Hi guys! It's Allison. Short intro: this is Al's POV of Brown and Blue. I'm really excited about this and I hope you like it. You don't need to read Tris's POV first if you haven't already. If you haven't, just know I do not intend to write Fourtris in this story.
Okay... Onward!
Chapter One
I pull out the chair at the table in the small dining room in our house. It's a good thing I'm an only child or else someone wouldn't be able to sit at the table.
I'm not nervous for first days of school anymore, but I'm just not hungry. Mom sits at the table on my left, sipping her coffee as she watches the news on the TV in the other room. Dad is filling his plate with as much food he can fit without it spilling over. I drink some water and nibble on a pop tart.
"Good morning Albert," Dad says. "Did you sleep well?"
I shrug casually. I didn't sleep any differently than I usually do on the day before school starts. "Yeah," I say.
"Are you excited?" Mom asks. I smile and tell her I am, though I don't know what's so exciting about sophomore year of high school.
"Do you have any classes with your friends?" she continues. Her eyes are glued on the screen, but she sounds interested in my answers.
"A few," I say. She won't question which ones. I just hope I won't have to deal with Peter Hayes and his friends.
"That's good," she says. "You should get ready to go. I'll drop you off." I inhale as she finishes her sentence and hold my breath for as long as it takes to make my lungs feel like they're going to explode. I exhale carefully.
"Thanks," I say. "But that's okay Mom. I can walk."
"I want to see you off to your first day of school." I want to tell her I'm not five anymore, but that's not very nice. I don't like being mean to people. I'd rather let an incredible chance for me to throw shade at someone pass than to possible hurt their feelings. Though with the kids at school I don't think I'd hurt their feelings more than I would their egos, which would result in them hurting my face.
I smile at my mother anyway. She means well and I love her, but no one else's mom drives them to school around here. Out of my friend group at least. Christina lives close enough by to walk, the others take the bus usually. Or they can drive themselves. I'm still embarrassed to tell my friends, for almost being seventeen, I don't have my driver's permit.
Five minutes before we have to go, I make sure everything is in my backpack that I need. Binder, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpener, schedule, lunch, and I have my phone in my jeans pocket.
On the drive to school, which is usually quiet when my mom drives me, my mother is telling me not to worry, have a good day, text her, the same spiel I hear every year. Most kids would find it annoying, but I think it's nice. She cares a lot about me. As we pull up to the front of the school, she smiles and kisses my cheek.
"Love you, baby," she says. "Have a good day."
"You too Mom," I say. I open the door and step out. Before I shut the door she calls out to me, "did you remember to go to the bathroom?" My face floods with heat. I nod and shut the car door. Sometimes I wonder why I am embarrassed having my mom drop me off and then I remember she does things like that.
I sigh and walk into the halls of Lake View High. I am already developing senioritis. The halls are cramped and I can barely make my way to the designated meeting spot where me and my friends meet at the beginning of every year. I am the first one here. This happened last year and I stood there awkwardly until Lynn showed up and then we both stood there awkwardly until Marlene showed up.
I decide to take out my phone while I wait this year just so nobody thinks I'm some quiet loser with no friends. I don't really care what they think, or so I like to tell myself, but I can't help it. It's a huge part of my anxiety.
After ten minutes of waiting one of my friends appears from the right side of the hall. Christina runs forward and hugs me.
"How are you?" she says. "I haven't seen you in weeks."
"I'm good," I say. "How are you? How was your trip to California?"
"It was fun!" Then she launches into the stories of her family vacation. Her and her sister wanted to go to Hollywood to meet celebrities, but her mom said that wasn't a 'family trip' so they went to a small town.
"The population was less than Forks, Washington," she says. I can't help but laugh. Forks is a small town from what I know. Chris made me watch all the movies with her one weekend, so I know a lot of random facts. I never told anyone.
Finally the others begin to appear and the conversations range from Christina's trip to Uriah shooting a muffin off Marlene's head one day when they were bored. This caught everyone's attention.
