My alarm woke me up, just like every other day. But this was no other day. Today I would be finding out who my partner was for the mental health project in Advisement. I hated group projects and usually got out of having to do them with other people, but Mrs. Martin wanted me to “make new friends” and “open up to others.” That’s the whole reason I never did group projects, if I opened up to people they wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.
I groaned and rolled out of bed. I slowly walked to my bathroom and looked in the mirror. My blonde hair was tangled and greasy. I mentally slapped myself, last night I fell asleep before I could take a shower, or do anything for my poor hair. I sighed as I brushed the knots out, today would have to be a bun day. It wasn’t like anyone cared, I was just that girl you paid attention to during sport games, the one making the layups, scoring the goals, defending the box. I played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. No one at my school actually cared about field hockey, they were all too invested in football games or soccer games to pay any attention to girls field hockey. And our girls lacrosse team wasn’t the best.
I pulled some hair out of my tight bun and curled the pieces, hair spraying everything into place. I opened my closest door and peered inside to look for a clean pair of pants and a crewneck. I eventually settled on my cargo pants and a blue crewneck that had our school mascot on it. I quickly made my bed and grabbed my phone and computer off the desk. I had a few messages from some friends and apps, but nothing too extraordinary.
I placed my computer in my backpack and headed downstairs. It was pretty early in the morning so my parents and brothers were still asleep. My two older brothers, Asher and Jake, would probably start waking up soon, but I had to head to class. I packed a small lunch, a salad, some protein bars, and a few pieces of fruit, and started to fill up my water bottle.
It was almost full when I heard someone on the stairs behind me. I looked back to see my mom making her way downstairs. She had her hair in a sloppy braid, some grey streaks peeking through the caramel brown, her green eyes sparkled when they focused on me. She was wearing her usual pj’s, sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a bathrobe.
“Good morning sweetie,” She walked over and kissed my cheek. “Where are you heading off to so early?”
“I’m going over to Liv’s house to pick her up, then we’re heading to school for an early morning study group.” I told her as I picked up my shoes and started slipping them on.
“Do you need anything to eat? I could make you some eggs for the road.” She shuffled around the kitchen, grabbing a pan and a spatula.
“I’m good, Liv said she’d make some toast for us. Maybe tomorrow?”
She smiled and nodded. I finished tying my shoes and heading towards the front door, stopping to hug her goodbye. “Have a good day at school.” I nodded and headed towards the door again. “And Lilly?”
I spun back around.
“Don’t forget your brothers have a game tonight, it’s at six.”
“Thanks Mom.” I grabbed my car keys and left.
******
I listened to my own playlist on the way to Livs house, composed of mostly 21 Pilots, AJR, Alec Benjamin, and Good Neighbours, but as soon as I pulled up to her house I changed it to Forest Frank, Josiah Queen, and Imagine Dragons. Liv always liked pop music or workoutish type music so she could “wake up.”
I texted her just as her door opened and she jogged out. She had two containers in her hands and her backpack, and a million other things balanced in her arms. Somehow she could still open her door.
“Oh my goodness Lil, you won’t believe what happened last night.” She exclaimed as she shut her door and started to put on her shoes. She then launched into a good seven minute story about how her dog got out of her backyard and she had to enlist the help of her neighbor, Bryan, to catch Frodo. I nodded and laughed at the times in the story that were appropriate and made sure to add a question or two. “Thank you so much for taking the time to come pick me up today.” She dramatically fell against the window. “My parents are already at work, otherwise I would’ve had one of them take me so you didn’t have to.”
“It’s no problem. After all, what are best friends for?” She smiled at that.
“I brought your toast.” She held up one of the containers in victory. “I didn’t forget today.”
I forced a smile and took the container. It wasn’t that her toast was bad or anything, I just didn’t feel up to eating. But I swallowed those feelings and opened the container, releasing the smell of butter and slightly burnt bread. I picked a piece up and took a bite out of it.
I pulled up to the school parking lot as I finished my toast. My stomach was knotted with worry and anxiety at the giant building looming before me. I got my bag from the backseat and locked the car.
“LIV!” An excited voice said from behind my car. A blur of blue flashed past me and picked up my best friend. Liv laughed as her boyfriend, Antonio, kissed her cheek.
They were a good pair. Antonio had dark brown hair that complimented her light brown waves, his dark grey eyes matched with her golden brown ones perfectly. Anthony was tall and played sports, Liv also played a lot of sports so they usually went to the gym together. Their relationship was something from a book, perfect and adorable.
I smiled as Tony set Liv down. “Hey Tony.” I grinned.
