Rachel - Eleven Months Ago from June

Standing at the entrance of my high school, my heart was beating a little faster than usual. High School, hopefully, a second chance for me. I wasn't sure if the increased heart rate was because of the excitement of finally getting into high school or if it was the nervousness of the uncertainty this high school would bring.

In most of the movies and TV series I watched, high school seemed like a paradise—aside from the boring part where it involves sitting in class until your butt starts to hurt—with all the various activities happening at all times like club activities; slightly crazy people to hang out with, who makes everything more interesting than it actually is; parties at the weekends and romance.

The movies always made this kind of things seem like it was an essential or something natural that you would experience in high school for sure. That you would just turn a corner or go to the library and meet that special someone who would call you his precious little thing, shield you from the bullies and be with you to make sure you're happy and ta da—happily ever after.

Of course, I know things like that didn't usually happen in real life, that it was just something movies do to attract an audience. But a girl can still dream, right?

"Get yourself into a trashcan or something, you junk!" A rough voice yelled.

Instinctively, my head jerked towards the voice. A muscular boy with a cowlick hairdo was doing the yelling. His friend—a tall boy with a basketball under his arm, probably his sidekick—stepped on a black backpack, causing another boy who was busy picking up his books on the ground to wince.

At that moment, a teacher had made his way to the growing crowd with a scowl on his face. "Sebastian, stop that right this instant! What on earth are you two doing on the first day of school?" He then bent down, helping the poor boy up and pointed a finger at the two bullies. "Get yourselves to my office. Now!"

Bullies.

That was the one thing I was warned by novels and news reports about high school—apart from the drugs some students dared to try—and had been worrying about.

I got a taste of that, a month before the end of my middle school life. That was the moment I had a growth spurt and grew ten more inches, my body suddenly stretched from a tiny five foot into a five foot ten walking stick; a girl who looks a bit too thin because she was too tall. It was horrible. I spent my time trying to become shorter; to be tiny again only to find myself getting taller instead.

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"Here comes the giraffe!" my so called best friend announced when I walked into the classroom, my back already hunching in an attempt to make myself appear shorter.

A wave of laughter spread around the classroom. "Did you guys see her in the pink dress during the dance? She looked like a dancing straw!" Another girl said before breaking into a hysterical laugh.

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My family spent the whole summer helping me to get back on my feet again, showing me that being taller than most girls—or even some boys—wouldn't make me an alien; that it was normal and I can feel good about myself. I shook away the demons that were threatening to wrap me up again. I won't let that haunt me again. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the piece of paper—which was stuffed between the pages of my English textbook—with my schedule on and started to search for my locker.

I was lucky to be able to find my locker easily, but unfortunately, that was not the case with finding my classroom.

7:55 am. Only five more minutes till class starts.

I started to panic. Being late on the first day of school wasn't on my list of "things to do in high school". I really didn't want to be late on the first day. Please don't let me be late on the first day. That would be so awkward, what with me being this tall, I couldn't possible hide even if I wanted to.

I picked up my pace, trying to get to class sooner when I rounded the corner and bumped into a sturdy body. A pile of books and files, along with my own things, fell onto the floor. As my phone was on top of the pile of books that I was holding, it flew into the air from the impact. I fumbled with my phone, trying to catch it in mid-air before it hit the ground, but it kept slipping out of my grip. My heart almost stopped beating when a bigger hand entered my sight and caught it. Looking up, I found a blond-haired boy with sparkling blue eyes staring back at me with concern.

"Here," he said as he handed back my phone. "I'm sorry I'm bumped into you."

"No, I should be the one apologising. I'm sorry," I said and gave an embarrassed smile. "And thanks for saving my phone."

"It was nothing. Are you alright?"

A scene from one of those cliche movies—where a girl and boy meets at this very same circumstance leads to a happy ending—appeared in my mind. He wasn't the kind of super good looking guy you usually see on TV. But all the same, he looked cute.

"Hello?" His voice sounded and I zapped out from my daydream.

Oh boy, that was awkward. Now he'll think I'm weird.

"I'm sorry," I murmured and focused on the pile of books instead, bending down to pick them up as I felt my face getting hotter.

He snickered as he squatted opposite me, collecting the books as he started to talk again. "It's okay, I'm fine. Anyway, you already apologise. How about you? Are you okay?"

"Erm, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," I gathered all the things that weren't mine and handed them to him, avoiding his eyes as I did because judging from the heat on my face, I might be blushing and if that was the case, I didn't want him to see me blush.

"And here's yours," he chirped as he returned my books.

"Thanks," I took them and checked the time on my phone.

7:58 am.

"Crap. Why does the time always has to go so fast when you need it to slow down?" I muttered under my breath.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

Wait, did he hear that?

