Audacity

Audacity









Pre- face

The moon was high in the sky. The escapading wind was rough against my face and carried my hair into its grasp. We were going 150 mph down a barren highway. I felt the wheels hot against the road, the stereo so loud that everything in the car is vibrating, including us.
“Ready?” the voice of the driver bellows above the resilient radio and the huge pockets of wind funneling in from the windows.
“Ready” we answered in sync.
We quickly put on our gear, preparing for the jump that stretched before us. The speed of the car increased to 160 mph, the scenery racing by. The door was suddenly swung opened and the vigorous wind that poured in was almost too patent to surpass.
“Now!” the driver yelled.
I jumped out and plunged into open air. The wind fought against my weight. I closed my eyes, seeing nothing but obscurity before me. I flailed my arms and legs. Gravity kicked in and down I plummeted into the hard core Earth. The dirt that I rolled into littered my uniform, face and hair. Darkness and strange nature sounds enveloped me. A canopy of trees above me blocked me from seeing the sky. My chest felt heavy and I was breathing hard.
“Success! Natalie, are you alright?” came a deep voice beside me, his presence looming over me. I got up and dusted myself off.
“Yeah, I’m fine”
“Cool. Then let’s do this”















Part one







I’VE


never really thought about the future of our life, or how I wanted it to turn out to be. I’ve never really worried much about anything. I’ve always been a shy, carefree girl that feels like over the years… I lose more and more of something…..
My name is Natalie Ferguson. I’ve just turned fifteen, ten years since the accident… it happened one foggy Monday morning. It was my first day of 1st grade. Dad’s job had been slow lately, so mom had to work extra hours at the office to fill in the gap. Mom was going to work a lot earlier. She was late this morning because her dad had an argument about going out into the heavy fog. Mom left anyway and about five miles later, she was twenty miles above the speed limit even though the path made her very vague. Then, she had a direct contact collision with another car. She spun out of control and was hit by another car that was going the opposite direction, which was what made this car crash so fatal. When policemen called dad and told him, I was too occupied with my bouncy ball to notice dad’s breakdown on the kitchen floor, or how dad hurriedly dropped me off at school that day with swollen puffy eyes, pounding the steering wheel, muttering “I told you so!” Life was just so happy for me at the moment, starting 1st grade. It’s funny how little kids are so joyous all time, too naïve to think about the destruction that can happen in life and how compared to it, not having chocolate ice cream after dinner isn’t a bad thing at all. Dad told me after school that day and for a full twenty minutes, I didn’t believe him and I was mad at him for even saying those words. He didn’t go to the funeral when the day came, I went with grandma that day. After that, dad always believed that mom is one of the illuminescent stars in the sky, looking down at us. So we both got interested in astronomy as a hobby. We built telescopes and study stars and constellations. Even now….

