the reviews are fantastic, guys! thank you so much and please keep them coming! :)
sorry i haven't updated in a while... i've been working on this chapter on and off and i went to a bunch of places for vacation so i didn't have much time. to make up for it, this chapter is extra looooong. hopefully you guys like it :) don't forget to drop a comment!
chapter two: bryce
When I wake up, the sun is shining.
It's the best feeling in the world, in case you haven't noticed. Stretching out your arms, blinking open your eyes, the warmth of sunlight on your skin. It feels like happiness.
Not like I'd ever tell anyone this, for obvious reasons, but I always wake up early just for that feeling to start off my day.
I toss the sheets off and get out of bed, still slightly groggy. I walk to the bathroom and splash my face with cold water, then run a comb hastily through my hair. My bangs are still messy but I figure that I'll be able to get away with it if I don't show my mother a clear view of my face. Otherwise she'll make me gel it and brush it a billion times until I look and feel like an idiot - she insists that the style will 'make the girls go crazy'. But considering my mother isn't exactly an expert on these matters, I don't hold her opinion very high.
I pull on a pair of jeans and a soft gray t-shirt; at the last minute, I decide to throw on one of the new corduroy jackets that my mother bought me just to make her happy. Besides, it's the first day of school, so I might as well dress up fancy, right?
Before heading out, I walk over to the window and pull at the curtains so that I can see outside. The sun is just as bright as ever and the sky is completely clear. Not a single cloud in sight. Right across from our house is where the Baker's used to live, and for some reason my gaze lingers on their front yard longer than usual.
The sycamore tree that I planted two years ago is steadily growing, although it'll be decades before it's as big as the one that Juli loved so much. I never used to get why she was so entranced by that tree. After all, it was just a plant, you know? There were tons of them. They were everywhere. But looking at this new one, its branches stretching out to touch the sky, growing so stubbornly and wonderfully... I guess I can understand. A little bit, at least.
There's a rap on the door - knock-knock-knock.
I'm startled out of my daydream and quickly glance at the clock hanging on my wall. Shoot, there's only ten minutes before I've got to leave. I've spent more time staring at that baby sycamore tree than I realized. "Uh, who is it?"
"Bryce, honey, you're going to be late if you don't get down and eat breakfast."
"Sorry, Mom, I got distracted," I reply, walking over to the door and opening it. "I'm coming down right now -"
"Not like that you won't," my mother interrupts me, inhaling sharply. Her eyes are firmly fixated on my forehead and immediately I know what the big fuss is about. I groan inwardly but manage to express my annoyance in just a loud sigh.
"Really, Mom?" I ask. "It's the first day of school - come on..."
She raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. "Bryce Loski, you're turning right around and going to your bathroom to fix those unruly bangs! How many times have I told you? You look like a caveman." She turns around and shoots over her shoulder, "Hurry up!"
"Alright, alright," I say. When she's halfway down the stairs - and most importantly, out of sight - I splash some water on my comb and brush it through once or twice so that the hair looks neatly arranged but won't plaster to my face and make me look like a dork the whole day. I figure that I can just mess them up at the bus stop or something.
"Bryce!"
I quickly close my bedroom door and hurry down the stairs. At the bottom is my bag, already packed with brand spanking new school supplies like a set of sixty-four metallic-colored pencil crayons that I'll most likely never need - courtesy of my mother, obviously. I grab the backpack and shoulder it, but just as I'm halfway through the door...
"You're leaving already?"
I stop in my tracks. I try not to roll my eyes as I swivel on the spot to face my mother, her hands planted firmly on her hips in the typical what are you thinking position. "Yeah, Mom," I reply, running a hand through my hair hastily. "I'm going to be late otherwise."
"But - you haven't eaten breakfast yet, Bryce. And I woke up early especially to make you a hearty breakfast. You're growing, and you need all the proper nutrients - I have scrambled eggs on whole wheat toast, and there's this organic milk they're selling now, it's delicious and nutritious -"
I sense a rant coming on and interrupt her hurriedly. "Thanks a lot, Mom, but I've got to go or else I'll be really late. First day of school and all, you know, gotta make a good impression..."
My mother opens her mouth as if she's about to say something, and after a few seconds closes it again. She sighs heavily and nods. "Yes, yes, you're right... You should go. You're so old already, I remember when Lynetta was your age. It seems like it was only yesterday!"
"Bye, Mom," I say pointedly, before she can take the chance to start bursting into tears or something. I flash her a comforting smile before I close the door. It swings shut with finality and I'm relieved for the first time that morning.
