It's the first day of August, 2019; I start my junior year at Garvin High-School in about forty-five minutes. As soon as my alarm blared its shrill call, I jumped out of bed. Fortunately, my body and cognitive function did not remember the fact that I had been awake until exactly 3:39 AM  as I mentally prepared myself to begin my second-to-last first day of high-school.

My outfit consisted of a white graphic t-shirt, jeans, and a tattered pair of cargo boots. As soon as I was finished putting myself together for the unpredictable day ahead, I refilled the food and water of my parakeet, swiped my keys off of my desk, and left my bedroom. 

"Whitney, are you ready?" Mom called from downstairs. I heard my little sister curse sharply in unison with a loud thud from her room. This happened quite often; Charlie Fisher is notorious for dropping her phone, which I have determined that it must be indestructible. 

"Yes" I yelled my response. I then swung my black and blue backpack over my shoulder and hurriedly heading down the stairs.

"Maybe this year you'll finally get a boyfriend!" She grinned her typical crooked grin. My mother is very bent on allowing my sister and I to have dating lives. Myself more than Charlie, of course, since she is only thirteen years old in comparison to my sixteen years. Despite this, I have yet to have a boyfriend, though not out of disinterest. Obviously, I have been head over heels "in love" with guys in my classes that did not reciprocate my feelings. This was fine, however. In fact, after having explored the social media of a boy I liked in my Sophomore year, I came to the revolting realization that he had posted several videos of him relieving his rectum of the remnants of his meals. Needless to say, I quickly lost interest.

"Mom." I said in the typical teenager sigh. She winked and I headed out. I drive an old, yellow Volkswagen. Of course, we bought it from a used-car lot, so the radio was effectively defective. It's just a short drive from my house to my school.

"Whitney!" Lexi exclaimed, approaching my car in the lot. She and one of our mutual friends carpool together on account of the fact that they live just down the street from each other. Lexi and I have been close friends since the end of my Sophomore year. She is who you would imagine being the "crazy best friend" in a story as well as an aggressively protective drunk. 

"Lexi!" I said as I got out of the car. It honked dully when I locked it after having collected the things I would need for the day. 

"Kevin's over at the wall." She said, pointing at a sixteen year-old boy sitting atop a 5-foot brick wall to the left of the crowds of both new and returning students. He looked up from his phone when Lexi and I got closer, glasses flashing for an instant in the light of the sunrise. 

"Hey." He said with a smile on his face. The two of us heaved ourselves onto the wall, Kevin to my left, and Lexi to my right. The cherry on top of our friend-group, Andy, joined us just moments later on Kevin's side.

"Hi, guys." Andy smiled, eyes sweeping over the crowd as he looked for people that caught his eye, whether it be somebody he thought was attractive or something he looked dumb that we could laugh about.

"Twelve minutes until the gate opens." Kevin said in a gravelly tone, holding up his wrist to see his watch. Kevin's voice was always grumbly in the mornings. He usually slept until about twenty minutes before Lexi was scheduled to pick him up—his parents are reluctant to let him drive.

"Hey, Whitney, is your mom still telling you to get a boyfriend?" Lexi asked me as she nudged my shoulder. However, she was not looking at me.

"Yeah, why?" I followed her gaze to a horde of guys. She switched from nudging my shoulder to smacking it.

"What do you think of him?" She asked, pointing at one of the guys. The guy in question had brown hair and a very sharp jawline. He didn't really pique my interest, though. Unlike Lexi, I was into guys that I saw as cute rather than hot. My eyes fixated themselves on a blond boy leaning against the wall with greenish book. "Whitney, you're not looking at him."

Andy's brows furrowed and he Kevin, took my chin, and moved my face back in the direction of the brunet guy.

"No, I'll let you have him." I told her, eyes flicking back to the one reading. Lexi is substantially more attractive than me—although I do pride myself on the glow-up I had since the beginning of my high-school years—which was the joke. Much to my shock he was already looking at me. He must have seen me make my decision between him and Lexi's new target. Instead of the unspoken interaction becoming unbearably awkward, he grinned sheepishly and turned his gaze back to his book.

"That's your type?" Lexi said, brows making the same dip that Andy's had done just moments before. Kevin finally lifted his eyes from my phone to see who we were discussing.

"Wow, Whitney. All these years I've known you and I have never known that you're into bibliophiles." He said with a hearty laugh. I shoved him into Andy, who wobbled and nearly fell off the wall.

"That guy?" Andy asked, pointing at the bibliophile.

"Yes, Andrew." I said pointedly. Andy jumped of the wall, grabbed my hand, and pulled me down as well. He then trekked to the guy with me in tow. The poor guy looked back up again, brows furrowing for a moment when he saw us coming. When we got there, Andy stuck out my hand for me.

"Hi. This Whitney" Andy smiled. The bibliophile laughed as he took my hand and shook it. Then Andy finally released my hand.

"Jesse." The guy said to the both of us. His voice had a quality in his voice that could only be described with the shameful use of the word goofy.

"Andy." He didn't wait for Jesse to shake his hand. Instead, Andy took Jesse's hand and shook it. Andy then pointed with his thumb to be wall that had Lexi and Kevin atop it, "come meet our friends." Jesse nodded before tucking his book into his backpack and following the two of us back to our wall.

"Hi!" Lexi with a toothy beam as she jumped down from the wall to greet us. "I'm Lexi."

"Jesse." He smiled warmly. His blond hair looked dusty, however, that was likely a brown and blond mixture into a soft dirty blond.

"Kevin." Kevin told Jesse, not bothering to depart from the wall until his blue eyes flicked to the gate, which was being pulled open by an administrator. "Gate's opening."