My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 5

Meredith

Because of my conversation with Hollis, I'm running late. I dash to Advanced Chorus, getting to the class 15 seconds before the bell rings. I spot Eliot and go to sit by him. He asks how my first classes were, and I tell him good. Erin runs in as the bell rings. There's nowhere near me to sit, so she has to sit near the front left.

'Okay, class," the teacher says "I'm Ms. Frankel." She's young, and very pretty. She hands out the syllabus list. We read over it, and someone asks about supplies. "The only supplies you will need for my class is a pronged two-pocket folder." The rest of the class flies by, and Ms. Frankel ends the class with "I will be putting you into your permanent seats tomorrow."

I give Eliot a hug goodbye, and wave to Erin before I'm swept out of the classroom by a wave of students. I make my way to the lunchroom, running into Faith on the way. we get to the cafeteria, and when I spot Steph and everyone else we go to sit by them. I'm hoping to more well-acquaint Faith with everyone this year. I pull out my lunchbox and start eating, and Faith mirrors me. I reach across and steal a couple of Cheetos from her lunch, and she grabs a snap pea. The rest of lunch is enjoyable--we share stories of our first few classes, and trepidations about our soon-to-come classes. I leave the cafeteria happy, ready to get on with the day.

I walk down the hall to my locker to drop off my lunchpox and pick up Eliot for Fiction Writing. We're really psyched about the teascher. Marni Bates, an author we both love, has moved to Atlanta and is going to be teaching the class!!!

I'm not looking where I'm going--that's my mistake. My natural clumsiness and awkwardness means I should always look straight ahead. One second I'm looking at El, laughing at a Doctor Who joke he made. The next second, something hard and cold hits my forehead and I fly back and land on my back. The world goes black.