Salute! I am a Girl!

16

Every eye in the room fell on me. It was almost as if Liam wasn't even by my side. The parents stood next to their sons, looking at me, clearly I didn't belong. Then the whispers began to rise into the air. Their eyes looking down on me, judging me.

Well at least that's how I thought it was going to happen in my mind. To my surprise it was the complete and total opposite.

Liam and I stepped into the large building. There was no deafening silence, no accusatory looks, no snide remarks, no whispers; it was like I wasn't even there. I stumbled forward a bit as Liam gave me a gentle shove in the direction of a few vacant, metal, folding chairs, in the back of the auditorium.

I noticed that everyone else had started to find empty seats. I sat down in mine next to Liam. We were in the last row, nearest to the exit. Good for a quick escape. The noise increased as people began to file into the aisles bumping against the metal chairs.

My eyes scanned over the crowd looking for any of the boys' familiar faces. I spotted the twins right away. They were leading their parents down an empty row of seats. I smiled seeing how much they looked like their father. Obviously they had gotten their hair and height from him. Their mother was a short, stout woman with light brown almost blonde hair.

Next I spotted Ian sitting down in between his mom and dad. He towered over both of them by a good six or seven inches, leading me to wonder where he had gotten his height.

Cal seemed to be trying to swat his mother's hand away as she licked her finger and rubbed it on his cheek, trying to remove what was probably left over breakfast. I let out a small laugh, remembering the lunch incident. I guess I was a bit like his mother. Liam cast me a sideways glance; I just smiled and kept my gaze forward.

I couldn't see any of the other boys. They seemed to be out of my range of sight. A deep voice rang out through the hall silencing any conversation that had been going on. I looked up towards the front of the hall seeing all of the teachers sitting in a line atop of a raised platform and a tall man speaking into the microphone. I spotted my uncle sitting closest to the man speaking.

"I would like to welcome all of the parents that are here today!"

"Who's that?" I whispered to Liam.

"That's just Mr. Owen. He pretty much runs the school."

"Then how come I've never seen him?"

"He doesn't exactly live here. He just comes in from time to time to make sure everything is running smoothly. Your uncle is basically the on campus head honcho, and he's the off campus head honcho."

"Oh." I said returning my gaze to the platform.

I tuned out his entire speech, about who knows what. I kept myself entertained by poking Liam in the side. He didn't seem interested in the speech either and started to poke me as well. I squirmed around in my chair trying to avoid his hand. He caught me off guard and poked me in the side.

I let out a small high-pitched squeak, before slapping a hand over my mouth and glaring at Liam. He put on an innocent face and acted as though he was being accused of something he didn't do.

We hadn't notice that this speech had ended and everyone was beginning to stand up and file out of the aisles. I stood up and brushed my hands down the back of my skirt smoothing out any wrinkles that had been there.

I glanced up and saw Will. He was heading towards the door with his parents. His dad was a tall man with chocolate colored hair like Will's and he seemed to be smiling at something Will had said. His mother on the other hand was short, with coal black hair, which she had pulled back into a twist at the nape of her neck.