First Impressions

Stretching my arms, I looked up through the leaves of the trees. The newly rising sun was barely passing through. I smirked as I kept walking through the woods. Breathing in, I could smell the pine needles and the fresh, dry dirt. My sneakers scattered rock.

Ah, nothing beats this.

A twig snapped. My hand instantly went to my onyx color bracelet. Turning around, I looked into the woods, searching. A rabbit suddenly scattered across the path in fear. Letting out the breath I had been holding, I turned back around and continued.

Before I knew, I was stepping onto the rough, cement surface of the sidewalk. I jumbled in with another group of kids. We were all wearing the matching school uniforms, which meant an incredibly awkward short skirt and a white, don't-you-dare-get-it-wet blouse. Among these kids, I was literally ticked off. Either they moved too slow or they talked too loud, I knew it was a bad day when they did both. Today was one of those days.

"I can't wait for today," one of the girl's snickered. "St. James is finally merging with St. Josephine's." I sighed.

H-E-double French fries, I forgot about that.

My recently all-girls school was becoming…insert nervous sweat…co-ed. I gripped the edge of my backpack with one hand. I shoved my other hand, the one with my bracelet, into the pocket of my jacket.

Keeping my eyes on the ground, I barely noticed when the crowd of girls had arrived at our school. Stopping, I watched as the giggles increased at the new sight. Never before had I seen males on campus that weren't teachers. I paused, slightly annoyed. Boys were just as annoying as girls, but worse.

"Max!" Arms wrapped around my neck and dead weight fell on my back. I choked from the sudden death grip. "Aren't you exited? We finally have boys in this school to date!"

"No," I coughed, feeling the lack of oxygen to my brain. "Now can you let go of me before I go into a coma." The hold on me slacked, but remained. I yanked out of the loosened grip and turned around. "Geez, Lily, have some hormone control." I pushed my hair out of my face and turned back to the school.

Lily resembled a teenager from a manga comic. You know the type—wears the school uniform and actually looks good in it, funky hairstyles that shouldn't be attractive but can pull them off anyways, and oh, the sensitive, overbearing personality. "Max," she whined. "Be more excited! THERE ARE BOYS!"

As if to further prove her point, a group of new male students turned to look over at her. However, her demanding whining was for me alone. I sighed and pressed my fingers to my head. "Let's get to our lockers and our homerooms before anything weird happens."

"Hey there."

I spoke too soon.

"Can you tell me where homeroom 204 is?" A figure stepped in front of the sun, coming into view. A boy taller than me (a rare case due to my five foot nine height) looked down. Let me describe the scene to you as if looking at a Seventeen Magazine Boy's Edition:

In season style: navy blazer ($150.00), button-up, white, long-sleeved designer shirt ($100.00), dark navy blue, plaid pants ($100.00), black leather shoes ($100.00). [all items on sale now!]

Featured Model: Justin Bieber blonde (combed, long side bangs), sparkling blue water eyes, Abercrombie model mouth (you know—the never smiling kind), and tanned from life-guarding at the beach skin.

Of course, Lily had lost it already. She pushed her side pony tail over her shoulder, and gave a flirty shrug. "Hey there! Room 204! That's our room. Come with us. That means you're a sophomore too! Freshman get the first floor, sophomores—second, etc. I'm Lily. This is Max."

Mr. Perfect's eyes fell on me. "Hey, I'm Dylan."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to my locker," I pointed over my shoulder, despite the fact that school was in front of me. "So, you two have a good time now. Bye." I walked away, hoping that would be the last of them.

"Max!" Lily called out, "Wait. Dylan probably has to go to his locker too, so let's all go together."

I snorted, "I doubt that our lockers are near each other. Normally their alphabetically."

"Not anymore," came a new voice. I looked down to see a familiar face. Nudge, another fanatic about the new co-ed rules, was standing by me. She readjusted her backpack. I remember her from elementary school, which had also been an all girls' school. Now, she was a freshman. We had kept in contact through after school groups. "Apparently due to the added male students, the teachers assumed it would be easier to arrange lockers by homeroom, so that old students could help the new students find them better. I found out when I hacked into the school system over the summer to see what the teachers were planning on." Haven't changed a bit, have you Nudge.

"Well, isn't that nice of them," I muttered. Nudge laughed. Over the years, Nudge knew how much I despised men. If only for my own personal reasons…not that anyone needs to know about those.

Inside the school, I attempted to keep my distance. Nudge did her best to become a barrier for me. She stood on the outside, so she kept between me and other people in the hall. I kept close to the empty, abandoned wall. "So, I guess this will be an interesting freshman year for me. My mom was protesting me coming here. Apparently, she thinks I will be unable to handle myself with boys. She rather have me focus on my schoolwork, which hasn't been that good in the first place. But, I'm convinced that if textbooks had magazine format, I would be so much better."

"Nudge," I muttered, "Change the channel." I smirked as she shut her mouth. It had been a code between our volleyball group over the years. Whenever Nudge got too into a conversation, just say the secret phrase, and she'll say it.

"Wait? You're telling me I can't have little cherry bombs?"

While Nudge stepped over to her locker, I stood beside her and looked over by an open homeroom. A freshman (obviously) boy stood there with his head hanging low. His blonde hair was messed up, his shirt was wrinkle, and his tie was undone. No doubt sporting one example of why boys should be avoided; dirty behaviors. My homeroom teacher last year stood there with her arms crossed. I saw that she held a bag, no doubt containing the cherry bombs the boy had been whining about. "That really stinks," he whined.

"Take it as a warning," she replied. I smirked. Yeah, Ms. Snow, you teach him. Don't let the boys get out of line!

