The New Girl

Chapter One:
“Matthew Greene?” 
“Yes, ma’am? Oh. Here!” 
“Cassandra Grant?”
“Here! Also, could you maybe call me-”
“Collin Baker?”
“Good morning, Mrs. Blakely.”
“Journey Wilson?”
“Here, Mrs. Blakely. And actually, it’s pronounced Willison,” I called out the same thing I’ve said since Pre-K. Nobody realizes the extra “i” until I point it out, by which time they have already put into their minds as Wilson and for the rest of the year, I am reminding them of the little “i” and how to say my name. My sophomore year in High school, and I’m still doing it. 
“Oh, sorry- wait, you’re the new girl, right? Yes, Journey, I’ve heard loads about you from your uncle.” Mrs. Blakely smiled at me.
“Oh. Yup, that’s me… again.” I whispered the last part because she doesn’t need to know that this is my 7th school in 10 years. My mom is a free-thinker and she loves to travel, so almost every year is a new school. I am normally associated to new towns by any of my crazy relative’s slight mention of me. I used to get nervous and try to fit in with the kids in town, but I’ve given up. I’m who I am, and they’re going to have to deal.
“Well, class, let’s all make Journey feel welcome. Do we have any volunteers to show her around school, maybe introduce her to a few people, and give her some pointers about what it’s like to be at Cadbury High?” Mrs. Blakely scanned the classroom with her pinched brown eyes and lowered her round, red glasses. There were a few mutters of “hello”, “hey”, or “welcome”, but no one raised their hands. “Don’t make me pick someone!” she warned. 
“Ya know what, its fine. I can probably find my way around. I picked up a map on my way in, thanks.” I said, feeling the unease in the room.
“Oh nonsense. We pride our school on its welcoming atmosphere.” She shot a look at the class just as a hand raised in the back. “Jeremy?” she asked. “Do you… would you like to… um, show Journey around?” she looked confused. The boy in the back just nodded his head and then buried his nose back in the book he was reading. 
“Alright, thank you. Now, today we are going to go through a sort of orientation about the class subject, and pass out textbooks. Blah blah blah….” I tuned her out. I look around the old classroom, taking in the atmosphere I would be living in for the next year or so. The walls were painted with a yellow-tan color, but it was cracked in some places, especially near where the floor meets the walls. On one of the walls, there were bookcases lining the wall. The book cases were filled with books, some look like textbooks, but others just looked like multiple copies of other books. On the wall opposite of it were two white boards put together, and the wall next to it was a supply closet and some motivational posters. On the wall opposite of that one, there was a surprising amount of maps and travel guides. There was a map that has lines connecting places that someone probably went on with a road trip to, and seashells, rocks, and a fish tank with many colorful fish. I wonder if Mrs. Blakely and her husband have traveled to all those places. She must really like the outdoors.
I realized someone was standing next to me and they cleared their throat. I looked up and saw a boy staring down at me from where he was standing. He had pasty pale skin, black hair, and dark green eyes. He stared at me like I was supposed to give him something and then it clicks- he must be Jeremy, and it must have been the end of class. It was so boring even on the first day, I must have daydreamed the whole class away. 
“Uh, hello. I’m Journey-” I shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah, I heard. I’m Jeremy,” He shifted uncomfortably, and stared at me. Man, I hate making the first move.
“Well. So. Are you gonna… should I…? ” I started him off.
“Uh, yeah. Right. So, what is your next class?” he asked.
“First I had Exploratory English-” 
“This class…”
“Yeah, next I have Algebra 2, then World History, and then Biology. Physical Ed is next, and then Spanish 1.”
“Really?” he studied my face.
“Uh, yeah.” I re-checked my schedule to make sure I read it right.
“That’s my schedule too, except I’m taking Spanish 2.”
“Oh, cool. At least you won’t have to go out of your way to get me to class. Oh, and thanks again, for… um, volunteering to do that.” I met his eyes but he looked away. He frowned and looked up, only to see me staring at him, so he stepped back from me.
“Is there anything wrong?” I say. 
“Oh, nothing. You um, you remind me of someone,” he clenched his teeth and looked down.
“Really? Who?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Just someone I know,” he mumbled.
“Alright…” I said, realizing he wasn’t going to say anything else.
“So, Algebra 2 is in room 306, which is up the stairs, down the corridor, and to the left,” he said, as though he’s memorized it.
