Skin Deep

New Thoughts

My name is Alex. That's all there is to say. I play football, almost the best in the league, and I'm not the smartest. I don't think that my blond hair helps with the fact. But at least I'm not fully Barbie. Blue eyes, I actually find that pretty stupid. It just gives most people another reason to believe they're perfect. No one is. Everybody has their flaws. Especially me. But oh well. I do find school pretty stupid, just like most other people, but I kinda have to deal with it, considering school starts. Today. And I have to frickin' wake up at about 6 in the morning just to get a chance at getting on the bus. You see, I'm going to be honest here, I actually dread school. I mean, the rest of my team is friendly enough, but I basically have no friends at all. I talk to people, but they don't count as friends. You trust friends, and I wouldn't trust anyone here for my life. At least no one that isn't new. I'd love to be a new person. No one knows you, and you can be whoever you want to be. Just.....I don't even know why I bother, no one bothers with actual thoughts anymore. It's all lies. And why would you bother with lies?

After getting ready for school, I grab my bag, and just head out. No practice today, since it's the first day and all, but I feel as if something isn't right. As I walk the five blocks to school, I check my bag over. The needed binders, the limitless pencils, the plain black folders.....everything's here. Maybe it's just the day, school after so long without it is pretty weird. Once I get to school, the brick building looms over my head, intimidating new students and freshmen alike with just the look of it. But it's not hard to know where you are. The high school has two floors. The ground floor is where all rooms labeled with three-hundred-whatever are. The top floor is four hundred. The middle school is the same, except with one hundred on the ground, and two hundred up top. The way the rooms themselves are arranged, I won't even get stated on. It's very confusing, and it's just best to learn for yourself. Even the teachers get confused. And let's just say, for my schedule, I will be having quite the walk to each class. Good thing I'm already used to it. Heading to my locker is not really hard either, that's one of the good things of being a sophomore. You've probably already been to the school for a few years, so you know where almost everything is. I jump as the first bell rings. I'm still outside. I just got lost in my thoughts, again. I really need to stop over thinking everything. I could be the death of me.

First class is math. I'm one of the "lucky" ones to have it first period. So I'm sitting in the middle of a room at about 8:30, pretending to go over the two page syllabus the teacher is handing out. It's the basic stuff, no gum, speak polite, participate. And then every want you to sign it. For what? To rub it in your face if you misbehave? Please, don't make me laugh. I honestly couldn't care about some contract that was half-heartedly written, trying to keep us, in a way, caged from being humanely normal. I sigh, boredom overtaking me as I let my eyes wander around the room. The desks are arranged in a oval shape, with a couple openings for entrances and exits, so you can see everyone's faces. Familiar, familiar, familiar, but then I see her. You can just tell she's new, as she's chewing gum, her head rested on her hand. Her hair is purple, but her eyes are an odd hazel, with pure green rimming the center black pool of her eyes. Her eyes make contact with mine, and immediately, her face goes slack, and she sits up, looking away as if it was awkward. She looks familiar, but I can't put a face to her name. Suddenly the bell rings, and she shoots up out of her seat, quickly grabbing her things and striding out of the room. Struggling to keep up, I follow after, trailing the occasional glimpse of purple wisps.

"Hey...hey! Purple!" I yell, trying to catch her attention. She freezes, and slowly turns around and waits politely as I jog to meet her. She doesn't meet my gaze and I breath in. "Do I know you?" She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, and does a little shrug.

"In a way, yes." She replies, her quiet voice strange for the way she looks, tough. She looks as if she didn't want to be here. What do you mean?

"What do y--!" I get cut off by a slipstream of people pushing between us, and after it passes, Purple is gone.

The rest of the day, I occasionally see her, but she doesn't meet my gaze. After each period, I get out almost as fast as she does, but she somehow effectively avoids me, I didn't see her during lunch, but I knew she had the same period. She was probably just out of sigh for me. Perfect. By the end of the day, I am completely immersed in trying to figure out who she is. Walking home, with my hands full of syllabi from the days classes, I go into my house, throw the papers on the kitchen table for my mom to sign, and head into my room. The multiple gaming posters don't seem to interest me, as I fall onto my bed, flipping over to gaze up at the ceiling. I let my eyes trail over the cracks in the plaster. Some deep, some shallow. My eyes drag over to my bedside table where a picture of me and my friend Lina posed, mimicking each others weird faces and peace signs. I suddenly forget everything else. Lina was my only friend, not to be weird. Me and her had the best time, getting into such trouble, without a care in the world. But she left at about fifth grade, her parents not liking the area. It was too quiet, even though many adults would love the peace. Here eyes....why are they so familiar...? I slowly drift off, my vision slowly fading to black.