Golden

Hello everyone.
This story was mildly inspired by Freak Show by James St. James. You should give it a read, yeah?

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‘It vaguely reminds me of that mental institution they exiled poor Grams to after they caught her slipping ammonia into the coffee at one of those dreadfully boring dinner parties. I think everyone would have appreciated a sip or two.’ Annie thought to herself as she made her slow decent up what she considered a rather overdramatic flight of concrete stairs. ‘A window here or there couldn’t possibly kill anyone. I don’t think I’d be surprised if they classrooms were padded.”

All was calm outside of St. Francis at the moment. There was no life outside of the walls except a few underachievers pressed against the dull brown bricks as though if they willed an end to their teen angst hard enough, the walls would swallow them whole. A lone girl with sleep tangled hair and frantic eyes bolted past her up the stairs as though attending class was life or death. Annie couldn’t stop herself before a loud hum erupted from her throat. The words flowed from her lips not entirely against her will. “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say ‘Hello!’ Goodbye. I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”

Still humming contently, she skipped up the last few stairs, allowing herself a lavish twirl as soon as her ballet flats made contact with the top step. ‘Now that was how you enjoyed a warm Southern morning, not scurrying about like a chicken with its head cut off.’ But apparently, not everyone would agree with her optimistic outlook on the day. The teen angst-sters blew their smoke at her in distaste.

More amused than distraught that her first welcome to St. Francis had been so cold. Annie curled her bony fingers around the metal push handle of the door and took a deep breath. Why she was so nervous was beyond her, since she’d never let the public opinion sway her much. ‘Then again,’ she mused, her grip on the handle tightening until her knuckles turned paper white. ‘A new school must always be somewhat nerve racking. Even the most composed of sophisticates could easily be drug down and trampled by locker room gossip and raging hormones.’ As uneasiness poisoned her stomach, Annie took another deep breathe and silently reassured herself. ‘But that’s no way to think old girl. You’ve done this more than once and you’ve been perfectly fine before.’ And with that, Annie gave the door a faithful push.

The halls were as calm as the exterior of the building at the moment, but she was too distracted with the obnoxious yellow and green pastel to paint job to be thankful for the lack of chaos. It was lucky she hadn’t observed it from outside. She was unsure that if she had, she would have been able to force herself through the doors. Sure, she’d heard of yellow being able to promote learning and the color green for vigor during her mother’s ‘natural energy’ stage but really. The painted bricks were oozing eye sores and she was just barely able to shake her attention from them. She possibly could have stood their all day with her mouth gaping madly like a landed fish.

As she forced herself one step ahead of the other in search from room 305, up a set of faux marble print stairs, down a yellow speckled tile hallway she could only affectionately refer to as the ‘The Golden Brick Road’ after all of the Munchkins collectively vomited all over it, and past a sea of dull teal painted lockers one could see for miles, it became clear. She was honestly stuck in Public School Hell.

“School is not a fashion statement Anna,” she reminded herself primly with a voice that sounded a suspicious amount like her mothers. “And it could be much worse. There could be random fires littering the halls, a product of riots of course, and gang symbols written on the walls. Yes, this could much worse.” ‘Now if only I could stop with the overdramatic. They doesn’t help matters much. Then again, neither does standing outside of my first hour class talking to myself…’

With one more deep breath to keep the blood flowing and to muster up all the courage she possibly could, Anna slipped quietly into the door hoping to go relatively unnoticed, but of course she had no such luck. Like moths to a flame, 30 teenage heads rose simultaneously at the sound of the door being opened in hopes it would be something that would allow them escape.

‘Poor little lambs,’ she cooed at them in her head, thought kept a death grip on the sheet of paper confirming she was to be placed in this class. ‘They all look like they’re waiting in line to be slaughter and I just ruined their only chance of survival. Well, pish-posh. At least there are no padded walls like I’d highly expected. Things can’t be so horrible.’

‘Hello sir, you’re Mr. Schaffer correct? Well I do believe that this is my new first hour. How very delightful, is it not? I’m sure we’ll all just become the best of friends.’ Flashing them a bit of the pearly whites always helps your cause some Annie had come to find. ‘Polite but not stiff. Charming but not overbearing. Provocative but not slutty.’ The thought that none of that had really come out of her mouth was just a flicker across her brain. She’d never except defeat. Instead of her golden little speech, she’d just loosened her grip on the sheet of paper and silently held it out to him. ‘I’m the poor little lamb in this situation, aren’t I?’

“Ah, Anna Eastman. They told me you’d be coming.” Teacher man gave her what she could only assume was his attempt at a friendly smile. It looked more like a child molesters leer if you asked her. Mr. Schaffer was a stout man with a balding head of curls and a bit out a beer belly he seemed to try to conceal why wearing his pants up too high, his belt too tight. “Why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself.” And she hated him.

