Mara

The wind whipped across my face, tossing my sweet maple hair like billions of leaves. Squinting, I attempted to look at the horrid white light, blinding and everlasting. This was exactly what I saw when I dragged my body into the freakish prison that was **high school **. I thought I'd known exactly what to expect-after two years of junior high in which I barely scraped by, //really// wishing someone could cart me off to Switzerland. Or wherever school didn't exist, as long as it was dry. The ocean didn't exist in my twisted mind. Three years ago,when I was only 12, me and my nine year old brother, Simon were at the beach-we lived in Calafornia-surfing. No one seemed to notice the boiling black formation until it was too late. While we were having too much fun seeing who could ride the highest wave, our Mom and Dad were screaming at us about the oncoming storm. We didn't notice the tide pick up and the thunder rumble until we were so far into the ocean that even Mom and Dad couldn't see us. I had frantically looked around for Simon and spotted him desperately hanging on a rock, waving me to him. I screamed his name just as a wave struck him, knocking him over. I'd seen his head smack the rock and a splotch of red, a horrible contrast against the pure blue sea and crystal foam on the top of the currents. I attempted to swim toward him, to save his life, but the current pulled me back closer to shore and I could no longer see him. Suddenely a lifegaurd squeezed my waist, grabbing my shoulders as well to keep me from struggling. " S-simon-he's drow-" Water filled my mouth as another wave splashed on us. Suddenely my throat burned and my lungs screached in protest as liquid filled my chest. I continually tried to take a breath of air so I could tell him of Simon, but even my violent coughing couldn't rid my lungs of the salty, burning seawater. Finally he yanked me up shore, and I coughed so hard I seemed to be puking. I spit out what seemed like gallons of water, the salt eating away at my throat every time. I longed to tell them of Simon, before it was too late. By the time I could breath again, the ambulance had already come and the paramedics had lifted me onto a stretcher. "Where's Simon!" I heard my Mother screach. "WHERE'S SIMON! OH, WHERE'S MY BABY!" She demanded at the lifegaurd, who glanced at me with a helpless expression on his face. "S-s-simon's" I choked out, coughing out more water. "Drowning!" "NOOO!" Mom cried out, tears welling up in her beautiful violet eyes. I would have cried too if I weren't so dehydrated from the salt still sizzling in my mouth and throat. The last thing I saw was the palm trees blowing sideways, Mom stumbling backwards in emotional agony, and a team of lifeguards hurrying onto a boat, more to find a body than a drowning boy... The high school was BIG, for one. About 1,280 teenagers went here not to mention the teachers, which ranged around 120. Eew, I thought. This was beyond the most paraniod freak's terrible nightmares. My friends all went to LA south, and I went to north. All the rich teens went to south, which was so "fancy", that I had heard thier drinking fountains cost $6,000 apiece. Not to mention cleaning, which miraculisly costed $79.23 each night. Here at north, if we even did have that much money, they'd probably use it for tiolet plungers. Apparently the boys here found it hilarious to sneak into the bathrooms at night and smash huge mounds of gum into the plumbing. I had no idea why-actually I sort of did- because they were morons. The gym ought to be larger than a football field, and yet, everyone in the school was still crammed into tiny bleachers covering the east wall. The principal, gym and...some teacher had the rest of the gym space to themselves. "Welcome! And welcome! And welcome to another wonderful year of learning, discovery and amazement!" The principal boomed, his extremely low toned voice taking me by suprise. "And, another //very// special welcome to our newcoming ninth graders. I hope you learn much, grow alot, and expand your vocabulary!" He must have expected everyone to laugh, because with a snap of his fingers the teachers were loosing thier lungs with fake chuckling. "So...anyway, we have a few new classes tenth and over are eligible to attend, such as marching band, History of the Sparta, and pastry baking. And, a VERY special class our FANTASTIC ninth graders can take, powerpoint lab!" At that point I moaned loud enough that a few people turned thier heads, but with the obvious boredom in thier eyes I automattically knew they felt the same way. Powerpoint lab? They had to pick a more BORING subject than that. Ugg. "So, you should all have have your schedules, everyone has homeroom all day today, and have an awesomely fun-filled year of learning!" The principal finished. School sucks, work sucks, you die. Ya, life should be SOOO exciting. All day I was overwhelmed with EVERYTHING. Before I knew it we'd taken seven pretests in every subject, AND were expected to write a four page essay on why it's important to get a good education by Friday. Even in middle school we didn't have homework the first day of school! And of course, Abby Domen, my middle school rival, was sure to make me look like an idiot, and the popular girls //here,// at the least, instantly bonded with her. Everybody loves a good gossip tale. So that's another fifth of the school I know that I won't be friends with. One person did talk to me, only that she was autistic (I didn't know at the time) and attacked me because I didn't want to play tag in the library. Speaking of the library, we need to finish a 1,874 page book on immigrants in two weeks. //And// I can't even read the letters, which are thinner than paper, as it seems. And so, a week passed, and I got detention twice for being late to class. I listened to my ipod during study hall because aof snotty oh-so-full-of-themselves clique of juniors always came in there to text eachother and chat. On the next Monday, I half managed to drag myself into homeroom. Still, I was late. Maybe, just this once, I could fake a doctor appointment and skip the next couple classes. I wasn't exactly a bad teenager, but, in a way, I was beginning to feel like one. After all, two detentions, being late to class, not finishing my algebra assignment over the weekend (no one knew about that yet- I'm figuring that I will get detention for it//)// and I was totally about to fake a trip to the doctor. By now I could probably say goodbye to a remotly CLOSE to good record. Then, I saw him. Mr. Bergs was introducing a new boy to the class-and he was a hotty. I'd never really liked boys before, but with his tall, fit form, sky blue eyes, shaggy black hair, and perfectly tanned skin, he wasn't hard to like. So much for that doctors note! I knew nothing about this Oh-So-Hot-Person-Of Greatness. Next thing I knew I was bursting in the door, feeling a surge of blood reach my face. I even managed to ignore the deathful look Mr. Bergs was giving me as I stiffly slid into my seat. "Cherryl, so nice that you could join us. This is Nike, the newest addition to our class. Please take a seat, Nike. Okay, today we will be reviewing...." I stopped listening. Nike! What a cool name! I was SOOO going after Oh-So-Hot-Person-Of-Greatness-With-A-Super-Awesomely-Cool-Name. AAAAAAHHHHHH! He sat by me! Even though he was my new awesome crush, I didn't want him to see me blushing! So as difficult for me as it was, I scooted away from Nike. As he walked closer, I noticed a few more score ones about him- straight teeth and a heavenly smile. Not to mention that his face was acne free, something which even bratty little Abby Domen couldn't avoid. Did I mention he was hot? AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! I didn't know how Mr. Bergs was oblivious to me staring at Nike for our entire homeroom session. Even Nike didn't realize it. I don't even know what my homework was because I was too busy swooning over Nike!

l love it so far -kayla