“Hey Lil, how goes it?” He asked as we started walking towards the school, he subconsciously took Livs hand in his. We’d all been best friends since kindergarten, and I was thrilled when they finally started dating.
“It’s going, you gonna join us for our study session?” I asked.
He held open the door for Liv and I. “Of course, I have at least four tests this week.”
“And you won’t be a distraction?”
Liv and Tony shared a look. “Mhm.” Tony grinned.
I rolled my eyes and headed towards the library, the two love birds followed behind me. I opened the library door and propped it open, heading towards our usual table. The only other people inside were the librarian and some freshman. I set down my backpack in the chair next to mine and slid onto the stool. Liv and Tony headed towards the other side and hopped onto the stools. I took my computer out from my backpack and put my Airpods in and set to work.
I finished my Physics and History homework and had just started on my Calc homework when I heard the bell go off. I packed my things and walked with Liv to Culinary.
******
The day passed by in a blur, teachers talking, homework being assigned, friends gossiping. And then it was the period before the end of the day, Advisement.
I took my usual spot at the back of the classroom and pulled out my doodle notebook. I started sketching when Mrs. Martin came inside. Today she wore a floral long summer dress with heels, her blonde hair straightened to perfection.
“Good morning class, today I will be assigning partners for the mental wellness project.” Oh great, partners, even worse than group projects. “It will be due in three weeks and the requirements will be posted on Google Classroom. But there will also be papers on my desk with the same information.”
She pulled out a hat from her desk and the whole class groaned. A girl, Tessa, raised her hand.
“Yes Ms. Andrew?” Mrs. Martin said as she poured tiny slips of paper into the hat.
“Why can’t we choose our own partners?” She asked politely. “We’re a good class and I’m sure everyone will get their work done in no time.”
“That’s a good idea, but I want you guys to branch out of your friend group and find new people.” She looked at me as she said this.
She turned her attention back to the hat and started calling out names. “Paisley with Nate, Keith with Anna.”
About halfway through she called my name. “Lilly, you'll be with Josh.”
I looked around the room until my eyes locked with deep emerald green ones. The owner of the beautiful eyes lifted a hand and waved at me. Josh Turner. He was the starting quarterback in football, highest scorer in basketball, and best pitcher in baseball.
He had soft-looking fluffy light brown hair, an athletic build, and was six foot two. Not to mention optimistic about everything. Josh was a part of the popular kids at our school, but they weren’t like those mean, stereotypical popular-kid squad. They were nice and helped everyone out, that’s partly why they were so popular. And Josh was really smart, like straight A’s, top of the class. He was one of the six seniors in my Advisement class.
I sighed and started doodling in my notebook while Mrs. Martin read out the last few names in the hat. The world faded away as one of my doodles turned into a hummingbird hovering over a blue columbine flower. I snapped back to reality when someone pulled out the chair to the desk next to mine. Josh.
“Hey Lilly,” He smiled as he sat down. “Looks like I’ll be sitting here for the next few weeks.”
I smiled and nodded, focusing on making the columbines petals. The bell rang and I quickly packed up my things and walked up to Mrs. Martin's desk. I grabbed one of the papers and looked at Mrs. Martin, who winked back. I just sighed and headed to the hallway.
I was halfway down the hallway when someone called my name. I turned around to find Josh jogging to catch up to me.
“I realized that I need your number for the project, so we can talk about meeting up and stuff.” His cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
“Ok,” I quickly took my phone out and opened a new contact. I typed Joshs’ name in and handed it to him. In return he handed me his phone. I typed in my number and double checked it was right. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” He said as he pocketed his phone. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yup.” I turned back around and headed out of school. Liv was already waiting at my car when I got there. “Hey, wasn’t I supposed to take Tony home?”
“He caught a ride with your brothers, said they wanted to be at the games in time for JV. I think they were also gonna take Josh.” She told me as we got into the car.
“Ugh, don’t even get me started on-” And at that perfect moment his name popped up on my CarPlay. This kid already texted me.
“Ooooh, someone’s got a boyfriend.” Liv sang as I picked up my phone and checked it.
Josh: Hey it’s Josh 🙂
I mentally slapped myself in the face. Liv was going to take this way out of proportions.
“Josh, as in Josh Turner?” She raised an eyebrow. “Now how’d you get his number?”
“We’re partners in Advisement for the mental health project. He suggested we give each other our numbers so we could text for the project.”
“Josh is your partner for the project?” She looked worried. “Oh dear.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly worried.
“Oh nothing.” She smiled. “I just wanted to get a reaction out of you.
“You’re such a bully.” I laughed as I lightly punched her in the arm.
We laughed as I pulled out of the disastrous mess that we called our high school parking lot and started driving towards my house.
