in an alternate reality...
~~September~~
Ah, September. The Target store clogged with students buying backpacks and notebooks. The exciting back-to-school feeling, the feeling that you were going to be a seventh grader. The air finally cooling off, a little bit.
My new blue JanSport backpack was filled with everything I could possibly need: workbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, a binder, and, of course, breath mints.
I had let the whole thing with Keely and Mia blow over; I couldn't start seventh grade without anyone to hang out with. I also started to act more grown up. My baggy Disneyland sweatshirts with Mickey Mouse on the front were replaced by scratchy wool sweaters and tailored denim jackets. My ratty sneakers were thrown out and now I was wearing things like brown sandals and pink flats. I treated my dry, chapped lips with balm, and colored my pale cheeks with my mom's blush.
On the first day of school I tugged on my just-meeting-the-dress-code red miniskirt and adjusted my cream colored tank top as I walked to my homeroom, Mrs. Edgar's class. I spotted Keely and Mia and rushed over.
"Hey guys. Who's your homeroom?"
They just smirk and start to walk away.
"What's going on, you guys?"
"Come on, Lulu. You look like you're TRYING to look older than you are. It has to be effortless. You're embarrassing us."
I fight back tears and rush into the bathroom to change into a pair of jeans that I brought just in case I was busted for my super short skirt. And, in a way, I was.
I was running to my next class, she was running to hers. We collided with such force that I was knocked to the ground. My elbow started bleeding and hurt like a monster.
"Ohmigosh I am so sorry I didn't know you were there omigosh I'm so sorry," the girl rambles.
I fight back tears for the second time that day. "It's fine."
"I"m Samantha."
"Lulu."
"We better get to our next class or we'll get busted."
"Yeah."
"See you at lunch, though?"
"Well, sure."
Wow, I thought. This girl must be desperate for friends. But, of course, I was too.
So I met her at lunch.
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