Waxing Poetically in the Parking Lot

amy lynn

The Polish Pirate
Title: Waxing Poetically in the Parking Lot…
Author: me, Amy
Disclaimer: None necessary. Why? Because all of this belongs to me, and I would appreciate it if it stayed that way ^_^
...Oh yes I have one disclaimer of a sort, as some of you know – I used to live in Texas…but the character is in no way based on me…
Rating: I’ll say G…it’s quite tame
Genre: Back to school...quite drabble-ish (only longer)
Spoilers: None…



I always figured that coming to the end of my life as a student would be exciting. I never knew it would make me feel so nostalgic. I blame it on the phone call last night from my oldest friend, who I’ve known since before we were in school. She called last night to wish me luck on my last-first day of school ever. It got me thinking about anything and everything.

Swish

Her knee-length linen skirt made a slight noise as she walked purposefully across the parking lot.

Click

Her tan heels that matched the tan in her skirt announced her approach on the asphalt. As she walked, she shifted her arms, carrying nothing but a notebook and her keys.

It was already humid at nine in the morning, given that it was only mid-August in Texas. She supposed that it hadn’t stopped being humid for a full month and a half now. The sweat dripping down her back was starting to annoy her.

It certainly didn’t feel as though school should be starting. She had always read books, as a little girl, about kids who started school and the weather was starting to shift into autumn – a crisp breeze in the air, and some leaves already starting to change colors.

The only thing changing colors in Texas was her skin – from a nice light tan, to red with heat and a sweaty sheen.

The only crisp breeze came from the air conditioner in her gray Dodge truck. And it wasn’t a fresh-air kind of breeze. It was the artificial Freon breeze that smelled slightly musty due to the age of her vehicle.

She had lived her whole life in this state, never experiencing the “typical” back to school environment. And she never would. This was her last back-to-school ever. She couldn’t be more thrilled, though her schedule did leave something to be desired.

She remembered her very first-first day of school vaguely – just bits and pieces really.

“Mommy, mommy, where’s my apple?”

“It is right here sweetie. And I packed an extra one for your teacher.”

“Teacher’s like apples, don’t they mommy?”

“Yes, sweetie, they do.”

“Good. I want my teacher to like me.”

“Who couldn’t help but love you, sweetie?”

“Nobody, mommy, nobody.”

And she had been right. Her very first teacher had adored her apple. It sat shiny and polished on her desk all day.


She smiled faintly at the memory as she made the long trek from the parking lot to the building her class was in.

Of course, not all teachers had loved her on the first day of school. She remembered specifically one teacher who had it in his mind that she was a troublemaker. So he had picked on her every damn day of that class.

She was doodling in her notebook while Mr. Martinez lectured on Texas History. She wasn’t doing anything that anybody in the class wasn’t doing. It was a particularly dry lecture for Martinez, which was saying a lot – as he was known as the most boring teacher in the school.

Art was her life, and for her art class project she was designing the cover for this year’s yearbook. She started drawing ideas for that as Martinez started lecturing on the great migration of illegal immigrants from the US to Texas.

Since the school mascot was a dragon, she decided to start with that, but the doodle soon took a life of its own. She was so absorbed in her drawing that she didn’t realize the guy sitting across from her had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her notebook and burst out laughing. “What is that? It seriously looks like a horse on crack!”

She tried to grab her notebook back from him, but Martinez noticed the disturbance and decided to make a lesson out of her.

She got detention for drawing a picture of a dragon in her notebook.


At the time, she had been completely devastated. But today, as she walked to yet another history class, she laughed at the memory.

However, she certainly wasn’t looking forward to this history class any more than she had enjoyed Mr. Martinez from seventh grade Texas history. Damn the University for requiring certain classes in order to be able to graduate. She was going to be the only senior in this stupid freshman history class. It was too ridiculous to think about, really.

She just hoped that nobody thought she was a freshman too. It had happened the year previous to this one. She had been walking through one of the buildings looking for a classroom and had never had a reason to be in said building for previous classes.

Some classmate of hers had wandered over to where she was standing.

“It’s okay. I remember when I was a freshman taking classes in this building, I would get so lost.”

She had just looked at him and told him politely, yet with an edge of annoyance, that she was a junior, but had never been to the building before.

He had laughed, introduced himself, and they had ended up dating for three months.


Unfortunately, if anybody thought she was a freshman in this class, it was likely to be another freshman.

That got her thinking. Did she really look like a freshman? Or did she just feel like one, and that manifested itself into a certain “freshman” look? And if that was the case, then why did she feel that way?

There was only one answer to that question. She was so close to getting a college degree, and yet she had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. It seemed that focusing on the past was much easier to handle than trying to figure out the future.

She sighed as she walked up to the building where the class was and opened the door.
 
Thanks for the reviews :smiley:

This is really just a one-part thing. I don't have the time or energy to make a story out of it. But I'm glad you liked it :smiley:
 
Amy... Lovin' the original fiction. I always wondered how you'd be writing your own stuff, since you write Alias fanfic so well, and I must say...I was was not disappointed. I really enjoyed it...and am ever hopeful you might continue because I really liked the narrator's voice and the tone of the story.

In short...excellent. ;)

It's pitifully late in London (am actually just barely proping my eyelids open with the space bar and the backspace key) and I'll comment further tomorrow with a round of witty (and to that the world at large says 'ha!') and other inane commentary. :smiley:

Hope your school at Georgetown is going just as you wanted and you're doing well with all your classes... :D
 
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