My alarm woke me up, just like every other day. But this was no other day. Today I would be finding out who my partner was for the mental health project in Advisement. I hated group projects and usually got out of having to do them with other people, but Mrs. Martin wanted me to “make new friends” and “open up to others.” That’s the whole reason I never did group projects, if I opened up to people they wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.
I groaned and rolled out of bed. I slowly walked to my bathroom and looked in the mirror. My blonde hair was tangled and greasy. I mentally slapped myself, last night I fell asleep before I could take a shower, or do anything for my poor hair. I sighed as I brushed the knots out, today would have to be a bun day. It wasn’t like anyone cared, I was just that girl you paid attention to during sport games, the one making the layups, scoring the goals, defending the box. I played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. No one at my school actually cared about field hockey, they were all too invested in football games or soccer games to pay any attention to girls field hockey. And our girls lacrosse team wasn’t the best.
I pulled some hair out of my tight bun and curled the pieces, hair spraying everything into place. I opened my closest door and peered inside to look for a clean pair of pants and a crewneck. I eventually settled on my cargo pants and a blue crewneck that had our school mascot on it. I quickly made my bed and grabbed my phone and computer off the desk. I had a few messages from some friends and apps, but nothing too extraordinary.
I placed my computer in my backpack and headed downstairs. It was pretty early in the morning so my parents and brothers were still asleep. My two older brothers, Asher and Jake, would probably start waking up soon, but I had to head to class. I packed a small lunch, a salad, some protein bars, and a few pieces of fruit, and started to fill up my water bottle.
It was almost full when I heard someone on the stairs behind me. I looked back to see my mom making her way downstairs. She had her hair in a sloppy braid, some grey streaks peeking through the caramel brown, her green eyes sparkled when they focused on me. She was wearing her usual pj’s, sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a bathrobe.
“Good morning sweetie,” She walked over and kissed my cheek. “Where are you heading off to so early?”
“I’m going over to Liv’s house to pick her up, then we’re heading to school for an early morning study group.” I told her as I picked up my shoes and started slipping them on.
“Do you need anything to eat? I could make you some eggs for the road.” She shuffled around the kitchen, grabbing a pan and a spatula.
“I’m good, Liv said she’d make some toast for us. Maybe tomorrow?”
She smiled and nodded. I finished tying my shoes and heading towards the front door, stopping to hug her goodbye. “Have a good day at school.” I nodded and headed towards the door again. “And Lilly?”
I spun back around.
“Don’t forget your brothers have a game tonight, it’s at six.”
“Thanks Mom.” I grabbed my car keys and left.
******
I listened to my own playlist on the way to Livs house, composed of mostly 21 Pilots, AJR, Alec Benjamin, and Good Neighbours, but as soon as I pulled up to her house I changed it to Forest Frank, Josiah Queen, and Imagine Dragons. Liv always liked pop music or workoutish type music so she could “wake up.”
I texted her just as her door opened and she jogged out. She had two containers in her hands and her backpack, and a million other things balanced in her arms. Somehow she could still open her door.
“Oh my goodness Lil, you won’t believe what happened last night.” She exclaimed as she shut her door and started to put on her shoes. She then launched into a good seven minute story about how her dog got out of her backyard and she had to enlist the help of her neighbor, Bryan, to catch Frodo. I nodded and laughed at the times in the story that were appropriate and made sure to add a question or two. “Thank you so much for taking the time to come pick me up today.” She dramatically fell against the window. “My parents are already at work, otherwise I would’ve had one of them take me so you didn’t have to.”
“It’s no problem. After all, what are best friends for?” She smiled at that.
“I brought your toast.” She held up one of the containers in victory. “I didn’t forget today.”
I forced a smile and took the container. It wasn’t that her toast was bad or anything, I just didn’t feel up to eating. But I swallowed those feelings and opened the container, releasing the smell of butter and slightly burnt bread. I picked a piece up and took a bite out of it.
I pulled up to the school parking lot as I finished my toast. My stomach was knotted with worry and anxiety at the giant building looming before me. I got my bag from the backseat and locked the car.
“LIV!” An excited voice said from behind my car. A blur of blue flashed past me and picked up my best friend. Liv laughed as her boyfriend, Antonio, kissed her cheek.
They were a good pair. Antonio had dark brown hair that complimented her light brown waves, his dark grey eyes matched with her golden brown ones perfectly. Anthony was tall and played sports, Liv also played a lot of sports so they usually went to the gym together. Their relationship was something from a book, perfect and adorable.
I smiled as Tony set Liv down. “Hey Tony.” I grinned.
“Hey Lil, how goes it?” He asked as we started walking towards the school, he subconsciously took Livs hand in his. We’d all been best friends since kindergarten, and I was thrilled when they finally started dating.
