A Different Kind of Superman

2 | everything I haven't done

Waiting for seventy minutes to pass was excruciatingly painful. My hopes of having the perfect first day were ruined. I knew that as long as I saw Zack's face every day, I would not be able to forget about him. Then I began to wonder about all the possibilities. Then I made a goal, a cliche promise to make a new friend this year. The center of that goal was Zack, but I wasn't going to limit my options. In that moment, my broken heart was pushed together once more, and I was whole again. He may not want to befriend me after what I did nearly three years ago, but in three years, I was able to change myself into someone new. Perhaps he walked down a similar path. We could start over and turn over a new leaf.

Once the final bell of the day rang, I rushed out of that classroom as fast as my short legs could carry me. I didn't care about stopping to talk to anyone in the hallways; it was too crowded and loud to hear anyone anyways. My only intention was to reach the exit and get on the bus as quickly as possible.

Bree and Liv smiled once my head popped through the bus doors. The widest grin spread on my face as I threw my backpack in an empty seat across from Liv. I took a moment to catch my breath before saying a word because for someone who has low athletic abilities, fast walking will take my breath away even if it's just walking down a hallway.

"How was your first day, my lovely doves?" I tiled my head towards them while asking as if I had a secret agenda that I hadn't told them about. And I did.

Both of them agreed their day was plain and simply boring. I cared to disagree. Although my classes were not what I had hoped for, I was lucky enough to have Liv in my first period and at the very least walk with Bree to classes. The best and worst part of my day was indeed seeing Zack again, but I would not react the same way I did last year when he walked into my class for the first time since I left him behind over the summer.

I sighed. "You know, there was one person I really hoped to avoid this year. Would you like to guess who's in my english class?"

My lovely doves looked at each other with wide eyes, and simultaneously, they whispered, "Zack?"

When I gave them a weak smile, my friends knew. Bree embraced me in a hug, wrapping her arms around me, holding me tight. She pat my head the way Thomas did earlier this morning, but I wasn't angry at her for that. What I needed was reassurance that everything would be okay, and the head patting sent the message.

"We know how much you wanted to forget about him, but at least you've moved on, right?" Liv attempted to cheer me up.

A wave came crashing down on me because I was not prepared for what slipped from my lips in that next second. "I hope so, Liv. I really hope so." As much as I wanted to befriend Zack, I didn't want to regress and continue back on the path of self-hatred. I couldn't catch another case of emotions.

Someone save me from this boy before I make the situation even worse, I prayed. I wasn't going to make it out of that class alive if he was there.

+ + + 

My mom greeted me and my sister when she heard the front door close behind us. She asked the typical "how was school?" question and I gave her the typical "good" answer. Nicole on the other hand, had a different opinion.

"One day down, only so many more to go!" She threw her hands in the air. "I hate everyone in all my class, but that's fine."

My mom was never one to press for answers, but Nicole was always one to overshare and often avoided the question at hand. She was blabbing on and on about how she was happy about having free period in the morning. I could not relate. While Nicole was off watching her drama shows during the first seventy minutes of the day, I was actually learning, or at least trying to learn.