Chapter One

The intro...uhmmm...yeahhh...

            Chapter One

            The whispers had been going on all day, to be honest. They had started only yesterday, but, as per usual in a high school setting, they had made their way across the ears of the student body like wildfire. Murmurs of a new student, a mental patient who had tried to kill herself one month ago, on a Saturday, reportedly on the date of March second, forced their way through all other idle gossip and became the talk of Rockview High School.

Some of the stories I caught in the hallways or during study time in class were ridiculous and varied from storyteller to storyteller. Some said she shot herself in the head but had miraculously survived. Sometimes it was a shotgun, while others claimed a pistol to be her weapon of choice. A few people reported having seen her jump in front of a moving train, only to stand witness as a heroic doctor leaped in front of her and swept her off before the train could make contact with her body. A few more practical rumors cited an overdose with three weeks in the mental ward, but the most popular version involved a hanging while her mom was at work.

            Rockview was a school that very much matched its name. It was boring and unremarkable, and in our mountain-filled slap of land called Utah, rocks seemed to be something we had an extra abundance of. There was nothing here that made us special or fun to visit, so the people who occupied the town and the students who attended the schools had been born here. Our biggest “hang out” spot was a local McDonald’s, and we were the town you happened to drive through while on your way to Salt Lake City.  Most of us having known each other since childhood, new students were rare, and ones with exciting backstories a once-in-a-life-time spectacle. So, Cora Valor, a girl no one had yet met, became the center of conversation. 

            On the day that Cora actually arrived at Rockview, the murmurs and whispers went wild.

            “I saw her,” a girl I sat across from in Honors English whispered enthusiastically, disregarding the fact that our teacher, Mrs. Jacobs, was giving a lecture. “She had scars all over her wrist! One of them was even fresh, it looked like.” I peeked up at them over my glasses, examining the girls absentmindedly as they described the new arrival. My inattentive stare didn’t go long before it was noticed.

            “Stop staring, Lewis,” My classmate demanded, vibrant blue eyes narrowing. I hated how people at this school said my name; it was like I was considered less of a human, like I was a disgusting subspecies they couldn’t believe was allowed in their school walls. Still, being a person who’s never been good at all with words and even worse with confrontation, I simply frowned and turned back towards the teacher.

            Maybe it should have stung more, but I was now a junior in high school, so I was unfortunately used to this sort of treatment.  

            I’d never really had a friend. I had a few people that I sometimes held conversation with, such as Jack, a short blonde boy in my class who was much less than intelligent. But I’d always been a solitary person; I kept away from crowds, did my group projects alone, and spent all my spare time reading.

In my 17 years, I’d done a lot of reading. Not just books, really, fiction has never interested me much. Mostly, I read articles and newspapers. It wasn’t really…fun. But it was busy-work. And it’d given me access to a bunch of seemingly useless facts. I didn’t know everything. In fact, there wasn’t a single topic in the world that I knew everything about…my mind was just broken bits of information. Facts that didn’t connect. Most of the time, they weren’t even helpful. And they could become distracting, because I’d said more than a few of them in conversation, causing for odd looks and awkward silences, reactions varying depending on how left-field the fact happened to be. It wasn’t that I was socially inept. A better way to phrase it would be I just wasn’t experienced. Not that anyone seemed to want to offer me a chance to be friends with them.

            But I’m not bitter.

 

             “You know, Lewis,” My mother had oftentimes told me, standing at the kitchen counter as I did my homework and she did her housework. “You would be so handsome if you just cleaned up…maybe got some contacts, actually did up your hair…dressed like you cared…”

            Glancing down at my Pakistani-toned hands, I reviewed my appearance mentally: flat black hair, dull brown eyes hidden behind the glare of thick-rimmed glasses…thin and standing at roughly 5”8’. I take primarily after my father in build, but I got my mother’s colorings. I wasn’t built and attractive or even boyishly handsome. I was just…Lewis. But my mother seemed convinced I was destined to be popular, if only I tried…

The class gradually fell silent as everyone got buried into their work, and I quickly forgot about any of my peers’ resentment that accompanied the mention of my name. The hush was interrupted only by the sound of the door, and a small figure shuffled her way through it and towards the teacher. I watched, curious, and listened carefully.

            “Hi, I’m the new student,” the girl said, voice barely above a murmur. “My name is Cora.” The teacher, being inevitably effected by the rumors, watched Cora carefully for a lingering second, as if sizing up the best way to say hello without potentially making her lash out in the middle of class. When she seemed to have made up her mind, she stood up and gave Cora’s shoulder a pat, signaling for her to face the class.

            When Cora turned towards us, the whole class fell silent. She wasn’t a remarkably pretty girl, so it wasn’t an awestruck silence. It was an awkward, judging silence. It clearly made her uncomfortable, as she turned her eyes down towards her feet and squirmed under the collective wary gaze that surrounded her.

