Sofia

October 13th, 2022

Santa Fe Springs, California

Thursday

8:17 a.m.

I had anticipated the move for a while. Everyone had anticipated the move for a while. I had not, however, anticipated moving in the middle of the goddamn semester. I’ve been living in LA since I was born and I still do not understand why so many people want to live there. You get tired of the city after the first six or seven years. And I was not the only one who was tired of the city. My parents also desperately wanted to get the hell out of there.

So, we decided that once my sister went to college, we would move to one of the smaller cities just outside LA. We were going to move farther away but my mother wanted to keep her high-paying job at a museum. So we just moved to one of the cities where she could still drive there without having to get up at four in the morning.

So here I am, headphones and all, on my way to my first day of school in Santa Fe Springs. I was an average thirteen-year-old (I think). I had light blonde hair that wasn’t Elsa blonde but more like post-Descendants Dove Cameron blonde. I tended to keep my hair in the style of a ponytail clipped to the back of my head with a sharkfin clip with curled bangs that fell over my face. My skin was light, a direct mix of olive and pale. Fairly clear but some extremely light freckles that you could barely notice unless you were directly in front of me and a shit ton of moles around my body. They were literally everywhere. My eyes were a soft gray blue, depending on the lighting. Sometimes they were more blue, sometimes they were more gray. And we can’t forget my trademark black rectangle glasses. I had always wanted ones that were more round but rectangle ones suited me much better with my rounder face shape. Clothing was simple. Today, I stuck with a sweater that had some sort of obscure heart-ish pattern of china and rosewood pink on top of a collared white shirt. Then there were the black jeans that were (obviously) cuffed at the ends, showing my gray socks that were like the ones that had a texture that could easily pass for tinsel. My shoes were just black Converse with beads on the laces that made a pattern that only some could recognize. That’s how I would know who to make friends with. For those who can’t tell, it was the lesbian flag because your girl’s fruity. Anyway, my outfit was topped off with various random (silver) rings, black nails, and a black beaded necklace with letter beads that spelled out ‘flash warning’. I knew that nobody would get it but there’s still a chance.

"Someday I’ll be fallin’..without caution..But for now, I’m only..people watchin’..." I was muttering along to the song.

Wireless headphones (not earbuds, headphones) were a necessity every morning for me. Well, more like music was an every-morning necessity for me but it’s close enough.

“And we’re here!” said my mother with her usual bright smile. I looked up from where my head was resting against the window. “Do you want us to walk out with you?”

I shook my head while picking up my backpack.

“I’ll be alright, thanks.”

“Hey, Savannah?” said my father just before I walked out the door. They both turned to look at me. “We love you, alright?”

I smiled.

“Love you too.”

Then, I walked out of the car, closed the door, and started to my new school.

My first class was in Room 69 (this school knows me really well, huh?) and happened to be English. A.k.a, the class I am fairly good at and enjoy. But, that logic quickly changed as the teacher called me up to introduce myself.

“So, class, we happen to have a new student!” he said, looking over at me who still had my headphones on (on the road to sex, drugs, etcetera) and was reading (The Goldfinch). “Savannah, why don’t you come up and introduce yourself?”

I looked up at him and sighed, sliding my headphones down to my neck. I stood up and walked to the front of the class.

“Hello, everyone,” I said blankly. “My name is Savannah Milon but you will call me Scritt and if you do not I will do things that I cannot currently say because there is an adult present. Nothing will be said about what I can and will do if you cross me in the wrong direction as I am not here to make friends.”

I was fully knowledgeable that the last part of my mini-speech was completely untrue. I had an issue with making friends. Well, close friends. I never really got the chance to ever make a close friend so I don’t know how. So, you might be wondering, why did I say I wasn’t here to make friends? And my answer is you need to give yourself a reputation. Personally, I like to keep a Wednesday Addams persona at school. I wanted to keep a reputation where people who didn’t know me, were scared of me.

A random kid raised his hand.

“Justin Bieber and Mattie B Raps love child, do you have a question?”

His hand slowly went down.

“What does Scritt mean?”

I rolled my eyes.

“It’s short for scrittrice, which is the feminine term for writer in Italian.”

He cringed.

“That’s weird.”

“Deal with it, shlyukha."

Someone in the back snorted. I waited for anyone else to raise their hand before sitting back at my seat. I slid my headphones back onto my ears, now with a different song playing which happened to be one that I related to and not in a good way.

You go and I stay

It’s always right person and wrong way

I hate to be right, please, tell me I’m wrong

Please, tell me I’m wrong

’Cause it’s on again, off again

Love you like oxygen

I don’t know what to say or do

On again, off again

Love you like oxygen

You don’t know what I’d do for you

The rest of the day was a blur. A very irritating blur. As every other school had been, the students were straight-up assholes. And delinquents, might I add. Nobody gave a shit about me and I didn’t give a shit about anyone. My parents had gone out for a little date night for the afternoon and evening so I was home alone.

