Playing With Fire

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, held it for a few moments...and finally let it out. I looked around at my surroundings: a high school filled with unfamiliar faces. I looked up at my older brother, Clayton, who was standing next to me, busy already socializing with some friends he made at summer football camp. I rolled my eyes and began walking towards the front office of the high school, my cowboy boots clicking loudly on the title floor. I paused, tried to gain false confidence by drawing my shoulders back, and opened the door.

“Hi, my name is Cailey Jo Nash. It’s my brother and I’s first day,” I said to the woman behind the desk, Clayton scurrying in behind me before the door closed.The heavyset woman looked us up and down, observing our flannel shirts, jeans and cowboy boots. She looked back down at the stack of papers in front of her.

“I only see one Nash in the new student pile, that’s yours,” she said as she handed me a single piece of paper with a short list of classes on it.

She began to scan the pile again when Clayton spoke up, “Oh, my last name ain’t Nash. It’s Marshall, Clayton Marshall.” The woman looked up at him again, furrowing her brow at his incorrect grammar. Clayton’s drawl was much thicker than mine, considering his work experience on the farm was a lot more extensive than my own.

“Where are you moving from, Mr. Marshall, Ms. Nash?” she asked, obviously picking up on something other than west coast slang.

“Missouri,” I answered quickly. The woman pulled out a piece of paper, presumably Clayton’s schedule. She handed it over the desk to him and smiled insincerely.

“Ms. Nash, your first class is out this door, to left, and all the way down that hallway. It’s the second to last door on the right. Mr. Marshall, you have gym first. Go out this door, look to your right, you’ll see the big, red double doors. Have a good first day,” the woman said as we turned to walk out the door.

“Uh, for real? If that’s how everyone is gonna treat us, I’ll end up-” Clayton interrupted me. I looked down at my boots, already knowing what he was going to say to me.

“You won’t end up doing shit, Cailey Jo. I ain’t gettin’ you out of trouble here, not anymore. You’re a big girl, I won’t save you from getting your ass beat,” he rolled his eyes and walked away from me before I had the chance to reply. I stood there for a moment, attempting to regain my thoughts. How was I going to make it in this city? This was nothing like home. Everyone knew everyone. I slid my way through high school because I’d known every teacher since I was in diapers. You knew every boy on the football team, and the baseball team consisted of the same boys. All we did was hunt, fish, plant, harvest and watch the high school football team. I guess the saying was true, everyone does die famous in a small town.

I trudged into my first class and took the first empty seat I found. The seats started filling quickly with girls wearing skirts and heels, football players and guys who wish they were football players.

Luckily, a girl sat next to me who didn’t look half bad.The girl had short brown hair and glasses. I noted her faded blue jeans, black Chuck Taylor’s and her black Misfits t-shirt. I nodded to myself in agreement with her music tastes. I may look like some honky ass redneck, but I love some punk rock. She caught my stare and furrowed her brow at me.

“Take a picture cowgirl, it’ll last longer,” the girl said smugly as she rolled her eyes and looked away.

My mind raced a million miles an hour once I heard those words. Trying to remind myself of what Clayton said, we can’t get out of everything here. But seriously, this girl is actually going to try me on my first day? I’m really going to have to make a girl cry on my very first day in California? I contemplated my choices. My mom is going to be furious if I get suspended on my first day. But do I really care?

“No thanks, a picture of you definitely isn’t worth keeping in my memory,” I shot back, smiling to myself. I saw the girl’s shocked reaction out of the corner of my eye, and was extremely satisfied with my choice. The girl tilted her head back and smiled, obviously taking a liking to my smartass mouth.

She waited a few moments before continuing. “I’m Autumn, nice to meet you,” she held out her hand. I looked over before finally shaking her hand.

“Cailey Jo,” I said shortly. Autumn snickered, looking up front as the teacher began his introduction on History. First day, and they were already receiving assignments and taking notes. This is some shit. I tried to keep up with writing down all the assignments and important dates but I shook my head as I stopped scribbling. This school was definitely going to give me a run for my money.

The bell rang, an hour had flown by. I walked out in the hallway and got out the single piece of paper I would rely on for the next week. I leaned against the black lockers to review my schedule. My first class was History, that was already out of the way. My next class was English, which wasn’t too hard for me. I may not speak with perfect grammar, but I could whip up a decent essay in an hour or less. Next was Music, followed by Chemistry, Art and History.

Then I saw the one class I prayed to God I didn’t have to take: Algebra. Math was never my strong suit, but I skated by considering my uncle was the teacher at my old high school. “At least I get to skip the last hour,” I snickered to myself, noting that Gym was my last class of the day. I heard someone lean against the lockers next to me and looked over to see the brown haired girl I’d just had an encounter with. I turned to walk away and she hurried up behind me.

“Cailey Jo, huh? Where’s a name like that come from?” She asked, quickening her pace to match mine.

I replied without looking towards her, “Missouri.” Autumn looked down as she walked, studying her shoes. I knew she wanted to say something, but I was just waiting for the words to come out of her mouth as Autumn grabbed my schedule out of my hands. She stopped, studying it and looked back up.

“Better get used to me, we have almost every class together,” Autumn gave me a grin. I smiled to myself at first then looked at Autumn, nodding in agreement. Autumn smiled, showing a mouth full of braces. “Care if I call you CJ?”

Notes

Hi guys!! Thank you sooo much for reading. I haven't written in years, literally so any feedback would be much appreciated!! Comment, message, subscribe! :)

Title credit: Miranda Lambert "Famous In A Small town"