The school building rose high into the sky. Its gray bricks appeared so dull and lifeless, a humble mass of stone. It was the first day of school, summer gone, autumn on the way, and Sabora did not want to leave the car. She didn't want to deal with all of her high school drama from the past year. She turned to her dad.
“Please don't make me go,” she begged.
“Honey, I'm going to be late for work if you don't get out.”
“Can't you just home school me?” Sabora offered as a suggestion.
“No. Come on, you of all people have always loved school. What is it with you today?” he wondered, lowering the full blast air conditioning.
“I just...” Sabora sighed and looked out the window at the crowds of teens outside the building, “I don't want to see Elliot.”
“Oh, girl drama. He was your boyfriend last year, right?” her dad asked.
“Key word: was. I dumped him, but I'm just not in the mood to see him. I guess I should be going, though. I don't want to make you lose your job for being late.”
“All right honey. Have a great day at school, okay? And if Elliot bothers you, just give me a call and I'll take care of it, deal?”
“Deal,” Sabora grinned.
Exiting the car, she took a deep breath, put on a smile and made her way towards the school. Several groups of kids stood outside the door. There were the Goths, dressed in all black with black makeup on, and the vibe from their corner was completely depressing. They didn't even notice her as she walked up, head held high. Then there was the druggies and the smokers, one big group where more than half of them were smoking cigarettes. It seemed as if a single column of gray smoke rose from where they stood. Several of them whistled as Sabora passed. She dismissed them with a shake of her head. Then came the football jocks and their pathetic cheerleaders. They all seemed to stare at Sabora as she walked by, and Sabora stared right back.
Maybe they stared because Sabora looked good and was noticed, without being on the cheer leading squad. Most of the kids in the school idolized the football stars and cheerleaders, and yet some of them idolized those who looked good who were not in that group. The cheerleaders hated that. How someone could not be like them, and still be beautiful.
Sabora smiled at them and waved at some of the boys. They smiled back and winked at her. One of the cheerleaders slapped the guy next to her on the arm, glaring at him. Sabora kept on walking until she arrived at her locker. Number three forty two. Opening it slowly, she began to decorate it, basket on the bottom, mirror on the door, picture of her mother, dad, and her before her mother left and her textbooks on the top.
“Hey, Sabe.”
Sabora spun around and saw her best friend standing behind her.
“Hey, Jen,” Sabora greeted as they hugged each other.
Jennette was tall like Sabora, with long brown hair and light green eyes. She had a slightly pudgy build, but she was strong from the many years that she had spent with her parents building their restaurant. Now her mom and dad owned the place, Corrie's Diner, and Jennette worked as a waitress there, alongside Sabora herself.
“How was your summer?” Jen asked in her usual hushed voice.
“Amazing,” Sabora answered.
“You go to Canada with your dad?”
“Yep, as we do every year. The winter came sooner than we thought, though. We came back a little early.”
“Well, I have a little secret to tell you. Nobody knows yet,” Jen whispered, looking around to make sure no one was near them.
Sabora's eyebrows raised at the mention of a secret. Jen never kept secrets, and nor did Sabora. It was something they had agreed on long ago.
“A secret?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn't we agree on no secrets?” She said slowly.
Jennette laughed. “Yes, we did silly. But this was something I needed to tell you in person, and you were away so I had to wait.”
“Okay, so what is the secret?”
“I have been talking to someone. About you.”
“About me? Why? And who?” Sabora suddenly felt like this was going somewhere she didn't want.
“Oh, nobody important. Just Garrett Winslow,” Jen said with a giddy smile.
Sabora felt her face flush red. Garrett Winslow, the guy she had had a crush on since seventh grade? The guy who every year had almost every class she did? The guy who threw parties every weekend, parties Sabora never went to because she was afraid of talking to him?
“This is just great. What did you tell him?” Sabora said through clenched teeth.
Jen did not even seem to register that Sabora was teetering on the edge of anger.
“Don't worry, I did not tell him that you liked him. I just said that you were open to a relationship and that your personality was great. And you know what he said?” Jen was practically jumping up and down. Smoke could almost be seen pouring from Sabora's nose.
“What did he say?” She said sarcastically.
“He said he would talk to you. Is that great, or is it not? Because it certainly seems like I hit the jackpot for you!” Jen punched the air in happiness.
