Chapter 2

Everyone around her was getting up and racing out of the classroom.

The bell must have rung, and Julie didn’t hear it. She was too caught up in her head. The class was over, and it was the end of the school day. Julie let out a deep sigh and gathered her books. She loved school so much that she would rather just stay there all day. She preferred the days that she had clubs or orchestra rehearsals so she could stay a little later.

She even liked it when she had to rush to work from school – anything to avoid having to spend the rest of the day at home. But that’s where she was headed today. She has to get to work on all her assignments that are piling up at this point in the school year.

With 4 AP exams coming up and a college-level accounting class on her plate, Julie had hours of homework to do that night. Julie walked to her locker and put in her combination. She was just grabbing her books and putting them into her backpack when Hailey tapped her on the shoulder.

If Julie’s goal was to blend in, Hailey’s must have been to stand out.

She is extremely tall with long, straight, blond hair that she kept down around her face. As she talked, she usually flipped it over her shoulder, probably for dramatic effect. She wasn’t in any of the AP or college-level classes because she didn’t want to be stuck around the same people all the time. She wanted to be a social butterfly, going from group to group and knowing everyone in the school. But despite their stark differences, Julie and Hailey were best friends. They met in kindergarten, and since then, they have been inseparable.

“Track got canceled for today. Want a ride home?” Hailey asked. “I’m heading out in a few minutes.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Julie responded. Julie didn’t mind taking the bus home from school some days, but she much preferred to have her friend drive her. Hailey turned 17 a month ago, at the end of February, so she could drive to and from school. Julie had her junior license, but for some reason, Salem High School only allowed students to park on campus if they had their full license, which meant they had to be 17.

Julie’s birthday wasn’t until September, so she wouldn’t be able to drive to school until the next year, her senior year. She didn’t mind, though. Hailey and Abby both drive and have their own cars. Whenever their schedules lined up with Julie’s, they would offer to drive her home. Abby picked Julie up every morning and drove her to school.

Julie enjoyed their time in the car early in the morning. They didn’t talk much, but they would stop for coffee at Starbucks; it was their morning routine.

Abby was staying after school today for the art honor society, so she rushed over to the art room right after AP psych was over. Usually, she and Julie would talk a little bit after class, but Julie didn’t even realize her friend was leaving. Abby probably wondered what was up with Julie, but then again, she probably knew that the lecture was hard for Julie to sit through. Maybe she was just giving her friend some space, some time alone. Honestly, the last thing Julie needed was time alone, though. She got herself into trouble when she started ruminating over stuff like that. But now that she had Hailey for company, she would be forced to get out of her head.

The girls walked to the student parking lot together and discussed their day. Julie and Hailey didn’t have any classes together, so they had a bit to catch up on each day.

“I’m so glad track got canceled. I’m exhausted today; all I wanna do is go home and take a nap.” Hailey complained. “I couldn’t sleep last night because I was up cramming for my trig test. That class is the death of me!”

“You know I’ve told you over and over that I’d help you with that stuff,” Julie reminded her. “I’ve already reviewed your homework for you and fixed the mistakes. It wouldn’t take that much time for us to just go over the stuff one extra time together so I could actually explain it to you instead of just giving you the answers.”

“But that,” Hailey pointed out, “would require me to focus even more of my time on that boring subject than I already do. And we both know all I want is for this class to be over.”

“I can barely keep myself awake when Mrs. Halper is lecturing about all the ways to apply sine, cosine, and tangent,” she explained. “She was talking about some sort of identity crisis today…”

“You mean the trig identities?” Julie asked. Without waiting for an answer, she said, “That’s important stuff, Hail! You should have paid attention. That’s going to be all over the Regents Exam in June!”

“I’ll tell you what. A couple of weeks before the Regents Exam, in early June, you can give me a few crash courses in trig so I don’t completely bomb the test. Will that make you feel better?” She asked.

They reached Hailey’s car before Julie could tell her that it would probably take more than a few crash courses to have all that material sink in, but she held her tongue. She couldn’t expect Hailey to be as dedicated to her academics as she was. They were different people, and that was part of why they got along so well. They evened each other out.

“Wanna stop at 11-11 for a latte?” Hailey asked.

“Definitely! I could so go for French vanilla.”

Hailey pulled into the 11-11 around the block from the school, and the girls got their coffee. They sipped them during the drive to Julie’s house. When they reached the driveway of 6 Francis Street, Julie gave her friend a quick hug, thanked her for the ride, and said she would see her tomorrow.