Chasing Sunlight

KIRAN I gripped onto the strap of my backpack that was swung over my shoulder and made my way to the first class of the day. English. You'd think having English be your first language would make it easy to pass. Not true. Walking in, I saw the typical sight for a high school class: by the windows were a group of girls who were sitting on top of their desks and gossiping, near the front of the class were the kids who would be labeled nerds, arranging their papers and books precisely to their needs, and in the back of the classroom was the one guy who always has his feet on his desk with his arms crossed and his hat over his face, taking a nap. I decided to take a seat at the desk next to the sleeping guy since there was less chance of him trying to talk to me and ask the inevitable question of, “Hey, you’re the new guy, right?” I still need to get my anger issues under control until I start mingling and trying to make friends here. I wish I had found a

AURORA Gabe slung his arm over my shoulder and whispered into my ear, “Who were you talking to, babe?” “Just greeting the new kid.” I smiled at him and put a fry in my mouth. “He’s funny, I think we could be friends.” Gabe laughed, “You try to be friends with everyone, babe.” I tilted my head and said, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” “You’re just too nice sometimes." He pinched my cheek with a pout. I rolled my eyes at him and continued eating, letting my ears tune into the other conversations so that I didn’t have to hear another lecture from Gabe about being too nice. My third class of the day was Mr. Hammond's chemistry class, one of my favorite teachers. He makes chemistry fun and he jokes around a lot, he kind of reminds me of Bill Nye – the way that you kind of think of him as a goofy uncle fig

KIRAN Mom gave me the car tonight to get to-and-from this party that she insisted I go to. She said it was a great opportunity to make friends and that the new kid never gets invited to things on their first day. I wanted to find a gym to work out at and work on my technique, but I am still yet to find a decent gym that I can do any kickboxing in. No place I've seen so far has a boxing ring or decent equipment for practicing. Pulling up to the address that Aurora gave me, everyone was parked in the grass out front of the house, or rather, mansion would be more appropriate, all scattered around. I decided to reduce the risk of anything happening to the car by parking across the street and by the sidewalk instead. There were scarce any neighbors here and every house had numerous acres of space - I'm sure no one will mind my parking here. I questioned before getting out of the car if I should really be here. I gripped the stee

KIRAN I was simply minding my own business and enjoying watching Aurora and her friends dance when a drunk redhead named Rebecca came over and began talking before she threw herself on me. As much as I tried to pull away from her kisses, my restraint just made her go harder, I eventually gave up and decided to push through it until she needed some oxygen. It was the sound of a big thud on the ground that shocked her away from me. It sounded like someone had fallen over the railing on the second floor of the house and collided with the ground on the first floor. We both looked over, along with everyone else in the room, and saw Aurora and Gabe standing together, Aurora's friends were nearby with widened eyes and looks of fear as they stared at the couple. Gabe's body was blocking Aurora's face, but I could see her blonde hair and grey cardigan. What did I miss? Whose ass do I need to kick? The redhead's pale lips moved into a grin as she looked

KIRAN Some people had come to talk to me and engage in casual conversation while Aurora was gone taking people home, but none of them I thought I could consider becoming a close friend. It was true that some people were nice and personable, but there were some ugly things at this party as well. I noticed that the girls who hung around the jocks were becoming intoxicated quicker than the rest of the partiers. Maybe these girls are just drinking more than others? No, I had kept an eye on the brunette in a red top and jeans and she had only one cup. What was going on? As Aurora left the house and the door behind her shut, one of the jocks who was hanging out casually by the front door came over to gave and his friends and pulled a baggie out of his letterman jacket. The guys all gathered around the glass table, one of them pulling out a credit card of sorts and splitting the contents of the package. Fucking hell, they're snorting coke behind Aurora's bac