So, it was August. After a pretty lackluster summer, I was bored and eager to start the routine again. And shit, man! I was going to graduate in 9 months... and I was ready to make the last year count.
In essence, I pulled off a pretty badass year. I took mostly fluff classes and I got to aid in the main office for an hour and a half a day. I took some college courses, I met some really amazing people, and I have a few stories worth telling. (Remind me to tell you about the flash mob...)
One class I really enjoyed was Ceramics. Now, I had already taken Ceramics at another school and got pretty heavy into it. My dad even bought me a tabletop pottery wheel and I logged quite a few hours in my basement throwing lopsided bowls while listening to Florence and The Machine. So, I figured I had the upper hand in this class and I could just have fun with it. This was only a first semester class.
The first day, I sat down at a table near the window. My spikey blonde-haired, scatterbrained art teacher was perched at her desk as she handed out some first day "get to know you" papers. I remember the two girls I sat with. Kimmy, a loud ginger-headed girl, on my left. And across from me, Brie.
Brie. Short for Gabrielle. Beautiful like her name.
She had deep, dark, curly tousled hair that flowed all around her face and to the middle of her back. She had a porcelain complexion and wore minimal make-up. She had sharp dark eyebrows and dark eyelashes batting around her murky hazel-green almond-shaped eyes. A gorgeous girl with a pretty smile, unassuming and seemingly unaware of how gorgeous she actually was. She was thin and petite with a pretty shape, maybe about 5'5 if I had to guess.
She didn't say much to me. But I was fascinated with her. I don't remember how, but I struck up a conversation with her. So I talked to her the first day, the second day, and every single day after that.
The more I talked to Brie, the more I loved her. I felt like she could really be a close friend of mine and I hoped I could make that happen. Brie was crazy smart. She was in mostly AP classes, but you could really hear it in the way she talked. I felt like we were on the same level, so she was easy to talk to. She had a clear, soprano voice and a musical laugh. Brie was a talented painter and an artist in every way... actually, she had a job doing face painting for a company that did festivals and fairs. (uhm, awesome, much? I worked at fucking Wendy's.) Although she had a rigid, structured attitude about mostly everything, she was very hippie chic. She always kept her hair in an easygoing style, usually some kind of solid colored peasant top, an easy pair of jeans, ballet flats, and she was always adorned with homemade necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings... oh, and not to mention the occasional henna tattoo on her dainty arms.
As time went on, we had fun. We made our pottery pieces and we laughed and talked and gossiped all 53 minutes of every day. I showed her how to throw on a pottery wheel. She sewed a feather into my hair. I bought her a pink stuffed elephant because that was her favorite animal. She hugged me in the bathroom because I was having a bad day.
Brie and I mostly had a good time, but sometimes, we didn't. Brie was very much a busy body... but that often made her condescending and self-righteous. She was dramatic and neurotic sometimes, and she never wanted any help. She just wanted to panic. And she complained a lot. I got irritated with her sometimes and I would snap at her, but it always blew over.
But honestly, 98% of the time, we were thick as thieves.
One thing we talked about a lot was our boyfriends. I had been with this guy, Mitchell, for almost 2 years, but even by August, I was over him and ready to move on. We were seldom happy with each other, but we had been together so long that the timing never felt right. Really, I just listened to her talk about her boyfriend, Andrew.
She and Andrew had been together a little longer than Mitchell and me, and she was thrilled to death about it. She had the occasional complaint, but mostly just talked about how great he was. One night, she slept over at my house, and I thought it was adorable the way she gushed about him.
As the semester went on, I met Andrew twice. Once in the hall and again at Homecoming. He was tall and very cute. He had a happy smile and a lively demeanor. At homecoming, I snapped a picture of all of us: Andrew, Brie, Mitchell and me. Happy as can be... (That's foreshadowing in case you didn't catch that.)
Good god, this is eerie...
Brie came to my house around Christmas... and I think that's the last time I've really talked to her.
This was us the day she came over. Sigh.
After spending such a happy semester with her, I hoped we have another class together. Turns out, we didn't. But... it was weird. I tried to text her, she wouldn't text back. I tried to call her, she never answered. In all honesty, I think she was just busy, but I was still sad that we weren't as close anymore.
Before second semester started in January, I got an awesome surprise. I was going to be in the main office 4th period AND 5th period. 5th period is a 3 part lunch period. So basically, I had all of 10 in the morning to 12:30 in the afternoon to hang out in the office and maybe and answer the phone. Maybe. Before, I only had 4th period in the office, so this was pretty cool.
The first day of the new semester, I swung open the office door... and who better to be sitting at the counter twiddling his thumbs? Andrew. I greeted him, tried to sit and talk to him, but he was quiet and unresponsive.
Sitting on the counter was a wrestling trophy our school had won in a tournament. When I first saw it during fall semester, it looked like this:
Yes kids, that is Tinkerbell on steroids.
When I first saw it, I laughed my ass off. Someone had dressed it up... in a fairy costume! Nice! A couple days later, I took it upon myself to redress him. I gave him a full-on ninja outfit, completely with a mask and nun-chucks. It was great.
Trying to make conversation with Andrew, I said, "Haha, that wrestling trophy looks hilarious." He didn't know I did it, so I sort of hoped he would accidentally compliment on how great my ninja costume looked. He responded, "Yeah, it does, but somebody took off the fairy costume I made for him."
Come on, does it get any better than that?
Yes it does, head on over to part 2 of this post! :)
