I Promise, I'm Not a Stalker.

Chapter 8

I pulled my feet onto the toilet seat with me and scrolled through Twitter on my phone. This may sound weird I know but it’s the 15 minutes before the bell rings where everyone is hanging out with their friends and stuff but, you would actually need like, friends to do that. If I did just go out there and wandered then people would touch me and try to talk to me and I don’t know if I’m up for that you know? The bell rang and I jumped at the sudden noise. I got down off the toilet and shuffled my yellow Vans over to my backpack which was sitting in the corner of the large handicapped stall I was in. The mirror at the front of the bathroom was splattered with water and smudged with what seems to be foundation. I squinted and tried to get a clear view of my face, I played with my lip ring while fiddling with my straightened hair. The hallways were no longer extremely crowded, some papers littered the floors and someone had discarded an orange right in front of my locker. I kicked it away and entered the combo. It opened with a click and I shoved my backpack in and grabbed my algebra book and notes.

Oh yes, two hours of fantastic math.

I walked through the door and sat in my desk in the back left hand corner so I could avoid sitting by a large amount of people.

The tardy bell rang and Mr. Field began to talk about something that made absolutely no sense. I opened my black notebook and wrote on the top line-

OUTLINE

I made the title into bubble letters and bolded them, doodled stars around it and random squiggles.

“Baylee,” Mr. Field called from the front. I snapped my head up and slammed the notebook shut.

“Yes, sir?” I asked.

“Can you please explain the method of solving this equation, just like we did on Thursday last week.” He looked at me expectantly and I swallowed feeling everyone’s eyes on me.

“Um, I wasn’t here on Thursday. I was in Florida.” I explained.

“Oh yes, I apologize.” He nodded and I heard a couple of whispers throughout the room as he called on a boy across the room.

After the bell rang everyone ran to the door and I waited for the crowd to pass and slowly got up and grabbed my books, heading to my locker. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and I fished it out seeing a text from Danielle.

Even though we don’t work together anymore we can still be friends right?

You free? We should hang out, bored out of my mind!

I looked around the hallways and shrugged. I grabbed my bag and stood in the corner waiting for when nobody was looking, I slipped through the fire exit and pulled my sweater sleeves over my hands, a gust of wind blew my hair into my face. The student parking was in the back of the school, I jogged over to the car and threw my backpack in the back. I adjusted the mirrors, my camera was settled in the center console away from the sight of peering students, I got it out and turned it on making sure it was fully charged then sent a message to Danielle.

On my way, your house???

I patted my pockets to make sure I had my wallet and phone checking off both as I felt them in my back pocket. Dani texted me back confirming that I should go to her house. I put the car in reverse and pulled out. Once I got onto the main road, it began to rain. The little drops of water raced to the bottom of the windshield reminding me of the late night coffee shop with Phil. Wind blew making it slightly harder to drive. The windshield wipers swiped across the glass in a continuous pattern. A stop light stopped me, it was quiet and I liked it, the only sound was the rain beating against the hard top of the car. Danielle’s house wasn’t too far, maybe 15 minutes away at the most.