I tightened my backpack straps as I entered the double doors of Aspen High in Colorado. It was a Monday morning, the first day back to school since Spring break. I’ve lived in Colorado since two months after mom’s funeral when dad decided that we needed a change… a turn a new leaf in our lives. I’ve always felt displaced at Aspen, since I was established as a nerd my first week here since I was a wiz at science and now at the ending of my tenth grade year, I still carry on that title. I was not only a nerd at this school, but also an invisible transfigure. No one notices me, but I’ve learned to live with it since I didn’t really want to be noticed anyways, but supporting that statement isn’t easy when you have a friend like Katherine Griswald. Katherine is also a nerd, extremely good at mathematics and was the captain for the winning team for the mathematics decatholon competition last year, but the way she’s noticed, she’s not declassified as a nerd. Katherine has these big blue eyes and a babydoll face with a few freckles sprinkled across her nose that make her look extra innocent. She has wavy strawberry blonde curls that bounce against her shoulders when she walks and turns her head. She has a cheerleader’s body, complete with a winner’s smile. Boys notice her all the time and girls envy her since they cant call her a dumb blonde like they do with the other blondes at Aspen. I’ve always envied Kat as well, but not for the same reasons. Kat and I met our 9th grade year. She was as invisible as me then. She had bottle cap glasses, straight hair and a bumpy face. We’d been paired up for a science project and became instant friends. Then, summer break came, when she got her contacts and discovered a good face wash and good hair curlers. I feel like we have a forced friendship. Our nerdiness is the only thing we have in common. I mean, I don’t have a bumpy face and my vision is just fine, but I’m barely developed at all and my hair never cooperates with curlers. Plus, I don’t have a babydoll face or freckles or big blue eyes. I’ve always been just average. Not extra extravagant or extra nerdy, just your average nerd and at Aspen High School, average is never noticed.
“Good morning!” Kat said, popping up from behind me as I rearranged my messy locker. Kat always looked fresh in the morning somehow. She loved mornings and I so hated them.
“Good morning” I grunted back dully. Kat opened her locker, whom happened to be right next to mine and rummaged through it before reminding me that we had six minutes to get to first period. I groaned and followed her to Mr. Evan’s adv. English class. We took our regular seats and Kat automatically caught the attention of the guy next to her, Matt Brentwood, voted MVP on Aspen’s basketball team. I rolled my eyes as the bell rang and we were instructed to start on our bellwork, whom was a question about foreign cultures, obviously an opening point to Mr. Evan’s lecture for today. I looked back over at Kat and Matt, whom were scribbling notes to one another. They talked during class almost every day and Kat had even hung out with him and his friends once or twice and it didn’t disrupt the nerds/populars school status. After bellwork, my prediction proved correct. Mr. Evans started his daily lecture with the point of his assigned bell work. I became instantly focused on the active nature outside, trying not to notice Kat and Mr. MVP. My mind started to swarm. I’ve always told dad that I wanted to travel the world and experience different high schools in different countries and continents. Not just Aspen, but only because I wanted to find a place where I really fit in. I’ve never considered myself as emo or depressed (although some teachers do). I just feel that I haven’t yet found a place where I truly feel like me, and part of me says that ever since mom’s death, I’ve seen my life through a different perspective, that I can’t really fit in anywhere if I feel displaced, and even though I’ve given it much thought, I haven’t yet figured out the meaning to all of that yet. I’ve always daydreamed about being a princess in an elegant castle when I was little, but when I was little, I hadn’t realized that it wasn’t the fact of being a princess brought happiness, or living in an elegant castle, but the girl herself. I know, my thoughts tend to get pretty deep during English class. When I finally decided to pay attention to Mr. Evans again, he was closing up his lecture by talking about the cultures of India and how they like to keep cows sacred. Minutes before class ended, he passed out a prompt for a five page essay on the culture of our choice.
“It has to be foreign to you” he went on. “if you have to, you can stay afterschool and use my computer for research” and after the bell rang and we began to leave, he hollered “and you can’t use India ladies and gentlemen”

The lunch menu was sloppy Joe or pizza(blah). So I just skipped the lunch line, grabbed an orange juice and retreated to the regular table, where Katherine sat, talking to Alexa Foster, Matt’s step sister.
“Hi Natalie!”Kat said as I approached.
“Hi” I said back. Then Alexa looked at Kat with a grin.
“You’re so kind, Katherine! I didn’t know that you mentored new students! I thought that was Nadia’s job”
Kat looked at her with a bizarre look.
“What? She’s not a new student and I’m not a mentor. That’s Natalie Ferguson”
Alexa looked at me, rolling my name around on her tongue.
“Nope. Never heard of her” She said after contemplating my name. Why was I not surprised?
“She and I won the science fair last year”
Then, Alexa looked at me again and smiled. Then, whispering to Kat, she said
“Yeah…Total N-E-R-D. LOL”
I rolled my eyes at her as she walked away. Kat was eating a slice of school pizza. Something I often referred to as cardboard.
“No lunch today, huh?”
“I don’t know how you eat that stuff”
We ate in silence for a while, and then my curiousity broke the silence.
“So, what were you guys discussing?”
“Oh, she knows that her brother and I have been hanging out a lot and she wants to make sure that we don’t start off on the wrong foot, so she invited me to dinner at their place”
“Nice” I said, feeling completely jealous and left out. I’d realized by now that our friendship would never be the same again.

