For some geeky reason, I was majorly excited about high school.
I don't know what it was, but the idea of growing up and getting a shot at being someone I'd always wanted to be intrigued me. So I was majorly excited about high school.
I was even majorly excited about going to Castle Heights high school. My older cousin had gone there. Her name was Sarah and I'd always looked up to her, but one misstep at Castle Heights and she was labeled a joke. A nerd. A loser. But that didn't stop me from craving the unknown.
My day had started terribly, however. My makeup, hair, and clothes looked pristine. I took one look in the mirror and knew that buying that new shirt from American Eagle had been a good move, even if it had taken a big chunk of my babysitting money. My eyeliner looked perfect and my smile was radiant. Unfortunately, I had spent so much time checking myself out in the mirror that I was almost late to the bus.
As soon as I got on the bus, I noticed it was pretty much utter chaos. A couple of juniors were making out furiously in the seat by the bus driver. A goth Asian girl glared at me viciously before I saw my best friend Peter waving me down. "Wendy! Wendy Darling!" he shouted. I eagerly plopped down beside him.
"I'm so glad you saved me a seat!" I said enthusiastically. "I almost had to sit by myself."
Peter laughed. "I'd never let that happen to you, Wen," he assured me. We compared schedules and found to our dismay that we didn't have a single class together. "Bummer!" he huffed. Then his phone started chirping. I looked away, knowing it was probably his girlfriend asking where he was.
Peter and I had been friends for as long as I could remember. He lived next door and we'd played all the time as kids. I can't really remember when things changed, but as I looked at him I couldn't help but feel a wave of longing. The morning sun glinted off of his red hair and made his green eyes shine in a way that almost made me sigh. Of course, Peter had no idea that I was pretty much in love with him and I fully intended to keep it that way. Besides, if he was happy with his sleazy blonde girlfriend, Tina Bell, I was happy for him. That's what best friends are for, right?
"Hey." A voice from across the aisle yanked me from my thoughts. A pretty older girl with caramel skin and black hair was looking at me. "Are you Sarah Darling's younger sister?"
I was almost afraid to answer. "N-no," I replied, "but I am her cousin."
The girl nodded. "You look a lot like her. I'm Esmerelda." She stuck out her hand. I shook it but I felt kind of weird. Shaking hands was, in my opinion, for grownups. "I'm Wendy," I said. Esmerelda smiled, showing off two rows of perfectly white teeth. "I was Sarah's friend before she graduated last year," she explained before tearing my schedule out of my hand.
Before I could say anything, she gave it back. "Do you have lunch plans?" she asked. I shook my head, and Esmerelda smiled again. "I have fifth period lunch, too. We can sit together and I can maybe show you the ropes." She turned around before I could answer her.
I turned back to face the front of the bus and leaned my head back. I wasn't even at school yet and I had lunch plans. That's a good thing, right? I sure hope so.
The bus arrived at the school before Peter could look up from his phone. "Tina wanted me to ride with her to school," he told me, "but I told her I should better stick with you." I smiled. "Thanks for that," I said. He smiled back. "Anything, Miss Darling," he replied. But as soon as we stepped off the bus and into the next four years of our lives, he sprinted away to go find Tina. I sighed and went to go try to find my homeroom.