full conversation with him before, I probably seemed super creepy. Haven stared blankly at me for a minute.

"I, uh, am fine?" Okay. Well obviously he wasn't. Did he really think I was falling for that lie?

"You don't sound very sure about that." I pushed, and he looked away.

"It's time for breakfast..." He mumbled, rushing down the hall with his hands in his pockets. I sighed and followed him down to the cafeteria, but on my way there, something caught my eye...