‘Ding, ding, ding,’ went the bell for my first day at my brand new high school. I could just feel the butterflies in my stomach fluttering. I walked into class and realized that I was the last one in. Everyone stopped talking and just stared at me.
As I continued walking to a seat, I saw some girls looking at me so intensely that I could feel their eyes burning a hole right through me. Some of the boys turned to look as well….it’s weird being the ‘new kid on the block’!.
When I reached an empty seat at the back of the class, I went to sit down. Suddenly, before my bottom could hit the chair, a girl with white blonde hair and piercing green eyes pushed her way passed me to the seat behind. I fell a little off balance and dropped my notebook on the floor. Not sure what was so important about that seat, but she was certainly in a hurry to claim it.
“Don’t worry about Madi!” said a girl in the seat next to me as she leant down and picked up my notebook. She had crystal blue eyes and dark curly hair that rested perfectly on her shoulders. “She’s just really annoyed today because yesterday her boyfriend broke up with her quite unexpectedly.” As she was telling me this, she gestured to the boy sitting right next to Madi. At least I understood the seat thing now….
“Oh I see. Well, thanks for heads up and for rescuing my notebook. I might stay away from her for a while.” I laughed.
‘That might be a good plan. Oh I almost forgot, I’m Ashley and you’re Sally right?’ “Yeah, I’m Sally. How did you know? Nice to meet you!”
“Your fancy travel notebook with the glitzy red Eiffel Tower on the front and the word SALLY gave it away”. We continued talking for a few more minutes before the teacher came in and promptly stopped our friendly little chit chat.
“Okay you guys, settle down now. I would like to introduce our new student. Her name is Sally, all the way from Los Angeles. She will be in this class and most of your other classes too. Now, who would like to show her around the school?’ declared Ms Wright.
Before Ashley could shoot her hand up, a boy sitting diagonally behind me to my right threw his hand up. “How very nice of you TJ. You will start showing Sally around at recess.”
I looked back and saw a boy about 14 or 15 years old with deep hazel eyes, black hair with the most perfect curls and the cutest smile. As he looked across at me, I blushed and looked away. Then I looked across at Ashley. She just winked at me and smiled.
Before I knew it, it was recess. “Hey Sally, do you want to hang out with me and I’ll show you the best places to hang out?”
“Yeah sure why not, that would be cool. Just let me put my books in my locker and then we can head off.”
As Ashley and I were walking though the schoolyard, she suddenly stopped, “Here we are - my favorite place in the school.” In front of me was a beautiful cherry blossom tree with a bench build around it, shaded by the blossoms that were stretching out in every direction.
“Wow! This is incredible…..I reckon this could quickly become one of my favorite places too!” It was sweltering, so most of recess Ashley and I stayed under the shade of that magnificent tree talking about everything from sports to books to boys. Whilst we were talking, TJ rocked up and said, “Nice place you got here. Sorry to interrupt but I’m supposed to be showing you around right, Sally?”
“Oh yeah I forgot. Sorry about that. The time has just slipped away.” I had completely forgotten about TJ, so I quickly got up and smiled at Ashley. She was grinning back at me and giving me the thumbs up sign. I wasn’t sure why but I laughed and turned to follow TJ as he headed back across the yard.