The dismissal bell rang as students filed out of classrooms into the once vacant hallways. I started walking down the sidewalk path to my house, which was about ten minutes away. The sun sat in the middle of a cloudless sky, beating down on my now perspiring forehead. I sighed. The sidewalk stretched far ahead of me and my walk seemed longer than usual. Kat and I walked home all the time. Her house was in the same neighborhood as mine, except she lived more to the back of it than I did. Suddenly, my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Uh… hey, has school ended?” Shawn said from the other line.
Shawn Wendell is the son of one of my father’s best friends. He’s almost twenty and is a total neat freak. So dad hired him as our housekeeper two years ago when Shawn was profound in unemployment. He looks ater the house while im at school and dad’s at work at the office as a CEO for a toy company. I’ve never agreed with dad to trust Shawn with our house(or anything else), but no one listens to me. He also looks after me until dad comes home from work at about 7:00. And cooks most of the food(which I don’t eat most of the time).
“Yes. Schools ended”
“Then why aren’t you home yet?”
“Stuck in traffic? What do you think? I do have to walk”
“Do you want me to pick you up?”
“NO…I mean, this is all the exercise I get all day. I should have at least that to keep fit”
“Well, fine. Anyway, I’m working on a dessert for dinner. What do you think of yellow vanilla surprise? Doesn’t that sound yummy?”
“Uh…yeah, sure. Sounds like the best dessert in the world” I exclaimed with heavy sarcasm.
“It’s an old family recipe”
I was thinking that maybe the surprise was that it was deadly poison.
“So, hurry home, alright?” Shawn said, interrupting my thoughts of the possible ingredients for his surprise dessert.
“Uh… yeah. Whatever” I said, and then hung up before he could have the chance to say anything else. You must be wondering why I’m being so mean to a guy that’s being so nice to me and is only trying to help. Well, here’s five reasons why I don’t like Shawn. #5: He’s a little too friendly. I don’t trust anyone that’s that friendly. He could be a pervert for all I know. #4: Sometimes, it seems like he’s trying to take over my job of being daddy’s little girl. Hasn’t he realized that enough has been taken from me already? #3: He always tells lame jokes and thinks he’s so funny and sometimes, he acts as if he’s hiding something (I point back to #5). #2: His food isn’t that good. Last time I digested any of his food that had the word surprise in it, I had the worst stomach ache ever. And the #1 reason why I don’t like Shawn: he thinks that he can fill in the gap for anything I don’t have in my life right now. Like a mother and an older brother. If I was ever upset, he’d come a little(no, a lot) too close to push a strand of hair away from my face or wipe away a tear or to let his arm lay heavily across my shoulders.(I refer back to #5!#5!) and asks what’s wrong. I always manage to slip away from his reach and skimper away… Home was finally in view and I quickly headed towards it. Quickly opening the door with my key, I immediately smelled chilly, mixed with the faint aroma of cake and a cinnamon smell coming from a candle, and all of these aromas together isn’t such a very inviting smell. Shawn’s basically obsessed with candles and I come home to the smell of one almost ever yday. Mostly cinnamon, which usually gave me headaches. You can only take so many strong aromas.
“Shawn, I’m home” I announced, peeking in the kitchen. Shawn was stirring a pot of rice and turned to see me with a smile. He had on a ‘kiss the cook’ apron and once he’d seen that I saw it, his grin grew wider. How perverted is that?
“Good afternoon. Would you like to help me cook?”
I immediately shook my head, crossing the room to get a package of Oreos from the cupboard and a cold glass of milk from the fridge.
“Tons of homework. Sorry” I responded, then went up to my room without another word. I didn’t have much homework to do but why would I want to get anywhere near Shawn? As I entered my room, I was greeted by my Newtonian Reflector telescope, my chart of the 88 known constellations, an Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a parallax chart and a book about types of telescopes. I remember when I was seven, and dad was trying to explain to me what the parallax of a star was and what the purpose of an H-R diagram was, Which stars were hottest and which ones had the most density. Now, dad and I weren’t as close. As a CEO, dad got a lot of money. A lot more than enough to support me, or even a few more children, but he was always busy. Always thinking about his job. Astronomy was the only way I got through to him. Then I was daddy’s little girl again. My cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Kat”
“Hey, how’s Matt’s place?”
“Great, but Matt isn’t home yet. I’m hanging with Alexa. You should really get to know her. She’s so cool and has so much in common with us. She’s nice too”
I wanted to say ‘nice? Did you see the way she treated me in the cafeteria? No way she wants to be my friend. She barely knows that I exist’ but instead I said
“That’s great!.... maybe the three of us can hang sometime”
“Maybe….oh, I got to go. I think Matt is here. Bye Natalie!”
“Bye”