All was well until the doorbell rang. No, I was not expecting anyone. So, I stopped reading, went down the stairs, and opened the door. Standing before me was a boy I had never seen before. His hair was a dark brown that had a gray tint, making it look almost black. Not to mention, his hair was a complete mess of elaborate curls. His eyes were even darker, a blackish brown with light specks of gray. His skin was pale and clear, almost looking like porcelain. His style consisted of a black Queen t-shirt tucked into light blue jeans. His nails were painted white and his shoes were light gray Converse. For some reason, he was holding a plate of what looked like cookies.

“Hi, you’re Scritt, right?” he said with a shy smile. “I’m Sam, Sam Miranda. My family and I are your neighbors!”

I was still staring at him like an idiot before I finally came to my senses and moved out of the doorway.

“Uh- C-Come in, come in!”

He smiled at me again and walked in. I closed the door behind him and started walking to the dining room with him. He turned to me, unknowing of what to do.

“Er..would you like to go to the attic? I know it sounds creepy but it’s actually really nice.”

“Oh, sure!” he said cheerfully while following me to the attic.

The attic was large, basically the whole structure of our ceilings. It wasn’t anything special but it still made for a nice hangout spot. There was a single window that was the only source of light for the entire room.

“So..” Sam said, putting the plate down on the floor and sitting down across from me. I was already sitting against a literal wall of books. “How was the move? Was it difficult or anything?”

“Well, I don’t think so. I don’t really have anything to compare it to but there weren’t any types of difficulties or mishaps or anything.”

“That’s great!” he said, looking down at the plate. “My family and I moved around a lot for a while before settling here.” He glanced at the plate again.

I did the same, still confused about what was there.

“Uh..what’s that?” I finally asked.

He paused before answering.

“Oh! They’re white chip macadamia nut cookies. My mom’s pretty much famous around here for them.”

Sam was nice. We talked about everything. Our pasts, family lives, friends, home lives, etcetera, etcetera.

“TBH, I was lowkey scared to come over here,” he said, looking around at the various items in the attic. Mirrors, books, shelves, toys, things that even I didn’t know about.

“Why? I’m very..approachable,” I said sarcastically.

“You see, I’m in your math class and what you said to a teacher had me fearful as Eddie fucking Kaspbrak.”

The teacher had called me Savannah and I confidently said, my name is Scritt and if you cannot respect that and/or call me Savannah one more time I will rip your tongue off and turn it into sushi so, please, respect my boundaries. Then, he didn’t call me Savannah but told me to take my headphones off and I (confidently again) said, Quick question, Reid. Do you like having a voice box? If so, I happily recommend you don’t tell me what to do before you can’t tell at all. He shut up after that.

“Oh god, do not mention that man’s name around me,” I said dramatically, placing a hand over my heart. “It gives me PTSD.”

“Oh, shut up, you dramatic ass bitch.”

As said before, Sam was nice. He was smart, funny, kind, a standard good person. The next day at school was just like the first. Threatening people, reading, listening to music, having to deal with assholes who didn’t know how to function without cigarettes or cocaine. But, there was something different.

Well, it wasn’t a drastic change or anything. It was just...someone. Let’s set the scene real quick.

ROLL THE CLIP!

It was social studies, a class that I, like others, gave zero fucks about. I was being normal, listening to music. Then, I saw someone from across the room.

This could be a disaster, there’s so many factors

Like, what if you freak out and then we’re losin’ it all

At the critical chapter where I say, “I love you”

And you don’t say it after

This could be a disaster

She looked almost identical to a girl I knew in sixth grade who was on my volleyball team. The girl I had a crush on. She had short hair, cut at the middle of the space between her shoulders and chin. It was a dark brown, like Sam’s but slightly more brown than black. And (like Sam’s) was done in (not as catastrophic) curls. However, it was more like straight around the top of her head and then descended directly into curls. Strange, I know. Her eyes were the same blackish brown, with a slightly white tint. Said eyes were covered by silver aviator glasses (glasses, not sunglasses). Her skin was pale, almost like glass, fair and clean. Her outfit was simple. It was a heather gray sweater that was a similar texture to my socks, the type with little sparkled whisps that made it seem like it was stuffed with Christmas tinsel. The sweater went along with black jeans (that happened to be cuffed at the ends like mine) and bright red Converse.

My outfit was mildly similar. The same black jeans from the day before, only this time I wore a loose white t-shirt with a navy blue and white argyle pattern sweater vest. My hair and accessories were the same except for a few silver chain bracelets. I found myself staring at the girl for most of the class with a strange deep interest in her. She was the type of person that I saw and wanted to know everything about. What was her name? Her hobbies? Her home life? Her interests?

Then came the moment. The moment I can guarantee I’ll remember for my entire life. The moment she glanced at me and our eyes met. I would’ve immediately turned and looked away but..something was different. She stared at me with the same curiosity that I felt for her.

I think we could do it if we tried

If only to say you’re mine

Sofia, know that you and I

Shouldn’t feel like a crime

-----

Good morning/late morning/afternoon/evening/night my devils, angels, and everything else! I am so happy to finally finish the first chapter because this was extremely traumatic to write. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed/will enjoy!

- Evere (Ev)

Song 1: People Watching - Conan Gray

Song 2: Habits - Genevieve Stokes

Song 3: Disaster - Conan Gray

Song 4: Sofia - Clairo