Cindy gathered her books together and followed her ‘friends’ out of class as the bell rang. Class had been easy enough, stuff she remembered well enough despite the time since she’d taken it all, but keeping up with Steve’s friends had been a task in itself. They’d been pretty much what she’d expected – boisterous and crude, and she’d endured a whole heap of mocking after Steve’s girlfriend Jolie had stormed up and slapped her for telling that guy who’d given her a lift Jolie had broken up with Steve. She didn’t look forward to breaking that piece of news to him.
She was snapped out of her revere by a guy – Chris, if she remembered correctly – snapping his fingers in front of her face. “Yo, Steve! Where are ya today, man? You’ve been drifting in and out all day!” Cindy mumbled an excuse as she shoved the books into Steve’s locker and slammed it shut. “Uh, I’ll meet you guys in a bit, kay?” she said, not really caring to spend break in their company. “I gotta go to the bathroom.” “Okay” said Chris. “Try not to scare anyone.” He laughed and jogged off as Cindy grimaced to herself. There was that crudity again.
She walked out into the stifling summer heat and paced across familiar lawns, exploring the changes in the school since the years she’d gone there. Things didn’t seem to have changed that much. The old cliques were still there in new incarnations. Groups of girls where still hanging around the fountain, boys out on the fields playing football. A few new building extensions, a few older ones demolished. But it was all relatively familiar, leaving out the fact she’d now fit in better getting muddy out there on the field than over with the girls. She paused for a moment and watched some of them wrestle for the ball, almost tempted to go out there and dive into the fray, taker her athletic body for a test run, letting loose the strength of her new muscular arms and legs... almost. The power she felt with each movement was intoxicating, she had to give it that.
She stayed like this, lost in her thoughts, until she heard the screaming.