"Nothing." I forced a smile before looking around the hallway, checking to see if my class was anywhere near.

He looked at me for a while before glancing at my timetable—which was already repositioned on top of my books—and a grin formed on his face. "So you're a freshman...and you're lost, why didn't you say so?"

He gave another glance at my timetable, then at his, a satisfied look showing on his face. "Come on."

Come on? Come on what?

He stopped and turned back to me when he realised I wasn't following. "My class is on the way to yours. I'll bring you there. We better go now if you don't want to be late on your first day."

It turned out that my class was just on the other end of the hallway and I managed to miss it all this time.

Great job, Rachel.

"Thank you so much!" I said, a huge smile forming on my face as I opened the door to my classroom.

"No problem, freshie!" He said, winking at me before going into another classroom two doors away.

Thinking about our little encounter, I felt my heart pumping a little faster than usual. I couldn't help but felt like this place wasn't as bad as it seemed this morning. Maybe I could get a second chance here. A chance to live high school like the movies. A chance to push my middle school nightmare away.

Feeling my mood lifting up, I faced the classroom with a new found hope. But there were only three seats left. Bummer.

One was beside a boy who was picking his nose. Definitely not sitting there.

One was in the last row. Nope, hate being in the last row.

That leaves me with only option three: sitting beside a redhead girl at the second row. That would be nice. I just hope that my height wouldn't be a hindrance for the people sitting behind to see the blackboard.

"Can I..." I walked over and gestured to the empty seat beside her.

She stopped her little tap dance with her fingers and looked up at me. Smiling, she moved her books away from the empty table. "Yes, sure."

"Thanks," I said as I seated myself in the chair, my long awkward legs bent neatly under the desk so I wouldn't accidentally kick the person in front. Turning around in my seat, I pulled out my pencil case and placed it on the table. "Erm...hi, I'm Rachel."

"Hi, I'm Emily." She said with a smile, her eyes staying at something on my table. "Aww, that's so cute!"

I followed her gaze and found that she was looking at a keychain hanging from my pencil case. It was a laminated picture of a grey cat. "She's Meredith."

"She's your cat?" She asked with wide eyes. "I wish I had a cat."

She stared at the picture lovingly, looking genuinely interested in Meredith.

"You can always adopt one at the shelter, beats the ones sold at pet shops," I said and looked at the picture of Meredith too.

"Nah, my mum doesn't like furry animals," she sighed and moved her gaze on me. "You're so lucky!"

She looked really friendly. And there was a feeling I couldn't quite place but I felt comfortable talking to her, not like how I always felt when I talk to people after the middle school bad memory. Maybe a friendship is blooming between us.

Giving another look at her, I took a deep breath. "—or you could drop by my place and get to know her," I gave it another thought and added, "after I get my mum's permission."

Her eyes got even wider and she gave me a huge smile. "Really?"

At that moment, a clicked sounded from the door. Instinctively, Emily and I, along with all the other students in the class, turned towards it, watching as our teacher walked through the opened door into the classroom. With her head lifted a little higher than a person normally would, she glanced—I thought it was more like a glare—at us like a lioness surveying her territory and we were intruders. "Okay, in the next few minutes as I'm laying out a few rules you should obey in my class at all times, I do not want to hear anyone talking, understand?"

Emily and I exchanged looks and nodded—rather disappointingly—along with the whole class.

She looks like a great teacher to have fun with.

While the lioness was talking, I poked on Emily's arm. "Really," I tried to whisper as softly as I could, one look at the lioness proved that I was safe.

Emily was confused for a second but her frown instantly transformed into a smile. "Thank—"

"Who's talking?" The lioness roared, her eyes swept across us as I pursed my lips to refrain from laughing. Emily, on the other hand, pretended to support her head with her hand. But sitting beside her, I could see she was actually trying to cover up her laugh as well.

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Little note:

So what do you think about this chapter? Tell me in the comments below with your thoughts and maybe give it a vote if you like it? :P

Well, I kinda brought up the topic of bullying here which is what a lot of people had gone through and shouldn't have. It still baffles me how anyone can hurt others on purpose, I just don't get it. And yeah, most bullying cases are usually because of people not looking "good" enough and for most, not being "thin" enough. But what most people don't usually talk about is how people who are "too tall" and "too thin" are being poked fun at too and it hurts all the same, just like Rachel. I know that was just a tiny part of this chapter, but still, I hope the message is there: STOP BULLYING!

Okay, now that the serious part is done with, I just want to say that my next update will probably be on...next Wednesday/Thursday/Friday depending on how free I am and which time zone you're in. xD 

So for the meantime, I just want to thank wolfess21, Menky100_Write, j-orenda for being such awesome friends!