It was a dewy sunrise, and the mourning doves were cooing. The first day of October
made everyone excited about what was in store to come. Although the weather outside was still
warm, people incorporated fall colors into their outfits. Girls were wearing thin long sleeve
sweaters and boots. Many people had t-shirts designed with skeletons or spiders. The cafeteria
smelled sweet like cinnamon, soothing the cranky teenagers entering the breakfast line. It was a
calm morning for students to begin a new day.
Nicole was in the bathroom stall sobbing over what had happened the night before. She
snuck back out later that night to return home. Since her dad wasn't home, she was able to
peacefully express her jealousy. The bell rang and the girls doing their make up in the mirrors
walked out heading to class. "Come on love. We need to get to cla-" "No Toni! I don't want to go
anywhere. I feel so stupid." Antonia didn't say anything else. Nicole had told her how she was
feeling in comparison to Rachel. She called herself a little girl and flat as she wasn't curvy like
Rachel. She was extroverted and enjoyed other people's company. She wanted to always be
outside and liked talking nonstop. She was everything Rachel wasn't. Antonia walked up to her
best friend and rubbed her back. Nicole held on to her and continued crying. When the second
bell rang, girls that skipped their classes walked into the bathroom laughing. Nicole sat on the
toilet until she felt calm enough to get up. Antonia opened the stall and the girls went silent. One
of them face a face at them until she saw Nicole's smeared makeup. The two then went to hide
out in the library and waited until their first period was over.
Antonia looked at her best friend sitting quietly in class. "Do you want to work together
love? You get picks on the topic." Mr. Olson laughed, which threw the whole off class off.
"Here's the catch everyone. For this project, you can only work with someone you have not
worked with before." The students groaned knowing that they had to step out of their comfort
zone. "Don't UGHHH me! As a matter of fact. You have three minutes to find someone to work
with or a possible option for your project. I want everyone to make AT LEAST two new friends in
the classroom. I'm starting my timer as soon as everyone gets up." Chairs screeched against
the tile floors as the students got up to move around the classroom. Mr. Olson held up his
phone to show his timer and the students in the classroom moved around to start. Some people
jokingly pretended to be best friends at that moment, but others seemed as if they would rather
step in front of a car. Antonia walked around socializing with some of her classmates. She said
hello to a few of the jocks, band nerds, and dancers. She then met up with Samuel noticing his
t-shirt. "Killer shirt! I love Madness. I actually got their album Absolutely this weekend when I
went shopping." The boy smiled at her pretending to be interested. "Oh neat. They've got some
great tunes." Walking in the opposite direction he looked at Jade raising an eyebrow. She
smirked and approached Antonia. The goth noticed her, heading to her seat before the timer
went off. This threw her off and took that as a challenge. She then got close to her but was
blocked off when Seymour got close to her. "You come here often?" He wiggled his eyebrows
looking at her over his thick chunky glasses. Jade chuckled and moved him to the side taking a
seat as the timer went off.
"Nice work Toni." The art teacher had peered over the girl's shoulder and the sketch she
was working on. She had a picture of Fairuza Balk as Nancy from The Craft displayed on her
laptop. She was sketching one of her outfits from the bus scene that brought popularity to one of
the movie's most known phrases. It was one of her favorite movies and she wanted to add her
own spin to the outfit. Today was one of those days where students could work on their projects.
Antonia was already up to date with her assignments, so this was just the time to relax. She was
ready to practice shading colors together and make themed pallets. Some students were
creating clay figures and baking them in the small ovens in the classroom. Other students were
calmly finishing assignments from other classes. Sometimes, the members at Antonia's desk
would spark a conversation, but she paid little attention. There were lots on her mind, and she
didn't know what to focus on. She was worried about Nicole. She wondered how she was doing
during the rest of class. She also then thought about her own love life. She had been on a few
little dates here and there. The boys from this school are just so entitled. She didn't care if they
made up rumors about her, she didn't have to waste a penny of their crummy dates. "Honestly,
did they expect a girl on the first date to give up so easily? A girl has to be really pathetic to do
that." The pencils looked perfect with each sharp point. They were then ordered by color
scheme to variation in what she could work on. She began to wonder about Isaiah. How come
he never said anything else after their little dinner at sonic. She still believed that a date was
supposed to be in a restaurant. She thought she was interesting to him, but he never asked her
for a formal date. "Does he think I was too different from him?" However, as soon as the pencil
glided on the paper, she was finally at ease.
"Where's Nicole?" Joseph sat in his spot at the lunch table while nobody said a word. He
looked at Antonia and she took out her phone. "I'm not sure mate. I think she was going to the
library to finish up on work. I remember her saying she had a test coming up on Thursday that
she really needed to study for. She pretended to text her but really made a quick check of her
messages. Yup, too many needy boys chasing her. Jiya looked at the blond boy irritated,
indicating that something was up or that Nicole had told her about the situation. "Hey Toni. What
cha' doing next weekend?" Mal and Karen smiled at the girl. "I think… I have a date with a guy
from my math class… but nothing important." Wally snorted at her response, Jiya shaking her
head amused. "Well, our marching band competition is coming up and were trying to see if you
also wanted to come along and support us." "Oh! Of course! I love seeing you guys at the
football game. What day and time is this happening? Oh, and who else is going?" Antonia was
intrigued on who was all going to support their friends. Karen began listing people, "Well me of
course, Roy, Isaiah, Rachel, Garfield, Wally, Jiya, Nicole, and now you." The goth nodded her
head taking a bite from her food. "Toni? Do you always have to eat these feasts in front of us?