Dad came home at about 7:15, giving me one of his classic bear hugs. Only problem: he was on his cell phone. I rarely had him to myself without his cell phone. I remember when I was six and I was so mad that he was always on his phone, that I almost threw it into the lake. I’d taken it secretly and wailed when he saw me and got his phone away from me just in time. He wasn’t mad at all, since he’d immediately realized my reasonings. But anyway, Shawn left and dad took a bowl of dinner and went into the living room to watch television. I did the same, but never finished the food and dad never minded. Dad was a tall man, at 6’2. Built like a professional baseball player. Always in rich looking suits and always keeping his hair smelling like peaches. A smell that reminded me distinctly of mom, which I think is the only reason he’s always loved the same shampoo and conditioner.
“So, how was school?” dad asked as I watched ‘America’s Got Talent’. We were both big on reality shows, especially this one.
“Good, I guess”
“I know you were probably happy to see your friends again after such a long school break
I wanted to say ‘ no, not really. My only friend went galloping off with a few popular kids from school without asking me how I thought about it or thinking of inviting me!’ but I bit my tongue. A few seconds later, I tasted tiny hints of blood.
“Yah. Sure” I said. These time with dad were precious. I wouldn’t ruin it by talking about my little problems at school. He had enough to worry about already, being a CEO and all.
“Well, im a little tired dad. Im going to turn in” I said, getting up. When actually, I couldn’t stand the metally taste in my mouth any longer. I spit it out in the sink and washed it away. Then, opened my window and looked through my telescope. The sky was littered with stars tonight.
“Where are you mom? One of these stars is bound to be you” I said and then after a few seconds, changed into my nightgown and lay down to go to sleep, illuminescent light pouring into my room from the window. I hadn’t even touched Mr. Evan’s project yet.
 









THE
next day after school (every Tuesdays of every month) I have to report to Ms. Simmon’s office, the guidance counselor. Some of the teachers at Aspen seem to feel like I should take some of her sessions since, like I said, they think I’m depressed or something. On my way in, Ms. Yurnats, the front desk lady smiled.
“Hello Natalie. Come for your weekly visit?” she snickered. Har de har har. Ms. Yurnats got a laugh out of my situation all the time.
“Very funny,,. Ms. Yurnats” I said as I went to the back to Ms. Simmon’s office. I was always here, so I had my own seat. A brown vinyl armchair that sat the farthest from Ms. Simmons than the rest of the chairs and the best view of everything out the window, where I like to watch the nature outside while I’m forced to listen to this lady’s annoying, high-pitched voice and make her think that I’m taking in every word that she’s saying. Her soundproof door was opened as I approached it and I could hear her steady humming as I got closer. She smiled at me when I showed myself at the door. She smiled so much that I knew that someday, her face would get stuck that way (I wouldn’t be surprised if I already has.)
“Good afternoon, Natalie” she said, pushing her silky brown hair from her flawless face and folding her hands in front of her on the desk. Ms. Simmons is extremely pale. You would think that a lady like her would love the tanning salon.
“It’s no good morning when I see you Ms. Simmons” I say. Ms. Simmons is unphased no matter what I say
“Nonsense, Natalie, sweetie” she says as she picks up her clipboard and pen.
“Miss Parker tells me that you’re not participating in interacting activities” she says. I groaned. Miss Parker is my 7th period arts & crafts teacher, who tells every little thing about me to Ms. Simmons. From not participating in activities to getting up to throw away trash at the exact same time every day. To both of them, everything was a ‘sign’, but for what, I’m not sure. I just find it all so ridiculous.
“Do you have anything to add to that, Natalie?”
I started my routine of staring out of the window. A blanket of silence covered the room.
“Natalie?”
“Yes?”
“Can you answer the question please?”
“Do you have anything to add to that?”
“Let’s not play this game today, Natalie. I just want to converse with you” she said in her high-pitched galore and even though she was pleading, she continued to smile.
“No” I said, short and simple. I expected her to ask for more detail, but she just doodled on her notepad and moved on.
“Do you enjoy doing arts & crafts?”
“No”
I continued to look outside, watching the nature unfold.
“Do you have a problem with Miss Parker?”
I was so ready to say yes, since Miss Parker always gave Ms. Simmons something to talk about at these sessions I dreaded and she purposely did certain activities in class just to purposefully monitor my actions, but Ms. Simmons was tricking me, or attempting to. Then she’d bring Miss Parker into this to ‘work out our problems’, then I wouldn’t cooperate and then she’d bring dad into this and then I’d have to talk.
“Ok” she said after a while of silence. “Do you have any problems at home?”
“No”
“Natalie? Sweety? Do you want a class change?”
“YES!” I yelled, widening Ms. Simmon’s smile.
“Good. We’re actually getting somewhere” she said. She was right. That was the very first enthusiastic outburst I’ve ever emmited out loud in her office, and I couldn’t let my guard down or she might use it to actually get something out of me.
“We can get that done” she agreed, turning to her desktop computer and typing rapidly on the key pad, her fingers like spiders as they crawled from key to key. In a few minutes, she printed out a new schedule for me. I was so excited to be out of Miss Parker’s class! I took the paper, looked at the blue clock on her wall to see that our session was over and got up to leave. Before I’d gotten a chance to see my new class, she stopped me in my tracks.
“Hold on Natalie”
“I’m terribly sorry Ms. Simmons, but our session is now over and I’m no longer obligated to listen to you anymore”
“Oh, I’d listen if you officially want to be out of arts & crafts”
Now she had my undivided attention.
“Normally” she started.”I’m not allowed to do class changes this late in the year. Whether you’re one of my regular students or not”
“Ok. Thanks for cutting me some slack” I said, getting a bit closer to the door before she stopped me again.
“Therefore, I have a proposition for you”
“A proposition?” I asked. I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Yes. A proposition. If you complete it, you complete the class. Deal?”
Hey, what could be worse then Miss Parker’s class?
“Deal”
“Good. Now tomorrow, we’ll be having a new student. His name is Nathan Gray. He’s transferring here from Lyman high school in Altamonte Springs, Florida. He’s in tenth grade like you and I need you to be his mentor”
“W-w-why? What about your regular mentor, um…Nadia?”
“Well, Nadia’s a bit busy being captain of the pep squad, her upcoming big tests and the yearbook committee right now. I don’t want to put another burden on her”
“Well, I’m pretty busy too!......Well, with the big tests part.
“But I want you to do it, to improve your socializing skills”
“There’s nothing wrong with my socializing skills!” I said.
“Well, the class change is for your own benefit. If you decide to do it, be here tomorrow morning at 7:30 and show him around the school. Alright?”
I didn’t answer as I turned to storm out the door, my eyes finally settling to the schedule: P.E- Karate. Normally, I hated the idea of participating in physical ed. Or Karate, but it was to get out of Miss Parker’s class, it was worth it.


