School With The New Guy

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Finally, it's the first day of my Senior year at Maxwell High. Driving through the parking lot, looking for my spot, I start to feel nervous. Summer had been long with what happened to my Papaw. I've still not really dealt with it. Instead I continue to avoid it.

As I park my car, Eli jumps out, saying bye to me as he shuts the door. When he was gone I lean my head back and close my eyes. As I rest my head there I think about my Papaw. It has only been a few weeks.

I keep saying it's okay. I've continued to play the "perfect" daughter role at home. The truth though, I pretend to be that when I'm with my family. But when they're gone, my old self is gone too. I went to so many parties. I don't even remember half of them.

Oh well.

I think a little more about my life but my thoughts are suddenly interrupted.

A guy in a leather jacket, on a black motorcycle drives into the parking lot. Where have I seen that bike before? It looks like the one I saw at church. I don't know though.

I reach for my purse and notebook and get out of my car. As I step out, the motorcycle guy slides into the parking spot next to me, almost hitting me.

"Hey!" I yell, jumping back, away from the guy.

The guy just hops off his still running motorcycle and kicks down the kickstand. He flips up his helmet visor and peers at me. His bright eyes almost glowing. Saying nothing he turns back to turn his motorcycle off. Opening a compartment, he grabs some school stuff.

"Um, excuse me?" I say rudely.

He stops what he was doing and walks right up to me. Slowly he lifts his helmet off, his black hair moving slowly with the breeze. I scoot back from him a bit.

"I'm sorry I almost hit you," He finally apologizes while extending his hand.

"Uh, yeah. It's fine," I mutter, ignoring his hand.

I walk past him and up to the school. I'm almost sure that he is the guy I saw at my church. Maybe I can ask him sometime. Excited to see my friends, I reach for the door handle. My notebook slides out of my hand and lands in front of a pair of black shoes. Looking up, I see it's the guy that almost hit me. He reaches down and picks up my notebook, handing it to me.

"Oh, thank you," I say.

"Least I could do after almost hitting you," He says with a grin.

I start to turn to go but stop. Since he's here, I might as well ask him.

"Did you go to a church a couple weeks ago?" I ask him.

He thinks for a moment and then nods. So it was him. Good thing I wasn't imagining him then. He steps in front of me and opens the door, holding it open for me. Quickly I walk inside.

"Hey, wait! What's your name?" The guy calls after me

"Katie. My name is Katie," I said.

Before he can say anything, I walk away. I lose him in the crowd as try to get to my locker. Walking through the halls, I see the wrestling team. Eli is over there. I see some other wrestlers that I know also. Owen included. He looks at me and quickly I turn around.

"Hey, I'll be right back," I hear him say.

I try to get away from him. It's not that I didn't like him anymore, I did. After that day we had when we left the funeral though, I have kind of avoided him. Not a lot, but every now and then. And this is a time I would like to avoid him.

"Katie! Hey, wait up!" He calls.

"Owen! Hi," I say, stopping and hugging him.

"I haven't seen you in a while," He says.

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