Living Mystery

One

Beep! Beep! Beep!  It was six in the morning, the same as every other day, and my alarm was beeping uncontrollably.  I reached over to hit the snooze button; trying to do anything to stop the constant clangor. Every night I would go to bed thinking that the next day would be better, be different in anyway, but my alarm always woke me to the realization that it was going to be the same kind of day again. 
         Finally getting the alarm to shut up, I sat up in my bed and turned on my purple lamp.  I was greeted with the sight of my overly organized yellow room.  Everything was in its rightful place, and unlike most teenagers, I didn’t have massive piles of clothing all over the floor. 
         I staggered out of bed, still exhausted.  I headed over to my closet and pulled out what I was going to wear to school.  After going through the closet three times, I finally decided on a black t-shirt with pink and purple flowers on it and a pair of old, worn jeans that make my butt look good.  Finally, I headed to the bathroom to take a shower, while trying to be quiet enough not to wake my parents.  One of the perks of being an only child is that you get the bathroom all to yourself in the morning, without people banging on the door yelling to hurry up.
         Finally out of the shower, I stood in front of the mirror wrapped in a big, green, plush towel trying to decide how to wear my hair.  My hair was just about to my elbows and the richest brown with natural red highlights.  After going through all my options, I finally decided to just blow dry it and let the natural, soft curls come out.  Then, I got dressed, trying not to mess my hair, and put on a little makeup.  I never wore a lot, just a little foundation, blush, eyeliner, and a tiny bit of eye shadow. 
         I headed back to my room, through my pajamas in the hamper, and grabbed a black, zip-up hoodie.  I checked the clock and noticed that it said that it was quarter to seven.  Then, I grabbed my bag and headed down stairs to eat breakfast.
         Our kitchen wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either.  It was spacious without seeming to empty, and painted a warm beige color with dark wooden cabinets.  I headed over to the cabinet near the sink and pulled out a cereal bowl.  Then, I grabbed a spoon out of the drawer near the fridge.  Finally, I grabbed the milk from the fridge and the corn flakes out of the pantry, and headed to the table.  After eating breakfast and cleaning up my dishes, it was seven; time to go to school.  I snatched up my bag and took my keys from the dish in the foyer, then headed to my car.
         My car wasn’t anything fancy, but it wasn’t too crappy either.  It was a four-year-old, little, black car, and a sixteenth birthday present from my parents a few months ago.  I hopped in the driver’s seat, backed out of the driveway, and headed towards school.  It wasn’t a far drive, just about three miles, so it only took a few minutes to get there and find a parking space.
         Walking across the parking lot, everything was the same as normal.  As I entered the brick school I was bombarded with all the noise of the students.  Everything was going to be the same as every other day, or so I thought.
         As I approached my locker, nothing looked different.  I was retrieving my books for first mod when Becky Matthews skipped up to me.  Becky and I had been friends since third grade, but with the pressures of junior year we hadn’t spent as much time together as we used to. 
         “Hey Beck,” I said as she came to a stop next to me.
         “Omigod! Did you hear?  We have a new kid!” She was practically glowing as she said this.  It isn’t everyday that our small high school gets a new student.  Maybe today was going to be different after all.
         “Really?  Weird.  Do you know who it is?”
         “Well, I know it’s a guy, but I haven’t seen him yet.  I was talking to Liz, and she said that she saw him this morning. She said that he’s not her type, but then again, she says that about almost everyone who doesn’t look like he came from California.”  Liz was an airhead.  She likes the guys who looked like they should be surfers, but there are not many of those in our little town.  I had known Liz for years, and we hung out a few times, but there was never anything that we really connected with.
         “Well, I guess I’ll just have to see for myself,” I said teasingly, then added, “Maybe we’ll have a class together, or something.”
         Becky and I walked to first mod together: English.  When we got there, there was no sign of the new guy, but everyone seemed to be talking about him. 
         “Omigod! Did you see him? He’s gorgeous!”
         “So, what’s with the new kid? He seems weird.”
         “I haven’t seen him yet, but I heard that he’s a total freak.”
         Of course the guys would be saying negative things about him. They are probably all jealous, but I have no way of knowing that.  I haven’t seen the guy, so, he might actually be a total freak.  For all I know, he could have purple hair and buck teeth.  Some girls might find that attractive…or not.
         Just then, the bell rung to signal that everyone should be in their classes.  Like always, the teacher wasn’t there yet.  The teacher, Miss Harding, was never on time for anything.  She was always late to class, and on more than one occasion she showed up late during an assembly and the principal would have to stop talking while she took her seat.  She was also flighty.  She would always forget what she was supposed to do, or start talking without thinking first.  Some of the personal things that she has told us are just too embarrassing to repeat. 
         “Alright class, settle down,” Miss Harding said as she came stumbling through the door.  She had an umbrella in one hand, even though it wasn’t supposed to rain, and in the other she had her purse that was stuffed so full that things were spewing out the top. 
Like most other days, half of the contents of her purse fell out right as she was walking through the door. “O drat!” she exclaimed when she realized what she did.  The whole class was just watching as she struggled to pick up everything, hold the door, and try not to spill anything else.
         “Allow me,” said a soft voice as he was coming through the door.  A boy of average height and build with dark hair bent down to help Miss Harding.
         “Oh, why, thank you,” Mrs. Harding replied. “You must be Mr. Everly.”
         “Yes, but please, call me Ryan,” he said like it was some inside joke.
He was so proper that he didn’t seem to fit in with this time.  He looked the part though. Ryan was wearing dark wash jeans, a green t-shirt, and black chucks.  He was dressed similar to half the guys in the school; it was just the way he talked that didn’t seem to fit in.
         “Okay. Now, have you gotten a chance to look around the school yet?” Miss Harding was always extremely kind to the new students.  She said this was because she moved around a lot as a child and no one was ever nice enough to go out of their way to help her; so she figured it was about time someone was nice to new kids.
         Ryan looked a little surprised; like he wasn’t excepting for anyone to go out of there way, just like Miss Harding wanted. “Well, n-no but that’s a-alright.  I’m sure that I’ll be able to find everything eventually,” he finally spit out.
         “No, no, no we can’t have that. Let’s see…hmm,” she looked around the room. I started to get a little worried when her eyes stopped on me. “Ever, why don’t you show Mr. Everly around,” she laughed at her own joke. “Don’t worry about our assignments for today we were just going to watch a movie.  You two take the whole mod and make sure Ryan, here, won’t get lost.” She smiled and nodded for us to go.  I just returned to smile and got up.
         Becky beamed up at me like she thought that I was the luckiest person alive.  She gave me a little wave as Ryan and I left the room.