She gnawed viciously at her bottom lip. The ferocity of the act reminded her of a lion disemboweling its Wildebeest prey. Letting go of the abused flesh only momentarily to nervously clear her throat. Such a disgusting little habit if she did say so herself. ‘Um, I’m Anna or Annie or whatever really. I moved here from California but I’m originally from Seattle…” ‘I must look like a ghost,’ she thought in dismay when she caught glance of how her normally sun kissed skin paper white. And clammy. ‘A ghost that’s sweating like a whore in church to boot. Great.’

“Why don’t you just take a seat…” Mr. Schaffer said finally only to trail off, the devil ending his torture. It was clear now that he was having a bit of dismay himself. Serves the bastard right for putting her on the spot when she clearly wasn’t ready to be witty.

Her eyes scanned the room with him. All the seats were filled, table partners already assigned. It was a typical lot. A sturdy wall of manly jock meat in the back, where they could clearly fuck around, sleep, whatever and not hear a single protest from their fat little Teacher Man. All bronze, no brain. Hardly the type of companionship she sought. Next there were a solid row of the Cheerleader Assassin types. Saccharine sweetness. Again, all boobs and no brains. There were a few seemingly normal kids scattered here and there. She was thankful for their presence yet bored stiff at the same time. Pity.

And then, the angels shined down upon her with their harps and whispers hymns. Front left corner away from the same old high school picture, sat ‘him.’ ‘No, no, no. Not my pierced and teased hair god coming to whisk me away. He’s so much better…’

“The only empty seat is right there. I have no issue with it.” Annie smiled sweetly at the Teacher Man before practically bouncing over to claim her new seat. She slapped her faux fur leopard front tote down on the table and smiled brightly at the boy. He lips stayed pressed into a thin line. Distrust rolled off of him in radio active waves and Annie could help but cringe mentally in silent pity for the boy. The folks around here didn’t quite seem to be the excepting, new age guru type. Well she’d be sure to claim her stake on this fine piece of friendship reality. He was sure to be her own personal Alaska. At first scoffed at, written off as a useless purchase but they’d see.

“Hello darling. I must say, that sweater is fabulous,” she leaned over and whispered to him. She could feel eyes burning holes in her back, as though daring the new girl to keep speaking to their freak of the week. It only prompted her to lean in a little further and continue. “Marc Jacobs, correct?”

“You know your designers.” The tightly pressed seam of his lips loosened to form a pleasant half smile. It made Annie’s smile grow. “I like that in a girl.” He paused cautiously before telling me, “I’m Devon, my dear.”

She smiled back. A real smile. “I’m Annie. A pleasure.”

“Mr. Summers,” Mr. Teacher Man cut in, placing a heavy hand on their table with a slight scowl on his face. “If you could please refrain from distracting Ms. Eastman. It’s her first day here and I’m sure it’s not going to be easy for her to get into the loop.”

‘Who ever agreed to give this man a teaching degree needs to be shot.’ Annie could barely contain her own scowl which threatened to boil over and cook the entire class alive. ‘There goes any chance of me actually enjoying Government and Law.’ A few deep breathes later, she was stable enough to look over to Devon and flash him a soft smile. But it appeared the damage had already been done. Staring straight ahead, he slipped back into his distracted little world.

The rest of the class hour proved to be rather dull. Mr. Teacher Man rambled on and on in a pathetic attempt to educate. Annie chose to amuse herself by drawing a stick-figure version of herself being killed her various situations. ‘Oh if only the Gods could be so kind to me at this moment.’

Her stupor was broken by a tap on her shoulder, embarrassingly making her jump at the contact. ‘I should really try to be more aware of my surroundings. One of these days I’m going to get raped, or eaten by a wild animal, or something…’

“Are you alright? The bell rang and class is over you know.” Her eyes raised to the smooth voice, only tinged slightly with that Country Bumpkin twang that had annoyed her to no end since she’d arrived in the miserable state of South Carolina.

By god, the boy was beautiful. With golden brown hair that fell into his eyes in an entirely endearing way and a set of shining baby blues, he was to die for. He was built perfectly with board shoulders and a tapering waist. She’d bet anything without that shirt on, he’d be perfectly defined.

‘The high school heart throb. How generic.’

“I’m fine,” Annie sighed, standing up and arching her back slightly out of habit, to stretch out. “I guess I spaced out pretty good.. Thanks for pulling me out of it and such.”

He smiled at her with a tooth paste commercial smile. “Dude, I know what you mean. This class is so boring.” He paused, as if thinking something over before he asked, “What class do you have next? I’d be happy to walk you.” Another pause. “You know, you being new and all.”

‘Oh please, you silly boy. I know you’re type all too well and I’d have to be a complete idiot to let you within ten feet of my person. Mr. Charm-The-Panties-Off-Every-Girl-Her-Mother-And-Their-Granies.’ She slipped her bag over her shoulder and took a step towards the door. “I have Chemistry is 211. I passed it on my way up here, so I think I can manage on my own.”

The look of ‘nobody has ever rejected me’ disbelief was clear on his face for only a split second before he covered it up with another smile. It almost made her break. “Well then, if you need someone to sit with at lunch then…”

“Alright. Maybe. Thanks. Bye.”

And she bolted.