A Life Unlived

First day at a new school. Avraex High school, tucked in the middle of another randomly selected city. 

I hate first days. 

Everyone always acted like I was some shiny new toy; the girls pawing all over me and trying to be coy, acting like they were different and only wanted to show me around for innocent reasons. They'd tell me who to watch out for, who was cool and who wasn't. Like I cared. The guys usually tried to befriend me to drag me onto their sports teams, or because they had seen their girlfriend talking to me and wanted to feel me out. But I knew I wouldn't be here for long, maybe six months if I was lucky. That wasn't enough time to homewreck any relationships or commit myself to a sports team. 

My dad's job made him move around a lot, which means we all moved around a lot, obviously. I hadn't been to the same school for longer than seven months. Which means at least once a year, I was the new kid. 

I was mostly used to it by now, since I'd been at it since the first grade. I knew I just had to brush the girls off, tell the guys I hated sports. The shiny sparkle of me would wear off eventually, and I'd be able to fade into the background. By next Monday, I would be just another face in this school. Didn't make the first week any less annoying, though. 

I walk into the front office, where a couple of middle aged ladies are sitting in swivel chairs behind a tall half circle desk. They glance up at me when I walk in, blinking a little. Imagine if it was the other way around, and two middle aged dudes were ogling a sixteen year old girl. How creepy would that be? I wish the same rules applied for guys because I was tired of being looked at like a piece of meat everytime I walked in a room. 

"My name is …, today is my first day. My dad should have sent my paperwork over." I say as I stop in front of the desk. 

They both stare at me a moment longer, and I raise an eyebrow. The blonde one seems to snap out of it, and smiles and shakes her head. She stands up, and begins shuffling around through a stack of papers in a file on her desk. 

"Oh yes, we've been expecting you dear!" She says happily, smiling up at me. Her teeth were yellow and the pink lipstick she wore wasn't doing anything but highlighting that. I can see the cup of black coffee on her side of the desk. I bet she drinks that stuff all day everyday. "Here I've got your schedule and locker information here. I'd be more than happy to show you to your first class." She says, beginning to move out from behind the desk. 

"No thank you. I can handle it." I say quickly, taking the papers from her hand. She looks a little surprised at my curtness, but just smiles and nods. 

"Let us know if you need anything!" She calls as I leave the office, my eyes glued to my new schedule. Looks like AP English was up first, Mr. Landon, room two thirteen. 

I start making my way through the empty hallways, trying to get my bearings. There were the typical sports team banners and logos on the flyer on the walls, and invitations to join clubs and after school activities. Tons of lockers, but I didn't usually use mine. It looked like almost every other school I'd been inside. The layouts were always a little different, but I had kind of gotten a really specific skill for figuring school's layouts out because of all the moving around we'd done. It was a life skill I'd never get to use. 

Finally, I made it to room two thirteen. I brace myself, and open the door. Class started twenty minutes ago, so the teacher was already at the front of the classroom, talking to the students. He's older, maybe fifty, with a big belly and gray hair. Honestly I'm just glad it's not a woman. It always made the guys in the class zero in on me when the teacher was drooling over me like a teenage girl. 

He turns to look at me when I walk in, "hey, we've been waiting for you! Are you …?" He walks towards me, holding his hand out to check my schedule. Teachers always wanted to look at my schedule on my first day, it was like a routine thing that happened at the beginning of every class. Maybe they just assumed we all couldn't read. I'm so used to it happening, I'm already holding it out of him to take. "Yup, looks like you're in the right place. Why don't you take a seat back there?" He points to the back of the room where there's an empty desk. 

I nod, take my schedule back, and make my way to the back of the room. I avoid looking directly at any of the other students, who I can already feel staring at me. I was just glad this guy didn't make me introduce myself, or share some dumb, petty fact about myself. I wouldn't be here long enough for any of these people to get to know me, anyways. There was no point. 

There was no point in any of this.