Finding Home

Ash

     So far the first three classes were extremely dull, filled mostly with introductions and icebreakers. In second period the chemistry teacher gave us a presentation and quiz about her. The people in my classes were all seniors and juniors so I didn't know anyone in the class, not that that changed anything, I recognized a 10th grade girl from the seminar Alayna and I went to over the summer and still didn't say hello.

     I mean I wanted to but then my
hands got clammy and my voice got caught in my throat.
But just because I didn't talk to people doesn't mean people didn't talk to me, "So you're a sophomore?"

     I nod and take a out a sharpie to write my name on the sketchbook the teacher assigned us. The boy, Nick, sitting next to me has already managed to talk about everything in his life.

     He has a pet rat named Squirrel, a girlfriend who's homeschooled named Penelope, but no one calls her that. He's managed to tell me all the places he's lived, he was born in Maine, then lived in New York for a while, and two years ago he moved here, to Boston, and he goes up to New York for summer camp each year.

     I honestly don't understand how someone is able to talk so much.

     "That's super cool! Yaknow I've never been a sophomore but it seems like a nice year!"

     I nod again and flip to the first page of the sketchbook to start sketching a series of hands to pass the time, half listening to Nick as he talks, the confident words rolling off his tongue effortlessly.

     I don't know when he stops talking to me but at some point  but when the bell rings, signifying the start of lunch, he's talking to someone else across the room. I shove my pencils into my pencil bag and run out of the room, hoping I can get to my locker before the girl next to me starts unloading any more glitter and bananas with writing from her lunch bag.

     I'm lucky and when I get to my locker she's still on her way down the hall, talking to her friend.

     I'm closing my locker when Alayna comes from behind and stands on her tip toes a little to rest her chin on my head.

     "Stop..." I laugh, "Just cause you're taller doesn't mean you can do that."
She loops her arm through mine and leads me to an empty table.

     "Okay. Ash. Listen. Change of plans."

     I raise an eyebrow and take out an apple.

     "So I wanted to find a girlfriend on the softball team... Butttttt, now that's not an option." She shakes her head, "Anyway, the plan changed. Figure out if she's gay or bi or something..." She's crosses her fingers and mumbles, "God, I hope she's into girls."

     I laugh a little, "The one who spilled glitter all over herself this morning?"

     Alayna nods and blushes, "She's beautiful."

    I laugh again and take a bite of my apple.