She Still Does (AD) [Paper Planes book II]

Greendale High

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It felt foreign but at the same time it also felt right, wearing new uniform, setting foot at new school and having new look. She had bangs and was also wearing eyeglasses, so LA wouldn't recognize her easily and follow her. She was feeling nervous and excited as scenarios flashed in her mind, as she imagined what might happen and she would do if she saw Alyssa. She wondered if she was her batch mate or better, classmate, if she were, she imagined sitting next to her, introducing herself and how she would make her remember her. How she wished Alyssa remembered her. How she wanted to be her best friend and comfort her whenever she needed just like what she did to her. It made her stick to where she was standing so she shook her head.

Hey Dennise, first things first. Pumasok ka na sa school.

She reminded herself because she got out of her bubble and realized she was still outside the gate. She would probably be late for her first day here if she would just attend her classes in her mind. She looked around and saw new faces entering the large school's gate, who were already comfortable with their surroundings. She told herself she would be, too. She took a deep breath.

Dennise started walking towards the gate leaving all the doubts and uncertainties outside as she entered her new school. As soon as she set her foot inside, she knew there was no coming back.

"This is it." She told herself and started her new life in her new school.

Her first week at Greendale High, she could say it was hard. She was still adjusting with the environment but good thing not with her studies. She felt like she always entered the wrong room but she would then remember that she transferred school. Her classmates were friendly, they would start a conversation with her and she would talk to them. She didn't like how friendly the boys were though, as a girl, she already knew what some of their actions mean, Dennise was undeniably a head turner after all. Even with her changed look, she could still carry herself just fine and some recognized her because she had been here before whenever they had games against this school so she also knew some students here, particularly her fellow volleyball players. Within her first week in school, many guys had already showed motives on her but she entertained no one. She had no plan on having a relationship again, she just had her breakup with LA and she didn't want to commit another mistake again.

Some of her classmates offered to give her a tour around the school and she chose to be with the girls of course. Alyssa was nowhere to be seen though, she wasn't her classmate, she didn't know much about her. She wanted to ask her classmates about her but she was too shy. Whenever she went out of their classroom, she secretly looked at every room hoping to see Alyssa but she never found her. Maybe because it wasn't easy to find her in rooms in a span of seconds only.

She felt lonely despite having her classmates company, she was still trying to talk to Ella but her best friend was still mad so she just asked for updates about her to Synjin. She just cheered herself up whenever she felt sad since no one else would.

Since she had been already toured by her classmates around the campus, she sometimes wandered alone, trying to memorize every places. She would spend her whole break time wandering around whenever she didn't feel hunger, the only spot that made her smile the whole tour was the quadrangle, because that was where the stage was at. She remembered that stage because that was where Portmanteau performed and won the Battle of the Bands, she knew because she had watched the video on social media. She wondered how would it feel to watch them play live there.

"Absent daw si Sir!" Dennise heard one of their classmates announced, their class president, it made her mood light up a bit, she thought of going outside again. It was a normal school day and Dennise was getting bored. Their teacher just left a seatwork for them to do. After getting done with it, Dennise stood up to pass her work. She then excused herself to go to the comfort room. When the president allowed her, she immediately went outside. She wasn't really going to the comfort room, she would just wander alone again.