            She didn’t seem like the type of girl who would try to end her life. Cora had the sort of the face that I thought could easily fit any sort of personality. The shy best friend in a teen novel, or maybe the spunky protagonist. Everything about her outward appearance was brown. From her wide-set and rounded eyes, her coffee-tinted hair, to the ambiguous tone of her skin, just a shade too dark to be olive. Her face was round and endearing, the kind that just radiates a sort of meekness. Generally, she was cute, though bordering on a plain.

            “Everyone, this is Cora.” Mrs. Jacobs introduced, smiling at her students. “I expect you will treat her with kindness and respect.”

            Mrs. Jacobs wasn’t the kind of teacher you ignored when she said she expected something of you. She was a very understanding, patient teacher, and she didn’t implement many rules. But when she did, as she just had, you listened to them. I had always loved Mrs. Jacobs. She was, by far, my favorite teacher.

            Cora gave an awkward nod towards the class before taking the nearest empty seat. She slumped into the green plastic chair, hair shading her face and keeping her just out of view. She was so small, that part of me was convinced that, if she decided to, she could just curl up and vanish completely from sight.

I didn’t give Cora another thought for the next month. She was only in that single class with me, and, from what I saw, she wasn’t searching me out any more than I was searching her out. I kept myself busy the way I usually do; throwing myself into my schoolwork and reading in the time I wasn’t dedicating to school. Our next formal meeting was probably just chance…

“Can Lewis Wright please come to the office? Lewis Wright.” Our school secretary crowed over the loudspeaker. Ceremonial “Oooh’s…” echoes sounded throughout the room as my algebra teacher looked at me and gave me a nod, signaling permission to leave.

I stepped out of my classroom and walked briskly, eyes aimed down, towards the main office. I walked in and mumbled something about being called, before I was being waved towards an empty chair. I plunked down into it and took a quick glance around my surroundings; a poster about graduation on a wall over there, a small pocket calendar stood up on the secretary’s desk, displaying “March 10^th, 2013” proudly, Cora next to me, nervously tugging at her hair…

 “Do you know why we’re here?” She asked, voice as soft as her first day of school, not looking up from the chunk of hair she was teasing around her pinky finger.

“Uh, nope.” I answered, tapping on my knees. “Sorry.”
            “S’okay.”

I won’t go into detail about the next few minutes. It was just waiting. Quiet, awkward waiting.

“Uhm,” Cora’s tiny voice piped up about ten minutes later. I looked up, surprised to see her exiting the guidance councilor’s office. I hadn’t even seen her go in. “Mr. Rose says he’s ready for you…”

“Oh.” I answered. “…okay,” I offered her my nicest smile and shuffled in quickly, muttering a half-hearted “Thank you” as I shut the door.

“Good afternoon, Lewis.” Mr. Rose greeted from behind his large mahogany desk.

“Afternoon.” I muttered, plunking down.

“You haven’t been coming to your meetings.”

Oh, right, those. I hated guidance meetings. My mom thought they’d be good for my “mental health and social life”, but I was apathetic towards them. I didn’t have any dark demons to rid of, no secrets to confess. My existence was a simple, calm one. And I preferred it that way. 

“Why do I need them? You’re not a qualified therapist and I’m not a troubled student.”

A wry smile crossed Mr. Rose’s lips, “True.” He acknowledged, resting his elbow on the desk, and his chin in the palm of his hand. “But your mother really thinks seeing me will be what’s best for you.”

“She also thought mangos were what was best for me. I turned out to be allergic.” 

“I can’t help you if you don’t visit me, Lewis.” The middle-aged man argued, rubbing his temples irritably.

“Help me with what? A social life I don’t want?” I retorted, feeling as exasperated as he looked.

“Look…we’ll strike a deal.” He smiled a little. “Try to make friends with the new girl, Cora, and I’ll tell your mother you’ve been coming to our meetings…seems to me you could both use a friend.”

“I don’t care if you tell my mom.” He said, not to sass, just because it was true. I was indifferent.

“Please, Lewis? You might learn something new from her.”

He got me. I feel silent and weighed my options; I did like to learn, even from odd sources. And it was an easy way to avoid my mother’s social life lecture…plus, all I really had to do was promise to be her friend, right? If it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out.

Naturally, I didn’t know how purely educational being Cora Valor’s friend would be.

Author's Note

The first chapter :o Be nice. Tell me how to improve. I usually write third-person shorts, so this is really new for me...

Reviews

[Melody]

For not being used to writing in first person chapter books, it's really well done. I couldn't tell that you write short stories or that you're used to third person. I didn't see any grammar mishaps, or any awkwardness within the story. Lewis is well defined, and I can see a more defined Cora coming up. I like that you didn't have Lewis being a popular rich-a*s brat; but a straight-forward, blunt, non-caring, perfectly calm person who doesn't see him being a big player in the world. From the description, I was actually expecting it from Cora's POV, but then I was surprised when it was from somebody else's.

Great job. I hope to read more soon. :)

-Mel