redemption | kai parker • au

o n e

9 months later.

Claudia's POV

Everything looks the same around here. Nothing ever changes. My mom and I are sat in the car listening to the radio while I stare at my surroundings as they pass.

"A local has reported yet another missing person," the man on the radio announced, "the victim is said to be twenty-five years old, 6 ft. and male. If any one may have information on his whereabouts, they must contact the police station as soon as possible."

"God, that's awful. Second one in the last four months," mom stated but I wasn't really paying much attention.

Portland is great, don't get me wrong. I mean I love it, it's my home. This is where I grew up. But everything is just so... plain, mundane, even. Living here in this small town makes me wonder what it's like out there, you know, in the real world. All these different people, places, cultures that I haven't experienced yet. That's that I want to do after senior year. I want to travel.

I quickly escape my thoughts from the sound of my mom's voice.

"Claudia, sweetie, do you have everything? We're here. This is it, you're big day!"

"What? Oh yeah, sorry. Yeah mom, I have everything. Good to go." I replied, awkwardly returning her smile.

"Oh my little baby's all grown up! A big senior now!" she gushes at me, pinching one of my cheeks. She knows how much that embarrasses me yet still proceeds in doing so. I love my mom, obviously, but she can be a tad bit over-dramatic.

"Mom, oh my God please!" I laugh at her silly actions. "It's just high school. Nothing scary, nothing new. I've got this." I head out of the car and turn to quickly give my mom a goodbye and make my way to the entrance of Mountain Ridge High School. As I'm walking up the steps to the door, I can hear my mum shout, "Don't forget to take your vitamins!" and I shake my head and giggle at the comment. Classic mom.

I knew I didn't have a lot of time to go to my locker and do the usual morning routine because someone thought it would be a great idea to change her outfit like three times because she 'wanted to impress the new boss guy thing', so I just headed straight for home room. Everyone was so loud, like I honestly forgot how crazy school actually was. As I was walking to my usual seat, one of the cheerleaders from my AP Chemistry class shouted over to me, welcoming me back and told me that she loved my sweater. This caught the attention of my other classmates, who all greeted me and began chatting with me. A girl from my Psychology class and I were talking about how we both got an A+ in the summer paper when a guy from the lacrosse team came up to me.

"Hey Claudia, thanks for helping me prep for that maths test before summer break. Thanks to you I got a B- and coach says if I keep it up, I could get offered a scholarship!"

"Oh my God, Jacob, that's amazing! What the hell, dude, I'm so proud of you! See, I said you could do it!" I exclaimed as I embraced the lacrosse player into a hug.

"All right class, settle down, settle down," announced Mr. Brownlee, marching into the room, "I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Now, as you may or may not know, we have a new student that will be joining us this year. However," he pauses, looking around the room and then continues to speak in a disappointed tone" it seems that he isn't here today and I am currently unaware of his name, so whenever the young chap feels he would like to join us, I will pass that information onto you all. I'm sure you all will make him feel very welcome."

3:30pm

That's it, first day of Senior Year over. Nothing about it felt special, I mean, I've been doing this everyday for the last three years. But still, nonetheless it was a great day and this will be a great year. I'm determined to make that happen.