I don't want to go to class, a mantra I'd been repeating in my head since the beginning of school a month ago. How was it that I'd only been here for a month but it felt like I'd spent years in these halls as a senior? I was going to be late if I didn't run. Sighing I picked up my pace and ran up the stairs, skipping one step at a time. Life was starting to be mundane. With homework and essays being the sole purpose of my life. I felt like my personality was succumbing to my school life. I wasn't 'Rae' anymore but 'Rae that goes to highschool'. I hated that I felt stuck in a role. See, I'm not a great student, I don't ace every test but that doesn't mean I'm a bad student, I study a lot to get average grades. Which is probably why I don't get a lot of satisfaction from school. Don't get me wrong, I know school is important for my independence and all of that ... but if I could just live without, I would probably choose that route. I used to love learning. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe school just puts too much pressure on what we need to know than what we want to learn. I got to my Economics class on time, mumbling a "hello" I made my way to my seat. I looked over to my friend. "Hey, how are you doing Sierra?". She opened her eyes, lifted her head from the desk and said, "Tired, tell me why did I come to school today?" I laughed at her antics. "You wouldn't let me suffer in this class alone would you?". With our usual morning interaction coming to and end I faced the teacher and mentally prepared myself for two hours of International Trade and whatnot.

The torture was over, the bell had rung and I was collecting all my pens, papers and bits and bobs. I always cut stuff up, or doodled when I'm in class. It's a coping mechanism okay? I made my way to the cafeteria and greeted my friends. My group of friends was enormous and we were all trying to max out our 15 minutes break. This meant that everyone was shouting and hugging one another. However, someone caught my eye. Standing in the middle of the crowd was a girl I had never seen before. She had long wavy brown hair and piercing blue eyes. I could tell she was a little lost. I pushed myself through the animated bodies and made my way to her. "Hey, you look lost, are you okay?" I cringed internally at my introduction. What if she wasn't lost? What if she knew exactly what she was doing and I just assumed-- "Oh hi, yeah I'm new and I kinda don't know what's going on" She cut my thought process off. Her voice had caught me off guard. It was a mix between soft and determined and for some reason, I liked that. Just as I was about to answer, Sierra wrapped her arm around me and asked, "Raven who's this?" I laughed as the new girl chuckled. "I'm Kiera, nice to meet you Sierra". I jumped in and added, "she's new". Sierra looked at me and rolled her eyes "no shit". The bell rang again and I felt my shoulders slump. Why was break time so short? I hated the fact that I never seemed to have time to fully relax. "What class do you have next Kiera?" Sierra inquired. Her cheeks suddenly turned pink, that was so cute, why was I thinking like that? I had only just met the girl. Gosh I mentally screamed to keep my mind out of the gutter. Kiera reached out for what looked like her timetable and said she had "Politics, geopolitics, Political science, history and geography" I laughed at her when she pretended to take a breath after reciting the subject's lengthy name. "It's a mouthful isn't it? Who's your teacher?" I smiled. I was secretly hoping she was in my class because maybe the next two hours wouldn't be so bad if I could look at her. "Mr. Efray?" Feeling like the world had just punched me in the gut I turned to scan for Joseph. When my eyes finally located the long thin guy I was looking for, I shouted "Joseph!". After a few calls, he came up to us. "What? I'm going to be late to Efray's class." I looked back at Kiera, and nudged her. "This is Kiera, she's new and she's in your next class." The second bell rang and Joseph groaned in annoyance "Great now I'm late!" I bent over to Kiera's ear to make sure she heard me. "I'll see you at lunch, meet me here". I felt her stop breathing as I said that but I brushed away all my silly ideas and agreed that she was probably nervous - this being a new school and all. We went our separate ways and I ended up knocking on the door, I was not on time but for once I didn't find the urge to care.