◍ ⊱ 90's Imagines. [ ON HOLD. ]

❝009. ─ Brand New Me.

"Cyd, you happy to be back in North Carolina? I know I am..." My father asked as I stared out the window. I had been absentmindedly counting every tree that we passed. It seemed like there were thousands in one place, which, coming back from New York was a big deal. Though I had learned to love living in the North, I couldn't deny the richness of the South and how much I longed to be back at times. The reunion with my home state was a bittersweet one. All of my monumental moments were left in New York, along with all of my friends and most importantly, my boyfriend Khalil. From my first real school dance to my first kiss, the Bronx had taught me everything I needed to know.

Now that I was back in the Carolinas, everything I remembered seem to center around a certain someone and none of it was good. My elementary and middle school years were complete hell thanks to Donald DeGrate. Think of your worst fucking nightmare as a kid, and divide it by about a hundred. If I had one mission while I was back in town, it was to avoid that light-eyed devil forever. But if that didn't work, I would just have to whoop his ass for everything that he had ever done to me. Thank God being evil wasn't embedded in his DNA, his brother Dalvin was literally my best friend. We did everything together and he might've been my only friend throughout those years. His only flaw is not having the guts to stand up to his older brother.

Somehow my father had bought our old house back and it was just as I left it a few years back, down to the hideous purple color that I had it painted back then. Shit, maybe I was the perfect target for bullying.

I plopped down into my bed as I placed the last poster of Michael Jackson over my bed. I had to keep myself occupied since the phones wouldn't be on for a day and I couldn't talk to anyone back home. I laid back against the headboard before my dad popped his head in my door. "Cydni, don't forget school starts at 8:00 tomorrow. I can trust you to get on the bus, right?" I gave him a fake smile and a thumbs up. "Of course, daddy. I'll be there bright and early." He chuckled heartily and closed my door as he left. It wasn't a chance in hell I was going to school on the bus, that just didn't fit my aesthetic anymore. I had reinvented myself in New York and I wasn't about to revert. Besides, walking a few blocks wouldn't kill me.

┄

Needless to say, not taking the school bus was the dumbest idea I've had yet. It was fifteen minutes after eight and I was just now getting into the office of my new High School. I stood in front of the desk as the receptionist flipped through a magazine, I reached up and pressed down on the small silver bell repeatedly out of aggravation. I know she saw me standing here. "Hi, I'm Cydni Willhite and I'm-. Yo...EXCUSE ME!" She finally looked up and she smacked on her gum rudely causing my face to screw up. Whatever happened to Southern Hospitality? "Oh, the new student. You're late. Unless you have a serious excuse I can't give you a pass, but here." She handed me a white piece of paper which I recognized as a schedule, it had a small pink post-it note that had a locker number and combination on it. "Okaaaay." I turned around and started out of the office before the receptionist called out to me.