“There’s the constellation Centaur” dad pointed out late that night, looking through his Newtonian on my balcony.
“Cool” I remarked as he gave me a turn.
“Oh, and there’s Procyon A” I remarked, pointing to one of the many main-sequence stars in the sky.
“So, I got a call from your school today” dad said suddenly. I looked toward him, wondering where he was going with this.
“Yeah….?”
“By Ms. Simmons”
“Yes, I got a class change”
I turned back toward the telescope, scoping out the Big Dipper and Taurus.
“Yeah. That’s what she said”
I looked through the lens once more to see Sam-X, the star that was named after mom.
“Come look dad. I spotted Sam-X” I said excitedly, mom’s full name echoing in my head. Samantha Xelona Ferguson. Dad took a peek.
“She’s a beauty. Nat…… we need to talk”
“Sure dad. What’s up?”
“The class change… it was changed because you were having issues with the class”
“Well, yeah. Sort of”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, because you’re so tied up with your job. You don’t have time for my school problems”
“Of course I do. I’d fell weird if you didn’t tell me about them”
He took me into a bear hug. I was a head shorter, but the strawberry scent of his hair was strong under my nose.

I reported to Ms. Simmons’ office the next morning at 7:30 on the dot. I’d loved mom’s strawberry scent so much that I’d washed my hair with some last night and now I couldn’t stop sniffing it. As I approached the door, I discovered that it was closed. Ms. Simmons was on the other side, talking to a guy who had to be Nathan Gray and a lady next to him, who had to be his mom, Mrs. Gray. Ms. Simmons was chattering away with Mrs. Gray, who seemed a bit on the perky side as well. Ms. Simmons beckoned me in and they turned to look at me. Mrs. Gray definitely looked like a Ms. Simmons as well, dressed in a pressed suit, flawless natural make up on her face and one of those big smiles. And once I’d laid eyes on Nathan…. I think my heart skipped a beat. He had amazing features. Silky, slightly disarrayed hair that looked very neat, even though it went in different directions, sunny side up tanned skin, a beautiful smile and what captured me most was his excavating moonlit eyes. Nothing like ive seen before. A delicate shade of dark blue and dark specks mysteriously joined it, his hair almost shadowing his baffling flawless face.
“This is Natalie Ferguson. One of our best students. She’s also in tenth grade like Nathan and has many of his classes. She’ll be Nathan’s mentor for today”
“Well, alright. I have to get going” Mrs. Gray said, hugging her son and shaking both my hand and Ms. Simmons’.
“Good day”
Nathan got up, his schedule in hand. His eyes smiling at me as well as his lips.
“Hi….Nathan Gray” he put out a hand to shake and I took it nervously. He had a very light Australian accent. (I thought he was from FL)
I was still swimming in his gaze when Ms. Simmons interrupted our introduction.
“Oh, and here’s a map of the school, Nathan. Feel free to come back and talk to me anytime! Now get going. Class starts in twenty minutes”
My heart slowed a bit as we disconnected hands and thegaze was broken as he went to retrieve the map. Before, my heart felt like it was about to pop out of my chest and I was almost sure that everyone could hear it. My stomach had butterflies and my cheeks got hot.
Am I blushing?! I thought.
I returned his smile as we left Ms. Simmons’ room.
“Let me see your schedule” I said realizing that we had first, third, lunch, and last.
“How many to we have in common?” he asked and I filled him in.
