university | lrh

19 - years ago pt. 1

Elise Halder
4 years ago
South Lake High School
•

I was scared to start High School.

Middle school had been relatively easy. The school was small enough, I never had to deal with too many kids, besides the ones I'd already spent 9 years in the same classes with.

But high school was going to be different. More kids, more classes, more pressure, more of everything.

And I was lucky, really, because I got to walk into this new experience with my best friends by my side. I met Cassie years ago, but it wasn't until well into middle school that we became inseparable. Michael came next, sporting an alarmingly long fringe, and with Michael comes Calum and Ashton - with similarly emo hair styles - thus signaling the beginning of our tight knit group.

But that's exactly what made me so scared, because I'd grown rather comfortable with the way things were. I had my friends, my closest friends, and they were just about the only ones bringing me out of my dreadful shell. The difference between me and them is that I wasn't born with that special outgoing gene. It took a lot for me to branch out, but it seemed to come naturally for the kids I called my best friends.

I'm not even sure why they wanted to be friends with me in the first place, but all I know is that I'm grateful for it.

They would have so many more options in high school, so many new, interesting people to choose as their friends. And what did I have to offer, really?

Not much.

So maybe that's why my heart was pounding as we walked up the steps to the building where I was to spend a substantial amount of time in for the next four years. The group of four next to me didn't seem fazed in the slightest, only a bit tired in the early morning, but I was terrified.

I didn't want them to forget about me once we walked through the doors.

So maybe that's why I got so excited when a shaggy haired brunette boy smiled at me when I reached my locker for the first time. Maybe that's why I grinned back when he opened up the locker right next to mine.

"Guess we're locker neighbors, huh?" He said, melting my 14 year old heart.

"I guess you're right." I didn't even stutter. Something about him was so easy, so captivating, that I didn't even feel nervous.

"I'm Cade." he gave me a cheesy grin that I couldn't help but return.

"Elise." I couldn't stop smiling.

"Pretty name, Elise," I felt a blush on my cheeks as he exaggerated my name and I knew he saw it too when a smug smile spread across his lips.

"I hope it's okay with you, but I think we should be best friends from now on."

He was so cute. He was so nice. He was so confident.

And he wanted to be friends with me. It was like someone heard my fears and sent him straight to my locker to squash every last one.

"If you're gonna be my best friend then you should know it comes with four others, automatically." Again, no stutter, no shyness, it was all too easy with him.