“It’s going, you gonna join us for our study session?” I asked.
He held open the door for Liv and I. “Of course, I have at least four tests this week.”
“And you won’t be a distraction?”
Liv and Tony shared a look. “Mhm.” Tony grinned.
I rolled my eyes and headed towards the library, the two love birds followed behind me. I opened the library door and propped it open, heading towards our usual table. The only other people inside were the librarian and some freshman. I set down my backpack in the chair next to mine and slid onto the stool. Liv and Tony headed towards the other side and hopped onto the stools. I took my computer out from my backpack and put my Airpods in and set to work.
I finished my Physics and History homework and had just started on my Calc homework when I heard the bell go off. I packed my things and walked with Liv to Culinary.
******
The day passed by in a blur, teachers talking, homework being assigned, friends gossiping. And then it was the period before the end of the day, Advisement.
I took my usual spot at the back of the classroom and pulled out my doodle notebook. I started sketching when Mrs. Martin came inside. Today she wore a floral long summer dress with heels, her blonde hair straightened to perfection.
“Good morning class, today I will be assigning partners for the mental wellness project.” Oh great, partners, even worse than group projects. “It will be due in three weeks and the requirements will be posted on Google Classroom. But there will also be papers on my desk with the same information.”
She pulled out a hat from her desk and the whole class groaned. A girl, Tessa, raised her hand.
“Yes Ms. Andrew?” Mrs. Martin said as she poured tiny slips of paper into the hat.
“Why can’t we choose our own partners?” She asked politely. “We’re a good class and I’m sure everyone will get their work done in no time.”
“That’s a good idea, but I want you guys to branch out of your friend group and find new people.” She looked at me as she said this.
She turned her attention back to the hat and started calling out names. “Paisley with Nate, Keith with Anna.”
About halfway through she called my name. “Lilly, you'll be with Josh.”
I looked around the room until my eyes locked with deep emerald green ones. The owner of the beautiful eyes lifted a hand and waved at me. Josh Turner. He was the starting quarterback in football, highest scorer in basketball, and best pitcher in baseball.
He had soft-looking fluffy light brown hair, an athletic build, and was six foot two. Not to mention optimistic about everything. Josh was a part of the popular kids at our school, but they weren’t like those mean, stereotypical popular-kid squad. They were nice and helped everyone out, that’s partly why they were so popular. And Josh was really smart, like straight A’s, top of the class. He was one of the six seniors in my Advisement class.
I sighed and started doodling in my notebook while Mrs. Martin read out the last few names in the hat. The world faded away as one of my doodles turned into a hummingbird hovering over a blue columbine flower. I snapped back to reality when someone pulled out the chair to the desk next to mine. Josh.
“Hey Lilly,” He smiled as he sat down. “Looks like I’ll be sitting here for the next few weeks.”
I smiled and nodded, focusing on making the columbines petals. The bell rang and I quickly packed up my things and walked up to Mrs. Martin's desk. I grabbed one of the papers and looked at Mrs. Martin, who winked back. I just sighed and headed to the hallway.
I was halfway down the hallway when someone called my name. I turned around to find Josh jogging to catch up to me.
“I realized that I need your number for the project, so we can talk about meeting up and stuff.” His cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
“Ok,” I quickly took my phone out and opened a new contact. I typed Joshs’ name in and handed it to him. In return he handed me his phone. I typed in my number and double checked it was right. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” He said as he pocketed his phone. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yup.” I turned back around and headed out of school. Liv was already waiting at my car when I got there. “Hey, wasn’t I supposed to take Tony home?”
“He caught a ride with your brothers, said they wanted to be at the games in time for JV. I think they were also gonna take Josh.” She told me as we got into the car.
“Ugh, don’t even get me started on-” And at that perfect moment his name popped up on my CarPlay. This kid already texted me.
“Ooooh, someone’s got a boyfriend.” Liv sang as I picked up my phone and checked it.
Josh: Hey it’s Josh 🙂
I mentally slapped myself in the face. Liv was going to take this way out of proportions.
“Josh, as in Josh Turner?” She raised an eyebrow. “Now how’d you get his number?”
“We’re partners in Advisement for the mental health project. He suggested we give each other our numbers so we could text for the project.”
“Josh is your partner for the project?” She looked worried. “Oh dear.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly worried.
“Oh nothing.” She smiled. “I just wanted to get a reaction out of you.
“You’re such a bully.” I laughed as I lightly punched her in the arm.
We laughed as I pulled out of the disastrous mess that we called our high school parking lot and started driving towards my house.
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkI6QqjTwVJ
