Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 3

August 24th 2015

Chelsea sat in the chair at the window on the second floor of the school library and gazed out,through her reflection, at the teardrop shaped drive with a pen in her hand and an open writing journal on her lap. Her eyes traced the path her parents' car took around the loop and out towards the public road almost ten years earlier. A few changes had been made along the drive over the years. Recent additions filled the gaps between the buildings with an architectural mix of old stone and modern steel and glass.

Despite a few interior renovations around campus and a new building behind the main hall and academic wing, Chelsea's spot, the chair at the library window and its view of the teardrop shaped drive, remained the same. The book with the golden lettering and colourful forest scenery on its cover no longer followed her around campus but she still sat in her bed and ran her fingers over the embossed cover whenever memories of her parents occupied her thoughts.

She drew in her gaze until her eyes focused on her own reflection. Her auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail as per recommendations in the school's dress code. Her lightly freckled face was free of makeup; no eye shadow or eye liner accented her blue-green eyes. Braces that had closed a slight gap between her upper front teeth were removed over the summer break. Chelsea had the makings of a captivating, flawless smile but kept it hidden behind expressionless lips.

A commotion at a nearby table and an announcement on the PA system didn't register and snap her from the melancholy gaze. The voice of Trevor Leland, however, caught her attention within the first syllable. Her eyes followed him as he moved, along with his friends, past her, towards the exit. A brief look her way by David, one of his friends, was as close to eye contact with Trevor as she could hope.

She averted her gaze and pondered the image of him she had committed to memory. Athletic but not overly muscular, slender, five feet eleven inches, give or take a half inch or so, brown hair naturally styled, clean shaven, blue eyes. He walked with a confident but not an arrogant stride and didn't feel the need to instantly fix the small bunch of hair that would occasionally fall out of place over his forehead. For Chelsea, the finishing touch that made him perfect in her eyes was the ever-present smile that encompassed his entire being. He smiled when he spoke, when he ate, and even when he sat outside the headmaster's office for one of many "meetings." He always seemed to enjoy life, even when he was facing disciplinary measures for his latest breach of school policy.

Just as her gaze sank towards the floor, a teacher approached.

"Chelsea, you should get a move on, the assembly is about to start," the woman said.

Chelsea closed her writing journal then stood up and adjusted the kilt of her uniform as she followed a few other students towards the door. Most of the teenaged girls at the school would take advantage of the school's lax enforcement of the dress code, wearing their blouses with one extra button open and untucked, and hiking up their kilts if they hadn't already been shortened several inches at the hemline. Chelsea was an obvious exception, choosing to wear her uniform by the book even on casual days that allowed skirts and tight leggings, loose tops or tight fitted t-shirts.

Chelsea entered the auditorium and found a seat near the front on the left. She sat alone until other students filled the seats around her. Trevor and his group of friends were seated on the opposite side and near the back. A text message on Trevor's phone fueled the on-going chatter amongst the boys.

"Clay is wondering if we're going to the party this Friday night," Trevor said in a semi-hushed voice.

"Is Trinity going to be there?" David asked.

"You boys need to be quiet," a teacher interrupted as the school's headmaster stepped onto the stage.

Trevor handed his phone down the row with a text message answering the question at hand, 'Trinity and her friends will be there!'