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Chapter 2: Moving on, new school, new life?

The day of my descent into middle school came, after what was a pleasantly uneventful summer. No school meant all the possibilities of avoiding BJ's - you see what I did there? I crack me up. - bitch squad. I spent all of my time reading, writing or drawing, and hanging out in  A-Rods basement. There was no chance I was going to chance a run in with those hyenas if I could help it, and the hill we all lived on was small.

On that fateful first day of middle school I learned something that made me want to both dance with joy, and puke, just a little bit, into my mouth. B, the bitchy, ever present, beautiful demon and bane of my existence over the last year.... Had moved away during the summer. She ruined my whole year! She started things that would and could never be undone, she ruined J for pete’s sake! And then just like that, in the blink of an eye she was gone, poof, erased from my existence, but not from my memories. 

I watched J wander the hallowed halls of our new middle school, alone, troubled… dreary; and my stupid soft heart actually felt bad for her, can you belive it? But I wasn’t letting her anywhere near me, which wasn’t hard because thankfully, miraculously, we had not a single class together. Oh she tried to get close a few times before giving up and moving on, but I stayed strong! I wasn’t making that mistake again, I knew who she really was now.

I didn’t have any of the OC in my new homeroom, we were all spread out, and it was an extremely uncomfortable first day for me. Stuffed in a class like a sardine, surrounded by strangers that all seemed to know each other. Except for one other girl, I saw her in the other corner, face blotchy, eyes red and puffy, sniffly nose… she’d been crying. I waited for the class to swoop in like vultures, with their mean and beady eyes. I watched, I waited, I expected it; but it never happened. No, instead a group of girls went over to her.. and just started talking, like there was nothing happening. Like she hadn’t just been washing her face with tears. They were nice to her, they hugged her, I stayed in my corner watching.

I walked to the bus stop with A-Rod after school, he’d come to pick me up from my home room, and man oh man we got some curious looks. I was still a chub, and I had the MOST questionable sense of style. And my hair? It looked like I had a pyramid of ramen noodles on top of my head. I’d convinced my mom to let me get a perm over the summer (with blonde highlights of course), mostly to tame my frizzies, and let me tell you.. I didn’t know what I was doing with it. But I mean, that’s not particularly pertinent to this story...

So yeah, A-Rod grabbed me from class and he’d done some growing up over the summer. I mean, he’d always been a cute kid, shiny bouncy black hair, deep brown, almost black eyes, a GORGEOUS smile. But he got taller over summer break, and somehow managed to both slim down and fill out at the same time. By the start of school, I’d dare to say he’d become a real babe, people still say babe right? So there he was, this gorgeous boy, a potential heartthrob even, picking up the short, chubby, pale girl with ramen noodles on her head. I don’t think anyone in class had really noticed my wallflower ass up until then. 

“Sara!!!” Hollered A-Rod when he saw me come out the door, violently tackling me with love, and almost knocking over a handful of other kids in the process. 

They stared, but I beamed, I didn’t care who was watching. He was so excited to see me, like a puppy who’d been left alone all day and his owner finally walked through the door. How could I not let that infectious happiness take over me as well? I was damn happy to see him too. 

“A-Rod!” I shouted back, linking arms with him and skipping away to our lockers, ignoring the curious glances that I could still feel coming from the other kids. I could just feel that I wouldn’t be the wallflower I was that day, the next day; and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it just then. But I let that fear go for the moment, I just let myself enjoy A-Rod’s company and our chat about our first day in middle school. 

The next day was pretty uneventful, but I was right, I wasn’t such a wallflower anymore, I was noticed... and it wasn’t awful. For the most part my class was full of some pretty nice people. I mean I know there must have been kids I didn’t like, or who didn’t like me, but the fact that I can’t even remember them; it’s good. 

That day I made a point of sitting beside El, the crying girl. I even introduced myself. We became quick friends, and in turn we both became part of the group of girls from the previous day. I had a posse, it was small, and they were kind. I didn’t forget about the OC, but we all slowly drifted apart. We were still friends, but we weren’t as tight as we used to be. With so many new people around, with not being together all day like we used to be, we just all found new primaries. It was inevitable really, when you think about it. 

After a few uneventful, dare I even say ‘normal’ months, I was pretty much back to myself again. No, I was better than my previous self! I was happy, I was free. I didn’t notice J anymore, even in passing. I think she stopped noticing me too. I started to gain confidence, it was a foreign feeling I had never been familiar with before. 

One morning while I was sitting at my desk, waiting for class to start, a new girl walked in. The first thing I noticed was that she was beautiful, stunningly so. The second was that she looked absolutely terrified. I knew the feeling, and I knew it well. The bell rang, and she was pushed into the room by the rest of my classmates. She took one look around, locked her eyes on me, and then scrambled to take the seat next to me as fast as she could.  

For our story's anonymity, she will be herfore referred to as Bec’s, and she became my new best friend, for the time being. Isn't it funny? How as kids we can just pick up new people like it’s nothing? But as adults, it’s not easy to do that. I REALLY cannot do it, I’m getting jittery just thinking about it. But perhaps that’s not the norm, perhaps it’s just because people make me incredibly uncomfortable nowadays. 

Well either way, Bec’s and I became besties. The new Sara and J, compatible as PB&J. We were Captain and Bucky… Yeah I know how that went down; the point is we were the best of friends, for now.  We quickly shared all of our deepest darkest secrets, which wasn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds. The whole J debacle was the only thing I had going for me in the deep dark secret department, and I mean it wasn’t even a secret. My secrets are much more interesting these days. 

Bec’s and I spent all of our free time together, mostly at her place because it was just WAY cooler than my house. She also had better snacks. On occasion we would hang around El and the girls, but for the most part it was just the two of us. 

Over the course of the year A-Rod and I had started to drift apart. He’d found a group of boys to hang with, and they were the IT group. He’d even gotten an after school job, yeah…. that was a thing then, kids could work! Oh the humanity, I’m showing my age again. Both of those things, they took up a lot of his time.  So Bec’s, she was my new person.