Sabora watched her open-mouthed. Jen had talked to Garrett on her behalf and had not told her about it? What crazy friend would ever do that? Of course, Jen was the perfect kind of crazy friend that would do that.
“I can't believe you did not tell me this. But I need to get to class, so I'll see you in lunch. And I'll tell you if Garrett talks to me, okay?” Sabora sighed, shouldering her heavy bag.
“All right, see you at fifth period!” Jen called as she ran away down the hall.
Sabora headed to the basement for her first class, health. For the next couple hours, she went from class to class getting syllabus after syllabus, until she reached lunch. So far, none of her classes had either Elliot or Garrett in them. Not even Jen for that matter. But by the time Sabora dragged herself inside the lunchroom, she had spotted all three. She headed to her and Jen's secluded table and sat down, rearranging her already messy backpack.
“Did you see Garrett?” Jen asked excitedly.
“I would have told you if I had.”
“Oh,” Jen said, thoroughly disappointed.
“But I did see Mr. Castro's collection of ancient staplers,” Sabora chuckled.
Jen laughed beside her. “I have him first period. Is he not the most boring teacher you have ever met?”
“Are you kidding? He is more boring than the black pillows on my bed. I could talk to them for a day and be more interested than I am in his class.”
“Seriously, what kind of school hires a guy like that? He is like, seventy years old!” Jen groaned loudly. Then she went rigid.
Nudging Sabora with her knee, she nodded to the left, eyes wide. Sabora frowned and shook her head. Jen rolled her eyes.
“Arrettgay isway omingcay.” Jen said in her annoying so called secret language, which was really just Pig Latin.
“Garrett is coming? Oh, no. Do I look-”
“Hey.”
Sabora turned and put on her best smile. Garrett stood above her, tall and devilishly handsome. His shaggy brown hair fell over his honey colored eyes, and his skin looked so smooth. His pearly teeth shown through his lopsided yet adorable smile. For a moment Sabora could not think, or breath, or even talk. This was the guy she had crushed on for so long, and had never actually talked to. When she returned to the the real world from hers far away, she pulled herself together quickly.
“Hey,” she said, attempting to be charming.
“Sabora Kingsley, right?” he asked.
She nodded.
“And you would be Garrett Winslow.”
“I would be,” he smiled wider, threatening to make Sabora turn into mush.
“Is there anything you need?” She asked, pushing her short black hair behind her ear.
“I just wanted to say hi. And since we have the same lunch period and I got a car, do you want to get lunch with me tomorrow?”
Sabora tilted her head and looked Garrett up and down. She thought about how cool it was that he already had a car. When Jen kicked her, she whispered a swear word and nodded.
“Sure, yeah. Definitely. Meet you at the door?” Sabora agreed.
“Yep, cool. See you tomorrow,” he turned away after winking at her.
Jen began to speak once he was gone, words streaming out endlessly. Sabora stopped her halfway through one of her run-on sentences.
“Save it, Jen. Save it for tomorrow.”
*****
“Miss. Kingsley.”
Sabora faintly heard someone calling her name, but at the moment she didn't really care. Only a little more shading and then she would be done with her drawing of a dragon. It was her best yet, and she just could not stop now. She had to do a painting of it when she got home, then show her dad. But first it needed to be finished.
“Miss. Kingsley!” the teacher called.
Sabora was ripped from her drawing by her teachers angry voice. Rubbing her forehead with her gloved hand, she lay her pencil down on her desk. Slightly annoyed at the interruption, she rolled her eyes, then spoke up.
“Yes, Ms. Harley?” she asked, her annoyance seeping into her voice.
“I would appreciate if you paid attention during my class. It is not even the end of the first day and you are giving me trouble,” Ms. Harley said, hands on her fairly large hips.
“I'm sorry. It will not happen again,” she accepted her fate willingly.
“I expect it will not. And in my class, there will be no gloves worn. Please remove them, Miss. Kingsley,” she ordered.
Sabora felt her heart flip at her teachers words. How can she say gloves are not allowed in her class? What if someone like Sabora needed to wear them? Sabora knew she had no choice but to refuse. When she returned home today, she would ask her dad to come in and talk to Ms. Harley. But until then, she took the punishment.
“No, Ms. Harley. I will not remove them.”
“You won't? Okay then. You may stay after with me to clean my desks,” she finished, returning to her lesson.
Sabora sighed loudly and put her head on the desk. She swore to herself that her gloves would be the death of her. If only she knew how to control the power. If only she knew.
