Much thanks to my first reviewers: HappyEndings and Alice. I'm glad you liked the first chapter of this. Here is the second chapter and I hope you like it as much as the first.
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Chapter Two
My blaring alarm clock woke me up the next morning at six o' clock sharp. I sat up tiredly, shielding my eyes against the sunlight creeping in through my purple lacey curtains.
I got dressed in a pair of casual jeans and a black tank top with the Japanese symbol for love on the front in white. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and put on my sneakers, walking out of my bedroom and going downstairs, grabbing my blue backpack on the way.
Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a piece of uneaten toast in front of her on a small saucer was ignored as she read the morning paper.
"Morning, Mom." I said, my voice slurred a bit from where I wasn't completely awake yet.
"Good morning, sweetheart." She replied, putting the paper down and taking a sip of her coffee in a Mickey Mouse mug I had gotten her for Mothers' Day when I was seven.
"Ready for school?" She asked.
"No." I replied truthfully. I was far from ready. "But I suppose I have to be."
"That's the attitude. Ready for anything, you are." She said, smling at me. "Come on, we can go if you have everything. I'll give you a ride on the way to work."
We walked outside to the SUV and got inside; Mom started the car and pulled out of the driveway.
"You know, I could have just walked." I said to her as she stopped at a stop sign at an intersection. "It's only one mile from the house."
"Well, you can walk tomorrow if that's what you want. I just wanted to take you the first day so you could get used to the route." She said, looking over at me, giving me that look I always give her as if about to challenge her.
Everyone always said that we acted, and looked alike. I had her dark eyes and dark hair and was short like her. I don't think that I got any of my father's traits at all. He was a tall, muscular man with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He and Mom were exact opposites.
My father passed away a few years before from a car accident. He was on the Interstate going to work in the early morning hours. A drunk driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed three lanes, hitting my Dad head on.
My father always had a problem with remembering to wear his seat belt, and he was thrown from the car, and killed instantly.
It was really hard on my mom. They had been so much in love, and were even talking about having another baby, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Mom always told me that apparently, God had decided it was his time to go. That there was a plan that needed to be stuck to. That he had served his purpose in life and was needed elsewhere. In another life.
I had been really close to my dad though. We went fishing together and went to hockey games on the weekends. He took me to the mall so I could get new CDs and check out the latest electronics.
It seemed to be a life out of a fairy-tale. I was happy. Our family was happy, but all that had to end in one instant.
Things kept playing through my mind like 'what if'.
What if he had left home on time that morning? Would he still be here? Would we still be in Hartford?
What if he had seen the other car in time? Would he have been able to swerve to avoid it?
None of these things I would find out. He was dead and gone and we had moved on, though sometimes at night I could hear my mother in her room, crying. When I'd go to investigate, I'd see through a crack between the door and the door frame, her sitting on the edge of her bed, gripping a picture of her and Dad in her long, pale fingers, tears streaming steadily down her once rosy cheeks, when would then turn pale.
That image always made my heart break in two, and I would quietly and slowly head back into my bedroom, feeling my eyes prickle with unshed tears.
Before I knew it, Mom had stopped in front of Henry Clay High School and was looking at me. "Now have a great first day, sweetheart." She said, her voice encouraging.
"Right...thanks Mom." I said and got out of the car, giving her a wave before closing the door. She pulled away as the cars in front of her did, dropping off other students and I was left looking up at the large building.
Mom had told me last night to first go to the office. I walked inside the school with the crowd of students that were getting off the bus, and getting out of their cars and saw a sign above a door which read 'Administration Office'.
I stepped inside and one of the secretaries looked up at me. She had golden eyes and small, rimless glasses, looking at me with hawk-like eyes.
"May I help you?" She asked in a bored tone.
"Um...I just transferred here..." I said, not knowing exactly what I was supposed to say, that part already forgotten.
"Name?" She prompted me.
"Katie Wilson."
She pulled a folder out of a filing cabinet next to her desk and typed something into her computer. "Ah, right. Give me one moment to print out your schedule."
