Collision

It was the last day of the summer before I would start my senior year, and it was the only thought on my mind the entire day. I even burned a plate of blueberry muffins at the coffee shop because of how distracted I was.

For the past two weeks, I was trying to combine school and work schedules. If I wanted to get a spot in a decent university, I’d have to work my ass off at school and work at the same time. I wasn’t born into money, and my parents’ savings for my college education wasn’t going to be enough because I dared to dream big and aim higher than it was ever expected.

I was lounging on the bench overlooking the river and city behind it, to my left was a port for private yachts and a few of them were quite busy with back-to-school parties. The biggest and loudest was a yacht that belonged to the Dumas family. I am not certain why they used city port when they had their private docks near their estate. Dumas’s sisters were famous with their annual events. Well, Katherine more than Josephine, everyone knew both sisters didn’t really enjoy each other’s company. Needless to say, I was never invited to any of Dumas’s events, Katherine was very meticulous about her guest lists and her “contests for invites” were humiliating and often questionably close to being illegal. I participated once – in third grade she crumpled one invite to her birthday party and threw it in the middle of the class where multiple kids piled up on each other to get the damn invite. I was somewhere in the bottom and was sent home that day with busted lip and bruised cheek, my parents were shocked but never mentioned it at PTA meetings.

I got up to my feet and started walking towards home, my mom had already texted me a few times to remind me I had to get up the next day at 6 AM for school, but I knew I was too nervous to be able to fall asleep any time soon. When I got home, mom and dad were already sleeping, and I walked upstairs to my room. We lived in a two-story house with a tiny little backyard, in the corner of the backyard dad had built a greenhouse for mom on their twenty-year anniversary, it was the perfect gift for a green thumb like her. Dad was a natural when it came to building – when I was twelve, mom insisted that a girl should have her own bathroom that goes with a bedroom, without a fight, he rebuilt our house from one-story to two. He loves carpentry, and he had managed to pay bills and put food on our table for years by doing what he loves. Mom, on the other hand, has been working at Mystic River Hospital as a nurse ever since she graduated from medical school. She loves helping people in need, so I couldn’t imagine a more perfect job for her. I am grateful for everything they had done and kept doing for me, we’ve been through tough times more than I could count, but they had always put me first even when I wished they wouldn’t.

“Lex, why are you still in bed?” my mom gasped, and I shot up in my bed, “It’s almost eight!” she exclaimed.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I jumped out of my bed and rushed to the bathroom to wash my face and quickly brush my teeth.

“Language!” she scolded me, “May I help you with anything, honey?” mom looked at me helplessly.

“Please, call a cab for me. I really can’t be late for my first day of senior year.” I brushed my hair and made a messy bun on top of my head, I rushed back in my room and grabbed clothes from the rack that I had picked out the night before. I got dressed in a speed that would make any superhero ashamed of themselves, grabbed my backpack and hurried down the stairs.

Mom was already waiting for me with her signature brown paper bag that had a sandwich or salad and some fruit inside it, “Cab should be here any minute. I asked them to hurry because my girl is excited to start her final year of high school.” she winked at me.

“Thank you, mom. I love you so damn much!” I hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek, “I’ll go wait outside. Have a fantastic day.”

“Love you too.” mom smiled at me, “I’ll see you at the dinner!” she called behind me as I walked outside.

“See you!” I waved at her and right on cue, a cab pulled up in front of our house.

The cab driver was on top of his duty, we arrived at school exactly when the first bell was ringing. I gave him twice the amount seen on the meter and rushed inside the school towards my locker to empty my backpack, leaving organizing for later.

“The good girl late for school.” someone pointed out standing next to my locker.

“Well, thank you, Mr. Obvious.” I shut my locker door to see Liam Cox leaning against the lockers. Obnoxious Liam Cox, who never missed out on a chance to annoy me.

“Funny how you were not in any of the parties last night but somehow managed to show up late.” he chuckled, “Not that you were even invited, if I might add.”

“Not that it bothers me, if I might add, but thank you for pointing it out. Now excuse me, but I have a class to attend.” I walked past him and headed towards English class with him following right behind me, “Why are you following me? If you have more to say, please get it off your chest and get out of my way.”

“We might have English class together.” he scrunched up his nose.

“Oh, isn’t that awesome?” I snorted and kept walking.

“Just peachy.” he replied.

I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him, and just let him have the last word that he craved so much. As soon as we walked inside the classroom, our English teacher Mr. Green was standing in front of the class checking the attendance list.

“Ms Jones and Mr. Cox.” he looked at us, “I’m not even going to ask your reason for being late.”

“Whatever you might think Mr. Green, but me and… That thing?” Liam pointed his index finger at me, “Only in her dreams.” class erupted with laughter and Liam walked to the back of the class to sit with his buddies Oliver and William.

Embarrassment took me over, and I walked to the only free seat left on the third row in the middle of the class. I don’t understand why I felt so humiliated and hurt, I thought I was immune to any of the insults coming from Liam or his friends.

“Imagine if that thing actually could score Liam?” Iris Wertheimer whispered quite loudly to her best friend Katherine Dumas.

“Imagine if that thing actually could score anyone?” Katherine snorted in response.

“Shut it, Kath.” her sister Josephine sighed.

“Okay, I’d like to have all your attention back on me now.” Mr. Green cleared his throat and continued with the class.

To say I was thrown off and couldn’t concentrate was an understatement, I didn’t understand why I had become the target when I had never done anything to cross any of them. I had always managed to stay out of their way and kept it to myself. Yes, often Liam and I exchanged insults when passing by each other in the school hallways, but that was it. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply, and tried to focus on Mr. Green and English. At the end of the day, none of the high school shenanigans would matter after graduating, I simply wouldn’t let any of it define me.

After English class we had a 10-minute break which I used to organize my locker, I was still in my thoughts as I automatically sorted through books and notepads.

“Hey, sorry about earlier.” I heard Josephine’s voice behind my back.

“Don’t worry, I don’t care about any of that.” I replied not looking back at her, “And also, you shouldn’t apologize for others.”

“They are dumb and unbearable when hungover, I’ve been there almost every Saturday morning this summer.” she tried defending her sister and her friends.

I shut my locker and turned around to face her, “I said don’t worry about it. And being hungover is not a reason good enough to treat other people like shit.” I shrugged and walked towards my next class, Photography and Media Arts.

© Blissful Bubbles 2023