Secrets chp2 & 3

chp 2
The first day of school began, like all the other ones, with chaos. People screaming, crowded halls, freshmen running to find their classes. Veronica found her locker, dumped her coat in there, and headed for class, listening to her ipod to block out the noise.
         She made her way around a group of girls that looked like they had just stepped out of an ad in a fashion magazine. Short jean skirts showed off their long, tan legs, which were accentuated by their pointy stiletto heals. Flirty tops showed off  slightly more cleavage than the dress code allowed and emphasized their skinny hour-glass bodies.  Their hair was long and shiny, not a strand out of place. Not a zit to be seen on their faces either.
         Veronica looked down at her worn jeans and sneakers. Her sneakers were clean and while they weren’t brand new they didn’t look too old.  She wore an old three-quarter length red shirt--the one thing she had purposely picked out that morning--and fortunately hadn’t gotten anything on it yet.   
         She glanced at a mirror outside the third floor girls' bathroom. Her curly brown hair was up in a pony tail, with loose strands going everywhere.  Her brown messenger bag was crinkling her red T-shirt. Her jeans hung more loosely on her than last year. Of course, that could be due to the events of the past summer.  She had minimal make-up on. Just a little mascara and that was only because Maddie had insisted on her wearing it a year ago in an attempt to make her more “girly looking.”
         Definitely not very girly looking today, she thought to herself, as she continued walking towards her first period class. 
         That morning past in a blur, as most first days do, and by 11:30 Veronica found herself in the cafeteria looking for a place to sit.
         “V! Hey V!” a voice called to her. It was Abby. “Over here!”
         Veronica had met Abby in middle school.  They were assigned to choose partners for a science project the first week of school and Abby had walked over and introduced herself. 
         “Hi,” Abby had said cheerfully. Her smile showing off her new braces. “I’m Abby.”
         “I’m Veronica,” Veronica had said shyly as she stared at this girl’s outfit.  Hot pink top, jean shorts with blue and black striped tights, and black Converse sneakers. Top it all off with long, straight, red hair.
         “That’s a cool name,” Abby had said. “Like a character in a soap opera. I wish my mom would’ve given me a name like that. But I got stuck with Abigail.“ She made a face of disgust. “Abby for short. Do you wanna be partners?”
         All of this was said with in one breath it seemed and it took Veronica a second to realize that she had asked her a question.
         “OK,” Veronica had said and their unlikely friendship had started from there. Abby and Veronica were polar opposites. Abby was outgoing and crazy--qualities she liked to express in what she wore.  Bright yellow tights with green shorts, turquoise eye shadow that matched her nail polish and shoes--Veronica never saw her wear the same outfit twice. Veronica on the other hand, was shy and quiet. She was the one who worried about following the rules and staying out of trouble, whereas Abby seemed to make her own set of rules as she went. Abby was free, something Veronica always wished she could be. She hoped the more she hung around Abby, one day she would figure out the secret to it.
         Abby was the only person Veronica had ever told that she was an orphan and lived in an orphanage. She had told her the summer they started high school.  Abby was upset with her because for the 3 years they had been friends, Veronica had never let her come to her house or spend the night or anything like that. She didn’t even know her parents names.
         “That’s so cool,” Abby had said when Veronica first told her. “I mean, not that your parents are dead and all, but I’ve only read about that kind of thing in books.”
         Veronica told her everything that summer--almost everything, some memories were just too painful. And Abby had promised to take what she told her to her grave.
                  “V, over here!” Abby was waving her arms. Veronica came over to one of the senior tables where Abby and eight other smiling girls were. Veronica was friends with a few of them and the rest were quickly introduced. She sat down and Abby proceeded--very excitedly--to ask everyone about their summers. Who went where, saw what, dated who. Veronica soaked it all in. Moments like this made her feel like she was normal just like them.
         Almost.
         That is, until it was Veronica’s turn.
         “So what did you do this summer?” Mindy Setters asked her as she tucked her strait, blonde hair behind her ear. Images swept through veronica’s head. Threatening looks, sounds of hands punching, slapping, groping... She had to consciously tell herself not to look down. She knew her three-quarter length sleeves hid any remaining bruises, but it felt like everyone else could still see them.
         She could see Abby looking at her out of the corner of her eye. There was worry on her face.
         Veronica smiled. “Oh uhm, I basically stayed in Capetown. Worked and all that stuff. I did go to the beach a lot, though.”
         “Any guys?” the girl with the red hair and freckles whose name began with a L--Linda? Lucy?--asked.
         “All the good ones must have migrated somewhere for the summer,” Veronica replied, surprised that after the summer she’d had, she could still make people laugh. Under the table she could feel Abby squeeze her hand. She squeezed it back as Abby changed the subject. Veronica slowly let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.
         See? You can do this, she told herself. You’ve been keeping secrets for 12 years. One more year should be a breeze. 
         Only this year the secret was much bigger.
Chp 3

         The first two months of school went by fairly quick, and before Veronica knew it, it was November.  She stared out the window of her second block English class watching the first snow fall of the season, her fingers entangled in her long brown hair, lost in her own world.
         She was thinking about them again, her parents. Did they like snow? Did they like to watch it fall the way she did? To see it on the ground, sparkling like thousands of tiny diamonds?
         She felt under the sleeve of her gray hoodie for the bracelet she always wore.  It wasn’t anything special. Just a gold chain with the word LOVE engraved into it and a light pink gemstone next to the letters.  She’d had it lengthened several years ago so that it would still fit her wrist. It was one of the few things that made her feel close to her parents. It was as if just by touching it she could feel all the love they had for her radiating from it.  It was like--
         “Class!” Mrs. Edwardson’s voice disrupted her thoughts. “We have a new student. Jason Michaels.”
         Veronica hadn’t even noticed him come in. He had chocolately brown skin, short hair, and dark eyes. He wore nice jeans--not too baggy but not the tight kind either--and a light blue T-shirt with a name of one of those stores in the mall on it.
         “Hey,” he said, looking around at the twenty-six new faces starring at him. His gaze landed on Veronica and their eyes met for a second before she averted her eyes from his curious stare.
         “Jason, you may sit behind Veronica in the back,” Mrs. Edwardson said, pointing to the one empty seat in the classroom. He walked over to his seat, giving her a smile as he past. She returned it with a smaller, half smile, more distant that his. She didn’t have time for guys, she reminded herself. She didn’t have time to get attached. Because usually when she got attached, then she got hurt.
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         “Oh my gosh,” Abby was saying in lunch. “Have you seen the new guy? Jason something?”
         The other girls at the table shook their heads.
         “He’s in my English class,” Veronica said.
         Abby’s eyes got big, like they always did when she got excited. “Oh my gosh. He’s in my first block calculus class--which by the way, who decided that that would be a good class to have at eight in the morning? But isn’t he gorgeous!”
         “”What’s he look like?” Mallory Davis asked, looking up from the text message she was trying to hide from the assistant principal walking around.
         “Well, I didn’t get a close look at him,” Abby began. “Mr. Willis had him seated at the other end of the room just like that. But he’s real cute. Dark skin, dark brown eyes, tall, the works.”
         “What about you, V?” one of the girls named Lindsay asked. “Did you get a good look?”
         Veronica shrugged. “He sits behind me.”
         “Directly?”
         Veronica nodded.
         “Well?!”
         “He’s got a nice smile,” she said after a minute.