Loners Pt. 2

(Developing into novel length, bear with me)
Amidst the drought of August 2007, all five hundred and forty-seven students at Ventura High School in Texas prepared for an exceptionally early first day of school. Despite much objection from students and even parents, Hoover County School District was adamant that all three high schools in the district would begin school fifteen days earlier than elementary/junior highs. Most people thought the change was financial. The air conditioned buses they installed last year were eating fuel like the voracious teenage boys who occupied them. The seventy-five “new” computers circa 2003 were also costly to install. Not to mention, the district was compensating for a new super on the payroll shipped all the way from El Paso. The plan, formulated by said super, was to start the high schools earlier in the year to accommodate for a longer winter and spring break. This, in theory, was supposed to increase attendance and boost academic achievement. This, in actuality, was just another desperate attempt by the school board to get kids to show face in the classroom for money.
Students marched through the hallways at Ventura that fateful August 18th bedraggled, hot and lifeless. One could even say they were feeling spiteful. No one, not even the freshmen, had any first day of school jitters or overconfident optimism. Maria Mason usually fell into one of those categories, but on her first day of senior year she felt nothing. She hated her classmates, most of the teachers and abhorred any type of school function having to do with luau (which was oddly enough every theme).
History class 7:58 a.m., Maria was sitting quietly at her desk overhearing the kids behind her whisper, “We have a church mouse in homeroom”. Church mouse. Maria knew this was her nickname while at Ventura; funny thing was the kids never caught on that she knew. However, how could she not? Maria was, admittedly, the epitome of a shy Christian girl. Although almost all of the students and parents at Ventura were religious, Maria’s mother was the one of the few fundamentalist Christians. Her family didn’t even celebrate Halloween or any secular holiday for that matter. This was especially troublesome during elementary school when she had to be removed from the annual Spooks-Fest the school celebrated on Halloween. Supposedly, this was the most fun function of the year. It had games, a haunted house, blow-ups, cake walks, pie throws, crafts and there was always an area dedicated to teaching the monster mash and the dance from thriller. Many kids even began looking forward to the event after Labor Day. Maria, meanwhile, had to sit in the library watching nature videos with the sweaty, overweight librarian Ms. Costley who smelled like Taco Bell.
Diiiiiiiiing! The first period bell rang following Lola Harding’s entrance. She was wearing her infamous converse and an oversized light pink polo which looked like it once belonged to a corky uncle. Was it supposed to be ironic? That was the thing about Lola, one never knew. Maria eyed the blonde bombshell feeling envy as Lola walked effortlessly across the classroom. She wasn’t strutting, however her shoulders moved in such a way that her whole body swung. It almost appeared as though she was walking through the density of the air. She made her way to one of three empty chairs left, the one next to Maria. She could smell the lingering scent of menthols as Lola sat down which made Maria’s heart race. Mrs. Gray began welcoming procedures, but Maria couldn’t focus. Something about this girl on the right with her chin resting on her palm made her nervous. “You have a pencil?” the girl asked. Her voice was rough, yet soft. Hesitantly, Maria quietly pulled out a soft-lead pencil from her purse and handed it to her. A consuming fear overpowered her as the two made eye contact. “Thanks,” Lola said slickly grasping the pencil from her like it was a cigarette. Maria didn’t bother to ask for it back after class.