To Be Trapped

Never, in all my fifteen years of living, did I ever feel so, so trapped.


It’s been two weeks; two weeks since I moved in I mean. I feel more than trapped,

more like isolated from true nature. How I miss it, the green leafy trees blowing in

the wind, while the spiky, untamed grass tickled at you legs. You could hear all the

wildlife around you, buzzing and chirping. Colorado was my home, which I longed for with my whole being.

An uncaring, cold, polluted, and lifeless city could never be my home. Manhattan, New York.

“Finally Finished?” Scott, my father, had asked in an enthusiastic tone.  “Yeah” I muttered under my breath hoping one day I could exit my new found hell. Not too soon though.  Want to hear my ever so interesting life story? I didn’t think so.

My name? Laura Berkley.
Age? The unfortunate fifteen.
Grade? Tenth, sophomore.
Other unimportant information? I have recently moved in with my long lost father because my mother, Kathy, has died just two weeks ago. I‘m too sick of sob stories, so why don’t I try to lighten this one up a bit?

I guess I was surprisingly close to my mother, like we were friends in a twisted way. At times I feel more like the adult than her, having to gently tell her that her crazed ideas were irrational. Now unfortunately she’s gone so I guess I won’t have to be as responsible.

Today was the day, my first day at my new school. Oh, joy… A classic name. Berkley High.

Why was the school named after me? My father had saved twelve lives out of a burning building; the kind of thing you only see in movies. But at the time this school was being built, and the staff just thought it would be -ever so wonderful- to name it after such a great “hero.”


As I entered the door to my first class all eyes turned towards me, glaring at me in an almost rude manner. No friendly faces here.
  I sat in the only open desk available, which was very old and rickety; it also had some writing on it. I heard a few whispers and snickers to my disdain, but tried to ignore then the best I could. What could they have to make fun of me with?  I had just gotten here. 

As class drew to an end with an abnormally boring teacher, some students were brave enough to come up and welcome me to their school.

  One was a girl tall, and brunette. She had dark brown eyes that could pierce right through you, but still she had some kind of softness to her looks.

She was quiet pretty. The other an extremely tall boy.  He had sandy brown hair with some obvious highlights. His seaweed green eyes seemed so childish and young, but the expression he held made him look very wise. Another good looking person.

“What’s your name?” The boy asked excitedly. “Umm Laura.” I mumbled being a bit shy by his forwardness.
“Great, I’m Ayden and that’s Charlotte. He replied happily. “Nice to meet you.” I replied meekly.
What interesting names they both had.
After a few moments of silence Ayden spoke up again. “I bet by the end of the day you’ll already have a date for the dance; you’re really pretty.”

  “Dance?” I asked trying to ignore the unneeded compliment.  “Yeah, it’s Friday. Right Charlotte?” Ayden answered while looking towards the abnormally tall girl. “Yes, Friday. And I have a date with Austin.” She replied trying to mask her enthusiasm.
I had a feeling that they would be back, both being overly optimistic and too forward. How eager could someone be to have a new friend?

“I think I’m pretty average.” I thought to myself while looking at myself in the bathroom mirror. I have long blonde hair; it has been long ever since I was young.

I also have extremely blue eyes which people would always love to compliment on. I hated false compliments.

I am also a pretty average height; five four. Nothing too out of the ordinary about me except my overly sarcastic attitude.
Oh well, maybe he was just being polite. I had to hurry if I was ever going to find my next class, which I had a feeling I wasn’t. But luck finally found me at the last minute.

It happened to be my favorite of all classes, Literature, or English.

I had always wanted to become an author when I grow up and I know Literature will most likely be my major. I spoke to the teacher before taking my seat.

She seemed like a very pleasant woman and nodded towards the only empty desk left. Still old and rickety with some noticeable letters scratched into the surface. And to also disgust me all assortments of gum was attached to the bottom of it.

I sat next to a boy who looked like he might be an ummm trouble maker, who also just happened to be the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. I looked over at his paper to see his name.

Trenton Cannings. A very nice and unforgettable name. He then realized my stare and looked up to introduce himself. “Hey, I’m Trent, you a new student?”  “Yes I am.” I mumbled shyly.  “Laura, right?” He asked smoothly. “How did you know my name?” I asked surprisingly not too shocked.

