The Oklahoma-Texas Line

“You know, it’s not too late honey, we can still transfer you to a different school.”

Kelly stared down blankly at the plate of uneaten food in front of her. Slowly she lifted her eyes and met her mom’s gaze from across the table, jabbing her fork into the now soggy pancakes.

“No I’ll be fine, mom.” She said flatly, “It’ll be fine.” She repeated under her breath.

Her mother sighed and pushed up from the table to make her way over to her. Kneeling down beside her daughter she placed a hand upon her knee. “If you need me at all today honey you go to the office and you call me, do you hear me?”

She managed a nod. “Can I leave now? I’m not really hungry and I need to meet Ash outside in like,” She glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave, “less than two minutes.”

Her mother straightened back up and nodded. “Yeah, you can go on ahead.”

Pushing her plate away from her she stood from her seat and scooped her backpack up from the kitchen floor. “I’ll see you later, mom.” She kissed her on the cheek and turned to leave.

“Kel,”

She paused at the door and glanced over her shoulder. “You call me if you need me.” She restated.

“I will, bye momma.”
 

____________________________________________________________________

The second she stepped foot into the hallway she felt her throat dry up and tighten as her mind was instantly flooded with memories from the previous year. She looked out the corner of her eye, wishing she could look and be as strong as the girl beside her. Ashley had been strong enough for the both of them when everything had started to fall apart. With each step the two of them took down the hall, heads turned and eyes followed as they passed by their peers. Ashley noticed her friend’s stride slowing beside her and immediately slid her arm into hers for support.

“Just remember,” She began in a whisper, “I’m here.”

Kelly turned her head to the side and smiled at Ashley. “Thank you, Ash. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ashley shrugged. “It’s what I’m here for, silly.”

Together their pace slowed to a complete stop in front of a set of lockers. “I’ve told you how much I love you right?” She asked, unhooking her arm from Ashley’s.

“Only every day.”

Kelly chuckled. “Well, I do, and I’ll keep telling you that until you get sick of hearing it.”

“I don’t think that’ll ever happen, but I’ll let you know if I do.”

She shook her head and turned towards the lockers. “Which one is yours again?”

Ashley turned with her and slapped her hand against locker number 214. “Right there, let me see if I remember the combo and then I can give it to you.” Kelly nodded and stepped to the side to allow Ashley room to stand in front of the locker.

She watched as her friend turned the dial on the lock and failed a couple of times before finally getting the locker to open. “There we go. It’s...4-10-16.”

Kelly mumbled the numbers over again a few times under her breath. “Alright, I think I can remember that. If I forget don’t be surprised if I pop up inside one of your classes.” She laughed.

“I totally wouldn’t even be surprised. Here, try it out for yourself.” Ashley told her, shoving the locker shut.

She was able to open it up with only one attempt. “Thanks again for switching locker’s with me.”

“Not a prob. I can’t wait to see the look on Schulyer’s face when she sees me standing beside her locker though.” They both shared a hearty laugh despite the circumstance.

“I have to admit, that image is looking pretty awesome in my head right now.”

Ashley giggled. “Yeah, that girl is totally terrified of me.”

“And rightfully so.” She pointed out, remembering the confrontation the two girls had had last year.

Ashley nodded. “If you get any shit from anyone you just holler at me down the hall and I’ll swoop on in.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” She laughed, pushing the locker shut for good this time.

Ashley turned and leaned against the lockers, shooting a glance down the hall. “Whoa, who let cowgirl Barbie off her farm." Ashley laughed, nodding in the direction behind Kelly. “It looks like we’ve got another cheer bitch minion on our hands, lovely.” Ashley rolled her eyes.

Kelly laughed before turning to see what Ashley was talking about. Her gaze started at the floor, spotting a pair of mid calf cowboy boots before slightly shifting more upward until she saw the first hint of skin. Hmm nice legs…wow that’s a pretty short skirt…Her eyes continued to travel upward until they fell upon the face attached to the body.

“Dude, that’s totally the girl I was telling you about.” She said, excitedly smacking Ashley in the arm.

Ashley cocked her head to the side and examined the girl again. “That’s her? When you described her you made her sound…I don’t know…I didn’t imagine that.” She chuckled.

Kelly scrunched her eyebrows together. “What’s wrong with her? She’s gorgeous, totally athletically built and—“

“And getting a tour of the school from Landon Lancaster.” Ashley said pointedly.

Her face fell. “Point taken, that’s too bad.”

Ashley lifted a brow. “Why is it too bad? You’ve talked to the girl for like one second.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, she seemed nice,” She paused and shrugged again, “She seemed like she could have been a really good friend.”

Ashley rolled her eyes. “I think we both know I don’t need to point out what happened with your last ‘really good friend.’”

She sighed and shook her head. “No, I don’t need you to point that out.” She said flatly.

Ashley’s face quickly softened. “I’m sorry, that was kind of bitchy for me to say. That wasn’t your fault.” The first bell rang loudly overhead.

Kelly pushed away from the lockers. “No big. Well, I need to head off to English. It really sucks that we don’t have any classes together this year.” She made a face. “But I’ll see you at lunch, right?”

“Duh, you tard.” Ashley laughed and ruffled her hair. “Go on, I’ll catch you later.” She shoved her gently in the opposite direction of Carrie and Landon.

“Bah!” She waved and sauntered off down the hall before the warning bell rang. She didn’t need to be late to her first class on the first day back; enough attention was drawn to her already.