“Wow, okay.” I get up to leave and he moved aside, still staring at me.
“Uh, Journey?” Mrs. Blakely is still sitting in the front of the room, typing on her computer. 
“Yeah?” I said.
“Can I talk to you?” she asked.
“I’m gonna be late for class…” I started.
“It’ll only take a second, I promise. I can even write you a note so you’re not stuck in detention your first day.” She looked so desperate, I turned around and asked Jeremy to wait outside the classroom for me, and he nodded. 
“Alright,” I said.
“Um, it’s about Jeremy. Do you know him? Like, outside of school? Maybe a distant relative or a really good friend?” she asked.
“Not that I know of, why?” I asked, incredulous.
“Because. He’s never spoken in this high school before,” she said, dead serious.
“What are you talking about? He seemed perfectly talkative to me… do you mean, like, ever? Not even a word?” I asked, confused and surprised.
“I didn’t even know what his voice sounded like until today,” she said.
“Wow. Really? That’s… crazy,” I said.
“Yes. Most of the people in this town have known him since he was a little boy and he has hardly even said more than 2 words to his parents, even. He is a quiet, anti-social child. That is why I was so surprised when he volunteered to show you around,” she said.
“Why? Nobody is that shy,” I asked, uncomfortably. Most people who are severely inverted are psychopaths and I don’t really want to be murdered on the way to math class, even if it is my least-favorite subject.
“No one knows. The only thing I can tell you is that he supposedly used to be very close to his sister. She loved him very much, and he loved her even more,” she said, 
“Loved?” I ask, just as Jeremy walks back in. 
“If we don’t go now, the teacher will give us detention,” he warned, motioning out the door with his head.
“That’s alright, I was just leaving. Thank you, Mrs. Blakely, for the… extra help. I needed to be caught up on what you guys studied last year, so I didn’t fall behind,” I explained to Jeremy, and he just shrugged. 
We walked in silence on the way to the classroom, passing a few straggling students frantically running to get to class, occasionally pausing to glance at us and then take a double-look. One student dropped her green plaid backpack on the floor next to us as we passed. She had red hair, obviously dyed, and lots of earrings, but something else grabbed me about her- she was wearing the same jeans as I was. Weird, considering these were the most off-designer jeans you could buy, and they didn’t sell them at the mall, but at the corner Maxi-Mart in Vegas on a road trip. She looked semi-ordinary, maybe even popular with the rebel-types and skater-boys. Jeremy acted like he didn’t see her, but I stopped and grabbed a notebook on the floor and gave it back to her. She looked up and gasped, and then backed away from me like I was a ghost.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. She looked terrified, but of what?
“Stay there! Stay where you are… please. Don’t come any closer. I’ve spent countless hours in therapy because of you and… I’m not about to go back!” she whispered, crying and watching me. I slowly put the notebook down, and backed away. I turned around and noticed Jeremy staring at me. 
“Okay… I’m sorry, but I’ve never met you in my life. Can I get you something, though? Maybe your medication or a straight-jacket?” I cringed, my brain too slow to stop the smart-mouth comment from being said.
“Great. I’m hallucinating that the dead girl is in our school and even she makes fun of me,” she says, looking miserable and quite embarrassed. She looked over at Jeremy and I saw him slowly, barely shake his head at her. She seemed to get whatever secret message he was sending her, because her eyes got big and round and she started breathing normally again. 
“Oh. Um. Well, this is awkward. Sorry to bother you. My name is Keira, and whatever nervous freaky breakdown crazy stuff I just said to you, you can forget about it. I was… um, confused,” she said, looking down. “You can just leave it there, I’ll get it. Thanks,” she said as I started to hand her the notebook I picked up earlier. 
I got up from the ground where I was still on my knees and introduced myself. “Hey Keira, I’m Journey. Sorry if I freaked you out earlier. I don’t know what I did, but sorry. Do you need anything?” I asked, cautious on how to continue.
“No. Thanks, but I should be fine now. So, you’re new then, huh?” she asked and stood up. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and swung it over her shoulder. We started walking down the hallway and up the stairs, and I realized Jeremy is walking behind us. I grabbed his arm and pulled him forward so he was walking side-by-side with us. 
“Uh, yeah,” I said, still holding Jeremy’s hand. He seemed a little tense, so I didn’t hold on too tight, but I did want him to chill out and loosen up- he seemed like a kind of guy I’d love to have in my crew if he learned how to communicate.