  “Well a small-town girl coming to New York is something for all the sharks to gossip about on only the first day. Why did you suddenly move here?” He asked innocently.

My face then turned grim from having the memory of my mother in a hospital bed, dying, put in my head. He looked at me patiently.

“My mother died.” I announced without my voice shaking. “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to bring it-.”  “It’s fine.” I said cutting him off, I didn’t need any more false pity; even if it was unintentional.
Class was over and Trent looked asleep as I was about to shake him awake he cringed away from me, almost as if was shuddering at my touch. It was as if he had dodged me completely

. Then he left me in the classroom dumbfounded, but I brushed it off quickly.

Chapter two: Unmistakable Stranger

“Who is that?” I asked Charlotte quietly, which was a mistake by the way that she looked at me. “Who?” She asked spinning around to see if she missed the person I was talking about.

“Him.” I said while pointing towards Trenton across the lunchroom; yes I already knew his name but I was curious to know more.

  “Umm come on Laura, we’re holding the line up.” Charlotte spoke up hesitantly. Her ignorance was already bothering me.
Either she didn’t know who the guy I was pointing to was, or she didn’t see him for some strange reason, and the last she had something against him. The last would be the most possible but the most odd.

Charlotte is the least complex person I’ve ever met, she’s very easy to read and very open. So if she did have something against Trenton it would have to be a terrible thing for her to not mention.

As the slow moving line of bored students came to an end I saw Trenton yet again. Except this time he was much closer and I fell into a daze watching him close in on me. Before I knew it he was just inches from my face.

“Come sit with me today.” He said under his breath as if to break my trance. It worked. I was only able to mutter out a sure before he was rushing me to a table that seemed isolated from the rest.

Oh great only two chairs. Was this planned? It didn’t matter though; I knew I was more then eager to spend extra time with my new found stranger.

I wanted to know anything and everything about him, unless he was a serial killer. But that’s unlikely. I hope.
  “I think this is my favorite table.” Trenton said to break the silence that had been building up.  “And why is that?” I asked as smoothly as possible.  “Not too sure, just feels right.” He answered indifferently.

I didn’t exactly know how to answer that, I mean what feels right? Sitting with me or… no what he just said made no sense at all. Maybe I’m looking too much into this.  “So what did you do to Charlotte Gregory?” I asked to first of all change the subject and second to make myself look like less of an idiot.

I also added her last name having a feeling they weren’t too close.  “What do you mean?” He replied while flashing a bright, gorgeous smile in my direction.  “She acted like she doesn’t know you or something like that.” I threw in at the last second.

“Oh, most people around here pretend they don’t know me, sometimes they won’t even acknowledge me.”    “Please just don’t mention me to other people.” His eyes looked pleading when he said that.

It almost made me feel guilty that I could ever disappoint this complete stranger. The way he looked dazzled me completely. I wanted to comfort him in any way I could, I wanted to reach out towards him.

And I did. As I slid my hand across the table to place on top of his he cringed away from me yet again. He got up from the table with his tray and had dodged me completely.  “Come on lunch is over.” He spit out over the roar of the lunchroom. But lunch was not over; in fact it had barely started.

I glanced over to the clock to see if his words were correct. Wrong, his words were wrong. Only eleven minutes had passed since we sat down at our perfectly isolated table. And as soon as I whipped around to tell him this he was gone.

Trent was gone. Soon after Charlotte and Ayden came over with a few other that I didn’t care to meet.  “Hey Laura, I don’t want to offend you or anything but why in the world would you want to sit alone on your first day of school?” Ayden asked while loudly chewing his food.

  “I…I wasn’t sitting alone I was with Trent, we were sitting at that small table over there.” I had no idea why I was stuttering, I was scared for some odd reason. And in the pit of my stomach I just had this bizarre feeling I would never see Trenton Cannings again.


Thank God I was wrong. He was there, in my Literature class in his usual seat. At that moment it seemed as if lunch yesterday had just been a far off dream.



Still more to come.  Please rate and review!