"They were blanks," Uriah explains. "I wouldn't risk shooting her in the head." Good thing I was visiting my grandma over that weekend.
The warning bell rings and the students start floundering in the halls to get to class. They must be freshman or new kids since the rest of us know how the classes work around here. We stand around for another minute or two before we head off to our own classes.
My first class is science. Yuck. I hope we don't have to dissect anything this year. I nearly passed out when we cut that dead frog's tongue out in middle school. Poor Danielle Poehler had to do it for me.
When I get to class, we spend the entire time talking about what we will doing this year. I don't want to do the science fair in March, but at least there won't be any dissection. Though science fair doesn't hold good memories for me either.
If I ever become a biology teacher, I could never make my students dissect things.
Science passes as quickly as one might expect for a first day. The second class I have is being a teacher's assistant for Mr. Kang's math class. Ugh. I don't really have anything against Mr. Kang it's just I have something against math. Math itself. I never liked math, I always fell asleep during math. The only thing that keeps me awake is knowing lunch will be soon and that I get to spend my time talking to Uriah this period. At least I don't have to do any actual work.
Math runs the same amount of time as biology, but it feels like it is an hour longer. Maybe I can find a different class to TA for. I really don't like math.
The bell rings at eleven twenty five and everyone bolts out of the class, throwing their exit slips on the table on the way out. I take a moment to straighten them nicely before walking to lunch with Uriah.
The cafeteria is rather crowded, but we find a table with just enough seats for everyone. And because we are allowed off campus lunch, not everyone buying lunch in the cafeteria stays in the cafeteria. After we sit down Marlene and Lynn are close to follow, then Christina and then Will. Everyone starts our usual banter that we always carry throughout lunch.
I am about to fall asleep now, but a girl walks over to the table and instantly I am wide awake. She wears her blonde hair pulled away from her face and tucked behind her ears. Her blue eyes are bright and alert. She keeps her gaze on Christina, so she must know her from some class. She wears a gray tee shirt with a black sweater and jeans. Her backpack is slung over one shoulder and her hands are stuffed in her pockets. I want to smile at her, but I don't know if I can. I have never seen someone so beautiful.
"Guys," Christina says. "This is Beatrice. She's new here." Everyone else looks at her, most of us smiling. In fact the only one who isn't is Lynn, but she doesn't like many people.
"This is Uriah, Marlene, Lynn, and Al," Will says. I open my mouth slightly to say hello, but Marlene and Uriah beat me to it.
"Where are you from?" Marlene asks.
"I'm from Milwaukee," she replies. Her voice is quiet and nervous. I don't blame her for being anxious at a new school.
"That's not far from here," Uriah says. "Do you have siblings?" she nods. How did he jump topics so quickly?
"I have an older brother," she says.
"Does he go to school here?" Marlene wonders. She nods again. So she's shy, too. I think that's endearing.
"I have an older brother too," Uriah adds. "Lynn has an older sister, and so does Will." She nods a third time.
"How's your first day so far?" I ask quietly. That's not really what I wanted the first thing I said to her to be, but it's an icebreaker and I don't know what else to say.
"I guess the first day of school here is the same as it is everywhere. You sit and listen to teachers talk for ninety minutes and try not to fall asleep." Christina begins choking on a crouton. I should offer her a drink or something, but I'm too distracted by the new girl's smile. Beatrice.
I cannot afford to take my phone out during history with Ms. Matthews, but I can take my phone out during Spanish. I sit in the back and we aren't doing anything today. The name-her name-plagued my mind all afternoon. Not many people are named Beatrice anymore. I decide to look up the definition. The first thing in my notifications is five texts from my mom. I quickly shoot her one back.
Sorry Mom. I've been busy with classes
Ok have a good afternoon, she texts back. I smile to myself. My mom can flip moods like a switch, especially in her texts.
The meaning of the name Beatrice is, or meanings (I found many answers), bringer of joy as well as she who makes happy and blessed woman.
Either way I think it's safe to say she's going to bring me a lot of joy over the year. She already has from thirty minutes of school.