“How do you like it here?” she asks. Now that she’s calmed down, she seemed like a pretty chill girl who isn’t too sensitive.
“Well, I like it alright, I guess. Not much different from my old school, though- there was a girl who lost her marbles there, too,” I laugh, and she laughs too. Jeremy let go of my hand and walked in front of us again. I looked at Keira and she raised her eye-brows- they arched so high I almost burst out laughing. 
“So… do you wanna skip the first day of school and go grab a bite to eat, and then go over to my place, my treat? I think I owe you after going all ‘crazy girl’ on you earlier,” she laughed.
“Uh, sure. Can Jeremy come, too?” I ask. I knew my mom wouldn’t mind- she’d be at work until 11 PM tonight and she never paid any attention to me, anyways.
“Sure,” she said.
“Alright, but you’ll have to drive because I don’t have a car,” I said, and she grinned.
“I don’t have a car,” she said, and walked out of the door next to us, and into the parking lot.

Chapter Two:
“You are so lucky! My mom would never let me have a truck, let alone a pimped-out one!” I said, the jealous edge showing. Keira just laughed and turned the ignition. Her truck is seriously cool - a Ram 1500, raised wheels, and a blue and pink flame job on orange paint. I would’ve killed for that truck. Jeremy, however, looked less than thrilled to be skipping class. 
“Jeremy?” I said, nudging him. He looked over in my direction. “Mrs. Blakely told me and interesting rumor about you,” I said, wiggling my eye-brows at him. He rolled his eyes and looked straight ahead, ignoring me. “C’mon, listen- she said you haven’t spoken. Ever.”
“Ever? That might be a slight exaggeration,” he said, dripping sarcasm. 
“Any clue as to why?” I prodded.
“I’m just… not that talkative,” he said. He turns on Keira’s radio station and flips it to 93.3- Flo Rida ‘Whistle’ was playing and Keira started to hum to it. 
“But you make a hermit sound like a social butterfly, the way Mrs. Blakely told it,” I said.
“Whatever, maybe I just don’t like to talk because there’s nothing I want to say,” he said, exasperated. 
“Fair enough,” I said, sensing how sore of a subject it was for him. We turned the corner into the McDonalds on the street and headed into the drive-thru. 
“Keira, honey! What can I get for you? The usual?” a friendly guy at the window asks.
“Sure, make that one usual, three chocolate shakes, two curly fries, and two Big Macs,” Keira ordered for us. She surprisingly knew what I wanted without even asking me. 
“Coming right up,” the window guy said. “That’ll be $23.58, do you have your ‘loyal customer card’ with you?”
“Yup, thanks, dad,” Keira said as she handed the card and the money over to the man, who was apparently her dad. She turned to us- “Don’t worry, my house is just down the corner. We can crash there, and watch TV or something.”
“Your dad works in a McDonalds? How awesome is that?!” I said. “You probably get free food whenever, right?” 
“Haha, not exactly. And he doesn’t just work in one- he owns it- well, he manages this particular chain. But still. I’m proud of him,” she smiled. “What does your daddy do, Journey?” I was silent for a while because I didn’t know how to answer her. The question was more like- who did he do, or more to the point: who didn’t he do? 
“My dad worked as an AC repairman, but he died a few years ago,” I said.
“Oh- sorry, I didn’t know,” Keira said. She took the food from the window and handed it to us with a sympathetic smile in my direction, making my skin crawl. It always bugged me how people were so sad about my father’s death, and they didn’t even know who he was- if they did, they wouldn’t be terribly sorry he’s gone. 
“How could you have known? I just met you less than 20 minutes ago! Besides, don’t feel bad- I didn’t really know him, and my mom says he was a lying, stealing player who cheated on her more than once,” I laughed bitterly. To be fair, I did miss having a father-figure, but my dad was never really good with the whole ‘daddy’ thing. He would try, but he could never earn my respect with toys, food, candy, or expensive things. I was just a little girl, but I grew up pretty quick and learned how to take it like a man.
“But still… growing up without a daddy to lean on? I would have surely lost my mind,” Keira sympathized. 
“It isn’t that bad,” Jeremy spoke up, from listening to us talk. He sighed and set down his hamburger on his knees, but he didn’t seem like it was a topic he was going to pursue further. 
