Katie hastily turned the padlock on her locker to numbers somewhat close to her actual combination. Her locker was one of the older ones, and the padlock was old and sometimes it almost was too rusted to open. The door swung open and Katie shoved her coat into it, setting her orange juice can on top of her locker. She loved mornings most days. She would get up, take a shower and get dressed, get her things together, then she and Morgan would do their makeup together in the bathroom they shared between their rooms. Then they would go downstairs to eat breakfast, and Taylor would honk in the driveway. Katie and Morgan would go outside to Taylor's car, Katie and Zac in the back, and Morgan in the passenger seat.
They would get to school, and Zac would walk Katie to her locker. His was down the hall a ways from hers, but he would usually hang out at hers anyway. Then they would walk to their first hour class, geography, which they had together. Katie didnt' mind school as much as, say, Nicole did. She was the type who got her homework done the day it was assigned, and she usually got extra credit homework to do if there was any. She didn't enjoy doing it, but then again, if she did poorly on any tests, her homework grade remained good, balancing out her test grades. The only class she had any real trouble with was geometry, which she truely hated.
She rumaged through her locker, which was packed full with her stuff, as well as some of Zac's. She had photos and various items taped up on the door, along with a mirror, which was only used by Nicole. She opened her bookbag with one hand and shoved her english and geometry book into it. It was her first day back from the snowstorm, and she hadn't really been ready to come back. Her long weekend was mostly spent with Zac on the couch of their TV room. She sighed as she slung her bookbag over her shoulder. She picked up her sweatshirt she carried with her, and slammed her locker shut.
She jumped when she saw someone leaning on the other side of it. His eyes bore into hers, and she quickly looked away.
"Oh, Hi Jeremy." She said to the boy.
"Hi." He said. Jeremy had a locker a few down from hers, and he was very strange. He was extremely smart, but very nerdy and quiet. He was medium height, and he had glasses and brown hair that was down to his ears in sort of a bowl cut. He hardly ever spoke, and katie sensed he had a story behind him. He was the kind of person that everyone wondered about but were too scared to ask him about it.
"You startled me." She said.
"Sorry." He said, fiddling with the lock on his locker.
"That's okay." Katie said. As far as she knew Jeremy didn't have many friends, so she was at least nice to him.
"So have you gotten all of your Biology project done?" He asked her.
"No, I've hardly had any time to start on it yet." She said, wondering to herself where Zac was. Then she would at least have a good excuse to leave, since it was only eight fifteen, and classes didn't start until eight thirty.
"Well, I'm really good in Biology."
"Oh you are?"
"Yeah. So if you ever need any help or anything..."
"Oh...okay." She said awkwardly, not really knowing what else to say. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Zac standing beside her.
"Hey." he said, nudging her. His eyes fell on Jeremy. "Hi." He said to him.
Jeremy nodded, then turned away from them. He started to open his locker, and he kept looking at Zac. Zac frowned, then looked at Katie. Katie gave Zac a shrug, then she gently pushed him in the direction of their first class. They walked down the hall and rounded the corner when Zac looked over at Katie.
"What?" She asked.
"Isn't that Jeremy Park?"
"Yeah, that was him."
"Oh."
"What?"
"I've heard stuff about him."
"Well I have too, but it's the least I can do to at least be decent to him. Have you seen the way some of the older boys treat him?"
"Yeah." Zac said. "I guess you're right."
"He's never been mean to me, so I say hi to him sometimes." Katie said. People were always saying that he was either a prodigy or mentally retarded. His parents were supposed to be dead, and he lived in a freaky old house with his aunt or something of the nature. Katie didn't want to think about it.
"Nothing wrong with that I guess." Zac said as they turned the corner.
"That's what I figure." She said. Jeremy wasn't a bad person; just a little strange. That was all.
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