“That’s cool” he responded awkwardly. We walked out of the front office and into the slightly crowded halls. I felt him looking at me as I showed him the bathrooms and the cafeteria. His stare was extremely persistent, steady even when a group of populars passed by with their mini skirts, mountains of make-up and their flowing, perfect hair. He’d even said a few things that made me crack up and my heart beat a little faster. Then a moment later, I’d cover my mouth and think wait a minute…. that’s not funny! And then our eyes would meet and then I’d break our eye contact because his was too formidable to contain. Half the time, I’d have to make sure that my hair was covering my red cheeks.
He must think I’m an idiot. I mean look at him! By the end of today, he’ll be popular and I’ll be really lucky if he still remembers my name by next week. No way this guy likes me. He’s just being nice…
After showing Nathan a few places, conversing with him wasn’t awkward anymore
Cute, funny, and really nice. Pssshh! What am I kidding? He’ll be popular by lunchtime!! At least I got to meet him first…
We entered first period and my heart got to slow and my cheeks to cool while he conversed with Mr. Evans. The class quickly filled and Nathan automatically caught the attention of a few girls. I sighed.
I guess my time with him is over. The only empty seat left is the one next to Nadia
Then, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class and Mr. Evans introduced Nathan to the students. I rolled my eyes when I saw how many girls were drooling all over him. Then, he sat at his new seat next to Nadia Olsen, captain of the school’s pep squad. For a while, he was still looking at me and then I’d look his way to catch him looking away and then he’d look my way, our eyes would meet and then I’d look away, but then he started talking to Nadia as Mr. Evans lecture got to its mid-point. My heart sank and my cheeks cooled.
Wait a minute!! I though, putting my hands to my cheeks. I was blushing the whole time!?
When the bell rang, I saw Nadia and Nathan walking out of the classroom, laughing and talking.
Well, it was nice getting to know you. At least today I was a friend. Unfortunately tomorrow, I’ll be nothing to him..
“Hey, did you see the new student?! He was so H-O-T hot!!” Kat said, appearing next to me. A little smile came to my lips. At least I still had Katherine… We exit 1st period and I was surprised to see Nathan standing by the door. Waiting for… me(!)
“Oh, I thought you went with Nadia” I said, Kat clamming up in nervousness next to me.
“Nah.. she’s a nice person, but i have to stick to my mentor today, right?”
“Well, I guess. What’s your next class?”
“Mr. Collins. Algebra 2”
I felt Kat nudge my arm.
“Oh, sorry Kat. Nathan, this is my best friend Katherine”
“H-h-hi!” Kat said, studdering, looking at Nathan with an extra cute look, batting her eyelashes and smiling extra wide.
“Um… nice to meet you. Well, Natalie, show me where Mr. Collins is”
“Well, ok. I’ll meet you in class, Kat”
Katherine looked ready to argue, but didn’t want to do so in front of Nathan, so continued on to Mrs. Leager’s class, also my second period
“I’ve been meaning to ask you Nathan. Are you Australian? You seem to have a light accent”
“Actually, I was born there. My dad’s Australian and my mom’s American” he said as we moved through the heavy crowds of people.
“I lived in Australia for almost twelve years and then moved to America in Altamonte and here I am. Where are you from?”
“Oh, I’m full American, but my mom and dad are both Italian”
“Oh. Speaking of where we come from, you know Mr. Evan’s cultural essay?”
“Yeah”
“Well, I was thinking that maybe we could do it together. I tell you Australian culture and you tell me about American culture”
“Does it count? You know American culture. You’ve lived here for about four of five years”
“Well, I asked Mr. Evans, and since I told him that my family still practices Australian culture all the time and I wasn’t exposed that much to the American one, he agreed that we could partner up”
“Cool” I said as we got to his class.”We’ll discuss it over lunch”
“Fine by me”

