Ch. 4: Ally Catches Up

CHAPTER FOUR:

I found my way to the nearest bathroom, wetting a paper towel and patting my forehead. I had done way too much sweating today, over some guy, and was probably going to break out as a result. I have always had a bad habit of touching my forehead, a habit puberty tortured me for with litters of little red bumps. Today had been a good skin day and I was probably going to ruin it. After breathing for a moment to center myself, I pulled out my phone while walking out of the bathroom, dialing Ally’s number. She picked up after the third ring.

“Rachel! It’s you! Where are you? I didn’t call you, wasn’t sure if you were still with the office people or what,” Ally chirped.

“Ally, I really, really need to talk to you. I’ve been here since 9am and I’ve already got a truckload of crap to catch you up on.”

Ally found me after a few minutes. In the process I learned that there was another girl’s bathroom on the same side of the building but in the opposite hallway. It really did look like the school was a mirrored half circle. When she found me I was pacing back and forth in the hallway, wringing my right wrist, the place I used to have my baby bracelet before it broke off and got lost.

She came to me arms open, ready to hug me. I smiled and opened my arms too. It felt good to hug her, it had been way too long since we had hung out in person, let alone since we had gone to the same school.

“Can I just say again how happy I am that you’re here and not there anymore?” She smiled, her mahogany skin contrasted with her incredibly white smile. 

People always thought she professionally whitened her teeth. Nope, those were all natural. Her tight curls were bound back in a messy bun that warmed my heart. The bun was just like Ally, easy and graceful. Light, bouncy and elegant.

“I’m glad to be here too.”

I caught her up on my day, making sure to emphasize how confused I was over every interaction I had had with Sean.

“I’ve heard about Sean. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him too, but some of those ‘bros’ look so alike,” she laughed. “A lot of girls here are pretty obsessed with him, especially the girls on the swim team. Sean and his buddies are all on it.”

Of course easy going, green-eyed Sean would be a swimmer. Thinking about it I realized how he really did have a good form for swimming, all tall and lean.

“Well, I’m sure that’ll figure itself out. I can’t think about that when all I want to know is what classes you’re in. Did you actually go to a class yet?”

I welcomed the change in conversation, I needed a second of Sean-free time.

Ally poured over my schedule. 

“That’s awesome! I’m in the same class. Wait. Huh? Why are you in second period Humanities and third period Humanities?” she asked

I remembered what Mr. Chu had said about the ‘houses’ and how I had to be in both. “Yeah, the counselor said there was some sort of weird error. I am in both houses. Oh - and I don’t have PE ‘cause there wasn’t room.”

“Lucky!” She exclaimed. “You get to sit and watch movies with seniors while I’m running around in the cold.”

“I’ll be thinking of you from my warm room,” I teased.

Ally playfully pushed my shoulder, “Ha. Ha. Ha.” After a moment she continued, “Well, at least we have two classes together. I’m in your Trigonometry class, and tomorrow I’ll be in your Humanities class. That’s going to be so weird. We have group assignments that we continue on every day, you’ll have to have some split group or something…”

Ally squinted her warm brown eyes in thought. Apparently this split-houses thing was more unusual than Mr. Chu had implied.

We spent the rest of lunch walking around the school. Ally told me about how phones were allowed during passing periods and Break, and how some teachers let students listen to music on their phones when writing essays or working on projects. The school sounded so much more relaxed than P.H. it was unreal. I wasn’t at a crazy strict school with stereotypes bustling through the halls. I was at a school that was pretty much outside. A school with crazy, colorful teachers and students. A school that was somehow chill, but more studious. The people here really seemed to care about their projects and work. Even those girls in Science - Lucy and Elizabeth, really stuck to their research, it didn't matter if Levi had been watching them or not. This place was interesting.

At last the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. We had five minutes to get to our Trigonometry class. Ally led me toward where my Science class had been, but further toward the parking lot. The door was open and I followed Ally inside. She walked me straight up to the other side of the door where a young Asian man sat at his desk. He looked up from the papers he was scribbling on and smiled when he saw Ally. 

Ally stepped to the side and introduced me, “Mr. Yoo, this is Rachel. It’s her first day here.”

I stepped forward and readjusted the bag on my shoulder, “Hi.” Wonderful. Another awkward encounter. This Rachel was supposed to be different, be better.

Mr. Yoo stood up and shook my hand, “Hi Rachel, I heard you would be coming.”

Students began to walk through the door, filling up desks in a seemingly random pattern. The volume in the room suddenly increased.

“I’m sure Ally will catch you up on anything relating to classroom procedures. As for our topic today, it’s something new for the rest of the class too, so that should work out well,” Mr. Yoo mentioned while walking to the middle of the classroom, wheeling his projector to a stop.

He then said simply, “Well, have a seat wherever you like. I have open seating, I’ll only move you if it becomes an issue. I always start the day with a warm up while I go around and check homework. Ally will explain.”

Alright.

I followed Ally to the seats closest to the door we had come through. I spotted Bella from my Science class in the back. She waved at me and I smiled in response, making a mental note to hang out with her. 