Although summer's fun and great and provides you with ample time for relaxing, I'm also ready for the school year to start. It's the first year I've ever felt this way, I think. Normally I'm dreading it. In grades second through eighth, I went out of my day, doing the most outrageous things, just to avoid school. School at that time meant spending six or so hours with Juli Baker, who I thought was just about the most annoying person in the history of annoying people.
Of course, by the end of eighth grade, my view on her had completely changed.
I walked down the steps and started trudging down the street towards the same bus stop I'd had since I first started school. My mind was still whirling away, consumed with thoughts that I hadn't confronted in a long time. Maybe it was just fate, but it seemed like just when things were going right with Juli and I - everything flipped.
She moved away to some fancy town in Ohio because her father got a big promotion, and I was left sitting on my front steps staring at the opposite of the street where her empty house stood. It affected me, I guess. Spent the majority of my time spent in ninth grade being depressed about it, thinking about all the chances I'd had but was too stupid to take.
But over the summer, my mind had slowly slid back into its place. It was like when Juli moved away all the pieces that was my brain had split up, like a broken puzzle. I'd had to take each piece, examine it carefully, and then choose the right place to put it. It isn't easy work to put yourself back together, I'll tell you that.
"Bryce! There you are!"
For the second time this morning, I snap out of my thoughts and glance up. It's Garrett, wearing a new pair of pants and a corduroy jacket similar to mine - no doubt our mothers planned this - and he's got a huge beaming smile on his face that I can't help but mirror.
"Buddy," he exclaims, clasping my shoulder when I approach him, "we're here. This is the first day of the rest of our lives. Can you believe it?"
"Sure I can. It seems like summer's gone on forever."
"I'm thinking exactly the opposite," Garrett replies with a scoff. "Only you, Bryce Loski, would want school to start. And that's cause you're smart, and I'm not. The only thing I'm looking forward to about school starting are the girls."
I shrug. "Same old, same old. Shelly Stalls will have grown her hair about three inches and Miranda Humes will have tanned herself black on some boat in the middle of the sea."
Garrett laughs and nods in agreement. "It's true, man. And yet I still get excited each year."
"You're a lost cause, man."
He waves my comment off. "You know what we need?"
"What?"
"Someone..." Garrett trails off a bit and raises his eyebrow at me in an effort to be dramatic. "New."
I consider the thought. "Well, that's not really gonna work out. After all, man, we live in Oakland. Where the population is as stable as a rock. What's the possibility of someone new showing up this year?"
"Zero percent," Garrett answers promptly.
"Exactly." I snap my fingers as an idea hits me. "You know what we really need? Not someone new, necessarily. Just someone different. Who'll take us all by surprise and be anything but the usual. We need someone who will flip this entire town upside down. What we really need is -"
But just then, the bus comes rumbling down the street and the door is being opened and we're all lining up and Garrett's urging me to go faster, saying, "Hurry up, Bryce," and the words are lost on my lips and we're off, heading towards the high school, and I've lost my chance to speak my mind for the first time in forever.
What this town really needs is Juli Baker.
::
Oakland Plains High School is located right next to the middle school, which is right next to the elementary school, which is right next to a park and a small building that the town uses for toddlers as a daycare of sorts. Looking at it from afar like I am right now, through the dirty window of the school bus, it almost seems like I'm staring at my entire childhood.
We pull up in front of the high school. Garrett and I are sitting near the back so we have to wait a while before we finally get to go out. I nod at the bus driver and walk down the steps, feeling the sun beam down on me once again. Garrett walks out behind me and spreads his arms out wide as soon as he touches the ground.
"Home sweet home!" he exclaims at the red brick building. "Now come on, man, let's get to our lockers and see if Shelly has shaved her hair off yet or not."
I roll my eyes but obey anyway. We push past the crowds of chattering, excited high school students, occasionally pausing to greet one of our mutual friends. We're finally able to get through the front door and to our lockers, which are conveniently located right next to each other. The locker on my left, it turns out, belongs to the one and only Shelly Stalls. She's already there, wearing a white blouse, a pale pink skirt, and a headband that is barely holding all her hair in. She's looking into a handy locker mirror and combing her mane carefully.
"The usual," Garrett mutters to me before we reach her. "She's gotten hotter and her hair has only gotten bigger. I'm betting it's just a few weeks before she'll be able to sit on it."
Shelly sees us walking towards her in her small mirror before we even get to touch our lockers. She drops her comb and whips around, her long blonde hair slapping three students who have the misfortune of walking by. Her smile just about blinds me.
