Close As Strangers

The drive was peaceful. All the trees peeking through the thick curtains of fog called me to them. And how I wanted to go so bad. All I had to do was open the door and I would be with them. In the peace of the woods. Nobody would find me, lying in silence with the trees. My mind drifted further with that thought but my mom started talking to me.

“Cali! Dammit get your head out of the window and roll it up its fucking cold.” I brought myself back inside and rolled the window up. I didn’t say anything to my mom, instead, I sat there as silent as the trees. “Oh whatever Cali, don’t act so depressed. We’re just moving get over it.” That’s the thing, to me we weren’t just moving. To me, she was ripping my roots out of the ground and trying to plant me in a loud, polluted place. Trees don’t do so well when that happens… I rolled my eyes and turned away from my mom. She kept talking to me and I kept ignoring her. Eventually, I put my headphones in and waited for the car ride to end.

We showed up about an hour later in the front of a small house with dead grass and drooping bushes that were overgrowing the front porch. Such a downgrade. We got out of the truck and went inside. The floor of the house creaked with every step I took, and it smelled of a dead animal rotting behind the walls. It was frigid and dark the farther I crept. The walls were dull and the windows were small, letting little light in.

“Cali! Go find your room, it’s the small one, and start putting things away!” My mom shouted from the front door. I did what I was told and as I walked up the stairs, I prayed that things would get better.

Beep beep beep. My alarm honked at me, waking me up. I sat up in bed and woke my brain up. I sluggishly dropped out of bed and started to prepare for this day, and I knew this day would need a lot of preparation. However, I didn’t feel the need to impress, but to blend in, so a black hoodie and some dark blue skinny jeans would do. I slipped my converse on and ran a brush through my hair to get rid of the knots, then I was done. I then went downstairs and got the morning lecture from my mom.

“Cali I don’t see why you feel the need to dress like you’re so depressed all the time. It’s just getting annoying. And go get the paperwork from my bag, you need to take it with you to school. I’m not coming with you so you need to be a grown up already and get situated yourself.” I gave her a blank stare to see if she was finished talking. “Cali! Get going!” I mosied over to the bag and got the paperwork I needed. Then I searched through one of the boxes that were tossed about the room and fetched my backpack. I was about to walk back to the kitchen but my mom yelled at me again. “Oh and I’m not taking you to school.” I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaw, but at the same time let my heart sank deeper. I walked out the front door and started on my way, using maps on my phone to figure out where I was going.

I got to the school about 20 minutes later with cold hands and a tired mind. I entered the building and started searching the halls for what looked like the front office. However my searching skills were useless, and I soon gave up on looking. I thought about running away and going back to the mountains, where the trees would embrace me. But my thoughts were fluttered away like a cloud of smoke when someone started talking.

“Um, hey… are you lost?” I turned around and blinked my eyes at a curly-headed boy with dazzling hazel eyes.

“Umm… I don’t really know where I’m going.” I said with embarrassment. He smiled and came close to me.

“I’ve never seen you here before, did you just transfer?”

“Yeah…” I said while nodding my head and scuffing the floor with my shoe. He smiled and started walking so I followed him closely.

“Well, are you looking for the front office?” He sounded and polite and nice.

“Yeah, and I got lost.” He kept nodding his head while leading me straight to the office. We entered and he waved at the lady at the front desk.

“Hi, Mrs. Hips.” She looked up and gave him a pleasant grin.

“ Hello sweetie, how are you doing today?”

“Good, just found this stray wondering around the school looking for the office, is Mr. Frame in?” She laughed then came around her desk and toward a door.

“Yes he is, I’ll go tell him you are waiting for him.” She smiled then entered a room. I heard talking then footsteps that led from deep in the room to the frame of the door.

“Ah, I see you are here, come on inside miss…” A tall man appeared through the door and was then waiting for my reply.

“Oh um, May, Cali May,” I said quickly. He smiled and invited me into his office. As I began to step, a small tap on my arm stopped me from proceeding. I swiveled my head and saw the boy looking at me.

“I’m Ashton by the way... It’s nice to meet you, Cali.” He smiled, I smiled back, then followed the principle into his office. He traveled around his desk and sat down in his throne.

“Go ahead and have a seat, Miss May.” I let myself fall into one of the chairs placed in front of his desk. “Is your mother here?” I shook my head which gave the man a concerned look. “Oh well, did she by chance hand you some papers?” I nodded and continued to fish the papers from my backpack. He smiled at me then took the papers from my clammy hands. He shuffled through them while writing some things in a notebook, that was placed beside him, every now and then. When he was done, he set the papers down and looked up at me, giving me an ominous smile.

“Well Miss Cali, everything looks good. We will get all of your previous grades transferred, and we will get you settled as soon as possible, here at Roseman High.” My stomach filled with fear and my body began to show it. I was twiddling my thumbs and biting my lip to release the butterflies that were dancing in my belly. “Now let’s get you somebody to show you around, here’s your schedule.” I took the paper and stood up. He was about to call someone over the intercom when I interrupted.

“Sir, is there a possibility that, Ashton can show me around?” He was nice to me and it made me feel a little bit better. Plus we had already met so that means I don’t have to meet somebody new all over again. He nodded his head then continued to let his voice boom in the halls through the speakers, calling “Ashton Irwin to the front office.” A few moments later we walked out of the office and Ashton met me with a sweet grin. I met him back and he led me out the door.

“How ironic it was me that he called to show you around.” He sounded sarcastic and it made me bush but he was in front of me so he couldn’t see. “Well what you just saw, obviously that was the front office. Mrs. Hips is the nicest lady ever if you ever want to skip class just go ask her for a pass and she will give you one.” He laughed then quickly spun around, almost making me run into him like two trains head-on. “Oops sorry, what’s your schedule so I can show you where your classes are.” I handed him my paper and he read it out loud. “English, math, free, art, lunch, history, science. Cool. We have English, free, lunch and science together.” That made me smile since I didn’t know anyone else, and now I knew at least one person in some of my classes. He dragged me through the school, showing me my classrooms, however, the building was quite big and I had the fear that I would forget where to go after each class. We approached the end of my schedule when a loud bell rang through the empty halls. Soon they filled with people rushing to get to their next class. I must have looked terrified because Ashton softly placed his hand on my arm and looked at me sincerely. “Hey I’ll walk you to each of your classes today, so just wait for me, okay?” I smiled again and gave him a nod. He took me to our English class and we walked in. Some students were sitting at their desks, some were standing around in little groups making conversation between them, and others were still filing into the classroom. Ashton went to the far end of the classroom and walked up to another boy with blonde, messy hair and a shiny lip ring poking out of his lips.

“Hey Ash, whos that?” He said motioning to me.

“This is Cali, she just moved here and she’s got our English class.” He sounded excited which made me feel warm and welcome.

“Oh sweet, Hi Cali I’m Luke, Ashton’s best friend.” He winked at me then jolted his hand in my direction, waiting for me to shake it. My hand emerged from my hoodie pocket and slipped into Luke’s large warm hand. We shook, then I quickly retracted my hand to my pocket once more. Ashton put his hand on my back and showed me to a desk then took the open one next to me. Then the teacher slipped through the door right as the bell rung and demanded everyone to hush up and take a seat. The students obeyed and he started talking about Romeo and Juliet and how Romeo wasn’t supposed to blah, blah, blah bla…. My mind started to settle in the fog of my thoughts, and slowly the rest of the day blurred past me.