Miss Not Perfectly Fine

Very First Day

Reaching the 5th floor was when my realization that I'm out of shape really hit me. I am out of breath and desperately panting for air. Meanwhile, the other students that walked the same amount of steps up here as me seem perfectly normal. Maybe I'll get used to it after some time. But damn, this school needs an elevator or something.

As I start regaining control of my breath again, my phone buzzes.

tay
How is school? Is everything going okay?

The notification read. This is very Taylor of her; already worrying about me not even 15 minutes into the school day.

just walked up to the fifth floor for my first class
tired.
rip me
i died
dead.

After replying to her, I start walking towards the classroom. The numbers were pretty hard to see on the doors so I decided to look for my teacher's name, Mr. Eastman. After passing 4 classrooms from the staircase, I finally found my first period classroom to the right side of me. I walk in so that I can find a seat before I'm awkwardly standing and waiting for the teacher to find me one.

"You must be Skylar!" The person I'm guessing is Mr. Eastman walks up to me and sticks out his hand for me to shake.

"Hi, nice to meet you!" I say and shake his hand.

"Did you find my classroom okay? It can be hard to navigate when you first get here." He says.

"The stairs were pretty hard on me but other than that, I was fine," I give him a small smile.

"Ah, yes. The stairs can be a pain in the butt sometimes." He agrees with me. "Well, why don't you find a seat somewhere? I don't have seating charts for my classes so just pick a place." He gestures to the empty seats in the classroom.

Not having a seating chart is so great. For people that have friends. For a new kid like me? Awful. I don't want to accidentally sit in someone's usual seat. But I also don't want to wait until other people get here. I quickly pick a seat closest to where I'm standing. I feel like someone who has never been to an American high school before. It all feels so foreign.

When the bell rang 2 minutes later, students started filing in. Most everyone failed to hide their shocked expressions when they saw me. I guess they know who I am. I start to get nervous. People recognizing me would mean that this could go one of two ways. Either they'll all distance themselves from me because they hate Taylor or because they're intimidated, or they'll all want to be friends with me just because I'm Taylor's sister. I've experienced both and neither of them are fun.

At this school, no one seems to be distancing themselves from me but they seem like they're trying to be respectful. They aren't staring or trying to talk to me nonstop, but they're not completely ignoring me.

Right as the bell rang to signal the start of class, a boy came rushing in. "That was a close one," Mr. Eastman tells him as he points to an empty desk next to me. The boy quickly puts his backpack down and sits down.

When everyone settled down, Mr. Eastman started talking. "We have a new student with us at our school," He looks over at me and so does everyone else.

"Holy shit, you're Taylor Swift's sister," The almost tardy boy blurts out. I am not getting good vibes from him.

"Language," Mr. Eastman warns him. "This is Skylar. She'll be with us for the rest of the year. Skylar, do you want to introduce yourself?" He looks at me.

No, I do not.

I say in my head. But we all know that this was not a 'you get a choice' type of question. I stand up and look around the room. "Hi," I start. "I'm Skylar but everyone calls me Sky. I moved here from the west coast a few months ago and was homeschooled but I decided to go back to a public high school for the last month of my senior year." I pause after that. I'm stuck. I don't know what else to say.