In the Shadows

Part Three: the First Day

    The early morning fog had lifted from the hills. Heavy drops of dew were left behind on the flower petals. A warm orange light filled my room as the sun rose past the mountains, turning the cloudless sky into a delicate blue. The usual cacophony of birds was eerily silent this morning.

My sleep was interrupted by a massive shake. Picture frames clattered to the floor while the bed frame jerked back and forth. I sat up quickly, fearfully watching the fan overhead swing back and forth. Just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

    Was that an earthquake? I thought to myself.

    I puttered across the room, pulling shut the windows as I looked out to see anyone else displaced by the geological event. The street was busy and unbothered: a group of women in tight athletic clothes walked quickly and gossiped together, a shirtless man jogged past with small fluffy dog close behind, an old man standing in his lawn to water his garden. I watched as the old man sipped from his coffee mug, life was uninterrupted.

I could already hear my grandmother moving about the kitchen. Her day's often started before the sun.

My parents were both away on business, my brother off to school on his own, and I was staying with my grandparents for the week. Moving closer to them was something my parents had talked about for a long time. Family was the priority. My grandparents settled down in this town decades ago; each summer I traveled out here to stay with them for a few weeks at a time. The small town appealed to my parents more and more as the years went on, specially as they watched the way my brother and I grew comfortable navigated it. Somehow, it felt so different to me now.

    Today was the first day of school, and my birthday. I wasn't a big fan of birthdays; at least not mine. Being the center of attention was never a good thing for me. In this new school, no one knew it was my birthday. Not even the boy I kissed over the weekend.

Oh my god, I kissed a boy this weekend! How could I have forgotten?

I froze with the realization as I was stepping into the shower. My stomach was in knots.

Am I going to see him today?

As I got dressed, I came up with a plan: he probably forgot about me anyway, if I see him or his friends I can just turn the other way. It's a big school. Surely there would be enough people that I could hide behind them.

I stuffed my trusty old backpack full of supplies: pens and pencils, a few empty notebooks, a pack of cigarettes, and my sketchbook. I'm not sure I would find the space to sneak off for a smoke, but I knew I would have time to draw. I filled all my time with art when I wasn't doing something else. I dreamt of becoming some type of professional artist when I grow up, but who knows. It's tough to make it as a painter, but California is good place to try it out.

    As I slung the bag over my shoulder, I heard a big rip. I hesitated to look. The bottom of the bag had fallen open again. I have used this backpack for so many years, at so many schools. There was a large tear from long ago that I had stapled shut; it seems like the staples were all worn out. But there was no time for a good fix.

        I found a roll of duct tape, That'll do.

    After successfully covering half of my black and pink bag with shiny silver tape, I hurried outside to catch my ride. A small Honda civic was parked in front of the driveway, with four other girls inside. The oldest, who was driving, was finishing her make up in the rearview mirror, fluffing up her shoulder length blonde hair. In the passenger seat was her younger sister, whose pin straight red hair was smushed into the glass while she slept. Her whole cheek pressed on the window. A bit of drool dribbled from the corner of her mouth. The sisters lived a few houses down from my grandparents and offered to drive me to school in exchange for gas money.

In the backseat were two more girls, I recognized one of them from the bagel shop: Katie. She and the other girl matched, their hair slicked back into a smooth pony tail on top of their heads. Each wearing jerseys for the school's soccer team.

I waved and ran around back, dropping my bag in the trunk before climbing in the backseat. Katie and her friend looked at me blankly before scooting to the far side of the seat. The driver nudged her sister, then turned to face me.

"Hey! I'm Hannah, I'm a junior. This is my sister Jules, she's a freshman. Katie and Leigh are in your class." She had a warm smile, it felt like talking to a mother who wanted to wrap you up in a hug.

"Thanks for the ride." I said.

"No problem!" Hannah said as she started driving down the road. "The parking lot get pretty crazy after school, so I park down the street. If you want a ride home, you gotta get to the car quick. Once I get in, I'm driving home! I don't plan on spending any extra time in that traffic."

I laughed, "Got it! I can get there quick."

"Do you even know where your last class is?" Katie scoffed.

"Yeah, it could be like, really far across campus." Leigh added. I'm not sure if they were trying to be rude, but it sure felt like it. I decided to just ignore my peers. I listened to the static of radio and looked out the window. They were kind of right after all. I barely knew my schedule or where any of the classes would be.

Hannah offered to drop us off at the front of the school before going to park. She explained where she would leave the car and asked the girls to show me to my first class. They agreed, but immediately walked away from me once we were out of the car. I watched them walk towards the locker room, joined by a group of similarly dressed girls, each toting a large duffle bag of their equipment.

I marched into the open air amphitheater that served as the front lawn of administration building. There were layers of wide grass steps going downwards towards a plain concrete block of a stage. There were students lingering all around, lying in the grass to soak up the sun and sitting on the edge of the stage while they scarfed down their breakfast.

There was a sign with the classroom numbers posted to the bulletin board outside the main office:

100-110 English
200-210 Social studies
300-310 Mathmatics
400-410 Sciences
500-505 Art department
600s Athletics Center

I decided to jot this down in my notebook, just in case. Before I had the chance to put pen to paper, hands grabbed on my hips and pulled me backwards into an embrace.
Cain.

"Lost already, newbie?" He spoke into my ear. Something about his voice made my hair stand on end.

"Oh, hey. I didn't think I was going to see you."

"Well, then we're lucky I found you." He pulled the papers from my hand, scanning over my schedule. "Let me walk you to class."

His arm hung around my neck like a scarf, pulling me down the hall. Besides a casual wave here or there to some people he knew, Cain seemed to be keeping his attention on me as we made our way across campus.

    "Why so quiet, newbie?"

    "Not sure what to say." I answered half honestly. I wanted to ask why he was sticking so close to me, but I didn't want to make the wrong assumption. Maybe he liked me, maybe he was just being nice to the new kid. Either way, I was really glad to not be alone.

    For a brief moment, I thought about mentioning my birthday. It might be nice to have someone sitting at the table besides my half asleep grandfather while my grandmother frantically tried to cook a special birthday dinner. Then again, it would probably only make things more awkward. I looked down, keeping my eyes fixed on my shoes while Cain indistinctly talked with some people passing by. Tugging at the seems of my shirt, my gut was begging me to speak up.

    I kept quiet. Birthdays were uncomfortable enough for me without trying to make a date out of it with some boy I barely knew. Turning sixteen wasn't really a big deal anyway.