The projector lit up and the lights in the room came down. I borrowed some binder paper from Ally, who went through the stuff like a paper addict. Her handwriting had always been larger than life, taking up two or three lines in what I would write in one. Ally made eye contact with someone in the next row, a tall lean guy with large framed glasses. He smiled and looked away quickly. I tapped on Ally’s shoulder and made an eye gesture, asking her silently about their interaction. 

“Oh, that’s Simon, he’s in my humanities block,” she whispered back.

I focused back on the work, and it appeared I could understand the problems on the projector. Soon Mr. Yoo had gone through each student’s homework, stopping to have short conversations with at least half of them, offering them specific feedback. I made another mental note: always do my homework for this class. He was very thorough.

Class ended a few minutes before the bell would go off, so Mr. Yoo gave us the time to do whatever we wanted. Some people went up to Mr. Yoo, cracking jokes about something I couldn’t hear, other people were having conversations across the desk ailes, one or two brought their phones out, and I spotted Bella starting what looked like our homework.

After a few moments clicking through my phone, not doing anything in particular, the bell rang. Our official end of the day. Ally had already packed her things, I rushed to catch up while she stood out of her chair. A string on her Pacific High sweatshirt was caught on the neck of the chair. She yanked it free as I stuffed my binder into my tote. 

“Ready?” Ally asked, “We’ve got a bus to catch.”

Being in a classroom near the exit of the school had its benefits. We were in the front of the slow moving stampede, making their way as a giant blob out the front doors. Ally had jumped right out into the crowd, Being at least 8 inches taller than me, Ally’s walking speed was my jogging speed. She could cut through a crowd in a few seconds in half the time it would take me to apologize my way through a ton of people. I caught up and followed her to the left side of the lot, where she plopped down on a patch of grass.

“Aren’t you afraid that it's wet?” I asked, bending down and pushing the damp earth with my fingers.

“Eh, what the hell do I care? I’m not impressing anyone… not like yoouuuu” the last word dragged out to tease me.

“Oh shut your face, girl.” I laughed. 

We reminisced about middle school - some specific outfits we wish we could wipe from our memories, and of course, Patrick, her former crush. His family was moving him to Silverton. Something I heard through Ally. People told her everything, I have no idea what it was about her, but everyone always told her their crushes, their dreams, the rumors they heard, whatever. I mean, of course I had some idea what it was. It was a trait that made her one of my best friends. I was suddenly really grateful she was going to be here with me through these next two years.

Some minutes later we were crouched over, grabbing our stomachs and crying from our intense laughter, reminded of a particularly funny time in art class our 8th grade year where Ally, our friend Lana, and I had had such a bad laughing fit we kept falling out of our stools. We had been thinking of Ally’s friend Evan’s face when he had looked over at us, declaring us the craziest girls he had ever met. In the midst of tears, I saw a bright orange mop of what could be hair. 

“Uh, hey. Sorry. I don’t mean to, uh. Interrupt.” A voice I didn’t recognize stuttered.

I cleared the tears from my eyes, still breathing heavily from the laughter. A guy with flaming orange skater-boy hair, and some goth look was standing there above us, hand behind his head, rubbing his hair, sheepish smile on his face.

“Uh, hi?” I said and stopped, “I’m sorry, do I know you from somewhere?” I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen him before, maybe in the halls?

His smile broadened a bit. He bit his lip, letting his hand fall from his head, “You’re Rachel, right? You’re uh, in my class. Science, with Levi.”

The connection sparked in my brain. I think he sat at Bella’s table.

“Oh, hi! Sorry - first day, I’m still learning names and things,” I replied, lifting my hand to my forehead, blocking the sun from my eyes.

He fidgeted with his dark black cuff. He really had this goth/grunge look complete. Black shirt with some red skull, black skinny jeans with some tears, nearly knee-high lace-up boots, and what looked to be a black leather cuff on one wrist. It was such a surprising look for this sturdy framed redhead with freckles on his face and arms. It was like trying to wrap the sun in a black hole. Look at me, thinking of space - Levi would be proud.

After a long awkward moment, Ally cut in, “I’m Ally.” She waved in some measly attempt to control the awkwardness. Bless that girl.

His nearly-creepy light blue eyes focused back on me after a moment on Ally.

“Uh, nice to meet you,” he said back, “Uh, Rachel. This is sort of awkward, but -” he waited for a moment too long, “Would it be okay to show you around Pacific some time?”

I almost dismissed him, I mean, Ally showed me around just earlier today, but something in the hopefulness of those too-light blue eyes made me pause. What could it hurt? 

“Sure, yeah,” I said at last, “Sounds like fun.”

He lit up, his fae-like eyes dancing, “Awesome.” 

That was it. Looks like it was up to me to transition.

“Well, um, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked him.

“Oh yeah, of course.” He smiled and bowed awkwardly, walking backwards before suddenly spinning around and walking toward the stairs that led down the hill.

I watched him walk away, utterly confused by who he was, why he had come up to me, and what the hell I had just agreed to.

“Well,” Ally broke our strange silence, “I think our time together at Pacific is going to be absolutely anything but boring.”