Chapter 1
“Are you ready?” Gwen asked, walking next to me. I looked up, caught off guard at the sound of her voice and then matched her pace. We walked outside of the school building, ignoring the restless students who swam past us and jumped onto the buses.
I looked at her, and met her questioning eyes. “Uh, yeah,” I said, unsure what she asked. She linked her arm around mine, which was irritating and awkward because my hands were full.
Either way, I attempted to set my head on her shoulder, but it didn’t work because she was too short.
“Well, I’m not,” she said loudly, as if the words were bits that she had to spit out. I let out a long sigh next to her, trying to sound interested, and slid my cellphone into my sweatshirt. We climbed onto the bus. “Urgh, yesterday Mr. Gee gave us the worst project-” she hissed. She rambled on aggressively into my ear until I sat down, pulling her in with me. “I can’t believe I signed up for this.”
“I thought you did it for me,” I said, turning to face her. “I’m getting out of class, and you get out of class with me. That was the deal.”
“Yeah, but this college has nothing for me. None of my intended majors.”
“That’s not why we’re going,” I repeated. “It doesn’t matter.”
Gwen’s face fell flat, and I could hear her thinking, “You’re so annoying.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Doesn’t matter,” I grumbled. We were silent for a second as Gwen pulled out her purse, and then pulled out everything, throwing it on my lap until she found her phone and earbuds. She offered me one, and then started to hastily put everything back in her bag.
Mentally, I groaned. But on the outside, I politely declined her offer.
She held it out to me again. “Sure?” I nodded. Gwen huffed, offended, and I rolled my eyes again.
We rode the rest of the way silent. I had eventually pulled out my own phone and earbuds as well, and listened to music.
When we arrived at the college, we all filed out of the bus neatly. Gwen stood up and blocked people, waiting for me-which I took my time, not caring about making it off the bus. It got me a few glares, but I didn’t care about those people.
We were filed into an auditorium almost as big as our two gyms combined, and a person stood on a stage with a tiny micro phone. “Hello?” the person called.
“Hello,” the crowd moaned back.
The woman on the stage smiled, and began to talk more, introducing herself, and explaining the college. It didn’t take much for me to fall asleep. I woke to the sound of someone standing up, and looked up at Gwen.
“Jay,” she scolded, kicking at me. I kicked out my feet to avoid hers and shot up. I patted myself down quickly to make sure I had everything, and followed her out of the auditorium.
“Wonderful speech,” I muttered. “I loved it. It was so engaging,” I mumbled again.
“Shut up,” Gwen snapped. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“Beautiful speech,” I insisted. “Hung onto every word.” Gwen shot a glared at me, but snickered at the sight of me. I could literally feel how my hair was a mess, and crust around my eyes. I sighed, and rubbed my eyes with my fingers, flicking out the sleepiness. “Didn’t get to sleep til five.”
“Five?” Gwen retorted obnoxiously.
I groaned and nodded. “I got caught up in the, uh, writing I was doing. And I was reading this book...”
Gwen just stared at me, and then kept walking. Finally, I looked around. “Where are we going?” We pushed the door open to the outside, and I watched my peers break away and walk to different buildings.
“People are going to their majors.”
“Is that so?” I asked, my voice flat.
Gwen huffed. “Yes. There are presentations in different buildings.”
“That makes more sense,” I said. “Where are we going?”
“Not to any of those,” Gwen muttered. “They have a cool hangout here on campus, let’s just go there.”
“Lead the way,” I said. “I’m not here for college.”