"Is there any maps of the school?" I asked, knowing how big this place was. "I'm not sure I could find my way around..."
"I have already assigned you a guide for the day. He's in all your classes so he can help you. He should be here any minute actually." The woman -who's name plate on the desk read 'Elizabeth Ringlaut' - said as my schedule came zooming out of the paper tray on the printer.
She handed it to me. "Your books are on that table," She added, gesturing over to a small table several feet from her desk. "And your locker number is on your schedule."
"Okay...thank you." I said, as I went over to the books and picked them up.
"Ah, here's your student guide." Miss Ringlaut said as a boy came rushing in the door. He had light brown hair and very bright blue eyes. He wore black rimmed glasses that looked too dark for his pale skin complexion and he had on a blue and white striped button-down shirt and a pair of faded jeans.
"This is Norman Adamson." Miss Ringlaut introduced and he stood there, looking as if he did this sort of thing everyday, which I highly doubted. There weren't enough people in this town to do this sort of thing every day.
"And Norman, this is Katie Wilson. She just transferred from Hartford, Conneticut." The woman finished and Norman held his hand out to me, smiling.
"Hey, welcome to Kentucky," he said with a country accent, though not as pronounced as some I had heard since I'd arrived. I shook his hand and smiled back politely. "Hi, and thanks." I replied.
The bell rang in the hallway and Norman looked at his watch. "I'll show you to your locker, then we need to get to class. That was the warning bell." He said and I nodded.
He led the way out the door, holding it open for me since I now had my arms occupied with my books.
"So, Conneticut, huh?" He said interestedly, looking over at me once we were in the hall. Almost everyone was in class now, only a few stragglers hurrying towards their homeroom.
"Yeah." Was all I said. This was the one time I wished I wasn't so bad with making conversation with people.
"Kentucky must be a lot different." He commented, turning to walk down a different hallway to the left, and I followed.
"Yeah, it is... Really, really different actaully..." I said, my tone quieter than normal from nerves.
Norman chuckled and stopped walking suddenly. "What's your locker number?"
I looked at the schedule on top of my Geography book and scanned the page. "Um...two-fourteen." I said, finally finding it.
"Okay, it's just across the hall from mine then." He said smiling and walked several more feet down the hall and over to one of the lockers.
"Here, I'll hold your books while you put in the combiation." He offered and I gratefully handed over my heavy books. I checked the paper one last time and entered the combination, the pulled the locker door open. Luckily, it didn't get stuck. That was definetly one plus to this place. My locker back at my Hartford school stuck everyday.
One by one, I took the books out of Norman's arms and placed them in the locker, the spines of the books facing out so I could grab them quickly in between classes.
"Thanks," I mumbled when I was done putting them in and his arms were book-free.
"Hey, no problem." He said, smiling warmly at me. "We should get to Biology though."
I nodded and grabbed my Biology book and shut the locker door, my notebook and pens in my backpack.
Norman led the way to the Biology lab which was about two hundred yards from where our lockers where located.
"These halls are so confusing," I admitted quietly to him as we neared the lab.
He gave a small laugh and said, "Don't worry about it. Stick with me and you'll be fine. If you think the halls are confusing, just wait until lunch. There are so many cliches, it'll make your head spin. Sit at a table that's taken over by, let's say the cheerleading squad, and you'll get your lungs tore out."
My eyes went wide. "Then...where am I supposed to sit?"
"Don't worry, the cheerleaders won't actually do that to you. But they'll say some things to you that will make you feel like crap. Happened to my friend Anna in our freshman year. She was dissolved to tears... You can sit with us if you want. Plent of room at our table." He said and walked into the Biology lab.
"Okay, thanks." I told him, taken aback by the abrupt but nice offer.
"No problem." He smiled then said to the teacher, "She's the new transfer student. Katie Wilson."
"Ah yes," the teacher, who's name that I'd found on my schedule was Mr. Greene. "Welcome to the class, Katie. You two can take a seat; you were just in time."
He motioned us to our seats and we sat down at one of the lab tables with about four others in our group.
I had a strong feeling that this would be a long day.
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