"Max, you better get going," Nudge replied as she shut her locker. All she carried with her was her new Coach bag. "Before you're late."

"Right, see you at lunch, all right?" She nodded her head and stepped into the same classroom that the weird boy had entered.

Stepping back into the flow of the hallways, I couldn't avoid hitting shoulders with other people. I grimaced in detest. My hand wrapped around my bracelet, soothingly holding onto it. Suddenly, a hand was on my shoulder. "Sorry, can you tell me where the stairs to the second floor are?" I peered over my shoulder. A boy stood there, his eyes staring at me, but not directly at me. A film lied over his blue eyes.

"Yeah," I felt awkward. "I'm heading there, so just follow me." I couldn't not help him, even if he was a boy. "But, could you not touch me?" I asked. His hand dropped.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "And thanks. My friend sort of ditched me. He hates crowds, so he's probably already skipping." I frowned, another reason men were detestable—they always thought that because they were men, they could get out of anything with their excuses. As we were heading up the stairs, I was surprised that he was able to follow me without get trampled by the rest of the ground.

"My name's Iggy," he called out. I rolled my eyes. Men and their dumb nicknames. I didn't feel the need to respond. Why would I? I was already being nicer than usual by leading him up to the second floor. "I had the whole floor plan memorized before hand, but I never accounted for what the school was like with people moving around. At least I can hear your footsteps. You walk pretty lightly, like on the balls of your feet." I was shocked when I realized he was right. I was walking on the balls of my feet, that's how I always walked when I never thought about it.

We reached the second floor. "Thanks, I should be good now that the crowd is smaller. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Uh, you're blind, aren't you?" I asked.

His face dropped, "Oh my gosh, am I?" I hesitated, watching as his shocked expression shifted into one of pure laughter. "Man, than never gets old. It's almost as good as chocolate covered chips." I walked away, in no need for jokes.

I reached into the pocket of my jacket and pulled out the paper with my locker number and combination. I went to the number specified and went to turning the dial. Someone bumped into me. I lost track of the number. I had to start again. A paper plane it me, and with my fit of anger, I skipped over the last number. Frustrated, I punched the locker and tried again. Just as I was about to get the combination, I saw that someone had been watching me this entire time.

Standing about three inches taller than me, he had the appearance of the type of boys you tried to avoid. You know what I mean...the boys you don't want to be involved with…take for example, Breakfast Club…the guy that rich girl falls for and gives her diamond earring to. Honestly, I would've kept the earring if I was her.

Back to reality, his dark eyes were staring at my hand. His emotionless face barely took note of me. He just stared at my hand holding the dial for the locker. I frowned. Strands of his black hair fell in front of his eyes. "Quit staring, pervert," I remarked. He blinked and looked up at me. Now, he was staring at my face, which was even worse than when he was fixated on my hand. I turned my head and allowed my hair to fall over my shoulder. This created a veil so I could no longer concentrate on the strange boy who was now my locker buddy.

Opening my locker, I stuffed my bag inside. Being so disoriented from the boy, I had forgotten to grab my notebooks. Thus, the awkward moment of having to pull my binders out of the backpack, which was now shoved inside the small confinements of the locker. After all the yanking and pulling, I finally managed to grab one of the binders I needed…only to accidently pull out my pencil case. It dropped onto the ground. As I reached for it, my hand lightly grazed against the hand of another. Staring up, I saw Breakfast Club folding his longer fingers around the contours of the pencil case. Picking it up, he handed it over to me. I snatched it out of his hand and glared at him, "Don't touch my stuff, ever again." I slammed my locker shut and walked away.

Stepping into my new classroom, I headed to the back of the classroom. I noticed that Lila and Dylan were there in deep conversation. I heard her flirtatious laugh. I smacked my notebook on the last desk, closest to the window, and slid into the seat. I crossed my arms on the surface and lowered my head. Looking outside, I saw the blue sky, hoping to become a part of it sooner rather than later.

Voices were so excited. Names were exchanged as the classroom filled up with new students. I heard the Iggy kid start talking to Lila and Dylan. They were in back as well, but across the room from me. "Fang!" I heard Iggy call out, "Hey, I thought I recognized those footsteps."

I kept gazing outside. I was suddenly trapped, unable to escape. Even if I closed my eyes, the darkness wasn't close enough to freedom. A bell rang, every one shifted into their seats. Even the one next to me and in front of me were filled. I didn't bother to get to know my neighbors. Like I honestly should. I hated meeting them back when they were girls. Now, stupid boys as well?

Instead, I remained looking outside. My eyes began to waver shut.

"Maximum Ride!" I sat up straight and looked towards the front of the class room. The new teacher sat there with the clipboard in her hand. Eyes looked over at me. I pushed my brown hair out of my face.

"Yeah, that's me," I called out. I rested my hands on the desk. In the corner of my view, I saw the person in front of me. Whoever it was had turned their body almost completely around to face me. I shifted my focus on them, only to realize it was my new locker buddy. His eyes were once again on my hands. I allowed my fingers to run over my bracelet and hide it. Such a movement caught his attention. Such a sudden fixation…on my wrist.

"If you're a vampire," I warned, "Stay clear of me." He tilted his head, intrigued. Because honestly, what sane sort of person would say that to a complete stranger. Well, I never did clarify my state of sanity. I guess in some ways, I'm a bit of a mad-hatter. "My blood is tainted." I yanked my hands back and hid them under the desk. "And quit staring too, Pervert."

In my opinion, that would be his name forever—Pervert.

Please review if you liked this story! I really hope so. :) Read on to find out what happens. Also, just a little fun fact, First Impressions was Jane Austen's original title for Pride and Prejudice.

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writeroses