Come on? We're eating cardboard here!" Antonia laughed at Isaiah. The cafeteria food certainly
looked depressing. A dry chicken sandwich with expired mayo packets was nothing in
comparison to a delicious avocado wrap. "No seriously. This roll can be used a weapon." Jiya
grabbed the stale bread roll off her tray and threw it at the table, bouncing off and rolling past a
few tables. The group went hysterical as the other tables wondered where the roll came from.
"Okay make sure to get in your groups and read the instructions." The students were
tasked with completing a scavenger hunt, finding different pieces of evidence for their
investigation. William looked at the instructions. "Man, these are all riddles!" "Love, flip to the
backside." William gave Antonia a tooth grin as he immediately confused in their assignment.
"Lemme see the page, maybe I can get something." The three dissected the laminated page to
see what they would get from their instructions. "Sam…" The boy looked up from standing in
silence fiddling with the brown paper bags. "So, with each piece of evidence we need to put in
bag and label it." Seymour grabbed the sharpie and began numbering the bags. "Okay so the
first piece of evidence sounds like a tool you'll use. Maybe a hammer?" There were a few
hammers spread across the classroom. "You wanna check it real quick?" William looked at the
girl and she nodded. "Mrs. Sanders, can you check us please?" After their teacher gave them
approval, they looked at each other with glee. "Way to go doll face. You'll definitely be in charge
of this now." Samuel rolled his eyes at their interactions. Sure, Antonia was smart, but he
thought she was stuck up. He saw her as very posh, which was something that he personally
thought opposed her outer appearance. Yeah, she was nice too. He certainly did like it when
girls complemented his hair or outfits, and Antonia pointed out his shirt this morning in their
history class. There was also the fact that she was a spunky girl, that sometimes could lead to
butting heads. Samuel sensed that she still lacked awareness of others, but he wasn't sure of
what. She could be a spoiled brat for all he cared and after leaving school, he would be
forgotten like all the other kids in her past schools. "Can I see this?" She took a bag from him
putting the hammer in the bag. Fake blood was splattered all over the classroom which had
bothered some of the students. Samuel eventually got tired of just standing around and gave
some effort in completing the work. Antonia smiled at him every time he did something right
which made him irritated. "Why she was so excited over something so stupid?" The last riddle
was something odd. Antonia was stuck on what they needed until William started laughing.
Seymour looked at him confused, taking the page back. "What do we need?" Antonia looked at
Wally's group, dropping her jaw. Poor Selinda had a cotton swab stuck up on nostril and
another in her mouth. Samuel snorted, giving his group a menacing look. "Nose Goes!" The
boys moved swiftly, leaving Antonia to be the one to stick the swabs in her face. William gave
her the swabs and she stuck one in her mouth. "Make sure you reach her brain, Sam." William
and Seymour chuckled as they handed him the swab. Antonia laughed nervously, blocking
Sam's hand. "You better watch yourself." The boy was cheesing hard, gently putting his hand on
her shoulder. The girl tilted her head back and he entered the object in her nose moving it
around. His brows got close together when he took the swab back out. Seymour looked
surprised after Samuel put the swab in the brown bag. "Your nose is pierced?" She touched her
face feeling the metal object poking out. "Oh, I got it a long time ago. I thought it was cool to get
it behind my parents back, but I just never knew how it really looked because it's always flipped
up." She tucked the ring back up putting the snot covered swab in a new bag. "What's the point
of getting pierced if you're too scared to have it out? Just take it out if you don't want it" Samuel
collected the bag from her putting them in order as they were now completed with their
scavenger hunt. Their group ended up finishing in second, which made them quite happy. Even
though Samuel passed on being rewarded with a sticker, his group praised him for getting one
of the more difficult riddles solved.
"Crap!" Antonia thought to herself. The bathroom stall ran out of toilet paper, and she
was not in the best situation. It was the last period and all she wanted to do was finish her day
off. She stuck her hand into the toilet paper dispenser to see if she could grab the end of the
different roll. She felt harsher material almost as if someone stuck up some paper towels in
there. "No. A paper bag?" She got a better grip and took it out. A crumpled brown paper bag
was stuck inside the machine and Antonia thought that this had to be a joke. She then felt stick
like objects inside and thought that someone that took her science class snuck out materials.
"No way, that's a stupid idea." Her face went white as she unwrinkled the bag. She didn't know
what to do with the things but put them down on the floor. She stuck her hand back in the
dispenser feeling nothing but cardboard rolls. Moving her foot, she accidentally knocked the bag
over. "Oh my god." Antonia tried to grab the rolled-up sticks but failed by bending one of them.
The paper began to tear, making her nervous for messing with it in the first place. Crumbs
began to fall into her lap, and she knew she was in trouble. Suddenly someone walked into the
restroom, the roll fell apart into pieces between her thighs and into the toilet. The person tried
opening the stall scaring Antonia. "Oi! Someone's in here. Could you wait just a second?" She
decided to flush everything down the toilet sacrificing the bag as her tissue. "Man, that brown
paper back did not feel good wiping." The girl then went into the stall next to Antonia, but she
didn't hear any noise. Getting up and putting her skirt down, she saw the toilet didn't flush. The
evidence of the bag and her lunch was on display for everyone to see. Antonia's face got red
pushing the button to make it go away. The water began to rise so she ran out of the stall. She
quickly rinsed her hands to them sprint to class. Jiya was going to have to know about this.