What It's Like To Be Different

Chapter 3

   I had never been more nervous in my life. I have performed countless times, but nothing could prepare me to this: the first day of school. 

   My dad dropped me off at the front of the school. He handed me my backpack and my schedule. 

   "Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Dad asked. I couldn't imagine that embarrassment. I shook my head and told him I had this. In fact, the only thing I had was the confidence of a weenie.

   "Are you sure?" Dad asked. I turned to him and tried for a smile. 

  "Yeah, I can do this." I said. He nodded, clearly unsure of what to say next. He waved good-bye and drove off. I was left to face the school on my own. What kinda father leaves his kid alone on the first day at a new school. There had to be some kind of rule against that, right?

    I tried not to look like a completely panicking hot mess as I entered the school. 

   I walked into the school and went into the front office. A nice lady at the desk directed me and told me where my classes were. I thanked her and left the front office.

   When I got to the cafeteria, which is where all of the students hung out until the bell rang, I sat at a table by myself. I noticed that there weren't many people in the cafeteria. I kinda just looked around until I noticed that some other students were on their phones so I got mine out and started playing a game.

   I'm not really sure how much time passed until a girl say down at the table I was sitting at. She just sat there staring at me making me feel uncomfortable. She finally said something after a few seconds of me being freaked out.

   "I'm Taylor." She said. I nodded. 

   "I'm Thatcher." I told her while turning off my phone because I had a feeling that this was going take a while. She perked up after hearing my name.

   "Cool. Both our names start with t." She said. Taylor struck me as weird. She had unnatural red hair and ripped skinny jeans. She also wore some thick-rimmed glasses and a plain black t-shirt. 

   "My friends dared me to come over here and talk to you because you're new and everything." She explained. 

   "What's your first block?" Taylor asked me. 

   "Honors Geometry." I said. She nodded.

   "Honors. So you're smart and stuff?" She asked. I nodded to signify that I was typically considered smart. 

   "That's cool. I have Visual Art 2 first block." She told me. This could not be any more awkward. 

   "I like art." I said truthfully. She smiled awkwardly. Just as awkwardly as I felt.

   "I think that you officially qualify for our group." She laughed. She got up and started walking over to a group of kids that looked about my age. I decided to be nice so I followed her to the table.

   "This is Thatcher, everybody." Taylor said. There were three girls and one boy. Just like with any introduction, judgements came, and about 90 percent of all first judgments were based on physical appearances.

   The first person to catch my eye was Paige. Paige was clearly the pretty one, I guess you could say, of the four girls. She had dark brown hair with red tips. She was tan and had gorgeous skin. She wore a lot of make up but it looked really good on her.

   She was a little shorter than me. Like everybody there, she wore converse, except she wore white ones. Also like everybody there, she wore ripped skinny jeans. Paige had on a black shirt that had holes on the shoulders and down the sleeves.