My feet dragged along the weathered sidewalk. I carefully lit my cigarette, the flame emanating from my pink zippo lighter danced over the tip of the cig. The purse I carried on my right side bumped against my outer thigh with each stroke of my legs, which were covered in a very tight pair of black leggings. It was hard enough to wake up early on weekdays for work, but now thanks to my principal I had to wake up early on a weekend for detention. It was unlikely my aunt would have woken up at this god awful time on a Saturday. Not that she gave a fuck if I got to detention or not. She was blissfully ignorant with the happenings in my life and I was fine with that.
The cold breeze tugged at my dirty blonde curls. My hair was naturally curly, unfortunately. Not small curls either, big curls that gave me a hassle to deal with in the morning. Bringing the cigarette up to my face for a nice long drag, the school was finally in sight. "Shermer High School" I read, for the billionth time in my high school career. I kept the smoke in my mouth and went to check the time. I peeled back the nylon jacket from my wrist. 6:50am my watch read. It's going to be one long ass day.
The parking lot was empty. The whole school seemed disturbingly silent. Almost hard to believe that this exact building could produce so much noise on weekdays. I was early enough to detention to finish my smoke. Not like I was going to arrive early. I crossed my arms as I sat on the stairs leading up to the school. A puff of smoke was let out of my mouth, as the first car pulled up. I continued daydreaming while unconsciously taking long drags of my cigarette. Two more cars followed. They sat for awhile before someone finally emerged from the fancy BMW. Claire Standish. Claire tossed her hair as she got out of the car. Claire? In detention? That was someone I didn't expect to see. It has been awhile since I had seen Claire. But it was hard to avoid her in such a small school. Claire and I went to the same elementary school. We were friends in fact, if you could believe that. We had slowly drifted apart over the years. You know how it goes, eventually you stop speaking to your old friends. Then you resort to saying 'Hey' or 'What's up' in the halls but never anything meaningful. You say that you guys need to catch up but after so many broken promises that pleasantry dwindles away into a nod and then you're left with nothing but silence and avoiding eye contact with one another. Well, that's how it went as Claire passed me on the stairs, silence. It wasn't like she would be seen with me anyways.
A skinny boy closed the door to the second car. I had no idea who he was. Although I gathered from what he was wearing that he was probably at school to do some extra credit work or something like that. As he walked up the stairs, I focused on the last car. I took another drag of my cigarette as the boy stopped beside me.
"Uh-" He said to get my attention. I turned my head towards him while taking the cigarette from my cherry red lips, leaving a lipstick ring on the filter. "You shouldn't be smoking that here" I only felt like glaring at him. He gestured around like I was obviously missing something. "It's school property." I blew some smoke at him and turned back to the car. A new rule I was not going to abide by. The kid stood beside me for a second, awkwardly waiting for a response. He eventually scoffed and went inside. The last guy stepped out of the car. Andrew Clark. One of the popular kids. On the wrestling team. Lots of pressure from his friends. Only reason I knew so much about him was because Andrew and my brother were best friends for years. Even then, It was hard not to know about Andrew and Claire... Even if you tried your best not to give a shit. Andrew walked by and gave a short nod. I returned the nod politely, however the moment was cut short by a car screeching to a halt.
Two more people.. Busy detention... A boy and a girl. I had no idea who they were although I've seen the boy around before, although it's always hard for me to put a name to the face. My smoke was almost done once the boy jumped up the few stairs that separated us.
"Hey Blondie" I didn't immediately turn my head to him. I flicked ash to the ground. "Can I get a puff?" He reached his hand out, flipping back his longer hair. I looked at the hand he extended as I took a long drag. I sized him up, he was probably doing the same although you couldn't see what was going on under his shades. The girl that had emerged from the car rushed past them into the school. "How about I just finish that off for ya" He said growing impatient, flicking two of his fingers.
"Be my guest" I spoke pulling the cigarette from my lips and passing it over. He took a drag before flicking the dead cig to the ground, blowing a ring of smoke out of his curled mouth. I guess that was his way of thanking me because he ran right into school without another word. I stretched my legs out as I slowly got up from my seat on the stairs. Today seemed like a day to relish every moment of freedom I could manage. I took one last breath of fresh air before entering the school to start the day.