Fixing the Broken

01//population 1098

The first thing you see when you roll into the small town of Crestridge, Montana is the a small convenient store called Joe's. Then there's a gas station and some restaurants followed by the police station and then houses.

Population 1098. 364 of those are either too old to walk or long gone. That leaves 734 people 217 of which, go to Crestridge High.

My new school.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not one of those shy new girls with the good girl thing going on, but I'm not some crazy psycho bitch either. I'm what my mom calls a "free spirit". She's kinda been moving us around ever since dad died 3 years ago, so I've learned to adjust quickly and be able to leave with a seconds notice. But this time, we're back in her hometown, for me to finish high school at the same high school she finished at.

Yay.

"Carter! Come help with the boxes!" My mom calls from downstairs. Right now I'm standing on the balcony of my new room.

The house is two stories with 4 bedrooms. It's the biggest house I've lived in.

"Coming!" I yell back down at her.

I walk down the stairs and my mom immediately starts handing me boxes.

"Carter! Hey, I'm gonna go register you for the school in like 30 minutes so we have to get all these in quick." She says gesturing to the loads of boxes.

"Do I have to go with you??"

"Yes now hurry up!"

I groan and pull all my boxes upstairs to my room from the car.

Half and hour later we are in the car on the way to Crestridge High, where I will have to spend 3/4 of my last year in high school. That's right. I'm not even getting enrolled at the beginning of the year. Nope! Already a quarter of the way through!

If you couldn't tell I'm a sarcastic person. Don't be surprised if half the shit I say sounds weird. Hell! Even my thoughts are sarcastic.

We approach the school and everything looks just the way I imagined. The tiniest school building I've ever seen before stands before me. It's amazing that 217 of the towns finest can be even educated here. It's one fucking building, like come on. Granted it's 3 stories, but as you walk in it looks to have a total of 30 classes in the whole building an office and a gym. Outside there's one field. Probably used for all the sports, and then there's a small basketball court right next to the field.

We walk into the office to see a kind looking lady that seems to be much too old for this job. She has a plaque that says secretary on her desk and see looks up to see my mom smiling wildly at her.

"Sarah??" The woman says.

"Hey Mrs. K!" my mom exclaims. And the woman starts smiling just as wildly back.

They engage in conversation while I look around the office to see a boy sitting in the office labeled principle and he's slouching in the chair opposite a large man who I assume is the principle. I can't really see him because his back is facing me while the man in the office is yelling. I look more to my right and I see a waiting room with 3 other guys and they're all staring over at me. One has blonde messy hair and brown eyes, the next has auburn hair and hazel eyes, and the last has light brown hair and brown eyes. They're all super attractive, but I can tell they know so I raise my eyebrow at them, and they just smile back. So I continue looking around to see a couple more offices and a hallway.

"So, this must be Carter!" My head snaps back as the secretary, Mrs. K apparently, speaks to me.

"Hi, yeah Carter Miller, nice to meet you, Mrs K was it?" I respond putting my hand out for her to shake as she steps around the desk. She nods and smiles at me taking my hand and shaking it.

"I'm just going to go in here a second to get your schedule and books that you'll need, and we'll see you on Monday when you start!" She says pointing to the office with the man that's yelling. I just smile and nod.

I'm probably doing that boy a favor just by showing up to get my textbooks. She knocks quickly then walks into the room saying something to the man sitting at the desk. He looks around the boy to see me standing awkwardly. I give a quick wave and he smiles when he sees me the boy looks noticeably more relaxed now that this mans attention is off him. But he keeps his back to me, as the man waves back.

The secretary walks back out of the office with a stack of books and a paper on top and hands them to me.

I thank her and she turns to my moms gesturing back with her head.

"That's Kelsey Eades son," she says.

"Kelsey Eades as in Camerons's wife??" My mom asks her eyes widening. Mrs. K nods sadly.

"Cameron died 2 years ago, I'm sorry I knew you guys were close but you kinda went off the grid for a while," she responds looking down.

"Hey guys I'm sorry and all for the death but we've got listeners, think you guys can gossip another time?" I said gesturing to the 3 boys sitting in the waiting room watching us intently. As soon as my mom looks at them their heads snap down to their books on their lap. My mom tries to stifle her laughter while I just downright start laughing.

"That was smooth boys!" I say to them earning a glare from the blonde one, while the others just stay looking down. I laugh again causing the blonde guy to soften his glare and look down. My mom joins in.

"Alright sweetie if you have all your stuff and your done traumatizing those boys then I think it's safe to go," My mom says to me.

"Okay, see you on Monday Mrs. K!" I say turning around and walking out of the office with my mom in tow.

That went well.