As I did a creative writing assignment In Mrs. Leagers class, my mind was swarming with questions.
Why’d he pick me to be his partner? I mean, not that I’m not happy about that, but…. Why me? Is it because I was his first friend at this school or that I was nice to him?
Then I looked Kat’s way, who was doing her creative writing assignment and talking to Ethan Sparrows, a guy that wasn’t considered popular or one of the geeks, just in between. Then my mind filled with questions again
And he didn’t notice Kat like the other guys do. He didn’t fall for her batting eyelashes or her blue eyes or her freckles or the big stupid grin she had on her face when she gazed at him. Strange. Everyone notices Katherine…
I felt a hot stare targeting me and I looked around the room but got nothing.
“Ok class” Mrs. Leager announced. “Pencils down”


At lunchtime, the menu was chicken fingers with noodles or spaghetti. What the hey? I’ll take a risks today. The line was long and Kat was a few people behind me. But I hadn’t spotted Nathan yet. I’d shown him the cafeteria earlier and our 4th period classes were on the opposite sides of the school, his being right next to the lunchroom. So why wasn’t he here yet? Once Kat got to our table, I looked around for Nathan.
“Who are you looking for” Kat asked as she decorated her chicken fingers with ketchup.
“Nathan”
“N-Nathan is sitting with us?!”
“Yeah…..”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Well hello! I eat like a pig! I don’t want him to see that”
“Why the sudden interest? I thought you were into Matt Brentwood?”
“Hey, have you seen Nathan? And besides, Matt isn’t my boyfriend. Alright?”
“Whatever. Oh, there he is”
Nathan walked toward us from the lunch line with a tray of food.
“Hey” he said as he took the seat across from me, next to Katherine, who was starting to clam up again. Her xheeks reddening.
“What took you so long? I was beginning to think you got lost” I said, taking a bite of my chicken fingers.
“I had to go get money out of my car”
I looked Kats way, who mouthed OMG
“So, when did you get your license?”
“Last month and I got my car almost three weeks ago”
“Cool, well, anyway, let’s talk about the project now”
“Hi” Kat said to Nathan.
“Hi” Nathan responded, turning back to me. Katherine began nibbling her chicken fingers, holding up her pinkies when she picked them up and picking up her napkin to brush the crumbs off of her mouth every two bites. I’ve never seen her so desperate for attention before. I felt like I was hogging it all.
“Mr. Evans told me that he’s going to give us time in class to do our essays tomorrow. We should start from there” Nathan said.
“Cool”
Then, Alexa strode by our table and looked directly at Nathan with a huge grin.
“So, Katherine, we still on for shopping at the plaza after school today? My brother can drive us”
“Sure” Kat said. Then, purposefully flaunting her hair, she did a cat walk back to her table. I rolled my eyes. How pathetic!

Last period, the gym. It was my first day in this class as well. An asian man approached us as we came in.
“You must be my new students. Nathan, welcome to Aspen High and Natalie, welcome to Karate. My name is Izumi Yamato, but in this class, you will call me Sensai. Now, since you’re both beginners, you will start with a white belt, which you must not wash.
Sensai was wearing a white karate uniform with a black belt tied around his waist. He was completely barefoot. The room they had the class in was a part of the gymnasium that had rubber floors and was an old dance room. Sensai called a girl named Kaori over to us to show us where to get the uniform. She was an orange belt. We changed in the locker rooms. Then Sensai set us up with ‘sporing’ partners that could show us some of the basics in Karate. After class, N athan and I walked out of the gym as the dismissal bell rang.
“So, how do you get home?” he asked.
“I walk home” I answered.
“Even in that scorching sun out there?”
“Well, yeah”
“How about I give you a ride home?”
“You don’t have to. I don’t want to be a bother”
“It’s ok. I want to. Not a bother at all”
“Well, ok”