Little did we know - part 2

Lisa sighed inwardly again and turned to her teacher. "Do you have assigned seats?" Lisa asked, her hair falling in front of her eyes. "No! Sit wherever you like!" Translation- You get to sit wherever you want until class begins and I get so ticked off at you socializing kids and then I give you assigned seats. Lisa politely nodded and took a seat in the back corner. Ms.Jen eyed her, with the thought smothered all over her face- Oh, dear Lisa! You are one of those students huh? I`m gonna put you to the test, don`t worry.  In a normal situation, Lisa would give her death stare to the staring person, but in the adult world, you quickly look away and pretend that their eyes on your skin does not bother you or burn you. Somebody took a seat next to her- A familiar, delicate smile, pale skin, and strawberry hair. "Hi, Ash." The two back-seaters smiled fondly at each other- Not in a romantic way, of course, but Lisa and Ash had the I-can-tolerate-you friendship. Ash was just unsocial and shy, but Lisa wasn`t social because she was a misfit and she didn`t need to have friends anyways. Either way, the two shared a bond that shocked others because the both never talked to anybody. "Good morning. How does it feel to wake up at 7 in the morning after sleeping past noon for the past 3 months?" "Horrible. How does it feel to get rejected by a fellow unsocial and blonde?" The two laughed and Ash put in, "Horrible." Lisa sighed. Having Ash around was no different than being alone, but Ash wasn`t deadly silent. He was always humming or clicking his nails against the desk. "How was your summer?" Ash asked. Lisa sat up from slouching against the back of her chair and said, "Exceptional. Beach, pool, Disneyland." She lied, knowing Ash knew better than to believe her."DISNEYLAND?" Ash exploded with sarcasm. His green eyes widened before he gasped, "I have never been there." "How was your summer?" Lisa asked, finding nothing else to say. "I got dumped," He responded after hesitating. "Really? By who? I never knew you were dating anybody!" The blonde-haired boy leaned back and murmured, "I`d rather not say." "That`s okay.I`m sorry you got let go." The two fell silent, soaking in the cheerful voices of their reuniting peers until the morning bell rung, hence the beginning of class. After lectures of expectations throughout the whole day, it was finally seventh period- Art class. Lisa was lucky because last year she got this class and this year she did, too. Mr.Will embraced her uniqueness. He had a conference with the girl`s parents and warned them that she would be a handful soon. Mr.Will knew that Lisa didn`t like to sit in class- she liked to stand while doing her work and squat and kneel but never did she take a liking to her bottom touching that blue chair. Mr.Will knew Lisa didn`t handle authority well. Mr.Will knew she didn`t like to talk to people, other than adults that she could tolerate or enjoy being around. And he found a way to have everything work Lisa`s way, because he knew Lisa needed Lisa things and the Lisa way. This was why Lisa enjoyed art class. Mr.Will accepted who she was and didn`t force her to be a good student. The blonde-haired girl hugged her teacher who was standing in front of the class`s door which was covered in handprints of blue, yellow, red, and orange."Lisa! Welcome back!" The African man bellowed, his glasses jumping on his nose. Lisa let out a hum and entered the classroom, dragging along her fabric binder.

After introducing himself to his new students and going over the rules, he instructed the students to draw the best thing that happened over summer. In the previous years, Lisa happily drew her with her family on the beach or them in the house playing board games over the weekends. But during the winter that had passed, her mom took a new job that payed much more than her earlier ones. Her father had the choice to take a part-time job, but her father felt that he was supposed to be just as high and mighty as his wife, so he kept his full-time job as an architect. This meant that her summer was her home alone. Her summer camp closed down so that wasn`t an option, and she wasn`t old enough for a proper summer job except for babysitting- and no way would she pick up babysitting. So, instead of drawing something colorful and poppy like summer, she picked up a black sharpie and drew the word 'nothing' on her piece of paper in all caps, but it was a small set of letters. from the upper tips of the letters, she drew elegant, bird-worthy branches with swirls and layers. From the lower tips dripped black ink that filled the bottom page with a pool of blackness and the heavy scent of sharpie. Not wanting to make it look over-the-top, when she was done, she popped the cap onto the marker and set it down and waited for the time to be called. Mr.Will wandered over and looked down at her piece of paper. "Very graceful and simple. I like the use of balance in the center of the sheet that spreads minor focus over the rest of the paper with branches and.. ink?" Lisa nodded. "Thanks." Time had passed very quickly while she was focusing on her drawing. The bell rang just five minutes after Mr.Will noticed her drawing. Lisa scooped up her things, threw away the piece of paper of 'nothing'ness, and made her way across the hall, out the door, across the parking lot, and into portable 13 for Health Class. She could have sworn she was in the right classroom- Portable 13, Health Class, for Lisa and peers. She just didn`t know that she had Sophomores AND Seniors for peers. Ash was running his fingers through his strawberry red hair shyly as he spoke to a cheerful looking Senior boy who was sitting next to a group of fellow male Seniors. The Senior girls snickered in the back corner seats while the Sophomore girls sat in the opposite corner, whispering excitedly about how cute their senior peers were and how they wish this year wasn`t the only year they got to be with them. Lisa took a deep breath and ventured across the skinny room and to the teacher who looked around 25. She, according to Lisa`s guide, was Ms.Rudell. "Ma`am," The blonde-haired girl started, "Are these Seniors our peers or here to help you teach?" Ms.Rudell looked up, her brown ponytail swinging, and gave her a smile. "Uh, they are your peers! Uhm, take a seat please!" Lisa nodded, confirming that this teacher was a new one as she walked to the center of the seats and sat down. Each category of students- male Seniors, female Seniors, female Sophomores, male Sophomores, each took a corner section of the big cluster of seats. That left a few center seats for Lisa`s taking. The students continued to cheerfully chat about their first day of school and who the new people were, waiting for the bell to ring. It felt like ages until something happened- something that Lisa preferred not to happen. The ginger-haired Senior Ash was talking to sauntered over to Lisa and waved. "What?" Lisa asked, her eyebrows slowly lowering into a curious look. "I`m Jay," He said. His voice sure was smooth and heavenly but she assumed it was used for the wrong thing. Sweet-talking staff, making giggly girls giggle even more. "And?" Lisa asked, her face not changing the slightest. "Ash told me about you." "There`s nothing impressive about you and there`s nothing interesting about me." Lisa responded, wanting to look the other way and be done with this. "I`ll find something in you," Jay said. "Look, cocky dude, I come to school to learn and put myself through misery so I can feel even better at home. Not fall in love with some cliche popular guy who walks up to me and claims to be my best friend and more some day. No. Get away from me." Lisa was rambling, she knew that, but she got everything out that needed to be out and it felt nice. Jay looked bewildered. Slowly, he retreated back to his seat and didn`t face Ash or his friends. Silent. Good. Lisa guessed her new side-mission of school would be to silence all of the popular Seniors.