Letters from Sylvia

Chapter 3

The next day was the first day of school. I wasn't looking forward to it, and it just about met that low expectation. 

Over the summer, I had to move from New Jersey to California, and I knew it would be hard just because of that. The reason I had to move would make it even harder, so it was almost impossible to drag myself out of bed that morning.

I dressed with  a feeling of ultimate dread.

When I finally forced myself downstairs, it was extreamly busy with everybody trying to get ready  for the day. With nine people buzzing around and trying to get last minute items, I felt even more in the way and out of place than normal.

To get away from the chaos, I slipped into the dining room.

"Hey, kiddo."

I spun around in shock. Nobody was  supposed to be in here. But Mark was sitting calmly at the table, his signature ponytail slightly ary, looking perfectly relaxed.

"You scared me," I accused, but he just shrugged. "What are you doing down here anyway? Normally you sleep until at least noon."

Now he looked at me, confusion written on his face. "Wait. What time is it?"

"Seven-thirty," I answered uncertainly. 

That must have been a bad thing because he jumped up from the table, all of his previous calm distroyed.

"What time did you think it was?" I asked.

Mark shook his head in confusion. "I don't know. I was in a tournament, came downstairs to get some coffee, and you walked in," His eyes widened as he relized something important. "My game's still running!"

He ran out of the room faster than I thought a nerd could run. Although, looking at everything he left on the table, I could tell how soon he would be back.

"Three, two...." The door burst open and I smiled. Right on schedual.

"Don't forget your glasses." I reminded him casually, folding my arms.

With one long stride Mark had snatched them off of the table. "Right, smarty-pants." He ruffled my hair on his way out, knowing how much I hated it. 

I stood there smiling like an idiot until I heard some one call my name.

"Cinthia! It's time to go!"

"Coming!" I called. Now it was my turn to rush.

I grabbed my back pack from beside the door as I left the house. It was one of the few things of my old life I was allowed to bring with me to California.

I jumped in the van and it peeled out of the driveway before I was seated, knocking me into one of my new sisters. As it turned out, Allen was driving and he happened to be very bad at it, so by the time he dropped me off  at the middle school, I was shaking.

I changed my mind, tomorrow I was taking the bus. It was better to be humiliated than killed by  Allen's self-taught driving skills.

My familiar back-pack over my shoulders, I slowly marched to the large brick building, that would  certainly be my death.

Sixth grade was always supposed to be hard, but I didn't ever think it'd be this hard.

I climbed the front steps, and  entered the main office. Inside, there were a few plants and a large desk on the far wall with an older woman sitting behind it.

"Hi. My name's Cinthia Chesswood, I'm a new student."

She looked up at me with a bored expression. "Yes, I was told you would be coming. Hold on a second."

I waited as she dug through the mass of debris on her desk.

"Here you go," She said after a minute of searching. "This is your class schedual, and this is a map of the school." The lady spoke very slowly, as if I were hearing empaired or stupid.

Ignoring her tone, I smiled. "Thank you. Have an amiable day." My grin grew wider at the confused look on her face. She would, no doubt, be looking 'Amiable' up as soon as I left.

Once I had left the office, I studied my map. All of my new siblings had at least a four year age difference, so I was alone at this school. I tried to follow the map to my homeroom, but just wound up going in circles. 

By this time, most of the other students were already in their classrooms, having the head start of knowing where they were. 

Then the bell rang.

I sighed, I should have stayed in bed.

The rest of the day went on in about the same manner, and by the time Allen picked me up, it was almost a relife to get in his death car. 

 We drove, if you can call Allen's constant shouting match driving, and picked everyone else up from Pledgeville High. It was tight,  fitting everyone in the small mini-van, but somehow, we managed. I had to admit though, it made me feel safer knowing if we did crash, they were there to cusion my fall.

The trip home was long, and stuffy, with the car filled to maximum capacity, so I was happy to get to Lisa's.  

Home, I reminded myself. This isn't Lisa's, it's home.  

~ 

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Sorry this took so long, I've been out of town this week and forgot to bring my computer. I wrote this in about an hour, so I'm not very happy with it, and will probobly edit it and/or upload soon. Please vote, comment and fan! (It would make my week) ;)

-Circus3