Thirteen Summers

J O S I E

Have you ever felt like your body was present but your mind was not?

Did it feel like you were disconnected from everyone and everything?

This is how I felt in this group of strangers, who were all so eager to get to know each other or rekindle old friendships.

I could hear them talking, how they talked to each other and they talked to me but their words wouldn't fully register in my mind.

I needed to snap out of it.

It was my homeroom teacher's bright idea to do an icebreaker, where we all introduced each other then we were told to get to know each other in groups.

"So are you Gabriel's sister?" One girl asked me, Kiara, I think her name was.

I could only remember her name because she seemed like the one to take charge in this little group we were in, controlling most if not all conversations that occurred.

"Uh..no." I responded, trying to keep myself calm as all eyes went on me as they awaited my answer. "He's my cousin, though."

"Oh, okay." She nodded. "Wow, there's a lot of you in this school."

I think she was being friendly but I wasn't sure so I just weakly smiled.

"Hey." I heard from behind me, it was Aiden, arriving late.

Me and the girl on the other side of him moved to make space for him.

"I'm so glad you're in this homeroom, I only know you and Caleb." I admitted to him.

"You know Caleb?" Another girl asked.

"Duh, they're cousins." Kiara said to her, knowingly.

"More like twins." Aiden corrected.

"Twins?"

"You're twins?"

"What?"

Various responses all around the group were heard and I subtly glared at Aiden for bringing it up, now all the attention was on me, he mouthed an apology to me.

The girl who'd asked me if I knew Caleb looked confused and tilted her head. "But..I've known Caleb for like forever. We went to elementary together."

I simply shrugged, not wishing to divulge my business to them because it didn't concern any of them in the first place.

I really wanted to get out of here.

"You're being nosey, Lily." Aiden commented, in a sing-song voice. "No one likes a Nosey Nelly."

Lily blushed in embarrassment and sunk into her seat.

After that, the attention was off me and my familial relations, thanks to Aiden who was now boredly picking at his fingernails.

His eyes met mine and he asked, "What class do you have next?"

I fumbled around in my blazer pocket to find it, it was not that difficult considering all I had in there was lipgloss, fresh breath spray and my schedule, however for some reason I was in an uncomfortable state of stress.

This did not go unnoticed as I slapped it down on the table in front of him.

He looked down at it and then at me, leaning closer to me as he whispered. "You okay, J?"

"I just don't like school." I mumbled. "Not the people part."

"Uh, I get it." Aiden groaned, resting his head down on his arms. "We'll get through it, only four years, right?"