▍Starlight | j.jk ✔

005

"Miss Y/L/N. Welcome back to Highland Park"

The secretary has short curly hair. The one reddish color beginning to turn grey at the roots. Metal rimmed glasses over her eyes making her look a bit sophisticated.

Well, as sophisticated as a high school secretary can look. Her face is familiar to me but she isn't someone I can recall.

There is a moment of silence that falls over the office everyone inside the room working away at their own thing. The Secretary begins to print out my schedule, the slow pace of the machine making time feel agonizing.

She just looks up at me with a constant smile. At first, I smile back, but I can only hold it for so long before my cheeks begin to hurt and it feels forced. So i let it drop from my face. I then begin to worry if she will take that as me being rude.

After a while, I have begun to nervously shift from one foot to the other holding my left wrist within the grasp of my right hand. Held right in front of my body. My eyes shift every which way as I hope people don't decide to conversate with me.

Every time my eyes meet someone else's im quick to look down at my shoes.

I let out a breath of relief when the sheet of white paper finally shoots out of the printer. The woman takes it in her hands giving it a shake before handing it over the desk to me. It still feels warm under my fingertips when I grab it. I send her a nod to nervous to actually come out and say 'thank you'.

She sends me a little wave while i turn on my heels to exit the office. The halls are no longer full of kids chatting. They are almost barren. Light blue lockers worn and scratched up line the halls. Each one with a little sticky note that holds a positive quote.

I furrow my eyebrows reading each one as I walk down the line. Little encouraging words scribbled down on top or bright pink post-it notes. Each one a cheesy and cliche as the next. Sort of like the ones a thirteen-year-old girl would choose off of her Tumblr page.

Every now and then when you go far enough you find the same message repeated about five times. I feel the need to roll my eyes, but maybe they really do help some people.

Not me though.

I begin to find it painful to read them.

You can do it

life is what you make it

turn that frown upside down

you have to suffer through the rain to get to the rainbow

dont worry, it will get better

I stop at the final one and stare it down. I have always hated when people told me that. Unless you somehow know how to see into the fucking future i would prefer if you didn't tell me everything was going to be okay.

Don't act like you know. Don't give me false hope.

I know people do it to make you feel better, and maybe some people like it.

But i would prefer not to be lied to like that.

What if things don't get better? What do you tell me then?