“What are you talking about?” Keira asked as she turned down a street into a residential area. We rode for a minute or so in silence, Keira looking sideways at Jeremy every few seconds. She turned into a driveway on Greenfield Way, in front of a blue and yellow house. She turned off the ignition and took the keys out, unfastened her seatbelt, but she didn’t get out. She looked expectantly at Jeremy. “You haven’t spoken your entire life. Don’t even think you’re getting off so easily. A comment like that deserves some history,” she said. 
Jeremy’s eyes got bigger, and he arched his eye-brows, like he wasn’t expecting to be confronted with such a bold statement. I just stared at Keira. I thought that she was chill with the whole ‘he’s never talked in his life and now out of the blue here’s this new girl and now he’s chatting it up’ thing, but I guess I was wrong- she was just as freaked out as I was, but she didn’t beat around the bush. Obviously, if there was a point, you could count on Keira to get to it. 
“What?” Keira said defensively, crossing her arms. “Don’t act like I was born yesterday- I’ve heard the rumors, and I’ve known you since Kindergarten. You haven’t ever spoken before. If you’re going to start talking now, be my guest. Be the most talkative person you know. I don’t care. But what I do care about is you acting like you talk all the time, and then making a comment like that, expecting us to get the meaning behind it when we don’t even know your last name. Got it?” she looked at him weird- as though she wanted to know every last deep, dark, juicy detail about him and his life. 
Jeremy’s eyes got wider and he looked at a loss for words (not the first time, I’m sure). “Uh, okay, whatever. I just meant that it’s not so bad living without a dad. Mine died a few years ago, but I didn’t ever even get the pleasure of meeting him. He left my mom when she got her pregnant a second time, and the only reason I know he’s dead is because I found my mom clutching his picture saying ‘I can’t believe he’s dead- I always thought he would come back for me’. My sister didn’t even get to meet him- my parents split up after she got pregnant with Is- my sister, and were going to back together, until she got pregnant with me. Obviously that didn’t work out,” he said bitterly. “So all I was saying was, to Journey: I know what you’re going through, and to you: it’s okay, don’t feel too bad,” he huffed. He got out of the car and slammed the door, shoved his hamburger in his mouth, and grabbed his curly fries. Keira and I just stared as he started walking up the walkway to the front door.
“Oh my gosh. I have never seen him with any kind of emotion on his face, ever. He looks like a puppy when he does that,” she said, getting sappy. 
“Ew, no. what are you talking about? He gets on my nerves, actually,” I said.
“Really? I think it’s cute,” she asked.
“What is?” I said.
“His crush on you,” she yelps.
“What!” I scream. “He does not have a crush on me!” I shouted, feeling color rising to my cheeks.
“Yes he does!” she shouts back. “Think about it- he doesn’t talk for years, and then you- the infamous ‘new girl’ (yes, we heard about you for about a week before we met you) - and he gets all chatty with you, volunteering to show you around and stuff. And don’t think this sounds weird, but you’re not exactly ‘ugly’, Journey,” she grinned, as though it were plain to see the truth. It makes sense, but… a crush?
“A crush…?” I whispered.
“Yep,” she whispered back. Her eyes grew about three sizes just then. “What if… what if he starts talking to other people because of you? You’ll be a hero! The town has tried for years, but they never succeeded,” she grinned.
“I don’t think after putting so much effort into not talking for years, he would blow it all of a sudden because of some hormonal thing in his mind,” I said.
She eyeballed me, “He already has,” she said as she got out of the car and slammed the door. I heard her opening the front door of her house and her mocking Jeremy saying ‘ladies first’.
 “What… what do you mean? Why…?” I just shook my head at her and got out of the car.
Chapter Three:
“So. Thanks for lunch yesterday,” I said as I caught up with Keira in the cafeteria Tuesday. People were staring at us as we passed, the shock of the ‘new girl’ still not wearing off. 
“No probs,” she replied. She was still wearing the same jeans as yesterday, and I figured it was time to bring attention to them.
“So, where did you buy those jeans?” I asked.
“I didn’t,” she grinned. “They were hand-me-downs from my cousin. She lives in Vegas,” she explained.
“Oh, right- I was going to ask you yesterday. Now if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, but I am curious since every time you look at me, you still have some sort of fear in your eyes. I was wondering why you were freaking out on me, and said that you had spent countless hours in therapy because of me, and I had never seem you in my life before,” I rushed it all out, a question I’d been wondering about since it happened. 

 

Tags: love, anger, pain, fear, weird,