"Bryce!" she squeals excitedly, then runs over to us and throws her arms around me so hard that I stumble back to regain my balance. It's ranked right up there on my list of Awkward Hugs, but I have enough experience to know that this has to be handled carefully. If I just say one somewhat offensive word, or make a motion that doesn't go with what Shelly wants me to do, she'll burst into tears and I'll look like the Big Bad Wolf Who Broke Shelly Stalls' Heart. Just like fifth grade.
After a millennium or two, Shelly finally pulls back.
"Ohmygosh, you look sooo gooood," she gushes. "How was your summer? Why didn't you call me? No, you were probably busy. Guess what? Daddy took me to New York and I got the best clothes ever, they're so stylish, you'll love them. Who's your homeroom teacher? I have Miss Helms, ugh. I've heard she's really tough, but whatever. Daddy will talk to her if my grade drops below a B. You'll have no problem, of course, since you're practically a genius. Could you tutor me? That would be so much fun!"
I swallow hard. "Uhhh..."
Shelly misinterprets my response and beams, as if I've said something enthusiastic. Her gaze slides to Garrett and she waggles her fingers at him. "Garrett! Hi. I didn't see you there."
"Hey, Shelly. Guess we're locker buddies the whole year, huh?"
Shelly giggles and says something only she finds interesting about how she hopes the lockers will have enough room to hold her make up case and daily change of clothes. I tune out of the conversation, anxious to get away from the spotlight.
Although he's got a big mouth, and he lies a bunch, and he doesn't own up to his mistakes, and he can get me in some really bad situations... well, the one thing I can count on from Garrett is to happily grab the attention of girls. He's always complaining about how he doesn't understand why girls like Miranda and Shelly, the most popular girls in our grade, cling onto me like vultures even though I act about as interesting as a brick wall around them.
I don't understand it, either.
Shelly Stalls has dug her inch-long, intricately painted fingernails into me since fifth grade, when I asked her out. And back then, it wasn't even because I liked her. I just didn't mind her as much. I always thought she was a nice girl, but since Juli hated her with a burning passion, I figured the best way to get rid of Juli was to start dating Shelly. And it worked. Until everything blew up in my face and Shelly Stalls ended up choking under Juli's unyielding grip. Shelly and Juli both avoided me like the plague for a while, which I was fine with, but then Shelly suddenly pranced up to me one day and announced, "I forgive you, Bryce." Even when I have no memory of apologizing to her... ever.
Last year, when Juli moved away, Shelly attacked like the tiger she is. She told everyone I had asked her out on some romantic date by the ocean and we were now officially "together", although neither event was true. When I heard about it I wanted to immediately clear the rumours, but Garrett pointed out that I would be Public Enemy Number One if I got on Shelly Stalls' bad side. Which was undeniably true. Shelly's beloved 'Daddy' owned about eighty percent of the town's businesses.
I broke it off with Shelly during the middle of ninth grade, politely and successfully. I was no longer subject to her hour-long phone conversations about how her eyelash curler had broken or how she didn't understand why she couldn't ride a horse to school. And better yet, I wasn't on anyone's bad side. It was a win-win situation. But I guess Shelly's decided that we're good buddies this year, judging from her reaction when she saw me. I bite my lip, trying not to groan aloud. Another year of avoiding Shelly? She's even worse than Juli was. I didn't even know that was humanly possible.
"Bryce," Shelly coos and bats her eyelashes at me suggestively, "aren't you going to walk me to homeroom?"
I shoot Garrett a desperate look, but he just grins at me and mouths, she's all yours! I stifle the urge to shake him and remind myself not to hook him up with any dates this year.
"Uhm, yeah, I guess... You have Helms, right? I do, too."
"Perfect," she purrs, and hooks her arm through mind rather forcefully. "By the way, I love your jacket, Bryce. Corduroy, right? The tan color compliments the pink of my skirt - we'll look really good walking down the hall together -"
Suddenly, there's a commotion in the middle of the hallway saving me from having to think of a proper response to Shelly.
It's Dana, a thin girl with dark hair and straight bangs who I don't know much about other than she was in my math and history class last year. I think I borrowed a pencil from her once. Anyway, Dana hurries down the hallway in my direction, and she stops a couple of feet in front of us. Practically everyone in the crowded hallway is looking at her curiously; it's obvious that she's anxious to say something.
"She's back!" Dana exclaims, her eyes wide. "Juli Baker. She's back."
